IT RAINED! Hallelujah Holy Heavens, it rained people! And even more exciting, the forecast is calling for more rain all week long! That old familiar balmy scent of electric ozone wafting through a heavy atmosphere is one of life’s mainstays that I look forward to every, single Spring. Few things compare to a good thunderstorm. It’s especially exhilarating when we’ve not had significant rainfall around here for weeks upon weeks. I’ve been watering our gardens & landscapes almost daily, making me all the more grateful for our healthy, abundant well water. Josh rigged up a somewhat primitive watering system with an irrigation head he had lying around here at the house. It’s a little over-kill for the size of our plot, but it’s convenient because I don’t have to move it around much as the spray covers practically every square inch of the garden. (Benefits of being married to a landscape/irrigation Guru)… I’ve been a little ‘down & out’ about getting such a late start on the planting this year, worrying about whether or not we’ll yield a decent harvest. Having said that, this rain is beginning to put my fears to rest a bit. If you don’t often take notice of the natural world around you it’s hard to imagine, but one pleasant & significant thunderstorm can have an astonishing impact on the trees, plants & blossoms all around you. Gardens drastically flush out & can even double in size, growing greens reach for the Heavens & blooms passionately explode with more brilliant hues than ever before. It’s exceptionally satisfying to take a walk immediately after a spring storm & observe such a radical change brought on by only a brief downpour. I found tomatoes & chili peppers on the vine last night! Our zucchini & squash, green beans & snap peas are on the rise & the broccoli plants my neighbor shared (which I thought would surely die) smiled & winked at me this morning! In other news, I can’t decide whether the rain will help the fly infestation we’re experiencing in the hen house or make it even worse. Just for the record, flies are disgusting & they make a fool out of me daily. Granted, I realize they serve a wonderful purpose in this world, but between the horse flies that cause me to smack myself repeatedly in the head while running aimlessly across the yard & the other random flies that have forced me to turn my kitchen into an experimental laboratory & my bank account into nil, I can’t seem to find gratitude in their existence these days. It all started Monday morning. I spent a good portion of the day completely cleaning out the coop & putting down new shavings. I shoveled all of the poo & dumped it into the compost pile in hopes that this would remedy the problem. That afternoon I experimented with a couple environmentally friendly, DIY, liquid concoctions that I felt so good about! (Yay pinterest!) Didn’t catch one damn fly with that goop. Not to mention I syrup in my hair & poured raw honey down my boot… Don’t ask. On Tuesday morning I gave up on the home remedies & spoke with a farmer who recommended a couple dangling thingamajigs they sell at the local feed store. As of this morning, 24 hours later, I’ve managed to catch 2 flies. Gee… Only 1,789,655 little flying devils left to capture. SUCCESS. On a brighter note, we had a wonderful weekend with our Norfolk friends! We are so grateful for good food, lovely friends, fab sips & a joyful, laidback day filled with wonderful memory making at the homestead. Soul shine.
ABOVE: Found a 2nd Roma on the vine!
ABOVE: Happy zuchinni friend sucking down the sweet spring rain!
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