But hope remains, if friends stay true...

Tray of seedlings that have yet to be transplanted.

That title is a quote which is totally a geek reference. ;) Anyway, these are my seedlings that haven't been transplanted yet (some parsley, lettuce, onion, marigold, zinnia). I know if my current veggie garden gets destroy that I have these guys, which makes me slightly relieved.

Last survivors?

Lemon balm & lavender.

So a couple of weeks ago now I discovered something rather horrifying: I have termites in my vegetable garden. *GIANT WEEPY SAD FACE* The lemon balm and lavender above are some of the few edibles I have that are not actually in the garden. Those are in a hanging basket; I have thyme, strawberries, oregano & rosemary in pots in another part of the yard.

The first thought was to leave them there and hope that me disturbing them would cause them to leave (similar to what ants do). But they haven't moved. In fact, it seems like they have multiplied. 

So I have been frantically researching, as I do NOT want to use pesticides because A) that would kill my veggies and B) ruin that area for any future edible plant growing. But as the days keep passing by I fear I am running out of options and I am bracing myself for the fact that I may lose money this summer in vegetable gardening, because if my next plan doesn't pan out, I will have to call an exterminator and watch all my veggies die.

So what is this next plan? Ants. Apparently ants kill termites, so I am going to find an ant mount in my yard and move it to my veggie garden. I much much MUCH prefer ants to termites in the garden. Plus, my house is treated four times a year for ants so they shouldn't be able to actually get in the house.

Here is what I would lose if my entire veggie garden went under:

From back to front, left to right: 6 heads spinach, 10 heads garlic, 3 onions, 2 leeks, 4 cucumber stalks, head cabbage, stevia plant, bunch loose lettuce, head lettuce, head cabbage, bunch loose lettuce.

Peter rabbit cottontail...

Hopping down the bunny trail.

So get this: this picture was taken a mere 3ft away from this rabbit. How did I accomplish that you ask? Am I secretly a stealthy hunter? Did that month horsepacking teach me some uber skills at tracking? Sadly, no. But this means it's story time!

I was outside in the garden doing garden-y things when I heard this rustling in the brush in my backyard. I looked down the hill to watch this rabbit race up my backyard and stop about ten feet from me, obviously in some distress. I had my camera with me (thankfully!) so after taking some shots from far away (see below) I slowly started walking closer.

I got to about 3ft away from the rabbit and I started snapping away. Unfortunately at this point there was some more commotion in the woods at the bottom of the hill and the rabbit took off. However, I looked down the hill to see what I at first thought was a black cat digging at something ...and I immediately started thinking 'did Charlie somehow get outside?'. But I quickly saw that A) the 'cat' had four legs (so no Charlie) and that B) the tail was MUCH bushier than a cat's tail would be. At this point I realized that I was looking at a fox, but it was very dark, not sure if this was because it was under the shade of trees or if it was just a really dark gray fox. It was clearly after something, but once I started walking towards it, it ran off. 

Sadly, I wasn't quick enough to get any fox pictures. But I did walk down the hill to find out what it was after... baby rabbits! I didn't get any pictures of the rabbits because they were at the age where they can literally die from fright, so once I saw what they were and their age, I got out of there.

I've been keeping an eye out for Mama Rabbit, but I haven't seen her since that first episode. No surprise though, as cottontail rabbits are highly fear driven and stay away from people. Also have kept an eye out for Mr. (or Mrs.) Fox and I haven't seen him/her either.

Babies!

Baby chickadees!

So I knew about a month or so that a couple of chickadees had been checking out my bluebird nest box. Wasn't sure if they had actually laid eggs or not, but yesterday, while outside taking pictures I heard chirping coming from inside the box so I looked inside to find five baby chickadees! They have their quills so they are still nestlings, but it won't be too much longer before they start to get feathers and try to fledge! I can't wait to get pictures!

Goodnight (or should I say good morning) moon

For two nights in a row, I have had some insane dreams. The night before involved killer monkeys, McDonald's & the military. Last night involved some kind of party, me falling asleep and painted moons, stars & planets on the windows of my room (in brilliant shades of purples, pinks and blues).

So that reminded me of a picture I took about a week ago, it's not a great picture in terms of detail or accuracy, because I had only 5 seconds to take it before I had to leave for class which meant not changing the settings on my camera or getting out the tripod, but I am actually more fond of these abstract pictures, so it works.

 Moon. Morning of 3/21/11.

Art of cooking

Spice assortment for fried chicken.

Wispy skies

 Sunset 3/29/11. Closeup.

Sunset 3/29/11.