BREAKING WORLD NEWS! VERY IMPORTANT!

Peaches are ripening up the road by a neighbor’s house and she is kind enough to share them even though I never asked! My own peaches are in their third year and I’m unsure when they will fruit but letting them take their time growing. The new pits will go to more trees. This year and last are the first that peaches have had good crops in this valley, but it seems that the climate is more suited to them now and they are quite happy here.

What is your “Breaking news” story?

We have a decorative pond with waterplants, happy frogs that just came out of nowhere and 5 Sarasa fish that we bought.
This morning as I was watching all the liveliness and beauty of the pond, I suddenly saw tiny Sarasa-fish babies!
It really made me happy, and it was such breaking world news that I had to shout about it to my beloved partner, " Come, look!!!"

One of my dragons is flowering!

No sleep for me tonight if I want to see it in its full glory...

update - 2 am this morning...



It sure is one impressive flower!

It flowered last year but there was pretty much no pollen left on it by morning and I wasn't sure if it had managed to get any pollen where it needed to be. It never set fruit anyway. So this year I thought I'd give it a bit of a hand, though I have no idea if this variety is self-fertile.

Picking up the pollen - this is probably the most artistic thing I'll ever do with a brush...



Pollen transferred!



Now we just have to wait and see...

This week we made jambalaya in a presto instant pot. It was awesome. Definitely newsworthy. Highly recommend instant pots and definitely recommend jambalaya.

Fast forward to today... I got to hold a very tiny kitten at work. It was so adorable. There were five little rescues there today. Mama got run over yesterday, sadly, and now the kittens are being bottle-fed by a foster caregiver.

Overweight woman loses nearly 7 pounds in 5 weeks!

A person on the Isle of Skye has progressed in their weight loss plan by losing nearly half a stone. Nancy, a shopkeeper, says that on the days she is in the shop (three days a week) she makes an effort to not eat sweet snacks in between meals and eats a large kale salad for lunch, which she eats later than usual. When asked for her secret Nancy said "It was easy really - eat less, and don't eat rubbish".

So far so good

This weekends coming attraction will be a family and friends gathering at our house celebrating a flurry of august/september birthdays💜

...and not to be outdone our wonderfully creamy raw milk source cow has milk available again after calving!

Spring is coming and yet the snow peas keep on producing!

In other news....
the extra weight lost by that fabulous shopkeeper in Skye has turned up on my rabbit, who has the most show-stopping dewlap I've ever seen on a bunny. She could use it as a pillow. The kitchen scraps have been especially good lately (I went on a cooking binge earlier this week upon returning from a trip), she doesn't even get pellets or any grain-seed type food, just lots of peels and trimmings.

Good harvest of Purple Pole Beans reported:

From just eight saved seeds, started late due to a schedule crunch, the purple pole beans have been producing enough beans for family meals even though it's now September.

Slightly above average temperatures in the past week could be partly responsible.

When interviewed, the Gardener said, "I really just planted them to protect the soil at the back of the tomato bed. I thought they would be too late to produce food, and yet, I'm getting enough beans to serve for meals, and may even blanche and freeze a few if this keeps up."

Amazing what can happen when people plant a few seeds and let Mother Nature do her thing!

Alarming Rates of Altruism in New England Town

A town in New England is experiencing alarmingly high rates of altruism in recent weeks. Not only did the incident with the peaches occur as described already, but the steward of the peach tree has been picking them—not to eat, but to feed to the bull. Such incidents must strike intense concern into the heart of the reader.

In addition, a man saw a bicycle lying beside the road while driving by. He stopped, took the bicycle to a safe spot, and continued along in search of the bicycler. Seeing an individual with a helmet he stopped and expressed his concern. The bicycler showed the man a monarch butterfly, and explained that the butterfly had been injured in the road and had lost two front legs, and furthermore the butterfly was still in shock; the plan was to transport the butterfly on foot to a nearby permaculture farm, where goats and asters and goldenrod abound, and where the butterfly could be taken far from the road. The man told the bicycler where he had put the bicycle, and was thanked for the deed, and told that it was kind.

The bicycler continued along the road to the permaculture farm, released the butterfly, and found the bicycle where it had been said to be deposited, henceforth journeying in continuation.

Meanwhile the aforementioned permaculturist had allowed a charitable organic gardening enterprise to establish itself within the bounds of his farm, which was spearheaded by yet another permaculturist dwelling in the immediate vicinity.

However, the alarming altruism rates conveyed by this report presently are counter-balanced by sufficiently intense local drama.

POPCORN THIEF STRIKES AGAIN

Half a tray of kettle corn has mysteriously disappeared from the kitchen counter, for the second time this week.
Local canine resident had no comment at this time, but required two refills on his water bucket for some surely unconnected reason and was "looking sketchy" according to the popcorn maker, who had to find something else to eat for dinner. Stay tuned for breaking developments!

Real Carrots grown on the Isle of Skye

Contrary to popular opinion, it turns out that you can grow vegetables outside on Skye. A permaculturalist has found that by reverting to traditional seed saving methods, (almost) perfect carrots have been achieved this year.
Conventional gardeners remain baffled by how weed filled garden beds achieve this miracle of food creation

Figs WILL ripen for me in the English Midlands!

And they are delicious.

Part of the issue seems to be, having the tree planted in the ground.  Even in a very big pot, the leaves wilt quickly & the fruitlets get dropped early.

Comte de Chambord is flowering!

In the middle of what used to be a child's sandbox, now overtaken by plants and wildlife due to neglect by said child. Many toys were lost in there, and found again while planting this new rose!

Babies are Developing

At their 2 week check-up, 15 out of 16 eggs showed development in the incubator.

The Chicken Mom who is broody seems to be taking good care of the 4 eggs I entrusted to her. She's a total noobie, and even if all 4 eggs hatch, that's not critical mass going into the rainy season, so the incubator is providing her with back-up and extra babies which I believe she will welcome without any trouble.

Positive thoughts pointed our way are welcome!

Looks like my dragon fruit plant is self-fertile - a baby pink dragon is happening!

I wonder what colour the flesh will be...

Direct-seeded tomatoes fruit at 64 degrees north! As of the writing of this, the fruits are still green, although several of them appear to be full size. The fruits were materially helped along by a freak July heat wave, which according to a long time resident of the area was more or less unprecedented. However, the plants also survived plenty of weather more typical for the area, namely twelve degrees C and frequent rain. The tomatoes have now been picked and moved indoors, to hopefully after-ripen enough for viable seeds to form. To be continued...

UPDATE on Babies

Breaking news - shells breaking to be precise! Yesterday I started wondering why a bird outside was being so noisy. Seemed more like spring behavior than fall. As I moved towards the noise to investigate, I realized that the noise was coming from inside my house. More precisely, from inside the incubator.

As of this morning, there are 6 chicks hatched, all from King Arthur's flock. I sure hope some of the Saddler eggs start to pip.

Watch this space for further updates.

If a Chicken Could Swear...

I believe I've been told to "bugger off".

The Incubator hatched 13 chicks by this morning. The last 2 have not pipped so I decided it was not worth the risks of delay.

My Chicken Mom, has at least 2 live under her and at least one egg. I tried to give her the incubator chicks. She tried to peck me! Aren't people supposed to accept gifts graciously?

I ended up pretty much showering her with chicks and trusted them to be heat seeking missiles. I popped the door onto the dog crate just to keep everyone inside until later this morning when things are warmer and the chicks have time to figure out that big warm Momma Chickens are good to cuddle with.

Hopefully her vocabulary includes baby chick wrangling noises and not just swear words. She is a first time Mom, but we've had good experiences with first time moms in the past.

That's a responsible hen! The quail hens would just try to eat the chicks I think.

Surprise Oct. baby pumpkin is growing in the yard after all others have been harvested, meaning another lovely decor pumpkin for a certain someone's porch for the autumn season, to be picked the day before Halloween.

Eggs walk before they hatch

Fun fact: the eggs in my incubator crawl forward as they roll. It's an egg race!

My Jade plant is in flower! I can't remember the last time it did this - maybe 20 years? I wonder what set it off?

Nancy, well done.  I've grown Jade plants for fifty years now and only had[b] one[/b] to bloom.  Again Most Excellent !

Peace/Heddwch

how lovely, Nancy!!! here we grow them outside, my neighbor has an enormous one (waist high, at least) that flowers profusely every year. Mine never has, although I'm thrilled just to have one growing outside. Admittedly, I neglect it, but they're a succulent, they don't want pampering-- do they? gulp... I asked her what the secret was and she said it must just be love. <3  

Somehow, the knowledge that a Jade plant is blooming on the Isle of Skye, really does feel like an important piece of breaking world news.

I’ve seen many jade plants in this life, but never a jade bloom. And just now I find myself with wonder blossoming in my mind about them: apparently they are annual bloomers in their natural habitats (dry and sunny South Africa, so very far from Skye) but rarely as houseplants. May we all get what we need to flower in this life, wherever we are planted.  

We had a momentous occasion this morning. I opened the kitchen door to find two dogs and a sheep looking back at me!

!!

We don't have sheep and this is the first time that our mastiff has had a close encounter with one. I'm pleased that the dogs were so good. Della came in straight away when I asked her and Dyson tried to help me get her out of the garden, but being deaf as a post had to be put in too.
I think Della was slightly afraid of her - apparently she is pregnant with twins and is quite a bit bigger than the dogs. This is the third time this week the sheep has done this - the last two we just saw her going past the kitchen door and the dogs were in with us, but this time was after breakfast and both dogs were out. She is getting separated from her flock and into the field next door, then as the rest of them go down the road she jumps the fence into our top field to keep up with them. Of course she can't get out then, but is quite happy to go out the main gate to join her friends.
So I'm quite pleased with the dogs and they get special treats then, and this evening. You always worry in sheep country with dogs, and Della doesn't like other dogs on the road, or sheep staring at her through the fence, so it could have been a whole lot worse!

Eep. What a relief!

Wisteria Goose Lays the First Egg of the Goose Reproductive Season

Last fall, we sadly lost a couple of our oldest geese to a racoon attack. It has left the rest of our goose family struggling a little. That's what makes today's first egg, so special. Wisty even laid it in a laying cube, so I was able to lock her in safely for the night, even though she was busy fretting over getting her nest *just* right.

Hopefully, our future will hold some healthy, fuzzy goslings in a couple of months!

Yesterday I went out and tapped a few trees. Today I tasted the first syrup. (No new sap today, it was all frozen!)

Maple season is here! The depths of winter are done!

Prairie Man Disgusted That It's Still Winter

Piles of snow and ice. Everything is frozen solid. Everything is brown and grey, dirty and dingy.

Killing frost was late September. Snow came mid-November. Waiting for mid-April to start poking around a still-frozen garden. Enough already!

Portent of spring! Forsythia is blooming.

A PERGOLA IS THOUGHT OF, AND CONSTRUCTED WITHIN A DAY!

A couple was moving building wood, and during their break, she explained how she wanted the grape vine to be supported by something sturdier than wire and drying line - "like, maybe, a gate of sorts. Actually, three."

He turned around, one could almost see the mechanic wheels of drafting a concept bubbling up from his handyman brain, grabbed his tools, and we got to work.
Half a day later there now is a huge, airy, fantastic pergola to support the grape vine for years to come, plus shade for the hammocks in the heat of summer. Win win win win.