Hail Storm~

I need to clean up my kitchen garden this morning... but its depressing.... 

All the fronds have been knocked off the asparagus...

My peas and beans,,, while it looks green, they have been sheared off about 2" above the soil.

And the garden was doing so well before this.

Oh.... and the baby bunny in my garden.... that looked at me an peed. :P

Part of the dish knocked off by hail.

Some of the damage to the house.  While its not a lot it still needs to be fixed.

Above... is a punch through that is bigger than my fist.
Below... a number of hole through the siding. 

And why I really thought the hail was going to break a window... its hard to see the dents in this.

The hail lasted around 20 minutes,,, was Quarter sized, sizes in between and a few fist sized hail were hitting the house and garage.  And it was coming in sideways, different directions... and almost like we were in the food blender.
Sounded like a bomb was going off and I stayed in the center of the house.
Weird high and very strong winds didn't help.
The storm with the violent thunder and lightening, lasted nearly 4 hours here.
I wasn't impressed at all.

The Amish made, board and batten sheds, fared much better. They will just need a bit of stain here and there.
Wish I could put up either Hardy plank or board and batten on the side of the house.

Have called the insurance, so need to find a way to pay the deductible.
The good Contractor and neighbor, will be here later today to see what it will take to fix the many, many holes and damage to the siding and garage and make sure the roof's are sound on both buildings.

Kitchen Garden and wee Orchard~~

The new Flavor supreme Pluot fruit tree , is doing really well.

This is the one Grape vine, called, Mars, made it through the winter,, even after the late freeze killed the new growth. A little Horse manure compost did wonders. Also have a ground cover, that I hope over time,will help keep the need for weeding down.

This is the replacement grape vine called, Reliance. It is a Red grape, I hope it does better than the Einset grape vine did. I am going to use Strawberries as a ground cover in this area.
Still need to add a horse manure compost to the new vine.

This is the Shiro Plum and is having problems coming out of dormancy. As is the Pear tree.
 I contacted Raintree over a week ago, about a couple of issues with this last order of trees and roses...
3 of the Rosa R's have having issues too.
Have not heard back from them.
Kind of surprises me, I have started 3 Orchards, in 3 different states, mostly with their trees.
Not sure what is happening with customer service at this point. 

Pea, Green bean Bed. Also has a basil and cantaloupe plants. The later I will have cascade outside of the bed.
The peas most likely will not produce pods, until it starts getting cooler this Fall.Can see the rustic trellis.
In the front of this Bed, is a small Willow tree I started from a branch, off the slightly larger Willow I planted the first year we arrived here.

Same Bed, different View.

This is the Tomato and Squash bed.
Will just have two tomato plants this year.
The Squash should grow to to fill the bed and help keep the weeds down. 

Also have one Pepper plant,
few onions, flowers and a couple of Cantaloupe plants.
I hope in time, DH can make some rustic arbors, so I can have plants like the Cantaloupes, grow up and over the walk way between the Beds. 

So far, knock on wood, the Veggies are doing much better this year. 

Homemade Piazza ~~

The Before photo above....

Piazza made from scratch..  Home made crust, pork sausage from scratch,

Onions and basil from the garden, tomatoes, low salt olives, sheep's cheese and some pepperoni. You can see what side is DH's!

And it was really, really good. :O)

One Misty Day ~~

Tried to take photos of the cool misty day we had last week.  60*, heavy clouds and a light mist all day... LOVE IT! 

Reminded me of Oregon.
Really nice day, could get lots done.

Wish we could have more days like this one here in VA.

Kitchen Garden~

After the steep learning curve last growing season, I think, I "might" have the hang of growing things around here.

Above, one of  my Asparagus beds, they are doing well.

One of the two blueberry blushes we planted last Fall.  Is doing well.

Lettuce is looking very pretty.
Below, the lettuce and broccoli bed.

The Mars grape, came back even after the late hard freeze killed all the new growth.
The red grape,, is very much dead. Will have to replace that one.
But around the Mar's grape, I decided to try some, ground cover, to help with the weeds.
They are tiny now, but hopefully will grow quickly.

Still have more weeded to do. 

The two Peony bushes, did well through winter and are coming on strong. Even have buds starting.
Rather hard to see right now.

Just planting two tomatoes this year, plus some summer squash, a pepper, some onions and flowers in this bed.
Plants are still very small right now. Bed should be full by mid summer.

Fruit Orchard and Amy the Turkey~

Amy the Turkey, wanted to have her photo taken this morning. 

All the photos where taken this morning, except the one above, that was taken in April. One of the Japanese flowering Cherries, with not many flowers due to the late hard freeze we had.

Fruit Orchard looking towards the Kitchen Garden.
Can see the new trees if you look hard. 

Panoramic view of the wee Orchard, looking towards the Hen house. 

One of the new fruit trees, this one is a Pluot called, Flavor supreme.

Phi Theta Kappa induction ceremony ~

Speakers at the start of the ceremony.

Finally DS's turn to walk up front

Signing the Induction ledger

Quite proud of him, he is doing very well in College.

Plied the Gotland Yarn

During the Storm yesterday, I finished plying my Gotland yarn. Not sure what I am going to do with it yet.
Has been washed and is now being Set.

Storm ~

River across the Driveway....
First time I have seen this, granted this up and coming summer will only be our third year here.

Lots of strong wind, thunder and lightening. Sadie spent most of the day under her safety table, with the cover on it.

For the first time, Dyfra did not rear and spin, when the Thunder claps happened.

Pond and pond and creek running where there normally isn't one.

Thank goodness... no Tornadoes near us.

Pear tree doing its best to bend in half, during the strong steady winds. 

Blackbirds above and a Grackle below, seeking shelter during the storm.

Miss the more mellow weather of NW Oregon. 

Here the weather is just crazy.
Also makes me wish I could afford and F5 rated storm shelter.

The Garden and Orchard~

Beautiful Apple blossoms.

The late hard freeze, did not destroy all the cherry blossoms.Luckily there are a few left to enjoy.

The Peach tree lost all its blooms in the late frost.  So no peaches for this year. 

One of the Pear trees that survived last years bugs and disease. Is doing pretty good!

The Squash bed, did not make in, even with the row cover. 

The Bed of lettuce and broccoli did ok with a floating row cover over the top of them.
Using DE to keep the bugs at bay.

I had all but one Rose bush, that was coming back after the below freezing temps last winter. But sadly, with all that new growth, mother nature decided to throw a hard frost at us.
Now I only have one Rose bush coming back.  Rather depressing.

Also lost a Cherry tree and one grape vine. The one that did survive the winter... pretty sure, bit the dust with the late freeze, too.
So I will have to replace two grape vines, a cherry tree and 4 rose bushes at some point.
Steep learning curve to be sure.

A unique Pea Trellis, found no where else in the World. LOL  Should do the trick.

Luckily, the two Peony's seemed to have made it through the winter. Can just see them coming up.One is in the foreground the other near the top right of the photo.

Nest Boxes....

Our high Tec Nest boxes......
Need to figure out how to add more soon!

Because the Turkeys kept getting stuck in the small Nest boxes... we had to invent a bigger one for them.
Costco box does the trick!