Back from the brink

I took a much needed break from everything for most of June and July. I seriously have ignored almost everything except the garden - it helped mentally, physically and spiritually. It always does. I'm feeling much better now, enough said. Now let's move on.

The garden is literally buzzing. Bees (honey, mason, bumble and all) are everywhere. I've yet to be stung. I move slowly and no one seems to mind my plodding and poking. Did you know that different bees have different sounds? Really. Each type buzzes a little differently. I told you I've been spending a lot of time in the garden.

In the spring we started building walls for our raised beds out of rock. We have a lot of rock. I should be honest and say Charlie started building walls. I haven't been able to move too many rocks in a while. They look nice and have become home to many little garden predators. I'm getting over my arachniphobia. Spiders are good... Also, we have tons of toads. O.K., not tons, but more than ever. Monkey and I have made several toad homes for them. I don't think they actually use them, but they look cute in the garden.

My tomato plants are looking spectacular and a few of the fruits are ripening. I've been hand-watering them lavishly. The lack of rain and an heavy mulch of pine straw has kept them mostly disease free. Next week I may start selling them at market, but right now we are hording the first of the crop as our own. Stupice has again this year taken first place in early ripening. Charlie wolfed down the first Black Prince that I plucked. Greedy man. But he has done most of the heavy work this year, so I'll forgive him.