Collecting flower seeds.

Today we finished collecting flower seeds from our butterfly garden.

The last ones to come in were the marigold seeds which are fun all the way around - the seed heads snap off easily (and there are *so* many), the seeds pop out easy (and, good heaves, there are *so* many), and you're left with a pile of empty seed pods left for crafting. Very fun.

We also collected some wildflower seeds and the last of the calendula.

We harvested our sunflower seeds right before our freak snow storm. We collected about one-quarter of the seed heads and left the rest for the birds. Since the garden's right outside our window, we've gotten to watch some really funny seed eating antics, none of which I seem to be able to capture on film.

It's now fall.

The snow is gone and the weather's nice for playing...

when the wind's not 40 miles per hour.

Wind around here means tree branches for my goats. Since they're on a nice grass and clover pasture, they love it when they get browse dragged to them.

Our fully fenced front yard means that I don't always have to drag branches to them. I shut all of the gates and let them clean up our leaves while the kids ride bikes in the driveway.

It's easier than raking.

Blog hopping.

I'm posting at Not Dabbling In Normal today. Come on over!

The Pumpkin Patch.

That's the name of our local pumpkin patch. They don't have to be inventive - the owners are 70 years old.

This is where we get our squash every year - my husband loves squash - because they have so many different kinds.

Last year he tried the Sweetmeat and loved it, so we're getting more of those this year in addition to his favorite spaghetti squash.

I always grab pie pumpkins also, and the girls get decorative squashes and pumpkins.

And, yes, we always need the wheelbarrows.

Doing what we can outside.

It's cold, and it's snowy, and we're keeping guests entertained.

Gray makes it easy.

Yesterday was pony and horse riding. Today was a long four-wheeler ride in the desert.



Matt laughed at me for bringing blankets and extra hats.

Andrew, one of our little guests, was frustrated at having to put on as many warm clothes as I told him he'd need. "But we're going in the DESERT," he said. "Deserts are HOT." So I took along an extra blanket for him too.

The 'unnecessary' blankets and hats all ended up getting used, thank you very much.

It's nice to be able to find ways to fend off cabin fever - especially when you're stuck in the cabin months earlier than you should be.

That ain't good.

It's the beginning of October, so I've been trying to get everything settled for the winter.

Yesterday we were going to get hutches for the goat pasture for the winter when they would need the shelter from the snow. But the snow wouldn't be here for at least two more months, so we put it off to do today. This happened last night.

Yeah. That.

The girls love it - in small doses.


I caught this expression on Hannah's face.

That's pretty much how I feel about this weather.

A nearby dairy (the same one we got our stock tank swimming pool from and would be getting the hutches from) had a breeding mishap and was expecting a lot of half Holstein-half Brahma calves to be born starting next week. My husband wanted to buy some, so we were going to set up a calf-raising area today also. More than enough time to get ready before the calves got here.

But the low-pressure storm front affected the momma cows and there were three babies born last night, so today we had to go pick them up if we wanted them.

So today we are the owners of two male and one female half Holstein-half Brahma calves. Cute, long-eared little buggers.

They're living in our horse trailer bedded down with straw until this freak storm passes by.

The storm also affected my sunflowers and flax seeds that I had drying outside. Since there was no rain in the forecast, I left them out. Bad move. *sigh*

Hopefully we'll be back to fall soon.

An afternoon in the gardens.

Rambling post ahead. This year has been a surprisingly gratifying one in our gardens.

Surprising in the vegetable gardens because due to our late move, I couldn't plant much and much of what I did plant was planted late. Our corn won't mature on time (not that that stops my kids from snacking on it).

Does anyone have a recipe or use for immature corn? You know, besides goat feed?

Our peppers and tomatoes have been producing like mad (though the tomatoes are taking a long time to ripen) which is so very satisfying.

At our other place, only thirty minutes east of here, I could never get tomatoes or peppers to fruit, even with a longer season, so obviously I'm *thrilled* at the production possibilities here.

Just look at this pepper plant. It's a type called 'Holy Mole' and it's like a tree. Right next to it are my little shrub like (and high producing also) habaneros.

We found another minor case of smut.

Fascinating stuff.

A reality check on how many rodents we have out here even with all of our barn cats.

And the cycle of life. The necessity of life forms that assist in decomposition.

Speaking of assisting in decomposition ...



Well, that last one was a fresh kill.

The surprise in our flower garden has been the joy we've gotten from it and the enthusiastic plans we're making for the next year. We expected it to be interesting and fun, but we've kind of gotten addicted to our flowers. Blame it on the zinnias and sunflowers.

Though the sunflowers are beginning to die.

I'm still finding living ones in the oddest places.

My poor catnip plant keeps sending up shoots in a vain attempt at survival.

Vain because of this addict.

Even a wire cage won't keep her out.

Our zinnias are out of control, producing such abundant, gorgeous flowers that my daughter has decided to become a flower seller like Eliza Doolittle. To keep her from wandering the streets saying "Buy a flower off a poor miss?", we've started to talk about other ways she could sell flowers next year. So while we'll probably have several rows of zinnias interspersed in our vegetable garden next year, this year she's content with wandering our smaller zinnia patch with scissors and a basket singing "All I want is a room somewhere".

And we've been getting the butterflies we wanted to get.

Does anyone know what these plants are? I'm hoping the one in the second picture is calendula. All were given to me unmarked.



Then there's the nematocidal marigolds.

If you plant these, be aware - they're a bush. A big, spreading bush. They're lovely, really, but the plant is huge.

We started harvesting our flax today.

My girl's in a poncho because she was cold. In 80 degree heat.

Then she got tired.


Our neighboring farm is chopping their fields of feed corn this week, so my husband took the kids out into the fields to explore before the sky high corn is gone.

It was a good lesson in the difference between sweet corn and feed corn. No comparison. The feed corn is hard, slightly bitter stuff.

And that was our afternoon in our gardens.