April 30th

 

Happy Arbor day!

In celebration of this remembrance,

here is one of our majestic cypress trees.

We have 3 cypress but this one has 

squirrel nests!

What a beautiful native tree.

What's the deal with Arbor Day anyway?

Well, I looked it up.

The first Arbor Day was documented in 1594

 in a small village in Spain.

It was organized by the mayor because

a lot of their trees died so they planted more.

Fast forward to 1805

 (we are in another Spanish village),

when their local priest held the 200th

anniversary of the original date,

calling it Fiesta de Arbol.

This priest was convinced that trees

were more than fruit, berry and nut bearers.

He extolled the virtues of trees as 

decoration and natural beauty.

So, after Mass, the whole village 

came out and planted several trees

along the main road to town.

🌲

The remembrance of Arbor Day

in the U.S. began in Nebraska in 1872.

It's unknown how the celebration came

to America, but it's thought that it was probably

due to Spanish immigrants.

On April 10th that year an estimated 

one million trees were planted.

The guy responsible was determined to re-plant areas

destroyed by de-forestation from the huge logging industry.

This idea caught on.

The American Forestry Association

sought to use Arbor Day to

get the public enthused 

about re-forestation,

especially since huge swaths of land

had been clear cut to harvest the lumber.

There was an enormous building boom in the U.S. back then.

Theodore Roosevelt, back in 1906,

thought Arbor Day was an awesome idea.

He, being a nature and conservation enthusiast,

got the lumber industry to embrace it too.

His speeches about tree conservation

included this quote,

"A people without children

would face a hopeless future;

a country without trees is

almost as helpless."

🌲

And this quote from John Muir.

"The clearest way into the Universe

is through a forest wilderness."

🌳

Chief Seattle

*************************************

The veggie garden is doing very well.

These are a few of our artichokes.

This is what we've harvested so far,

Celery, Cauliflower, Purple Broccoli 

and an artichoke.

A close up of the beautiful bud!

Hazel.

I think she's hoping for a treat.

Some eggplant flowers.

Nugget snooping around.

  

A friendly neighborhood cat.

This is the poor guy who gets

literally henpecked by the girls.

He's resting on hay behind our small building.

2 cherry tomatoes.

🐔

Four of the girls are following me.

Ethel is in the coop laying an egg.

She asked to not be disturbed.

 😆

There isn't a time when they don't follow us.

It's something you can count on with

a regularity that your bowels rarely achieve.

😆

Oh, yeah,

they don't follow us when it's too early to go

night-night.

They automatically go into the coop at sundown,

but they REALLY don't like to go in early,

so we have to tempt them with pieces of bread.

If we have to leave and won't be home to

close the coop door to protect them

from predators, we corral them in early.

That's when we use bread pieces as an "incentive".

They go for it like it's the last life preserver on 

the freaking Titanic!

They never get bread, so it's a treat for them.

Now I can rewrite my curriculum vitae

to include Chicken Wrangler...

Pepper,

She's probably pissed.

She wanted to go lay an egg,

but for some infernal reason,

they all have to use the same cockadoodie box!

So now she waits, clucking around, 

for Ethel to finish laying.

Sweet onions.

These are a similar to Vidalia's.

Parsley.

 This guy needs a haircut!

I'll cut some and dry it for my herbal blend.

Lucy giving me the stink eye.

These are Greek Oregano, 

French and German Thyme,

and French Tarragon. 

The baby angel is between Peppermint

and Oregano .

The herb garden.

****************************

The gardenias are blooming like crazy!

This picture was taken yesterday morning...

This picture is of the same bush this morning...

Amazing!

Just too beautiful!

And the scent is wonderful as you step onto

the porch!

I also have a few gladiolus that will bloom soon.

Can't wait to see the colors.

I think they may be yellow, but several  bulbs

died in the freeze.

So it'll be a surprize.

Kinda like a gender reveal!

😂😆

*******************

The weather is getting hotter.

I was just commenting on it with my

son and my sister,

My day consists of  bringing and picking 

up kids from school.

When I get hot, I get cranky.

I also sweat profusely.

There's nothing ladylike in sweating.

Scarlett O'Hara may have fanned herself

or sat under an oak to get cool

while drinking sweet tea,

But,

I sweat!

I was so hot yesterday that

I could have warmed the entire

Donner Party

and nobody woulda been eaten!

Just sayin'

***********

Love ya,

Sis!