Happy Labor Day!

We went to the Balloon Festival this morning. After 2 days of not being able to launch because of high upper level winds this morning was perfect, sunny and gorgeous!

The Happiest Apple

I cannot believe that in all my years here I have never been to the Happy Apple Farm! But last week, Amanda and I took the kiddos down there for some blackberries and apples. They drive you out to the fields on a wagon pulled by a tractor and encourage you to try what you are picking. Nothing tastes better than when it is picked right off the tree and eaten. Or in the case of out littlest adventurer: right off the ground~ In addition to the fruit I also purchased a jar of apple butter. We will be back again before the season is out for sure!

Swallowtail

My Butterfly bush - Buddleia is a hub of activity these days. For the first time I have Hummingbirds who spend hours circling the bush. But the Butterfly bush holds true to it's name! I have seen at least one Monarch on it, painted ladies, hummingbird moths and both black and yellow swallowtails. It is gorgeous to look at and a veritable feast for all things seeking pollen and nectar. I even have to be careful when I choose to go weed lest I agitate the bees. Do you see the bee in the second picture? It is the sweet life for sure!

More Wild!

Seriously! Can you handle it? I can't! I love where I live! Today working out in Black Forest the hummingbirds were all over the Agastache and Salvia. I snapped a couple of pictures and when I went to take another this fella flew right up for his photo-op!

When I came home form work I was greeted by a package from one of my most favorite people. Inside was Garlic and not just any garlic: Colorado grown, organic garlic that Erin helped harvest in the Durango area. I am so blessed ~ Thank you Erin!

Wild!

This is a big catch-up day for my blogging. Things have been busy which is fabulous, but I am learning to juggle my time again since getting back to the world of adults and a job that doesn't revolve strictly around my son, home and husband.
This blog post is about the wonderful wildlife I have been seeing lately.
The first happening occurred at the same gardening client's house where I saw the bobcat. I was working in the back of the house when the homeowner opened the ground level window next to where I was working, popped out the screen and insisted I climb inside immediately as there was a mama bear and cubs in her garage. I have never moved so quickly! Normally they keep their garage closed because of this exact reason but it was open for me. Her dogs were barking like crazy at the door to the garage and you could hear something big scratching at the other side and pushing it's weight against the door. Finally it got quiet so we went upstairs where we had a good view of the driveway and this is what we saw:
Mama and her 3 cubs had dragged the big Tupperware of dog food out by the driveway and proceeded to have a field day with it.
Meanwhile on the homefront... I had house finches build their nest on the top of one of my rose trellises. About a week ago 4 little babies hatched and they are the cutest things! I can hear them chirping when mama or papa come in with food practically anywhere in the yard. Who would have thought something so small could make so much noise!
And last but not least, I found a lovely Fritillary caterpillar in some of my Sedum. I believe this will become a Painted Lady Butterfly. I have had quite a few on my Butterfly bush and Monarda in the front garden this year.
More to come hopefully today on the actual garden. I should have some new listings up on Etsy soon that I am excited to share with you as well. Thanks so much for checking in!

Bobcat!

I went on a drive last night around 7 pm to look at a perspective gardening job. The area is in North West Colorado Springs. I was driving up the actual street I would be working on and... a bobcat walked in front of my car, stopped in the middle of the street to look at me and then went on it's way. I have lived in the Colorado Rockies all of my life and have never seen one of these in the wild! No pictures of course but I did find a nice example from the National Geographic website with some great facts about these elusive hunters.

A Few Things

I finally have a few minutes to sit down at the computer and blog! I feel like I have so much to share. Two nights ago I made a stir fry with veggies all from the garden: two types of beets, broccoli, carrots and 5 color silver beet Chard. It's true, I took pictures. There are few things that make me as happy as eating something I picked not even an hour before.
Last night around 12:30 a crazy storm rolled through with huge wind gusts, lots of cloud to cloud lightning and heavy rain but thankfully no hail. I sat watching it out the front window for a while hoping beyond hope that I would still have my beautiful tomato plants in the morning. Just North of us they had golf ball sized hail and a Tornado sighting!!
Today I am harvesting my remaining spinach and continuing the endless weeding that apparently goes along with getting consistent rainfall. It is a beautiful cool morning and I am feeling so grateful for it after the last few days of heat.