The first flood

We had our first flood of the summer on Monday. It wasn’t even supposed to rain, but a storm blew up in the afternoon with torrential rains. The accumulation was only 1.6”. We weren’t worried. There must have been more rain in the watershed because Terry noticed water filling the field at about 8:00. 

Rising water in the field behind the 5th oak

Reflection of the clouds at sunset on the water in the south field

By the time the chickens were in bed, the Garden of Wishful Thinking (so named because we planted it wishing that there wouldn’t be any floods this year) was covered with water. Dammit. 

The Garden of Wishful Thinking underwater

Dill does very well in the lower garden despite the flooding. You only need to plant dill once. This dill forest sprouted from the seeds of last year’s plants. 

The dill forest at the end of the south garden

The garden was mostly dry by the following morning. As far as we can tell, there wasn’t too much damage in the garden. The male frogs and toads were still singing their little 3-chambered hearts out. A heron stopped in for breakfast. While I was taking pictures of it, it stabbed at something twice. I was too far away to see if it was successful. 

Great blue heron hunting frogs in the flood

Later that day, Terry cleaned out the hosta bed in the front yard, a noble undertaking to be sure. I don’t know when I’ve seen catnip that tall. Once all the weeds were removed, he could see a tree frog on the siding. Very cute. 

Tree frog on the siding

The chicks are getting more familiar with the outdoors. They have been using the kennel for shade on these blistering days. 

Pullets have learned to use the kennel for shade

Here’s a close up of a broiler. I didn’t remember that their heads were so slow to get feathers. 

3-week-old broiler

Hilda and I were out early Friday to harvest garlic while it was relatively cool. I loosened the roots with a pitch fork. Hilda picked them up off the ground and put them in a bucket. 

First step in the garlic harvest, dig the garlic

The next step was cutting the clods of dirt off the bottom. 

Step 2, remove roots and soil

We put 10 (or so) plants in a bundle, labeled with variety. 

Step 3, bundle the garlic

And we hung them up under a shelter to dry. So far, we haven’t needed the cover over them, but we are already wishing it would rain. The moisture from the beginning of last week is long gone. We certainly hope that the cooler temperatures for next weekend will come to pass. We’re melting here. 

Step 4, hanging under a shelter

How hot is it? It’s so hot the peaches are sweating! 

Sweating peaches

We really wanted to make potato salad with new potatoes for the Fourth. We had to dig 3 hills, but we got enough. 

First new potatoes

We had a low-key Fourth of July with Snap-pops, snakes, and sparklers. We could see fireworks from a number of places as we sat on the deck. The fireflies gave us an even better show. The moonrise was spectacular. 

Moon rise n the 4th of July

No progress to report on the high tunnel this week. Too damned hot and humid.