Back in March, I went on a planting spree. 

 Tomato Purse!  

(6 pack with a carrying handle)

 Beware of mint.  It has delusions of grandeur.

 When I finished the planting spree, I had 5 tomatoes planted.

 Front Yard Fungi

 The balcony as of a few weeks ago.  7 tomatoes, 8 strawberries, 11 pole beans, 20 + squash and cucumbers in 4 inch pots, and herbs.

 The herb corner in the community garden.

 Peas

The whole jungle of a garden.

Garden Day

Today, I went to play in my garden and took my camera along.

 My favorite heirloom bean: Rattlesnake.

 Best part about rattlesnakes is that the pattern on the bean differentiates it from the stem.  Most beans blend with the stem color which makes them harder to find.  Although, I still miss finding them even with the pattern! 

 My cilantro grew nice and big earlier in the summer.  I came out one night to cut it for dinner only to find that something had been nibbling on it.  I'm going with rabbits here since deer aren't usually in the residential areas.  Both plants were nibbled back over two days.  When the cilantro grew back it started to bolt.  I left them since I think the flowers are rather beautiful.  The flowers have larger white edge petals.  The centers are trimmed with pink.  They work as cut flowers but smell like cilantro.

So far I've lost 4 different plants to gophers.  The gophers have breached the chicken wire under the plot.  Plants lost: 1 tomato, 1 nasturtium 1 cilantro, 1 cucumber.  

I'm taking bets on what plant will disappear next!

 The tunnels are collapsing but I don't have a clear entry point to work with.  I'm curious if planting poisonous plants like poison hemlock or oleander around a garden would do anything to deter gophers.  When I first started my garden plot, there was a large poison hemlock plant in the center and no gopher trouble.  The hemlock died and was taken out.  Now I have gophers...  Of course, I may just have the five star plant buffet or the gophers took advantage of our wet spring to go forth and multiply.  Who knows?  :)

Things that make me smile....

Nature's Artistry

A Cat in the Box

Tiny Flowers

Cute Visitors at Work

Finding the Unexpected

Something I Call "Fire Bush"

"Sticky Monkey Flower"
Mimulus aurantiacus

Lupinus arboreus?

BEANie Babies

The Little Garden Plot

Tree Hugs

Tree wrinkles

Clarity

New "Tools" at Work

Fun Colors

Finished Projects

Watching my brother try something new... And rocking it!

Post 50!

So for having this blog for three years, this is only my 50th post... Can you say slacker? ;)

Then again, my motivation to post has increased over the last year since this is a great medium for sharing my life with family and friends.

I'm sitting on the floor, looking at clouds rolling overhead. It looks like a time lapse video; they're moving so fast! I should be working on a paper for tomorrow but it's halfway finished and I've been called in to work.

My hawk buddy was back outside my window, yesterday. A hawk looks a lot like a scrawny chicken when he/she stretches up to get a better look at something. I think it's the legs... I love it when the hawk hunts outside. It reminds me too look up, and usually I grab my camera to take pictures.

Currently my camera is out of commission until I find my batteries. I have a pack of AA somewhere in my room, but with finals week my room isn't the best place to find anything. It looks like Miss Messy moved in. This is not ok. I don't like Miss Messy and she will not be staying long. Part of the problem is that my garden moved inside since the exterior of the building is being painted and there's a lot of clutter from that. Paper, my worst enemy has taken over. I started the semester with neat files for every subject. Now, I have neat piles for every subject. So much for a campus move towards sustainability and reduced paper usage. At least filing will be easy. I just have one paper and I'm done for the semester!

Week in review

Freedom. It's a wonderful feeling. I was tied to my computer for about a week trying desperately to finish my papers in time. I saw way too many 1 am mornings for my liking. The historical literature review was due on Friday. The public policy outline was due Tuesday morning. Both made it in on time and pretty much complete. The outline was ~ 19 pages without the reference pages before I double spaced it. I think it was the longest document I've completed but I still have to put it into paragraph form and present my policy to the class. I'm taking eighteen units, all upper division. I didn't think that 18 units would be that much different than 17 units last semester but I was wrong. I was so panicky last Tuesday and Wednesday trying to get started on the papers. I honestly don't know how it all was finished. It was a definite God thing. I appreciated the prayers of family and friends; thank you.

My history class last night was let out early with instructions to spend a half hour outside. I took my reading for the week and sat out behind the library. There's an odd dichotomy behind the library of nature and progress. We don't have a lot of manicured lawn here because of burrowing creatures. The main quad, the campus center and behind the library are the few places with lawn. I sat on the edge of the manicured landscape looking out into the meadow and realized there is a beautiful view. Clouds rolled overhead, yet I could see sunlight in the distance behind them.

Sometimes being on campus is a bit like the Wild America tapes we used to watch when I was little. Spotting a coyote hunting behind the greenhouses, watching hawks hunt, finding a frog during an Easter egg hunt, cottontail rabbits hopping across your path. I never know what to expect.