Market Morning

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The baby kale sparkled with dew this morning. And the potato blossoms were smiling when I went out to the garden to gather produce for today’s Bow Little Market. Their anthers are such a brilliant yellow.

I’m studying Rebsie Fairholm’s book, “The Lost Art of Potato Breeding”. The nature of potato genetics means that if you grow potatoes from seeds instead of tubers which is how most people grow potatoes, you have no idea what kind of potatoes you’ll get from those seeds. From a single potato plant, you can get a variety of potatoes. As a result, the chances of ending up with potato varieties no one else has, is what makes potato breeding a worthwhile endeavor.

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Digging potatoes is a highlight of summer and fall. You can do it a million times and still be awed when your hand digs into the earth and uncovers a potato. It’s awesome how these plants use solar power to create sugars and starches out of water and carbon dioxide, and store this power in the ground. And they don’t just make one kind of potato, they make hundreds of varieties of colorful potatoes.

No Boredom Here

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So much happens in one day, it’s hard to keep track. Pepper has moved to laying her eggs in a nest in the chicken yard instead of in the nests near the garden.

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The eggplants are coming along. In a week or two, I should have some ready for Bow Little Market. Ena 枝那 is exhausted watching me weeding.

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The Roma tomatoes are turning red. Hopefully, enough will be red to have some for Thursday, the 21st’s Bow Little Market. And why is Sven resting in a nest in the middle of the afternoon?

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Now both of the dogs are exhausted from watching me weed. I should be more tired than them. Some days I think I would rather be a dog, as long as I had an owner like me.

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Old Billy enjoys a quiet moment with one of the older hens, Daisy. While Miasa-Hime 美朝姫 has taken to laying eggs in the nests near the garden where Pepper used to lay eggs.

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And King Richard and his hens are going through what is left of the last compost pile. Just a few of thing things that happened today. I don’t have pictures of the bald eagle which flew low overhead and flew off when I yelled at it, nor pictures of the great blue heron who flew in to go fishing at the pond. There is never a boring moment here.

Eat the Weeds

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Eat the weeds! It works when onions are the weeds. Last fall, I let some onions do their thing, go to seed, and let them fall where they may. I ended up with a bed thick with onions. I thinned them out today, gathering a bowl of baby onions for cooking.

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Tomatoes Are Blushing

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A stand of bamboo is handy to have. Every year it produces shoots twenty to thirty feet tall. Cut and trimmed, they make great poles to string supports for snap peas. What’s great about bamboo poles, is that you can trim the branches so that you have handy hooks at each node. Hooks on poles, you have to pay extra for those at the store. They come built in on bamboo.

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On a sunny July afternoon, the hens stay cool taking dirt baths in the shade.

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The tomatoes are blushing. They go through so much effort to become the red, luscious fruits we love. Never take a ripe tomato for granted.

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Sorry, Bow Little Market customers, these Korean Red garlic are not for sale. They are for next year’s crop. After drying through the summer, I will be planting them in the fall. Next year, I’ll try and have many more of these popular garlic than I had this year.

Uncommon Flowers

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Elephant garlic and shallots are worth growing for their flowers. The elephant garlic’s purple flowers are about to open, and the shallot’s white flowers fringed with green are unfurling. Such beautiful flowers. I’ll let these go to seed and start the long process of growing them from seed.

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The dogs are in training to be calm around chickens. It must be difficult for these hunting dogs to have chickens walk around them without being able to catch them, but they are keen on wanting to please us. I do wonder what is going through their minds. “All these birds … why aren’t they eating them?”

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Yesterday was market day at Bow Little Market. It’s always a pleasure meeting customers and all the Bozos living in the neighborhood. When we moved to Bow years ago, we were told that people who live in Bow are known as Bozos. In addition to the locals, there are people from all over the world stopping by the little market.

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The tomatoes are coming along, and in a week or two, I should have some red tomatoes ready for market.

Worth Growing Just for Their Flowers

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You don’t need to grow many vegetables to realize that many are worth growing just for their flowers. Eggplants with their blue and purple flowers, squash with their spectacular orange explosions, they are as remarkable as any daisies, and their fruit make great dishes.

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Live Another Day … or Not

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A few days ago, I discovered a spider hiding out in the carrot flowers, waiting to nab passing bees. Today, I found it feasting on a bee. I suppose, if you are a bee, dying on a bed of carrot flowers is as good a place to die as possible.

Living in nature’s haven, there are daily reminders that death is but a step away. This afternoon I saw a small squirrel eat a baby bird it had caught. It looked like a baby robin the squirrel had snatched out of a nest.

Living in the country, has taught me how precious life is. No matter how small or how big you are, there is something lurking to eat you.

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What Flower Is That?

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One of the trees is blooming, putting out tiny, spidery flowers with a hauntingly sweet fragrance. So many trees have such delicate flowers. Bashful beauties of the woods, their beauty is for the few who go looking.

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Niji-hime 虹姫 (Rainbow Princess) is one of the first hens out of the chicken yard this morning. I’ve always admired her multi-colored neck.

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The Stewartia is blooming for a second time this year. The bees are happy. They need to bury their heads deep into the blooms to get its nectar. Do the bees get more pleasure the deeper they have to dive into a flower?

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Colors of Summer

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Yesterday was market day at Bow Little Market. Many of these colorful onions ended up going to people’s homes. Thank you for all who came to the market and stopped by. Our congressman, Rick Larsen, even stopped by for a chat. It’s not every week that your congressman drops by.

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We haven’t named this colorful young rooster. He’s as colorful as any of the flowers blooming. I’m curious what he will look like when he’s grown.

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