Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose...

Remember you will not always win. Some days, the most resourceful individual will taste defeat. But there is, in this case, always tomorrow - after you have done your best to achieve success today.

-Maxwell Maltz 

The thunder chickens got into my garden again.  Chickens have brains the size of my thumbnail.  They are dumb on a level that challenges reason, and yet, they keep getting in.  This time, Maven, the smart one, found a weak spot in the fence and pushed her way in.  Of course she couldn't get out. But, that's ok, my husband found her just when she had finished stripping all the Kale plants of EVERY leaf, and eating all of the cabbage seedlings. Not to mention making a mess of the rows.  

Sad naked Kale

Always reminds me of this...

Gimme that Kale!!!

Despite the girls' best efforts, I still have managed to make some progress.  Everything is growing, flowering, fruiting, and becoming generally awesome. Both apple trees are full of apples and almost ripe. The fig tree is fruiting, for real now, and I think its going to be ridiculous.  The pear tree has double the fruit of last year, and the plum tree has at least 1000 plums on it. No joke.

Plum Crazy!

The tomatoes are getting close. There are hundreds of them a week or two from being ripe. 

West tomato wall, almost 6ft!

Beautiful San Marzanos, soon to be paste.

I hilled, or "earthed up" the potatoes. Apparently, I was supposed to do that when they were about 4" and every 4" until the container is full. It is already time to do it again. Oops. They seem to be doing great though. I suppose I will find out when harvest time comes. Isn't trial and error fun? 

Hilling taters

I finally got a cucumber! And, there are easily 20 more coming right away. I am pickling some of these bad boys as soon as possible. Hopefully I will have enough to do several jars of a few types.

Lemon Cucumber!

Got my first ground cherry too. It is definitely on the small end of the scale judging by the later husks. I ate it, and it did indeed taste of vanilla and pineapple. Amazing!

Who knew?

Ground cherry growing outside of the husk

I have 7 tomatillo plants. They are all full of glorious globes of wonder! The husks look like lanterns, and the flowers have attracted more bees than anything else in the garden.

 Tomatillos

The front yard has ground cherries in it too.  My herb buckets didn't do as well as I had hoped, but, to be fair, I was overzealous and planted to early. And, from seed.  Should have started them inside. Next year.

Daisies, ground cherries, lavender, meadowsweet,
valerian, and a half finished bamboo border.

The side of the house is really coming along.  There are actually about 65 sunflowers in various stages planted here.  The Oilseeds have yet to bloom, they should have bigger heads. I also have dragon wax beans planted along the back and in between the sunflowers.  They are producing now after a slow start from being too leggy as seedlings. Again, overzealous. What can I say? I'm an anxious gardener.

Some things are working.  Some things are not. I am learning a lot, experimenting, and getting dirty. A few weeks from now, and I will be in harvest and preserve mode. Looking forward to trying new recipes, preserving techniques, and another hard cider attempt!

Food totals: 11.75 lbs since last post

10 lbs cherries

2 lbs beans

1 lb 2 oz strawberries

9.5 lbs  carrots

5.5 lbs onions

.5 lbs rainbow chard

.25 lbs lemon cucumber

471.25 lbs to goal