That time of year

Yes, it is that time of year.  The time when the robin's are hatching in my burr oak tree.  The time when the passion flower is twining up the fence.  The time when you must remember sunblock and insect repellent every time that you go outside.  That time of year when the bees are buzzing and hummingbirds humming.  When you are glad for air conditioning.  And yes, it is the time of year for extra work.

You guessed it! We are up to our ears in hay! Well, maybe not the ears. But anyway, the Lord has blessed us
with an unusually abundant crop of hay.  Thank you, God! My farmer husband can be seen there in the distance on the tractor with the baler behind.
Now, you must remember, I am the farmer's wife. That does not mean that I grew up on a farm nor that I really know much at all about farming. I am in the life's school of learning.  Every day I learn more about farm life.  Like the fact that the saying 'make hay while the sun shines' doesn't really apply to us.  Cause we just keep on after the sun goes down.
Anyway, I am not very, ahem... stout...when it comes to picking up a bale of hay.  So my job was...

Yep, driving the obstacle course.  Keeping the truck (which I can barely see the front end of) between the bales of hay.  Going fast enough to keep up with the men, but not running off and leaving them.  Oh yes, and watching for my two little children who ran along, dancing beside the truck.  Talk about nerve wracking! It got better after I put them to bed and came back out to drive some more.  We gathered the hay from the field, (or should I say that 'they' gathered it) then carefully drove to the barn.  I say carefully because there was always at least one bale that was teetering on the tiptop, ready to fall off.

                                                                 And some did fall!
Then when we got to the barn, that was my signal to take a nap! Shhh! don't tell anyone!
They started sending the hay up to the loft where one of them would stack it up there.

We repeated this process over and over and over..... until about midnight last night! Told you we didn't stop when the sun did! That was a long night for me.  I can only imagine how it was for the poor guys pickin' the stuff up. 

                                                                 Break time for my sweet farmer!

We always have plenty to do this time of year. Always planning ahead for the fall and winter.  Right now I am drying strawberries to keep for the winter.  Yum!! If you have dried strawberries and throw them in a white cake mix... the cake will taste like it has fresh strawberries in it!  OH MY!! Makes me want some right now!
Our apricots will be coming off any time now.  Oh yes, and the sugar peas... Well, the few that we have. There aren't very many of them, but if you pick a few and toss in your salad it makes a very sweet little crunchy.  We haven't even gotten a pint of the little treasures, but they have been yummy.  I guess we won't be expecting too many out of 6 plants.  But it is a nice treat. 
I weeded the garden this morning.  Well, my style of weeding.  With the weed eater!
Hey! I don't have the time for the real weeding and those plants look awfully happy anyway.  Don't you think so?

They are just stretching right up and dancing in the sunshine! I don't reckon they actually have legs and feet on which to dance, but they could sure fool me!
Tomatoes, corn, beets, peas, lettuce and a bumper crop of marigolds left over from last year.  More on the marigolds in a minute. 
Just look at that corn! Already up past my knees!  I love it.

Ok, about the marigolds.  Last year I planted six marigolds along the edge of the garden.  Supposed to keep the buggies away, right?   In the early spring, my precious farmer tills the garden, like any normal farmer would.  When plants start pushing through the dirt, I see hundreds, yea, thousands of little identical plants all over the garden.  Hmmm.... thinks I.... what could this be that loves my garden spot and has come to live its blessing out on this little plot?  I pinch off a bit and oh my, the nose knows! I had thousands of the little marigolds popping up in my garden.  Now, a few is fine, fifteen maybe, fifty is too many, a hundred is overboard, but this..... my words fail me!  I pulled up bunches of them and got them down to maybe a hundred, then fifty, then twenty, then gave up!  They started blooming and that is when I just almost fell head over hills in love with them. Beautiful doesn't describe it.  Vibrant, glowing is more like it! Why in the world can I not look at a flower without loving it ?  Well, this morning, though it almost brought sadness (not quite), I weed-eated down about 10 of them.  Couldn't bring myself to cut them all down! If next year you see me on the side of the road with a trailer load of baby marigolds in little pots, well you will know.  They reproduced a hundred fold.  Again!

                      This is only a corner of the glowing garden that you can find at the OL' FARMHOUSE.

Well, I will be pulling beets soon.  Pickling them if there are enough.  And the work goes on, but that is the blessing of living on the farm in the OL' Farmhouse!

Have a blessed week!  Until next time.....