I am sitting here at my computer and it sounds l;ike my house is being attacked. All I hear is something beating agains the outside walls. What is it?? June Bugs. There are thousands of them, literally. Everywhere. Walk out the front door, you get hit in the head. Walk out the back door and they zoom past. Don't even think about sitting under a tree. So far they are just flying, knocking themselves out on the fences and getting eaten by chickens. The chickens are in heaven. The netting we put up around their yard is the perfect bug-catching tool. It slows the bugs down for them to catch.

The boys and I are on a mission this afternoon to make a bug-catching device so we can catch masses and feed them to the birds.

And on another note....did you know that June bugs really stink??

This 90 degree heat we are having here in Tennessee has just about finished our peas. We picked about 3 lbs worth this week- which minus those eaten raw for snacks equalled about 4 cups shelled. They are getting ready to be frozen so we can save at least a little for later

We've pulled up most of our carrots too. Less than 10 left out there. Next year I'll have to plant a lot more since the boys have been eating them so quickly. But aren't they pretty??

Number 10: The purple clematis climbing all over my front deck

Number 9: The yellow irises popping out all over the front walk

Number 8: The mini rose buds just starting to open

Number 7: The tiny pea flowers and pods peppering the plants

Number 6: After 4 years, the plum tree finally showing signs of fruit.

Number 5: Again, after 4 years, the nectarine tree REALLY showing signs of fruit.

Number 4: The fact that the blueberry bushes have more berries than ever before

Number 3: The berries we picked today and the ones we will pick tomorrow

 Number 2: The amazement of my kids when they saw this stretching clear across the sky

Number 1: My favorite plant (sage) in my spring garden is in full bloom.

 Okay, really I love my whole yard. I am so thankful that we can spend time out here. That my kids can learn about plants through experience and not in a school building. They experience planting the seeds, watching them sprout and picking the flowers or eating the produce. I see thier excitement when they find the first tomato flower or pea pod emerge or when they find something they can pick and eat.

Early this month the boys made planter boxes at a Home Depot workshop. They planted apple seeds, tomatoes, and peppers in them. Here is the most recent growth in their plants:

Rylan planted apple seeds that had sprouted in our apples- most of them are Pink Lady and one Golden Delicious....he's very proud of them...

Cohen planted peppers. His seeds took awhile and still only 2  have came up in the last week.... 

Now here are Cale's. He planted tomatoes... 

Now before you think this child is a gardening wonder....to be honest the day after he planted his seed I planted my seedlings in the garden and had 2 tomato plants leftover....his seeds are about 2 inches high under the big ones....but he does have a green thumb.

And here was out first apple seedling. We upgraded into a pot now since it was outgrowing the peat pellet. We also now have a necterine seed. We found the pit cracked in the garden from some compost and the seed was sitting there....we also have 3-4 little necterine tree seedlings in our compost pile which we will eventually transplant.  I love this. I have memories as a little girl...my brother and I would take our apple seeds from lunch and plant them. We never saw them again.( We also forgot where we planted them!) Anyway....isn't it pretty!!

What is under the tree?????

This particular Poplar tree seems to attract lady bugs in swarms. Last year my 3rd was obsessed with these bugs and we would sit under this tree forever picking them up and watching them crawl and fly. Today they lifted up the weed prevention ring around the tree and found a ton of lady bugs on one side and pill bugs (rolly poly) on the other.

And while they were doing this I was sitting with the baby as he filled up a bucket with every dandelion he could find, and the occasional daffodil he ripped off, and I discovered something new. I have had my current camera for 3 years and I have always been annoyed with the fact that I couldn't zoom in well. It wouldn't focus after a certain point. Today I figured out the very simple button I needed to push to get it to focus in up close (thus the very close up bug pics above) So I went around taking pictures....

These are to remember these wonderful flowers: my lilac, phlox and tulips...we are supposed to dip below freezing in a couple days and they will be gone.

But here is one of my favorites: Our apple seed sprout. We have 4 popped up outside in my son's planter box, but this was the first one....a Pink Lady

After 3+ days of rain the sun finally came out today. For once Paul was off and I had a long list of things I wanted to get done. Things such as till the herb garden, which is hard to do with a baby on your hip.

Yesterday the boys made these at Home Depot. And during a 30 minute break in the showers they filled and planted in them: tomatoes, peppers and apple seeds from our lunch.

But today the first order of business was mowing. Paul has been working until after dark for the past 2 weeks, so our yard was in dire need. Now usually I am not a fan or mowing days. It took over an hour and a half to mow our 1.5 acres. Usually Paul would sit one of the boys on his lap, but still it took a big chunk out of his one day off. Last fall our mower died and Paul talked me into getting one of those zero-turn ones....plus side: it is much quicker. Down side: the boys can't ride anymore. So this is how they spent almost the entire time he was mowing this morning, even the 11 mo old:

After the mowing we planted these:

Now now I have peas, broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, hot and red peppers, basil and cilantro back in the garden. I also started the cucumbers, canteloupe, watermelon and zuchinni inside to get a head start. I just hope our weather holds- last year I had to dig everything up due to a late frost.

Then we moved onto the birds. The only thing on my list that didn't get done was raising up the nest boxes. We've had them on the ground, but the curious birds have scratched out all the "nests" and a few are sleeping in them, so it is time to raise them up so they hopefully leave them alone more. They are only 8 weeks old....they won't start laying until closer to 20 weeks, so we have a while still.

The brown one, Brownie, was one of the one we thought we were going to lose. She turned out to be just a late bloomer. My 4 year old has taken a real liking to her. The white one, is a Wendy, but has a new nickname of Saddlebags due to the tremendous amount of white fluff on her thighs.

And here is Shadow and Saddlebags again.

And finally one of our black stars, and Phoenix...who looks like our only rooster. Once we know for sure he will most likely be sent to a new home, as long as we find someone who won't eat him!!