Random July/August photos

Hen #23 is the best mama , she taught her babies to roost so early.... this is the last photo I have of the group. Our dog was out and about one day when no-one was home and he killed 14 out of 18 of them in a few hours... it was heart breaking to say the least....

Above is the shell of a Cicada, they appear in the summer when it is really hot , chirping loudly through the night to avoid predators , then die and leave behind this shell.

Mother Of Guadalupe for protection.

St Francis for homage to the animals..
  

A shrine set in the trees along the driveway...

Mediating Buddha with a chorus of Angels...
 

The replacement chickens , a mixed bag of "I am not quite sure what they are" I bought at a feed store, Marins, Dominics ???? Male/female???

July at the ranch

It is more sunny with the trees cleared out...just the right amount!!

Our tractor waits patiently waiting for the diesel doctor to work his magic , so far we have replaced the air filter and all the fluids, it is still not running....

June Garden

The garden and the greenhouse look so small now that the trees are cleared .
This is the herb row: Rosemary- cilantro-Oregano- basil- thyme- mint and  lavender.

The grasshoppers have been horrible this year along with the cabbage worms, the chard and collards look like lace.

Asparagus, middle row is the artichoke,onion and broccoli, the far row are the blackberries.
 

We had them push back the trees about 20 feet from the edge of the garden.

The beets are getting eaten by the bugs as well and something else? The tomatoes are holding their own and climbing up the trellis, I do like this arrangement for the tomatoes.

At the end of the row are the cucumbers, which are doing very well this time of year even in the 100 degree days because I have them heavily mulched with hay.
 

The blueberries have all been picked and the grapes are heavy with fruit.

Below is one of the first harvests on June 1st.

 

 Both of these were the harvest on June 22nd.