The Late Garden is Doing Quite Well.

Chickens and Corn

The late garden has really started growing now that rain has returned. Above the corn is just now clearing knee-high, and I still think it will grow to fruition. You can see some of the free range chickens pecking around. They haven’t yet discovered the cucumbers, so they aren’t yet destructive. I’ve even watched them rip up weeds on occasion ! I thought it was quite odd, but they seemed to differentiate the corn from the pig weed. Perhaps it’s natural selection, as past gardeners retaliated against the destructive chickens….

Cucumbers

The cucumbers are setting small pinky sized cucks, and there are quite a few plants here. The chickens will have to be rounded up soon, as they will certainly decimate the garden after their first taste of a cucumber.

Sunflowers

The sunflowers have grown very well lately. This garden is a very dry one on the surface. Now that the plants are starting to cover the black dirt, the sun will suck less water from the soil, and this should cause the plants to grow even faster. 

Chickens, a Horse and Corn

Some shots are just meant to be, and jump right out at the camera. Here we see chickens, cucumbers, corn and a horse. The chickens didn’t like me watching them, almost as if they knew this garden was off limits to them.

Horse Play

Jello

Here’s my nieces and nephews ridding horse “Jello”. I’m not sure why they named her that, as she doesn’t resemble jello in any way, nor wiggle around much. She’s a good horse, late in her years, and we all decided to take a break from working to enjoy some horse play.

My Niece and her Friend

Here’s my niece and her friend. She’s the one who warned me of the Chupacabra bothering my kitten, and she is quite good with the reins. Jello seems a bit confused by the camera, but as an older horse, she takes things in strides, and just keeps moving. There are two other horses in the pasture, which are much younger, and it really shows. I guess there’s something to be said for a bit of salt in ones hair.

The Little Gardener

There’s the little gardener, having a blast, and it shows on his face. I would never suggest putting him on any other horse, but Jello seems to focus much more with him, almost as if a mothers instict told her to take good care of him. It was a bit of a challange to get this little guy off the horse, but eventually he did come down, and Jello went back to her pasture. She almost seemed to miss being free, even if it meant caring a little extra weight.

Trail Time

Trail Time

In the picture above, Sandy teaches my niece  the basics of the Equestrian Arts, i.e., Don’t Fall off = )

 These days, I’m not much of a horse person, but before I got my license, I had a horse named Casper. I didn’t ride him into town, or to the mall, but we did spend a lot of time exploring the woods. He was an old horse, but loved to run, and he was so well behaved that we didn’t fence him in. He would roam the yard, keeping the grass short, but when the sun was low in the sky, he would happily come running home. In the morning, we set him free, and in the evening we would provide protection from the unkown. If only more things in life would work out as well as that arrangement with Casper.