Eighteen members volunteered, Monday June 29th, to spread crush & run along newly-paved portions of Bella Vista and Beacon Hill. Rip-Rap dams were also built aside Laurencove. Thanks to everyone who turned out for this important event.

 

        

 

Look who Jon found in the blueberries.  SEEK called it a Common land snail.  Who knew they like blueberries?  Well, this one is wrapped around a couple of berries.  Maybe it's just holding on there, but it was too curious to not show you.  It's up about 4 feet, I wonder how long it took to get up that high.  See its antennas.  Are they called antennas?  Better go check Wikipedia.  Be right back...

 

I copied this:  Land snail is the common name for terrestrial gastropod mollusks that have shells (those without shells are known as slugs).  The majority of land snails are pulmonates. That is, they have a lung and breathe air.  Land snails have a strong muscular foot; they use mucus to enable them to crawl over rough surfaces and to keep their soft bodies from drying out. Like other mollusks, land snails have a mantle;  and they bear one or two pairs of tentacles on their heads. In most land snails the eyes are carried on the first (upper) set of tentacles (informally called 'eye stalks').  The second (lower) set of tentacles act as olfactory organs. Both sets of tentacles are retractable in land snails.
 

Ahh, not antennas, tentacles.  OK. That's about all I need to know.  You can look it up, if you want more.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

It's time to start picking blueberries.  Look how beautiful they are.  
 

We always start picking blueberries on Father's Day;  and sure enough, this year I picked about 30 berries.  Each day since then, we've picked about a quart, sometimes two.  The season lasts about a month for us, because we planted several varieties of blueberries.  Two bushes are still full of completely green berries, but they will ripen in the next few weeks.  Meanwhile we have plenty to keep us busy every morning.  
 

We add blueberries to our lunch salads all summer, and Jon makes blueberry muffins in the fall and winter.  I just got a great recipe from Roxanne for scones.  She used a cranberry and orange scone recipe, and substituted blueberries.  De-lish!!!

 

Can't wait to make them myself.  Next rainy day maybe.  Today is an outside day, lots to do in the garden.  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

We were visiting a friend the other night (keeping our distance of course) and saw this dragonfly on the wall.  I took the picture, and then later noticed the shadows.... Interesting.  
 

We have a fun reference book called Animal Speak, by Ted Andrews.  He describes animals, insects, birds, and reptiles using their unique qualities to help us understand them, and help us understand ourselves.  Dragonflies and damselflies are about light and color and iridescence.  How intriguing that they have both shown themselves to us in the last week.  It makes me think more deeply about light and color and the mysteries therein.

 

I hope you get to see dragonflies in your travels, and take the time to reflect on their iridescence as a gift.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Have a little Kale!!!!  Hahaha!  
 

Planted too much.  But it's so pretty, and when the seedlings are ready to plant in the garden, they seem so small.  I think I planted about 18 seedlings.  Well, they grew!!!  Now we have tons of Red Russian Kale.  It's also called Ragged Jack.  See the stems?  They are purple.  
 

It's not just pretty, it tastes good too.  Check out the recipe section for a good kale recipe.  The recipe section is under Neighbors sharing, almost at the bottom.   The kale recipe is under vegetables.  Let me know if you want some kale, we have lots!!!

 

It could be that truckload of mushroom compost, or our own compost that we added to the soil this year, that is making everything grow so big.  Or maybe the cool, wet spring weather.  Whatever it is, the garden looks great!!!  I'm happy!!!

 

I really have to be careful what I plant, because it is GOING to grow.  That's just me.  If a little bit is good, a lot is better.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING !!!

 

 

 

This is dill in the garden.  It is about 4 feet tall, and there are about 60 stems just like this.  
 

See the umbrella-like flower heads?  Remember the Queen Anne's Lace?  Same family, Umbelliferae or Apiaceae, which also includes parsley, celery, cumin, fennel, lovage, carrot, parsnip, cilantro.  Each one of those little yellow flowers will become a seed to add to dill pickles, or let them fall back on the ground to grow a new plant.  
 

We use dill in lots of things, not just pickles.  The leaves and stems are great for cooking with fish, and the green seeds are delicious in any kind of salad:  tuna, chicken, potato, pasta, fruit.  Dill leaves are also a great flavor to mix with unflavored yoghurt for a vegetable dip or sauce.  
 

I love seeing dill in the garden.  When these finish blooming, and the seeds are still green, I cut a few giant heads and put them in a vase.  Beautiful!!!

 

Oh, yeah, black swallowtail butterflies use dill as a host plant for their caterpillars to eat when they hatch.  

 

Lots of reasons to love dill.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!
 

 

 

 

See the little trees coming up from the fan clubmoss?  They are about 4 inches tall.  I think these are the fruiting bodies.  In fungi, they would be mushrooms;  not sure what they're called in mosses.  Guess I better get busy and do a little research.  I'll get back to you.  

OK, I learned that those "little trees" are the spore-bearing strobili.  Mosses don't have flowers or seeds, but reproduce by spores like ferns and mushrooms.  That's about all I know about it.  I just know that I love seeing this huge colony of clubmosses.  Thought you'd like to see it too.   
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

We saw this insect in the park.  Its color was so vibrant, we had to stop.  It held still for a full minute!!!  I used my new favorite app SEEK, and it called it Beautiful Demoiselle.  Had to look it up.  According to SEEK, scientifically it is Calopteryx virgo, or European damselfly.  
 

According to Wikipedia, Calopteryx virgo lives in Europe.  'The distribution of the beautiful demoiselle covers all of Europe with the exception of the southwestern Iberian Peninsula, the Balearic Islands and Iceland.  On the North African Mediterranean coast, its southern populations in Morocco and Algeria can be found.'  No mention of Southern Appalachia.  
 

I sent an email to iNaturalist, SEEK's creators, and asked about other damselflies in our area, and I got this back:  'Seek's image recognition model doesn't take location into account, it relies purely on visual similarity,'  plus a link to four species of damselfly spotted in north Georgia.  This one is probably Superb Jewelwing, Calopteryx amata.  Ya gotta love that!!!!
 

I love this app even more now!!!  Information AND support!!  Did I mention that's it's free?  
 

Whatever species it is doesn't really matter to me;  we were just captivated by its beautiful iridescence.  And now you get to see it too.  Maybe you'll see some in your travels.  I hope so.  They are so beautiful:  superb, in fact.  
 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

Look!!!!  The cucumber plants are latching onto their fence.  Those tendrils are really strong, and hairy.  They catch the wire and stick, then pull the vines up tight.  
 

I love seeing this.  I planted about 40 seeds.  (seeds from last year's cucumbers.)   I plant that many just in case they don't ALL germinate.  Well, they did!!!  I hope you like cucumbers.  Because...

 

Along about July, I'll be dropping them on your front porch, ringing the doorbell, and running.  Hahaha!!!  
 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!