Really?

So I am out in the garden, watering the tomatoes tonight. I noticed one of the plants was almost stripped of leaves. I just wondered what would have done that. The I spotted this huge guy on another plant. Can you see it? Right in the middle of this picture, upside down.

It's a stinkin' tomato horn worm. I have NEVER seen one or had any on my tomatoes. Ever. But this is the year of the Japanese beetles. And squash bugs. And a drought. So now tomato horn worms. Why not? Join the party!

So this guy will be chicken breakfast in the morning.

I did get to pick some tomatoes! Those little orange ones are the best tomato ever!  Like eating candy. They are good! And apparently I got some Romas.

I think I am giving up on the garden til fall. I have had enough of this. I noticed today that a lot of my zinnias looked burnt. I couldn't figure out why. Then realized it was from the Dawn dish soap spray I've been using to kill the beetles with. It's frying my plants! It's also doing the same thing to the squash leaves where I've been spraying the squash bugs. So yeah, I have had enough of this summer gardening.

In the garden. Friends. Chloe. And sheep.

The zinnias had lots of visitors this morning. I am so glad I have my new phone. It's so much easier to carry than my camera. And I always have my phone with me.

I saw this gorgeous huge butterfly on some zinnias and just had to get a picture of it. Isn't it just beautiful?

And this bee. Just full of pollen, all over the legs. I love seeing all the life out there/

And look at this! Ripe 'maters! I was shocked to see these. They are on some tomato plants that I have sorely neglected. But they are bearing fruit for us. I am thankful for them.

These are on a plant that is down in the lower garden. I do water these at least every other day. They are all full of tomatoes. All kinds of tomatoes. There are tiny little yellow cherry tomatoes, Romas, some heirlooms that are purple and some others. A friend gave them all to me so I really don't know what all is out there.  But this one is huge!

And my friend Stephanie found this and thought of me. I am always saying this about my alpacas. It says cute but weird but cute. Too funny! They really are though. It's perfect. This will go on the wall in my studio.

And yesterday, I took Chloe to get her hair done. She wanted it dyed and cut. I love this! She really wanted that pretty purple color, but her hair is so dark so would have had to bleach it. And it would only last about 4 weeks. And it's so damaging to hair. So she settled on this reddish color. He put the color on first. She wanted a purple color on the ends. But all that was cut out. He forgot to ask how she wanted her hair cut. But I really love this on her. She sure has the face for short hair.

She really likes it too. She has always taken a picture with her to the beauty shops and never ever has got it cut just like the picture. But this is very close to what she showed the guy. He did a great job. He loved it too.

And yesterday, I opened the chicken run and let the sheep in to eat all the tall huge weeds in there. They did a great job! It was like a jungle in there and hard to see the chickens. Especially the 3 little babes.

Cleaning up

I noticed that my soaps were starting to look a bit ragged. So I brought them all to my studio yesterday after the market. I took all the old wrappings off and re-wrapped them. Cleaned out the boxes. I'll go tomorrow and get new card stock for labels. And I want to get some chalk paint to paint on the fronts of the boxes and tin thingies too. I think that would look better than a piece of paper telling what they are.

I also put waxed paper underneath the soaps. Just looks better and cleaner too.

I also needed more plantain salve. So made 12 more little jars and a sample one. I need to make more calendula salve too, but I need more olive oil. I was going to go to Costco today, but they are closed. I need more lye and shea butter too. So many things I need to get so I can make more.

I am hearing fireworks from the people up the road. I was hoping they wouldn't shoot any off because it's so dry here. Someone was last night, over the hill. I had to stand outside with the sheep and alpacas til they were done. Poor animals are scared to death.  There was a fire up on the mountain today. It's so scary. I heard on the news today that 2 out of 5 house fires are started by fireworks. Isn't that crazy?  I sure can think of a lot of things I could spend my money on.

Speaking of spending money. My Trooper started acting up yesterday on the way up the mountain to the new farmers market I'm going to. I thought it was going to stop altogether, but I put it down in 3rd and it kept going. I made it to market. I called my husband and told him to meet me at the transmission shop in the valley after market. It drove fine all the way there in 3rd. Soon as I'd put it in drive, it started making crazy noises. So it's over there til I find out what's wrong with it. I've had 2 transmissions already put in it. And some other work done to it several months ago. Hope it's nothing serious. My grand daughter was cleaning it the other day. Maybe she pushed a button or something. I'm hoping.

Hope you all had a nice day today. Happy birthday America!

Life and death on the farm.

Most of the time, life on a farm is good. Spring time has new growth, everything turns green and flowers start blooming. Baby animals are born all over the place. Happy times!

Then there are sad time. Crops fail. Droughts happen. Even floods or fires.  And animals die. Some have to be slaughtered for food. Or they just never thrive and grow.

This cute little baby chick only lived 2 days. She was very different than all the others. All my hens and the rooster are very black. But this little one looked nothing like any of them. I don't know if that's the reason. Or the others might have neglected her because she was so different. She looked all nice and normal and healthy most of the time she was here. Then this morning there was no energy. And she was gone.

The other 3 little black chicks are doing great. They have 2 mammas to keep them all safe. They help each other take care of the chicks. One eats while the other keeps the chicks under her feathers. And then they swap jobs.  It's amazing how nature works.

I love life on this farm.

4 this morning!

There is another chick but it's behind mommy.  But look at this little odd ball on the right! Where did it come from? All my chickens and Black Bart are BLACK! I know these are crossed with a few different breeds, so maybe whatever it is is coming out through this little cutie.

I'll be able to tell it apart from the others for sure. Kind of looks like a game chicken. But I'm fine with it. I needed more chickens. And these are free!

Chicks

I'm really surprised that there are chicks. After this hen getting off the nest a few days ago and the eggs were all cold. But there are some hatching! I guess hens know what they're doing.

The hen on the left is the one who sets on all the eggs all these weeks. The one on the right is  her chickie helper. She will take some of the chicks after hatching and raise them. They all hang out together. Which is a good thing, so they both can protect the little ones.

Can you see the little black chick? They are so stinkin' cute when they are so little. I just hope they are all girls. I don't need another rooster again.

Some sunflowers for you...

I went to my daughter Abby's today. She had planted these sunflowers and now they are so tall and full of beautiful flowers. Aren't they amazing? I just love sunflowers. I took these with my phone.