I love ladybugs + Biggie farm photos

More farm photos coming soon - took extensive plant details, maybe I can post them in an online photo album and link to that... Here are a couple views of the field to start:

Red table grapes still tiny green...

Here are the little grapes outside the bathroom window on the east, still tiny and growing every day.

Grapes engulf the north !

From the moment we landed and happily pushed our way through the blackberries and bamboo along the north side of our house while exploring, the old vine quietly sensed he had us.

Oh wow! I run into an old hard branch of, and quickly discover, the massive gnarly old grape vine right outside our bed room door. We are both mesmerized.

Right then, he knew he was right. He knew he had us. He knew it was time to slowly, but thoroughly, take over the north side of the house. From east to west and amassing over the roof towards the south.

I think his ally is this beautiful red rose that has steadily grown up out of the vast Saskatoon berry tree outside our bedroom window. The second rose has just come on. Reminding me of my Grama, who loved roses and died on Valentine's Day ten years ago. I've never lived anywhere with roses growing out my window.

Lemon Balm hanging to dry

The Puff and The Leg Lamp guard the Lemon Balm.

All the tea and culinary grade herbs have been going in the dehydrator or warm oven, but the massive lemon balm harvest from Biggie is hanging to dry with the lavender and hopefully will go into soap or some other concoction eventually. It has a much more floral, pleasantly perfumed smell dry, versus the more tactile lemon scent when it's fresh.

Bouquet I put together for today's route:

The harvest and delivery days continue. They are long days, but I do really like harvesting flowers and making bouquets, too and it is inspiring for us to work with and talk to Carlos in the early morning. The customers who order flowers are mainly regulars every week. It's pretty neat to see how the flowers that are ready change weekly through the seasons. Grown with years of good compost.

Pear tree in front of our house

Rainy day harvest for Pumpkin Ridge Gardens

This morning was our second harvest with Carlos for Pumpkin Ridge with some very welcome rain. The family is on vacation for a couple of weeks. Carlos rocks, he is great to work with, very pure energy, sharp with the numbers/baskets and best ways to harvest, wash and prep and he's funny.

It was nice after so much sun and dryness, to be out in the rain. In the stillness of the early morning, digging carrots and sorting them in piles of ten for a total of 580+ Many delicious yellow and green zucchinis and patty pans (the yellow color is so helpful for picking in those giant squash leaves). Beets, potatoes, scallions, onions, garlic. Enormous rainbow chard leaves and kale - both growing in the greenhouse to tropical proportions and basil.

I've been checking weather on weather underground, but I'm not sure they're the most accurate. It showed a very slight chance yesterday and did not show it was indeed actually raining from 3:30am on through the day, just cloudy and a 20% chance, while it was raining. We got a better tip last night from our friend Courtney's husband, Michael who was on Mt. Hood with good weather sources... and he was right. She's guiding a trip in Yosemite and hopefully they will visit us soon while they are up around here.

So I'm going to compare NOAA and see if there's a strong difference. Any other good sources?

(Pink Bee Balm, Goldilocks Rudbeckia, Red Crocosmia... flowers look especially vibrant on a rainy day to me. Harvesting and making bouquets for customers while Polly is away, too).

Lavender Anna

Went to the Lavender Festival with Anna yesterday. There are three lavender farms within 7 miles of us and a lot more in Yamhill County that we weren't able to make it to.

I found Anna at the one behind this pretty old church. It has a nice farmhouse with a breezeway, recently bought by a lawyer... I think the neighboring farm helps take care of the plants and the festival set up. A number of interesting old timers selling lavender lemonade (so delicious) and other treats, directing parking, saying hello. Anna is an awesome photographer and I know she took a lot of really great photos, but in the meantime I like this one of her getting ready to document the field.

The Ladies move into their Bamboo Pirate Chickie Raft

Lucky chicks set sail on 7/7/7 ! Very smooth transition, they were all thrilled to be outside and immediately foraging, so it seems that giving them patios and feeding them lots of greens (and some chick grit to digest it) worked well. It's great to watch them fly and run around with more space. And now we non-feathereds have our little office and sun room/workshop back and the furries have a newly appreciated full reign of the indoors.