Tenacious

Hello, friends.  The last tenacious bloom of the Mother's Day orchids is still hanging on, which arrived almost 12 weeks ago.  Talk about a gift that keeps on giving!  It recently occurred to me that I've been sharing lots of challenges here, related to the garden, which may lead you to believe I walk around in a blue funk.  I wanted to let you know that wasn't the case.  Just trying to keep things real.  Sure, life and gardens have their challenges, but the vast majority of it is small stuff in the end.  I just sigh, take some deep breaths, and keep on keeping on.  Two quotes I read this week seemed to speak to that.  The first, from Craig Lehoullier, aka NC's Tomato Man:  "Having been a gardener for 40 years, I think it's really important to make it clear that there is no perfect garden, there is no perfect season.  We just have things we deal with.  But, by and large, if we do the right things, things come out pretty well."  The second quote is from  heritageacreshomesteadchas on IG: "Gardening is hard.  It's definitely NOT the easy road.  It's sweat, triumphs, tears, frustration, elation, hope... it's every emotion and all kinds of work rolled into one.  You can only do so much though.  It could be a rainy season, droughts, unexpected frost, hail, pests, you are at the mercy of the weather so much.  And sometimes no matter what you do, the pests destroy. But never in all my years of gardening have I not been taught a lesson...  And sometimes maybe the lesson is to not give up....".  

With temps in the 90's, some blinds were opened only enough to allow in a little light much of last week.  Thankfully, temps are cooling off for the foreseeable future.  I know it's not a good photo, but the sculpture of the woman holding a bird is precious to me, as it was a gift from my Mom.  It's fairly common for me to find deer or wild turkeys in the field, when we're on our evening walk.  Last week, there was an evening when I was surprised to see three deer and a couple of wild turkeys grazing together.  Perhaps a good lesson in harmony, despite their differences.  We recently found out our friend M had passed away, under Hospice care.  He definitely lived hard.  I hope he is at peace now.  His brother is planning a gathering to remember him.  I harvested cucumbers, basil, tomatoes, lemon verbena, stevia, and elderberries.  There wasn't much of any of them, but I'm thankful for it all.  While I was taking the elderberries from the stem, I found I had brought along this young being, so brought her back to where I had been gathering.  

Plants were fed with blended banana and aloe bits, and others were mulched using permaculture methods.  Some with grass clippings, and others with chop and drop or already downed limbs, after being reinspired by a David The Good's video.  I hung laundry on the line, composted the fruit and veggie scraps that didn't get added to the broth bag or given to the chickens, and shredded paper to use in the chicken coop.  Warm up water and dehumidifier water were saved for flushing.  I followed a link where someone mentioned receiving free Breathe Right nasal strips, which J uses on occasion, and they're supposed to be on their way.  The epoxy repair used to mend my muck boots lasted several days.  In the meantime, I bought more Shoe Goo, and since mended them with it.  Food Lion had good sized seedless watermelons for $2.99, so I bought two.  Dollar Tree had 2X2 gauze, so I got some to replace what I've been using on Guinness, who somehow scraped skin off his "ankle", likely around the back of the shop/skoolie build on some metal.

The pups were given baths in the outdoor shower.  J & I put twine on the trellises for the tromboncino and lima beans to climb up.  Knowing I wouldn't choose white flowers, I  assumed the dahlias I mentioned last week must not have been labelled.  While cleaning up photo files, and seeing one of the dahlia bags, I realized they were both supposed to be pink.  One of them, Star Elite, should have been pink and yellow.  The other was two toned pink, though the name is covered in the photo.  Oh well, I guess I can't expect much more from a Dollar Tree purchase.  Isn't life and gardening always full of surprises?!  Have a great week, friends.