flower crop

Last week I sorted, organized, deleted and cropped photos from the wedding. I got the list down to 530ish shots. In the process I found some new favorites. I hadn't paid much attention to this shot but when I went to crop it I discovere a nice frame of roses.

desert drying

recently harvested creosote and rosemary drying in the desert sun

three dogs....

two grandparents, and one granddaughter going for a morning walk while their porridge cools.

rainbow mountain

how to....

make four people, three dogs, thirteen chickens, and one rooster happy on a hot summer day...

WATERMELON

first fruit

In answer to you question Amy, why do you need a greenhouse in Arizona.....

The greenhouse will allow us almost year round gardening. Currently we are keeping the greenhouse cool with a misting system so that plants that would never make it in the summer heat are able to survive. Fall and spring planting can be done without the help of the greenhouse but in the desert the plants look like desert to all the green leaf deprived critters. In winter the greenhouse will provide enough protection from the overnight drop in temperature that we should also be able to expect to eat fresh from the garden while you scrape snow off the beachy buggy.

After putting in a misting system to keep the greenhouse cool the plants have been growing "like weeds."

(We found a sheet hanging over the tomato plants keep them extra cool and happy.)

We are still perfecting the ecosystem. Today the guys worked at installing a swamp cooler on the roof on the greenhouse after finding that the first installation, inside, did not yield the desired results.


We harvested our first zucchini yesterday. Weighing in at 10.6 ounces and a mere 8 inches long it doesn't compare to mammoth Michigan summer zucchini, but we were thrilled none the less.

c is for carrot

Last week was O week. I purchased 4 bags of onions, already sliced, from a discount food store in Mesa that sells excess food from restaurants. It was so easy to dehydrate them, just rinse, throw on the trays, and wait.

When I went back this week the onions were gone but they had 5 pound bags of sliced carrots for a dollar each.

Funny thing was as I was placing the carrot slices on the trays I was reminded of a game we used to have. I don't remember the name but it had round pieces that fit closely in low wooden box. One end of the box had a slide with a spring that would push against the disks. The object was to remove as many round pieces as possible without the spring snapping. I thought it was strange how I would not have thought about that game except for the action of placing carrots on the dehydrator.