The Mountain Thymes

Oodles and oodles of rain!  Day after day of dreary drizzle or pouring rain.  We want to sift more garden clay but the clay is so wet it's clumping.  Put in Dragon's Egg cucumber seeds a few days ago when I found a short period with no showers.  Eighteen of the twenty potato plants are up and thriving.  Sugar snap peas are sending out tendrils to climb their fence.  As soon as they open  their sweet lavender blossoms, the deer will visit the garden. Last year I bought an Earth Minded rain barrel but we didn't get it hooked up because we weren't sure how to do what we needed to do for our "gentle sloping" back yard.  Yesterday we visited Home Depot and were told what we needed and how to set it up. This is just the preliminary set up.  We still need to level the ground and steady the barrel but Cliff needed to see how the pipes would connect and where they would require support. Right now the PVC's are resting on my garden chair, an u...

We saw our first male hummingbird on April 8.  I put three feeders out before we went to Charleston so if any travelers dropped by there would be an energy stop for them.  We anxiously await their return each April. Last year when Lauria, Jim, five children, and a dog visited us, Hayden spotted a huge wasp nest under the porch.  Grant and Lauria got stung before Cliff destroyed it.  Wasps build in the early spring so a few weeks ago, after seeing an advertisement for a "waspinator", I made one. I read online that once a nest is in place, no other wasps will build near it.  Wasps are territorial.  It must be true.  I read it on the internet.  We'll see if it works.  If it does, I'll sell them at the farmers market.  The market started up the first week in April but I didn't have my paperwork in so I'll probably set up next weekend.  I've been sewing all winter and now have my new hat rack to bring  attention to my booth. ...

Deepest regrets and apologies to number two child.  A very belated Happy Birthday on April Fool's Day.  Silly me!  I was on my way to the beach and forgot to post her special day.  Lauria with her new coffee pot.  No, not a gift from me......... from her family.  I did remember to send her a card and I did text her on our way to Charleston that morning.  Blame it on my aging brain.  Everyone should have a daughter this wonderful!

Last night the temperature dropped to upper twenties, hopefully for the last time.  We spend the afternoon raking and blowing leaves and preparing one of the raised beds in the garden for leafy vegetables.  Barb lent us her sifter that her grandfather made many years ago. What a huge difference after sifting and getting rid of the rocks.  I was able to plant  two kinds of lettuce, Swiss chard, tatsoi, spinach, and kale.  We're due for rain in the early morning hours so I got this bed planted just in time. I've had hummingbird feeders out for a week now but no sign of any.  Travelers could have hit the feeders and moved on.  Any day ours will arrive. They've been sighted in Blairsville, GA only about 30 minutes south of us. We spent three days in Charleston, SC this past week enjoying the sights and the weather.  On this trip we walked the beach and watched people fish from the pier on Folly Beach.       ...