Sights from around Crooked Acres.
Carrots. I think they’ve got about another month to go before they’ll be ready. I don’t know what we’ll end up with – they probably needed to be thinned. I was none too careful when I scattered the seeds.
Catnip! I transplanted these plants from pots. Hopefully they’ll spread like crazy. They certainly have the room now.
Cauliflower and brussels sprouts – and a couple of volunteer tomato plants. I don’t know that I’m going to get any cauliflower OR brussels sprouts, but the plants certainly look happy (if kind of chewed upon.)
Bale gardening with tomato plants.
Bale gardening with watermelon.
Blueberries! I ate one the other day and it was mighty good.
Grape vine.
Mimosa in bloom, near the garden. These sure are pretty trees.
Just about ready to pick and eat. One tiny cherry tomato isn’t all that filling, though. I wish the others would ripen already.
When it gets a bit bigger, we’ll have (oven) fried green tomato with dinner.
Tiny green beans!
Tomatoes on the left and right – and a nice thick layer of grass clippings in the middle to keep out the weeds.
Baby robins in the tree in the front yard. Fred peeks at them every day. Yesterday he decided they were dying because they hadn’t gotten any water (it’s been super dry around here), and so he syringe fed each of them water while their mother watched closely from a nearby branch. And then he went around with the shovel digging up worms. He fed a few worms to the babies, and then he tossed the rest to their mother, who snatched them up and fed them to her babies.
They came down our road last week and picked up the cut up trees that were knocked down by the tornado. They’ll be back through in a few weeks to get the rest, which Fred still needs to drag from the chicken yard.
This tree, clearly dead, is from the back of the back forty. I’m amazed the winds from the tornado didn’t knock it down.
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Gracie loves to be brushed.
I know this is George because I can see the dip in his back. He’s longer than Gracie and thus has a dip in his back whereas she doesn’t.
::Phblllt::
Laughing at his own joke.
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“He SAID that?!”
“Yeah, can you believe it?”
“He’s got some NERVE.”
“I know, right?”
“I can’t believe it. What a JERK.”
“I know!”
“I never liked the looks of him anyway. He looks like a sleazy jerk.”
“He said WHAT?!”
“I meant it as a COMPLIMENT!”
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Fergus Simon tried to flirt with Miz Poo, but she was having none of it.
“She’s purrrrty.”
Sleepy Macushla.
Cillian adores a good belly rub.
Fergus Simon on the cat tree in the front room.
FS in motion.
If you look carefully, you’ll note that all six McMao kids are in this picture.
Someone asked about this set of steps recently. I conceived of them (“We need steps or something so the little ones can get up on the bed!”) and after much harassment from me, Fred built them. They’re probably a little steep, but I wanted something that didn’t have a very big footprint. He put partial risers between each step so that the kittens can actually use them to get up to the next step if they’re very small kittens.
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Maggie’s been spending the nights with her own babies for the past three or four nights. She still goes in to visit with the Spice Girls for a few hours each day, but I haven’t actually witnessed any nursing lately. Which isn’t to say that it’s not happening, it very well might be. I just haven’t seen it, so I don’t know for sure.
“Hi. HI! Hi.”
Cilantro in mid-fall, I think. I do believe she grabbed for a toy I was dangling over her head, but missed. That or she’s high on catnip. Either is equally likely.
Clove, complaining.
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Spanky say, relax.
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Previously
2010: :NOMNOMNOM:
2009: No entry.
2008: “Bleh.”
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: Porky and the laptop.
Will you please adopt me? Your place with the cats/kittens/chickens/dogs and the little piggies (and I can not forget those baby robins that Fred has kinda adopted!) just looks like such a great place to live! We are moving and this looks like the type of house that we want to buy, one with enough room to have chickens and maybe some more small animals.
Maggie and the Spice Girls just warms my heart! She’s such a good mama.
Brussel sprouts? Below the Mason-Dixon line? Wow, these miniature cabbages have really gotten trendy, haven’t they?
When I moved down here, most people didn’t know what they were.
Love the pictures! Baby green beans are so cute!
I have a question for you about hay bale gardening… mainly – how do you do it? 🙂 I’m intrigued!
Also – Fred adopting the baby birds is ADORABLE! That is so sweet that he gave them water and then dug up worms! Aww! Please tell him that he’s awesome!
Take care!
Yet another ideal, and envy-making post. Please consider starting The Crooked Acres Kitty Camp for City Folk Who Wish They Weren’t! So Fred is now officially the robin (and Robyn) whisperer, eh? A question: Has having kittens — and foster kittens — made Maggie less vocal? Her miaow on one of your first posts about her was such a delight.
I simply love that Fred is so caring that he is helping out the Robin family. However, he shouldn’t give the babies any more water! They get all the fluids they need from the insects and worms their parents give them. Fred may inadvertently overload their tiny little kidneys by giving them water.
I love all the photos, too!
Not to be a busybody or anything, but in future years you’ll need a more hefty support for the grapevine. Think about vineyards in France with wooden fence posts and heavy wire supports — the vines get so heavy that they need that strength of support.
Hope this helps. Thanks for letting me be a know-it-all
Those Spice Girls sure are growing up!! They already look less roundy furball and more sleek kitten.
As always, I love love love your pictures from around the “Acres.” Sounds like a soap opera. Tune in next time
And serious LOL at the Spanky quote!
(Also, Dorothy says hello and sends kisses.).
Angie’s right. When hubby’s up in a tree feeding baby robins with an eye dropper, you’re just pushovers. Adorable and lots of good karma, but pushovers.
Awwww thank you for looking after the wildlife and all your farm animals and plants and veg in your lovely home! You and Fred are just stars and I just know the animals and plants are happier and healthier for being with you both!!
Awwww Spice Girls, the baby McMaos and mama Maggie are brilliant!!!!
Spanky’s got a great philosophy of life!!! Yay! take care
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