homemade chicken nuggets

greenhouse with lots of seedlings inside


nasturtiums in the greenhouse


i made homemade chicken nuggets


they're yummy

mollys lump

back in november molly got a lump, and the vet removed it. http://minnesotapears.blogspot.com/2015/11/mollys-lump-and-surgery.html
it was an expensive surgery, and molly had to wear a tshirt for a couple weeks to help it heal. well, another lump came back in the same place. this time the vet said that they could remove it, but it'll likely keep coming back. and that she'll likely keep getting these kind of lumps periodically.

mollys second sebaceous cyst


this was just a few days before it finally erupted and started draining. it was hard to get a picture of how tall it was.


**it drained continuously thru may before flattening out. then drained only very slightly thru june before finally healing up. she never seemed bothered by it, happily letting me clean it the whole time, and taking treats when i finished cleaning it. i wasnt sure if she'll always have a bald spot there or if the skin would shrink back down, but over july it did shrink to nearly nothing and the hair is growing back. i can only just barely find where it used to be, and only because i shaved some of her fur away to make cleaning easier, so that area has shorter fur.

sweetpea REALLY loves yu choy

sweetpea liked it so much she actually BLURRED her head! imagine, a tortoise being too quick for a digital camera!


i originally picked up yu choy at the asian grocery store because it resembled something i picked up at the farmers market that sweetpea adored. i harvested it for weeks, giving her a big pile of greens to chomp.


yumyumyum


these pictures are from over a couple weeks


gobble gobble


she seriously loves this stuff


i like this one especially


crunch n munch


it grew VERY well out in the greenhouse in the chill of spring


for weeks i just trimmed the outer leaves. they kept producing more.


out in the greenhouse


some videos of sweetpea munching

pear tree blossoms

summercrisp pear tree


these ones on this tree only were tinged pink around the edges




patten pear tree


one of the few open blossoms (at the time i took the pictures)


most of them are pretty little blossom balls not quite open yet




luscious pear tree


each blossom is a potential pear if pollinated




parker pear tree, the biggest tree


with the most blossoms


sadly, it rained most of the time the blossoms were open, and i dont have that many pears on the trees. the pollinators just werent out there doing their job in the rain i guess.

sweetpea vs radish greens and puzzles

i gave sweetpea a bin of radish greens


she made quick work of it.


i did a puzzle, it was missing a few pieces


a cute doggy puzzle

asparagus

baby asparagus!


the first raised bed, with its asparagus crowns in the back.


harvested baby asparagus. some of it got SO tall just from one day to the next. you really have to go out there and check them every single day!


as they got bigger, they got as big around as my finger


they really grow fast!


puppy and molly figured out they could just put their paws up on the edge of the raised bed and nibble on the asparagus.


i had to put a fence up.


darn dogs are too smart for their own good.

uncovering the strawberries

the strawberry patch, still covered in leaves to survive winter. and molly.


i must have missed one of the runners last fall. we have an escape artist! a strawberry growing outside the strawberry patch. i try to redirect the runners back inside the patch, but this one had rooted already. the lawnmower will take it out though.


all the leaves and the row cover cloth removed


new green strawberry leaves already poking up. you can see how easy it would be to mix up the shredded leaves with all the rest of that when trying to pull them off each spring.


thats why i use the row cover cloth under the leaves. this way i dont end up accidentally pulling up strawberry plants. the cloth gets a bit gooey after all winter under the leaves though. i hang it on the clothesline to dry out and let the wind blow all the leaf bits off.


it looks much less gross after its dried off and windblown.

seedlings indoors and in the greenhouse

watermelon seedlings under grow lights


watermelon and cantelope seedlings. the grow light is deliberately angled so the bulbs are close to the shorter cantelope seedlings, but not touching the taller watermelon seedlings.


nasturtium on the left, butterfly bush in the middle, calendula on the right


tomato seedlings in need of some water


all three shelves/lights


brussels sprouts, broccoli, and onions


radish greens for sweetpea


yu choy greens for sweetpea


the greenhouse with the cool weather seedlings in it