~ I've been busy as the ..................................

bumble bees !

Trellising the Roma tomatoes .................

pulling weeds from around the green beans and peppers.


Training cucumbers to run up the corn stalks.


Enjoying the early morning beauty .................

Watching the bumble bees pollinate the cucumbers.

Gathering basil , chives and garlic to make herbal vinegar.

Thank-you Millie , for mentioning your favorite flavor ,

just had to try it.

Gathering wild herbs and the daily garden harvest ........

Watching the sunflowers grow ...................

and enjoying some playtime too !

What have you been enjoying ?

~ Peaceful Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Wild .................................

I've been really busy the last couple of days. I was going to do a garden update , but my batteries are dead in my camera. So I was looking back through my picture files to see if there was something I would like to share and found this drawing I did the drawing earlier in the Spring. It features chickweed , dandelion , echinacea , plantain and white pine. These are a few of my herbal allies and the drawing is called " Wild Herbs ". I've been gathering plantain (Plantago major ) to infuse in oil , I'll be making plantain salve in a few weeks. Plantain is a wonderful herb with many healing properties , it's great for bug bites and bee stings. You can read more info about here .................................................................

~ http://www.altnature.com/gallery/plantain.htm ~

Plantain is a safe herb to use , but make sure you have a positive i.d. of the plant before using.

Disclaimer - These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. The information on this web site is not intended to prevent, diagnose, treat, or cure any disease.

~ Happy Herbal Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Nanaaaa's in the Garden again ..................

that leaves us to entertain you ..............

Nanaaa is always bringing boards , cinder blocks , rocks

and old tires for us to climb on .......................

and boy are they fun , guess she loves us.

Don't forget to head over and check out the " Lucky Goat Giveaway " , you still have time and you don't need a goat to enter. Although it's a goat supply company , they have other items you might enjoy. There's lots of wonderful books available , so check-out " Hoegger Supply " and see if you might be interested. The giveaway is listed on Nanaaa's sidebar , so click on that pretty goat and you'll find the link.

Mother Moon's giveaway is still open too and she's giving away jam , that would be a yummy win. Her giveaway is also listed on the sidebar , so head on over and check it out.

Nanaaaa will be back tomorrow with more of her boring garden stories , you could tell her you would rather hear about us ( smile ).

~ Nanny Blessings ~
Jazzlyn and Joyelle
aka
Jazz and Jo

Cucumbers aren't just for dinner anymore ..............

Little Froggy and I headed out early Saturday morning to feed the chickens and goats. We also checked the garden and there were several cucumbers that needed picking , so I picked and he put them in the basket. He was so proud of our harvest , even though the basket was a little heavy , he toted it all way back to the house.

Once we were in the house , he held up a cucumber and said " eat ". I peeled him a cucumber and put him a little ranch dressing on the side and he ate it for breakfast , but he also wanted a bowl of cereal after his breakfast appetizer (LOL).


I tried making the blackberry/red clover yesterday and failed again , let it cook to long (sigh). But I haven't give up yet , so I harvested more red clover this morning. I'll infuse the clover tonight and try again tomorrow , this time I'm going to use the " Ball Blue Book " method. I made the lemon balm / tarragon vinegar and it's infusing on the window sill.

This was yesterday's harvest , we finally harvested some descent looking zucchini. The first 3 or 4 zucchini turned yellow at about 3 inches long , it's been so hot and dry here. I've been watering them a little and they're doing better now. Hopefully we will get some rain this week , storms are fore casted for today. I made a salad with the leaf lettuce , mixed it with some iceberg lettuce and cucumbers for supper last night , it sure was good. What a joy to have all these fresh veggies to munch on.

How was your weekend ?

~ Garden Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

We should be as Water ,

which is lower than all things yet stronger even than the rocks.

(Oglala Sioux )

Please say a Prayer today for our polluted Waters !!

Pray for clean , clear water everywhere !

Pray for strength to change our damage !

Please Pray !!

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

A Goat's View of Eden Hills: Millionaire Goat & Giveaway

Have you met Millie ? If you haven't , now is the time to head over to .. A Goat's View of Eden Hills: Millionaire Goat & Giveaway and visit her , she's having a giveaway. So blop on over and say " Hi " to Millie , you're going to love her.

~ Nanny Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Our First Garden Harvest ....................................

This morning I harvested a few cucumbers and peppers from the garden.

Later I gathered red clover and a handful of blackberries. I've decided I'm going to make a blackberry/red clover syrup tomorrow. It's been a bad season for the blackberries , just to hot and dry. I don't have enough berries to make jelly and they're kind of seedy , so I'm going to squeeze them for juice and use it for the syrup. I also gathered some lemon balm and tarragon , plan to make herbal vinegar with that combination. The basil and oregano will be added to my canned spaghetti sauce to give it a fresh garden taste.

Last night I captured this photo of Geronimo keeping watch over his girls before they came in to roost.
He looks mighty proud !

There's a garden bed in that mess somewhere (LOL). This is my asparagus and strawberry bed , didn't get it moved and replanted this Spring as planned , so it'll have to wait until Fall. Dh talked me into using dirt he add dug up in the woods and this what we got , lots of weeds. I'll be using compost in it when we get it moved.

I decided to put a pair of gloves under the shed at the chicken coop , so I'll have them when I decide to grab the hoe again , hopefully it'll save my fingers from another nasty blister. I've got at least a half dozen pairs of gloves if not more , so I shouldn't be having sore fingers (LOL). After looking at them hanging there , I think I'll put them in a plastic bag so no spiders can make a home in them (LOL).


What have you been up to today ?

~ Garden Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Red Clover Syrup ~

I've been wanting to make red clover syrup for awhile now , so yesterday I got busy. I found the recipe at Prodigal Gardens , there are some great herbal recipes at her website. I made my red clover infusion one day last week and had it in the refrigerator , so I put it in the pot , added the sugar and brought it to a boil , adjusted the heat and let it cook down . I had it boiled down to the perfect consistency when the phone rung. I turned the heat off while I was talking to my sister and left it sitting on the stove. When I came back later to pour it into a jar , it was like a thick caramel candy instead of syrup. Guess , I'm going to try another batch later this week , not sure what I'll use that thick gooey stuff for , any ideas ? I might try to make fly tape for the goat and chicken house , think it would work (LOL) ?

~ Happy Herbal Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

~ Guineas are Earning their Keep ~

Those quirky guineas have been working hard around the farmette .....

they've been busy trying to keep the Japanese Beetles out of the garden and so far , they've did a great job.

Dh and a friend was walking across the field last week and saw this little snake , the guineas had pecked it to death. I've heard that they would kill a snake but this is the first time we've seen proof.

~ Peaceful Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

* ~ The Holiday Weekend ~ *

I spent most of the day Saturday working in the garden. Saturday morning I pulled weeds and chopped for almost 2 hours. I forgot my gloves and ended up with a nasty blister from the hoe. Then Saturday afternoon DH ran the tiller down the middle of the rows and I pulled more weeds. The garden looks fairly well , but we need rain. Hopefully we'll get some this week.

Ouchhh .......................................................... !

We went to my Mom's on the 4th , it was great to see family , friends and enjoy some good food together. Although I didn't see any fireworks this year , I did see a glorious sunset and that was the perfect show for me. Hope you all had a great holiday weekend !

~ Many Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

* Nature's Beauty and Wonder *

Can you see me ?

~ Green Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

Happy 4th of July ..............................................

May Your Day be Blessed !!

JoyceAnn

~ ~ ~ A Little Summer Fun ~ ~ ~

~ Peaceful Blessings ~

JoyceAnn

My , How the Garden Grows ..............................

and so do the weeds.

A storm rolled in Tuesday evening and the weather has been so nice since , so I've been busy in gardens. I pulled all the parsley and weeds out of the herb bed , then I weeded around the rocks.

The leaf lettuce has really grown and the " Tommy Toe Tomato " has bloomed.


Weeds , weeds and more weeds !


I pulled all the broccoli and cabbage plants out of this bed. The heat and worms won this battle , although the chickens and the compost bin will benefit from the leaves and stems. Now I can plant something else here , it'll probably be more squash and cucumbers.

Ms. Crew didn't fare so well in the storm , so I had to stand her back up , she's a little dirty. She's named after my 1st grade teacher , she was mean and pretty scary to me . I haven't seen any deer near the garden since she's been standing guard. Her basket has used soap bars in it to add scent.

I weeded the cucumbers , added mulch and the cages , they're full of blooms.

The zucchini squash and yellow squash are blooming ...............

and they've have really grown in the last week.

These are baby roma tomatoes , they've been weeded and dirt pulled up around them.

We have banana peppers ............

Cayenne peppers ......................

and " Sweet Wonder " bell peppers growing.
I've still got to weed all those peppers , the homestead tomatoes , greenbeans and the corn. I sure hope this weather hangs around for a few more days.

The chickens sure did enjoy all those weeds for brunch (LOL).

How does your garden grow ?

~ Garden Blessings ~

JoyceAnn