Reclaimed Wood Tool (Or Whatever You Like) Caddy

The flowers are starting to bloom here and we LOVE it!

We cut a few blooms to add to Steve's beautiful new...

reclaimed wood tool or whatever you like caddy! Check it out - incredible! It will be a miracle if we ever have anything to sell since Jennifer must keep everything he makes.

A Summertime Kitchen...

It's feeling like summer around here with the daily garden harvests and it never fails to excite and amaze us. We grew all this, at hardly any cost and it is incredibly fresh, nutrient dense and chemical free. Awesome!

Garlic scapes and sugarsnap peas:

Rhubarb:

Chard:

Any everything but the rhubarb ended up on a delicious homemade pizza. This is the life!

Goldenrod Hooded Owlet (Cucullia asteroides)

We spotted this awesomely camouflaged moth on one of our squash stakes. We noticed an odd bump on the stick, looked a bit closer and realized we were looking at a moth. What a perfect spot to land! How did this moth know??

The obvious reddish brown blotches seems to be one of the key characteristics separating this species: the Goldenrod Hooded Owlet (Cucullia asteroides) from the Gray Hooded Owlet (Cucullia florea).

This moth is also known as the Asteroid. Check out a picture of the caterpillar here. It's incredibly colorful relative to the adult. That makes sense since its host plants are goldenrod and asters.

Happy Summer Solstice!

Hilling Potatoes with Straw

This year we decided to hill our potatoes with straw. It's a lot less work and we've read some great success stories with this method. Our hopes are high!

The potatoes are almost in full flower now. With the awesome rain last night and today our plants should set some great tubers.

Growing our own potatoes is super important to us since A - they are yummy and B - they are one of the worst conventionally grown crops for our health. Here's the scoop:

"The problem: Root vegetables absorb herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides that wind up in soil. In the case of potatoes–the nation’s most popular vegetable–they’re treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides to kill off the fibrous vines before harvesting. After they’re dug up, the potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting. The farm director of the Rodale Institute said, “I’ve talked with potato growers who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals.”

Taproot Magazine & Gardening for Wildlife

A while back we stumbled across an inspiring, thoughtful magazine called Taproot. It's not a magazine you flip through, set it aside and never return to. Rather, it's one filled with deeply meaningful and passionate stories and essays on living a more connected life. We encourage everyone to check it out and see if it doesn't inspire you or connect you in some new way.

The current issue's theme is SEED - something quite important to us so Jennifer wrote an article on one of our favorite topics, Gardening for Wildlife and it was included. Yay!

Nature Stuff is So Cool! (Early Summer Sightings)

Here's a little Monday morning inspiration for us all!

Butterweed (Packera glabella):

Green Woodlands (They make our hearts SO happy!):

Wild Geranium (Geranium maculatum) with tiny little pollinators feeding:

Canadian Owlet Caterpillar on Meadow Rue (Thalictrum sp.):

Dark-spotted Palthis Moth:

Copper Underwing Caterpillar:

What happens when Jennifer Leaves for a Day (Grape Fence!)

Steve is a work maniac. He accomplishes so much in such a small amount of time it's astounding really. And, he always works to scrounge materials first. This boy's a gem!

Here's our new grape fencing he built in a day while I worked at my sister's new fixer upper homestead. (Can you tell we are kin?!)