Saturday morning bike ride

Saturday morning, before the wind picked up, my brother Ted, Alicia and I went for a bike ride.  My brother is training for the Obliteride bike ride, which is a fund raiser for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research center where he works.  Alicia and I just ride for fun!  We rode for 14 miles, leaving from Harrington, riding south on Highway 23 towards Odessa, and turned around at the Tower elevator.  I really love bicycling for exercise and it was a lovely morning to be on the road!

Alicia and Unkie

Me and Unkie!

And all three of us!!

The night before we  were treated to another spectacular Rolinco Road sunset. The wonder of it all.

Lavender's blue dilly dilly

This cool early summer has been good for plants and animals!  The lavender around the propane tank is beside itself with bloom and color and the honey bees are doing their best to keep up with it.  Also in this area I let the volunteer larkspur go and it is very happy and oh so colorful. And there are always volunteer gloriosa daisies that come, which I absolutely love!  This is the most colorful that the propane tank/compost bin section of the farm has ever been.

So much lavender!

Larkspur happily self sows .  I may be sorry that I let so much stay but it sure is pretty right now.   I'm going to throw some out in to the bee garden once it goes to seed.

These daisies make me smile!

The roses continue to put on quite a long standing show, again due to the cool days.  What a treat this has been, and this clump of lily is just outstanding.

This rose generally struggles but his year is is very happy.

Beth gave me this miniature rose a couple years ago and it is an overachiever!  Blooming most of the summer.  

I have forgotten the names of most of my roses, but this one I remember.  It's Mozart!

I love this lily with the tri-color beech tree in the back ground.  

A dirty job

Reynald and Alicia finished fertilizing our summer fallow fields last week.  Alicia cleaned up the applicator and tank earlier in the week and was quite a mess when she finished, but the equipment is clean!

I really should have taken a photo of the applicator before Alicia spent two hours cleaning.  

But here it is clean!

And the tank is clean too!!!

But Alicia is not clean!!!!

A closer look at my mud freckled little girl!

Repeal and Replace

After thinking about it for a few years, I pulled the trigger on replacing my strawberries.  These plants are at least 15 years old, and are just tired.  The berries are sweet and packed with flavor, but they are so tiny.  I thought it was way too late in the season to plant new, and it may indeed be, but I found bare root plant still available (on-line), placed an order and they are on the way.

I spent several hours digging up the old plants, then ran the rototiller over the space and am now waiting for the UPS truck to deliver my new plants!

Taking our the old strawberry patch.

I found that the spading fork worked much better than the shovel for this task.

The patch extended down to the pink rose at the end of the garden.

You can see how tiny the berries are.  

Finally finished

Making a nice seed bed for the new plants.

Here you can see Charlie pulling out the wooden garden stake marking the potato patch and then chewing it up!

The strawberry patch rototilled and ready for new plants and Charlie just pulling out the garden stake.

I'm not sure why he chose today to chew this up.  They have been out for over a month!

After chewing up the stake, a dog is really thirsty and will seek out water where ever it can be found.

We pulled out the big sprinkler to water the pasture.  Baxter spent over two hours chasing the water.  He's just exhausted!

 Across the street from the strawberry patch, the raspberries are just about ready.

The golden raspberries are about a week ahead of the red ones.

The patch is just loaded with fruit.  I need to remember to keep it wet.  Raspberries need so much water and fertilizer.  I put chicken manure on this spring so that should cover the fertilizer part!

Helpers.....

Last week I was thrilled to be home most of the week to catch up on some yard work.  This is among my most favorite ways to spend my time.  And, I get lots of help as I putter.

Charlie!

Baxter!

Sometimes Charlie just has to lie down as close to me as he can get, even if I am still standing.

This might be Charlie's favorite place at Rolinco Road.  This giant "water bowl" just the right size for a big dog!

Sometimes these two get in to trouble, or at least investigate trouble!!!  Baxter is determined to get in to the chicken house.  He has figured out that he can squeeze through the cat door in to the front part of the chicken house, where only one door separates him from the chickens.

I have removed this concrete block which Baxter discovered made a perfect step stool to look in to the chicken house.  I also closed down the window slightly, just in case he tries to break through the screen to get in!

Also in the discovery department, Charlie has discovered that he is perfectly capable of picking and eating strawberries!

He has also discovered the alpine strawberries in the bee garden, which he loves just as much as the red strawberries!

June is Bustin' Out all Over

A quick pictorial tour of just a few of the roses that are blooming in the yard right now.  It's been fairly cool the last two weeks, which most every plant loves!

The rose at the corner of the chicken house is stunning this year.  

The last of the peony bloom and a rose the same color.

Not roses, but I love these poppies.

Again, not roses, these Sweet William are giving a great display.