Garden Sunset

Last night the sunset was amazing. The yard was covered in shadows, from what I couldn't say. It was beautiful to say the least. The sunset reminded me of a Thomas Kincaid painting. While his work is amazing, nature has him beat hands down!

Peppermint plant in the garden. The flies were a total bonus.

The peas are loving the cool weather. I am loving the fact they actually have come up!

I planted a few onion sets from last year with the hopes they will go to seed. I plan to save the seed for next year. So far all the old sets are starting to flower so I think my plan will work out.

The raised beds. Most are planted now and everything is looking fine, despite the hail storm that hit yesterday.

Sweet little tomato plant. This baby is an heirloom of some variety. I lost so many of my starts that I no longer know which plant is which. All I care is that they all grow into wonderful tomato filled vines! This year I am trying a red plastic mulch from Gardens Alive. This is supposed to produce greater yields, stronger vines, and more vigorous plants.

The back tree that will soon meets its demise. We love this tree but it is dying a very fast death caused by wood borers. We had a tree guy come out and look at it. Three years ago he gave it 5 years max before it was dead. This year there are only a few leaves on the whole tree. So sad.

Garden Sunset

Last night the sunset was amazing. The yard was covered in shadows, from what I couldn't say. It was beautiful to say the least. The sunset reminded me of a Thomas Kincaid painting. While his work is amazing, nature has him beat hands down!

Peppermint plant in the garden. The flies were a total bonus.

The peas are loving the cool weather. I am loving the fact they actually have come up!

I planted a few onion sets from last year with the hopes they will go to seed. I plan to save the seed for next year. So far all the old sets are starting to flower so I think my plan will work out.

The raised beds. Most are planted now and everything is looking fine, despite the hail storm that hit yesterday.

Sweet little tomato plant. This baby is an heirloom of some variety. I lost so many of my starts that I no longer know which plant is which. All I care is that they all grow into wonderful tomato filled vines! This year I am trying a red plastic mulch from Gardens Alive. This is supposed to produce greater yields, stronger vines, and more vigorous plants.

The back tree that will soon meets its demise. We love this tree but it is dying a very fast death caused by wood borers. We had a tree guy come out and look at it. Three years ago he gave it 5 years max before it was dead. This year there are only a few leaves on the whole tree. So sad.

In my yard today.....

I love this little red flower!

We seeded the back pasture a few weeks ago. The amount of weeds that grew in this space was outrageous! The grass is taking pretty patchy right now. We are hoping that it will continue germinating and will fill in before the weeds make a comeback.


Fruit trees that we bought a few weeks ago. Two are doing great while 3 are not. The nectarine and peach trees just dont seem to be taking well. I hope that we are able to save them. I plan to get some fertilizer (organic of course) and see if that will help.

Saskatoon Berry bush. I ordered these from Gurneys last year because they were advertised as a great blueberry for Western Regions. Later on I found out by reading Subsistence Pattern
that they aren't like a blueberry at all. However they do make a wonderful pie so I am okay with them sticking around. ;) We did plant some bluberries this year but so far it doesnt look like they will make it.

Ahhh yes the chickens. This picture was taken last night after a special treat was given to the chickens. They were such happy little buggers. Now.....well they were dog food last night. Our neighbors dogs have managed to kill 95 birds over the last 3 years. He refuses to do anything about it. Last night, not only did they kill the remaining 6 (of an original 30) but they also tore apart the fencing and managled the lid to the nesting boxes. Dean called the sheriffs department and was told to "bait em', trap em', and shoot em'." Because we live in the county there is no action that can be taken except by us. So.....

We planted these onions from sets. There are a few thrown in that were from last year (I grew those from seed). The old ones are already starting to flower out. I plan to let them go and save the seed for next year. My hope is to let a few plants of everything go to seed so that I can begin saving seed.

This is the first year that I have managed to get peas to grow! WOO HOO!! Dont mind the weeds, thats on todays agenda. In this bed are also some lettuce and radishes that havent germinated much yet.

Our local organic strawberry farm has experienced some issues with crop this year. It looks like they will have a limited crop available (such was the case last year too). So it looks like the only strawberries I will be getting will come from our garden. That is a bummer since I lost about 50 plants this year. I will have to see if I can track down a lot more plants.

I can say a lot of negative things about the land here but the sky never fails to amaze me!!

The veiw straight back. Normally this is knee high weeds by now. This is a welcome change! The area in the foreground will become an area for BBQ, fire pit and picnic table. Once the grass takes, I will have Dean make some raised beds for herbs and flowers.

In my yard today.....

I love this little red flower!

We seeded the back pasture a few weeks ago. The amount of weeds that grew in this space was outrageous! The grass is taking pretty patchy right now. We are hoping that it will continue germinating and will fill in before the weeds make a comeback.


Fruit trees that we bought a few weeks ago. Two are doing great while 3 are not. The nectarine and peach trees just dont seem to be taking well. I hope that we are able to save them. I plan to get some fertilizer (organic of course) and see if that will help.

Saskatoon Berry bush. I ordered these from Gurneys last year because they were advertised as a great blueberry for Western Regions. Later on I found out by reading Subsistence Pattern
that they aren't like a blueberry at all. However they do make a wonderful pie so I am okay with them sticking around. ;) We did plant some bluberries this year but so far it doesnt look like they will make it.

Ahhh yes the chickens. This picture was taken last night after a special treat was given to the chickens. They were such happy little buggers. Now.....well they were dog food last night. Our neighbors dogs have managed to kill 95 birds over the last 3 years. He refuses to do anything about it. Last night, not only did they kill the remaining 6 (of an original 30) but they also tore apart the fencing and managled the lid to the nesting boxes. Dean called the sheriffs department and was told to "bait em', trap em', and shoot em'." Because we live in the county there is no action that can be taken except by us. So.....

We planted these onions from sets. There are a few thrown in that were from last year (I grew those from seed). The old ones are already starting to flower out. I plan to let them go and save the seed for next year. My hope is to let a few plants of everything go to seed so that I can begin saving seed.

This is the first year that I have managed to get peas to grow! WOO HOO!! Dont mind the weeds, thats on todays agenda. In this bed are also some lettuce and radishes that havent germinated much yet.

Our local organic strawberry farm has experienced some issues with crop this year. It looks like they will have a limited crop available (such was the case last year too). So it looks like the only strawberries I will be getting will come from our garden. That is a bummer since I lost about 50 plants this year. I will have to see if I can track down a lot more plants.

I can say a lot of negative things about the land here but the sky never fails to amaze me!!

The veiw straight back. Normally this is knee high weeds by now. This is a welcome change! The area in the foreground will become an area for BBQ, fire pit and picnic table. Once the grass takes, I will have Dean make some raised beds for herbs and flowers.

Backyard Nature Day

Today we moved our wood pile to make room for a future fire pit and other things. We also had a bunch of old building materials that we needed to get moved. Dean happened to pick up a peice of plywood that had been lying down for some time. Underneath we found a mouse nest. We both glaced at it and made a "oh look a nest" comment and moved on. Ian however decided to look a little closer and he found the nest filled with babies! We had the mother mouse totally freaked out and it caused her to mover her babies to another location. We got the whole thing on video. It was pretty cool to watch. What amazed both Dean and I, was how quickly she got over the instinct to run and instead focused on the instinct to save her babies. It was pretty interesting to watch.





Here is the second nest we found. This one was hidden under some old firewood. This mouse didnt have as far to go to move her babies. There were actually two mice coming and going from this nest, although only one is actually moving the babies. One of the babies was left behind for some reason.

***OKay I tried to load the 2nd video for 2 hours tonight. It isnt working. I will try again tomorrow!*****


After this we found a squirmy nest of some nasty little bug. I took a video but it didnt turn out all that great. Then we found a big frog inside some black plastic wrap. The morning started out with seeing a cream and black snake in a friends driveway and ended with seeing a jack rabbit in the same driveway. Overall it was an interesting day filled with animals of all sorts. The kids were in heaven and we had a fun time seeing all these different critters.

Backyard Nature Day

Today we moved our wood pile to make room for a future fire pit and other things. We also had a bunch of old building materials that we needed to get moved. Dean happened to pick up a peice of plywood that had been lying down for some time. Underneath we found a mouse nest. We both glaced at it and made a "oh look a nest" comment and moved on. Ian however decided to look a little closer and he found the nest filled with babies! We had the mother mouse totally freaked out and it caused her to mover her babies to another location. We got the whole thing on video. It was pretty cool to watch. What amazed both Dean and I, was how quickly she got over the instinct to run and instead focused on the instinct to save her babies. It was pretty interesting to watch.





Here is the second nest we found. This one was hidden under some old firewood. This mouse didnt have as far to go to move her babies. There were actually two mice coming and going from this nest, although only one is actually moving the babies. One of the babies was left behind for some reason.

***OKay I tried to load the 2nd video for 2 hours tonight. It isnt working. I will try again tomorrow!*****


After this we found a squirmy nest of some nasty little bug. I took a video but it didnt turn out all that great. Then we found a big frog inside some black plastic wrap. The morning started out with seeing a cream and black snake in a friends driveway and ended with seeing a jack rabbit in the same driveway. Overall it was an interesting day filled with animals of all sorts. The kids were in heaven and we had a fun time seeing all these different critters.

Sunday Snapshots: Shoshone Falls

We skipped out of church today. I know tsk tsk. It was such a beautiful day and the kids were capital O ornery (we were travelling all day yesterday). Upon seeing the sun I had the need to go hiking. Have you ever tried to find a hiking trail in the desert? Let me tell you it isnt easy considering there aren't any mountains around. The closest ones are 2 hours away. Sooooo instead we headed to the park and Shoshone Falls. We had a great time.

The kids we thrilled to be "hiking" up this small dirt trail that lead to a large rock. The slid down and covered themselves in dirt.

The Perrine Bridge.

Shoshone Falls. The falls weren't that full today. They are breathtaking when they are totally full.

Checking a little run off stream.

Ian found a stick and a peice of rope. Viola, a fishing pole is born!

Caitlin used her stick to flig smooshy stuff everywhere and to find snakes.

Yummy! My hunk a burnin' love!

Run off

Cool squishy green moss. I love moss. I wish I could have a moss collection....but it would die here in my desert back yard. So sad.

Cool washed up seed pods from the huge trees in Shoshone Falls park.

Hope everyone had a splendid Sunday!