Mom's Garden

I just got back from Austin - went to a nice wedding and got to see my best friend from high school (not her wedding).  I got to spend a couple days at mom's playing in the garden, doing laundry and sorting through everything before the final pack-up to head to Yellowstone.  I was thankful for the garden play - it's a lot like cooking where it gives you time to work with your hands and meditate.  The sun warms your skin while the wind blows through your hair and you can just feel at peace with the world around you.

This is a view of her whole garden and house.  (You can see my moving truck out front - it caused quite the buzz in her little town.)

She has about 7 roosters and maybe one hen.  She keeps them as pets - so when one dies, she makes a cross for it and buries it in her backyard.  This is Duke, the top rooster, who is inspecting the crosses.

This is Maude and Lucy.  When she got them she thought they were going to be hens, so they got feminine names.  The roosters are starting to fight - and Maude seems to be the one that they are getting the worst. 

Lucy doing the rooster dance.

She has a rabbit, Sally, that is probably 2 times as large as Rupert (and almost as white).  She gets to eat fresh lettuce from the garden. 

My monkey's are going to be staying with her this summer so a bear can't eat them.  We let Lily outside for a little bit - Rupert tries to run away so he wasn't allowed out.  This is Lily inspecting my mom's cat, Hot Lips. 

Lily got put back inside after she starting going to places she shouldn't have - but she stayed by the screen door all afternoon.  

I think she was a little worried that my small handful of readers would think that she's a bad gardener because everything is so little - so please keep in mind it's still only April. (Although, I think her garden is looking fantastic!)  Since she had been in Chicago for the past half week, there were a lot of weeds.  I tried to help her out by hoeing half the garden.

Sugar Snap Peas

Broccoli

Lettuce

Additional Lettuce (with a gardener inspecting for potato bugs.)

Potato Bugs (I told you it was spring - and love is in the air!)

Lady Bug

Radish

Blackberry Bush (my favorite!!)

Squash (planted that morning.)

Tomatoes

Cucumbers

Green Beans

Corn

Plums (They say in Oklahoma you only get fruit about once every 4 or 5 years - this a year for fruit!)

Peaches

She said that she had garlic growing over in one spot of her yard, but that she had never dug it out.  So we decided to give it a try...

...and we got this, which looks like a bear.  It really does smell like garlic but it looks like an onion.  I tried to find out what it was by googling "onion that smells like garlic" but I got a lot of how to get the smell of garlic out or garlic smell in lady areas...  So I'm still not sure what it is.  It smelled so strong we left it on the front porch.  Any ideas?

Happy cooking!