August – The Longest Month

Wild Turkey mama and her four babies. We see them most every day around the farm.

Kenny, doing his best to show Richie (the smaller one in the back) how its done. Do you have a raspberry for me? I’d like a raspberry please. American Blackbelly sheep.

Manimal Soap. Made with lard, tallow, coconut oil and BEAR fat. Ready in about a month.

Kirby, who want to play, ALL THE TIME. Sometimes its hard to type for the paw coming around the screen. But he’s dang cute and he knows it.

Dianthus, that I started from seed in 2011, and then transplanted to Walla Walla from Spokane. It’s since spread, and weirdly, blooms in the heat of summer. I LOVE the color.

The two remaining turkey babies are going strong. I think, but am not sure yet, that we have one male and one female. Sadly, we did lose our gray slate bird to a predator. She had a nest out in the tall grass by the garden and something got her. But these guys are doing well (and stay in the coop at night).

Queen Anne’s Lace, ie. wild carrot. Can you see where she pricked her finger?

One of the support poles for the three Willamette hop plants. Needless to say, the plants are HUGE and we’re hoping we don’t lose this support before we can harvest in a month or so.

I got seeds for this morning glory from my friend Rachel in Durango. They reseed like crazy. But I love them, so I let them.

Was gonna have a spectacular grape harvest this year, and make jam for sale at market. And then the starlings descended. These are all gone. I’ll need to net it next year. The starlings also wiped out my entire Santa Rosa plum crop. It’s been a weirdly destructive bird year. They’ve been in my tomatoes too.

Blacktail Mountain Watermelon. Ready in 70 days from transplant, which is crazy short. We ate the first one (and sold some at market) just last week. Wonderful! I just love the play of shadow on this one.

Hannah’s Choice Cantaloupe. Seriously one of the best you will ever eat.

Squash bugs? Squash vine borer? Gopher? Hard to say, but this one was a gonner. Thanksfully, there are several more still doing well.

The glorious winter squash row, BEFORE the squash bugs got the upper hand. I won’t be planting winter squash next year. I’m done trying to fight these buggers with organic controls. They win. We’ll take a year off and hopefully cut the numbers. I’ll still have some harvest this year, but not nearly what I should have.

I love when bees do this. Sometimes they seem to fall asleep in there, drunk on pollen.

One of about 20 sunflower pictures taken this summer, cause I don’t have enough already.

I grow Calendula because I use it in some of my soaps (its great for the skin). But I grow this variety, called Flashback, because I think its just stunning. The flowers seem to change color each time you look at them.

And yet another sunflower picture.

Poblano peppers (called Ancho when dried). They are tall leggy plants. One of my favorites for homemade chili powder.

The cabbage did very well this year. This is Gonzales. I like it because its early, and the heads are only 3 to 4 lbs.

My first men’s face soap. I’ve had this one in my head for several years. Scented with lime/patchouli and colored with activated charcoal.

All the onions have been harvested. These are Copra, which I grow as a storage onion for us.

Morning Glories now in the garden too.

The first eating apples harvested on our place. Gravenstein. My husband made the MOST amazing pie with these, even though they are more of a sauce or juice apple.