This Saturday was a treat. I knew I was going to be able to spend nearly all day at the Canyon so I got a early start. I didn’t have any errands to run or things gather to take up, so by 6:30 am I was on the way up the hill. Of course I did have to buy Juan a coffecito. It is such a treat to enjoy a cup of “store bought” coffee with Juan as we walk around the place first thing while Juan shows me all the work he did.
Juan shot another rattlesnake this week. That makes two so far this season (summer). Last season Juan shot a total of ten in the season. There are far fewer this season, understandably. The first kill of the season was near the satellite dish post in garden, this last kill was in the stack of boards under the pole barn. Last year Juan mistakenly killed a Gofer Snake, and I am sad to say a King Snake. I have explained to him now the value and importance of a healthy snake population (we want the “good” snakes). He gets it now. I keep reminding him.
There are so many things to “work on” that I have really put little time into vegetable gardening, but I started a book by Steve Soloman, Gardening When It Counts – Growing Food in Hard Times, and it is already a great help to me. It has spurred me into just getting started. So today I went into the basement. Rummaged through the box of seed packets and pulled out a bunch of pumpkin seeds, acorn squash, beets, & sunflower seeds. I planted the pumpkins on the vinca pile, the beets in the old herb garden, the sunflowers along the garden fence by the entry gate and the acron squash near the pile of rocks. Like all things I will learn as I go.