Snaaaaaaaaaaake!

I went to check out my garden this morning and was quite shocked to find a little friend settled in between my lettuce and carrot beds. Freaked me right out! I think it's an Eastern Ribbon Snake (to the best of my knowledge). Although it could be a Garter Snake too. I know there are no poisonous snakes in Maine but still...get the heck out of my garden! I watched him (or her) for about a 1/2 hour but it hasn't moved. I'd like to see where it is going so I can steer clear!

Breakfast...for dinner.

My husband is up North fishing in T8 R18 this weekend. For a treat, the boys and I decided to have breakfast for dinner. I made pancakes from a favorite recipe from King Arthur's Baking Companion. I'm lucky enough to have a grandmother in-law that lives about a mile down the road. She stops by occasionally with treats. This past week were flats of handpicked strawberries. YUM! I made a delicious strawberry sauce (brown sugar, corn starch, strawberries and orange juice) to top the pancakes-and Maine maple syrup. Gabe and I had blueberry pancakes and Eli had plain.

Pictures

My sil put this basket together for me for Mother's Day. The picture doesn't do it justice for how beautiful it is.

Front of the house...Juniper's Beard, Yarrow (a favorite of mine), Ladies Mantle, Bee Balm, Salvia, pineapple mint, creeping thyme, lemon balm, assorted hostas, a few pansy's and geraniums.

Lettuce.



Peas.



Peas.

Today

Lot's of weeding today. And planting more carrots. I want to make sure I have plenty to freeze for this winter. I picked and froze pea pods today. I have a ton and figured I'd freeze some for stir fries this winter. Eli loves to pick and eat the peas right from the garden. Love that!

What else. The cucumber beetles are back. I guess they never really left. I've been covering my squashes and pumpkins with an old sheet. The cucumbers and zuch's I've covered with pails. I'm so sick of those bugs! I would have thought (from reading online) that they'd be gone by now.

Apparently I have some very tasty plants.

I've been in Birthday party planning mode. My oldest, Elijah, turns the BIG 5 in July. The invitations went out today. Hopefully his friends can make it. It will be a construction theme with lots of bull dozers, excavators, dump trucks, etc. He's a real "man's man" as my friend likes to say! I would have to agree.



I hope everyone is enjoying this nice summer weather we've been having. I know me and the boys have.

Happy Father's Day!

The garden is finally planted. My peas are blooming and I hope to have peas relatively soon. They do look beautiful! Everything else is slowly coming up. Spinach, pole beans, carrots, swiss chard, beets, lettuce, tomato plants, bush beans...I had to rip up my zuchinni, cucumbers, squash and pumpkins. The striped cucumber beetle completely ate everything before I even realized they were there. I had to buy new transplants from the greenhouse which I wasn't too happy about. I planted and had to cover everything with a sheet because those little beetles were flocking to my plants! I took the sheets off yesterday and haven't seen another bug yet, so I think I'm going to be okay. Let's hope anyway.

I planted sunflowers on Wed 6-11. My sil is getting married in September so I grew more than I normally would. Hopefully she can use them when the time comes.

Also, my oldest son graduated from pre-school last Thursday. What a great celebration! Hard to believe he's going to be five in less than a month.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!!