Why I Love Summer

Reason #2
Fresh flowers.

Well about two months ago Chris counted the number of tomatoes ripening on our four plants. He counted about twenty-eight overall. We were so excited! Especially since most of the other plants weren't doing that well. Peas were ok I guess, strawberries were pretty happy, but everything else either got chomped on by wild animals or scorched in this crazy New Mexican sun. I quickly made all sorts of plans and pulled out my favorite recipe for genuine homemade tomato sauce which called for massive amounts of the fruit and which I planned to can and store away for winter.

We waited and we waited, but long after the other vegetables were ripened and gone those tomatoes remained shiny green and stubbornly attached to their hosts. People told us all sorts of things about the trouble with growing tomatoes here:

You need water walls around them.
Put shade cloth over them.
It's too hot here during the day.
It's too cold here at night.
They will grow but never ripen...

Just as we thought all hope was lost, a tomato in the front started turning orange. Very quickly all its relatives began to follow suit, so that in the past two days we've harvested ten Romas and there are still at least twenty more on our four bushes!!!



And so now, my friends, even Pepper and the boys enjoy eating their freshly sun-ripened tomatoes; and this truly gives our story a very happy ending.

During the night a mysterious animal got through the fence and chomped our grape vine down to a stump. It also nibbled the pumpkin leaves and sampled our pepper plants. It left no tracks or scratches in the soft dirt surrounding our garden but I did find what appears to be a single long black horse hair. Does that make any sense? I thought not.



Oh the upside, even though fruit from our Apricot Tree in the back yard was pretty much wiped out by a double frost earlier this year, we have collected 3 lbs of Apricots from our small tree out front and there is still plenty left. Hmm it must be Apricot Jam time!

The Rio Grande Botanic Garden in Albuquerque has a 10 acre working farm complete with plow horses, apple orchards and the most amazing strawberry patch I've ever seen. Chris and I toured devoured the farm during our weekend and it left quite an impression. Since then I admit I've been somewhat distracted. Added among my current stack of reading material is now Barnyard in your Backyard by Gail Damerow and most browsed site of the week would have to be Farmgirl Fare and her accompanying blog Writings from Windridge.

Although I am quite content with the home we have here it has always been my desire to live on a slightly larger piece of property with room to explore the outdoors and space for some proper farm animals. Over the past couple years my husband has also begun to share this dream. Do you also find life becomes so much easier when you and your partner both can work together towards achieving mutual goals?

Since today is the final day of Low Impact Week I thought I'd post our biggest recent lifestyle change. Something that I have always wanted was to have my very own free range chickens. Finally this week we took the plunge and bought 8 little Araucana chicks. They should start laying blue and green eggs sometime around late September and I am so excited! Chez Pim blogged back in January about fresh local eggs and the hens that laid them. She has some gorgeous pictures of her diverse dozen that inspired me to look for this particular breed.



They are very cute and cuddly. I find myself escaping outside to their pen during the day for little moments of peace and relaxation. I sit on the grass and watch them scamper and scratch. I lay on my back and stare at the tree above me as they peep near my head. I think about going out there while I am changing diapers and washing dishes.



These hens should provide us with delicious nutrient rich fresh eggs for most of the next 2-3 years.
After that they can go in the pot and provide us with good food there.
They will make excellent natural pest control in the yard and garden.
They will leave nitrogen rich droppings that can be composted and turned into wonderful dark soil which will go back into the garden, make my plants healthy and attract more bugs for them to eat! It really is a wonderful cycle.
They will also provide hours of entertainment for my homeschooled children and teach them many useful lessons about responsibility, natural sciences and an appreciation for where our food comes from.

Can you see it? That future juicy sweet plump golden apricot right up there in the left corner?
What you are looking at is the very first of what I am hoping will be a bountiful crop. We did have a couple pretty hard frosts late in the season this year, but after waiting all that time, with only the expectation of, come spring, being able to sink our teeth into delicious fresh fruit to get us through ... you can see the type of pressure that poor tree is under to perform nicely.
And if only you could see our little strawberry patch, green and brimming with blooms, your mouth would surely water.
This is what I love; the expectations and excitement, the two (or three or four) daily walks out to the apricot tree to count how many little green balls we can find hiding amongst the green, green leaves. Watching them grow and form, and the conversations my children make with me about when they will be ready and how they will taste and what delicious foods we can dream up to put them in.

Today marks the beginning of Low Impact Week, bravely organized by Crunchy Chicken . I'll be sharing on Monday what we personally have done to lessen our impact on the environment.
Have a wonderful weekend!