Getting Prickley

Every day I've taken a container and visited the raspberry and the black cap patch. This brings me back to my childhood. Every summer , I'd grab a pail and bike to my "secret locations" , one being down the railroad tracks , the other farther away, a trail along the canal and pick wild berries. I was also the "designated picker" for the family raspberry patch. Every summer, my arms and legs would get get so scratched up and my fingers were stained from berry juices. 40 yeas later and nothing much has changed except that I no longer bike to find berries.

I spent a very pleasant day yesterday in the garden. It was cool and an occasional light breeze. the sky was blue with a spatular base of clouds. The mosquitoes were not biting. I did lots of weeding in the kitchen garden. The peppers and eggplants really needed it. I noticed some little two inch bell peppers. My only hot pepper is putting out 5 nice peppers.

I then moved on to the three carrot beds and pulled little weeds. The soil was perfect for weeding soft and not to wet, not to dry. After the carrots I tackled the 4 rows of bush beans. I found various sticks which I inserted into the sides of the bed so that the runners could climb up. Even though they are not labeled "Pole Beans" these can grow quite high. since the backside of the bean bed runs up against the weedy raspberry patch, I also pulled the big weeds such as dock and comfrey and attacked some of the berry canes with the loppers.

Then I weeded around the squash, parsley and corn and some of the potatoes. All of the weeds that I pulled will be added to the compost pile.

We killed a woodchuck the other day. He (she) kept eluding the have a hearty trap and was getting fatter on the neighborhood veggie gardens. Danny got him with the 22. dan friend Will was staying with us for a few days and he wanted to try "woodchuck" meat so we helped him have a go at it. he gutted and skinned the critter. washed it well with the garden hose. I then did a better washing in the kitchen sink, then since in was already after cpm, put the carcass in a large glass bowl with cold water and a handful of the salt. This was popped into the fridge overnight. Much to the relief of my children, Will had to go home the next morning, taking his woodchuck with him.

These beautiful lilies are in bloom.