I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
I’m So Blue-hoo-hoo
I’m so blue-hoo-hoo,
blue-hoo-hoo,
blue-hoo-hoo-hoo
I’m so blue I don’t know what to do.
Since yesterday, I’ve been humming that children’s Veggie Tales song which, appropriately enough, was sung by Madame Blueberry. Only, if I remember correctly, she was sad because she wanted more stuff. I was happy because I was surrounded by the blue of blueberries.
Yesterday EJ, Hannah Joy, and I took an enjoyable drive along beautiful lakes and through lovely forests and orchards to the blueberry farm I had found online called Bulldog Berries. In answer to my question, the woman who owns the farm along with her husband told me that the farm was named after their dog, who had died last year at 13 years of age. The farm has more than 20 acres of different types of blueberries that ripen at different times, which prolongs their picking season.
We parked the Xterra, leaving windows open for Hannah, and walked with the buckets provided to us to the section of the farm where we were told the latest berries were ripe. The bushes of ripe berries looked a hazy blue color from a distance. We passed a couple of cute Alpacas in a field. The farm reminded me of Farmville, the game I had played on Facebook nine or so years ago.
It was a beautiful day, perfect for picking–with cool temperatures in the high 60s and a nice breeze. We both filled our buckets and then walked back to the stand to have them weighed. I think we each picked about 7 lbs of berries. The cost of picking the berries ourselves is $2.50 a pound, much cheaper than the $3-$4 a pint at the stores.
When we returned home, we froze them. I put a handful of blueberries in our oatmeal this morning. Yummy!
Hannah Joy did her own berry picking this afternoon, eating the raspberries off our bushes that were within reach of her tie-out. She’s funny.
Do you see Hannah Joy in her chair and the cat to the left? The cat is Timmy. Hannah doesn’t like Timmy and will often bark sharply at him and chase him, especially if he gets too close to us. She never actually hurts the cat. I think Hannah is jealous of him. In the photo, Hannah looks like she’s not paying any attention to Timmy, but she is just pretending. In reality, she’s hyper-aware of him. I had told Hannah to “be nice” to Timmy, and she’s sort of sulking. She tries (somewhat) to resist the temptation of barking at him, but she always gives in and turns to bark briefly at him and then turning quickly away as if she didn’t bark at all and is totally innocent–as if we won’t notice or hear her if she does it quickly enough. Hannah is a hoot. LOL.
The baby chicks are growing fast. I’ve been trying to figure out when to allow them to join the general population. I think maybe in another week or two. I’d like them to be big enough that they won’t be at risk from the cats or other predators. The cats get along with the older chickens just fine, but I’m not sure if they’d be tempted with smaller birds. I’d rather be safe than sorry.
We often let Theo and Millie, our outdoor cats, out of the chicken pen now. They enjoy roaming through the garden–and sometimes beyond. We always shut them up in the coop at night. I’m not sure are good hunters, but they are very affectionate cats and we always give them lovings.
Annie is not impressed with Theo and Millie and hisses at them when they get near her. She doesn’t like being in the coop with them but stays in the garden at night. We have shelter for her there. However, but once it gets cold, I’ll make her go in the coop with the others.
EJ says I should stop taking photos of him, but I tell him that he is my muse. I love taking photos of him.
I have been seeing a type of caterpillar that I had never before seen. I think it looks like bits of white, black, and orange yarn twisted together. They become milkweed tussock moths. I wasn’t sure if they were good or bad, but EJ read that they are native and if we have enough milkweed for both them and the Monarchs, we should just let them be.
There are reports that the Northern Lights might put on a show for us this weekend. We are going to go out for a look, but the forecast is for mostly cloudy skies. Because of the Great Lakes, Michigan tends to have a lot of cloudy weather. I think clouds are interesting, but they do sometimes hinder our view of celestial events.
I Love To Go A Gardening 