Critters and stuff

Well, at least this time it has only been two weeks instead of four.  Since my last post I've accomplished two things:  I have successfully completed and graduated from a course in Permaculture Design, and I have successfully completed the EMS First Responder course for Massachusetts.  (I am still currently certified as an EMT in Virginia, but the whole transition thing is complicated.  Plus, the opportunity to take the First Responder class kind of fell in my lap so I ran with it.)  So, I am now certified in both Permaculture Design and as a First Responder in Massachusetts.  Where things go from there I don't know right now.  But, I think you read this to find out about how things are growing here on there farm, so here we go:
Here's a shot of the corn with Beau dog in the foreground for some perspective.  The shorter corn in the foreground is actually a bantam variety of corn  (Golden Bantam Improved from Seed Savers Exchange) and is supposed to be shorter.  The taller varieties are Stowell's Evergreen and Reid's Yellow Dent.  Man, are those tall!  Easily eight feet tall, and maybe up to ten.  We had our first ears of the Stowell's Evergreen yesterday and they were very good and tender. 

As far as corn goes, the only critters so far are what we think are probably raccoons.  The damage to the corn is consistent with something that has pulled it over.  We don't think the deer would be doing that.

You can sort of see some of the corn leaning over into the beets in this picture but the damage is worse today than it was when I took this picture yesterday.  We figure we'll probably fence it next year.  The beets look sort of ravaged because we've eaten some and I've sold quite a few of them.  They were the first thing sold from the garden and they are really very good.  Detroit Dark Red - gorgeous deep red color and sweetly earthy like beets should be.   Yummy!

Here are a couple of pictures of the Borage that I planted:

The blue is just amazing in person - it looks almost electric.  It's really a beautiful plant.  I decided to grow it this year because I read that bees like it and was hoping to attract pollinators.  It seems to be doing the job.  It's also supposed to be a good companion for the cucumbers, which it is planted in with.  Please disregard the terrible weeds around it ~ I am working hard to reclaim that section of garden from the weed overgrowth now that my PDC (Permaculture Design Course) is over.  Did a whole row yesterday and, really, am finding that the weeds have served as a sort of living mulch so it's not all bad.  I think the veggies would have done better if they hadn't had to compete with so many weeds but, in the absence of 'regular' mulch they've done a pretty good job of keeping moisture in the soil.  You can see how moist the soil looks under our first and, so far, only cucumber:

There is hope for more because there are tons of blossoms.  Unfortunately, the timing is off and I am going to have to buy cukes to make pickles with if I want to use my own bouquet dill.  I think I will try to do both that AND make pickles from our own cukes with our dill *seed*  but "regular" school is getting ready to start again so, we'll see if I have time.

In the same 200 square foot patch as the cukes are the tomatoes - all 80-something plants!  [omg.... WHAT were we thinking???].  They, too, have a bunch of blossoms but so far the only fruits I see are on the Pear Tomatoes:

Aren't they beautiful??  And they are all bearing clusters like that.....!  It appeared that "something" had been eating some of them, and some stems looked like they had been nipped off.  I had no idea what it could be but was thinking deer may have been after the blossoms until I found this guy:

Can't see him clearly because he blends in so well?  I didn't, either!  At first I thought he was some sort of leaf - I am so glad I didn't grab him when I was pulling weeds!  Here's a better photo:

Can you see the bright yellow circles on each of his segments?  They're right next to the white lines.  Very vibrant in person and the center of the yellow circle looks like a black 'x'.  Really interesting markings.  And his "horn" that you see is red, which identifies him as a Tobacco Hornworm, not a Tomato Hornworm (they have a black "horn").  Not terribly surprising to me since the greater valley area we live in is a big tobacco growing region.  He was quite large (easily the length of my middle finger and the thickness of my thumb) and very tenaciously holding on to the tomato branch.  I couldn't quite bring myself to squish him or his 'friend' that I found so I sort of threw him into the swampy field next to the garden and I'll keep an eye out for his return.  His friend proved to be more adept at escape and managed to make his getaway before I noticed that he was gone and then I couldn't find him again.  I'm sure he's happily munching on my tomato plants as I write this.  In the words of the indomitable Scarlett O'Hara: tomorrow is another day.   Interestingly, according to OrganicGardening.About.com, this is the larval stage of the Hawk or Sphinx Moth, also known as the Hummingbird Moth.  According to http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/hummingbird_moth.htm,

the Hummingbird Moth is a beneficial pollinator so I guess I'm glad I didn't squish them, after all.

The Diablo Cosmos are blooming like crazy:

and they are attracting lots and lots of beneficials and pollinators.  I've never grown so many flowers in and among my vegetables before and I am absolutely hooked.  Not only do they attract pollinators and beneficial insects but they add a beauty to the garden that just delights me.  Honestly, every time I look at the beautiful colors on all the blooming, flowering things in the garden I smile.  It makes me so happy to see them.  The Calendula looks bright and sunny:

And even Beau dog looks happy when he's near the garden:

He looks like he's smiling to me.  It's definitely his "happy place".  Mine, too.

And last, but most definitely not least, even our house is growing:

And this, folks, makes me happiest of all.  :)