2 announcements, actually!
While other people whose blogs I follow are making announcements like being pregnant, moving, and starting their own businesses, mine aren't quite like that... Not quite at all... But they are life changing (for me), and the first one impacts my readers greatly :)
Announcement #1: I got the internet! I realize it seems especially strange that someone who writes a (semi) consistent food blog has just gotten the internet at her house for the first time ever.
My "Strawberry Banana" hibiscus tree just started blooming
Red hot pokers
Lavender
Lavender really loves my yard
Jacob's Robe climbing rose
The grapes are doing it again! Turns out the grapes are actually Red Reliance and Concord grapes, not Niagara as the tag had said
Leprechaun nectarines!!!
Dianthus
Such a cool type of verbena
My peach roses are back with a vengeance
Yellow iris at the pond
Purple iris at the pond, this stalk fell during the rain
Peaches
Cuppy is so dirty
Charisma climbing rose. Absolutely gorgeous!
Gillardia
Pomegranate FLOWERS!!!
Apples
Hot pink azaleas
Light pink azaleas
Amethyst Falls Wisteria
Strawberries and impatiens in my hanging baskets
Purple azaleas
Carnations
More apples. Are those worm holes?
Feijoa Guava FLOWER BUDS!!!
Major Wheeler Honesuckle
Don Juan climbing rose
The Empress Tree blooms. These blooms are each about 4 inches long!
They almost look like giant Foxgloves...
Or like gigantic wisteria turned upside down...
It doesn't look as impressive in its entirety... But this is the first time it has flowers. I bought it 2 years ago as root stock. It's now about 6 ft. at the tallest point. So pretty!
Weeping Cherry
So lovely
Well, hey there, Little Guy!
I think inchworms are the cutest little things. This guy was swinging in the breeze
I got lazy about taking pics as things bloomed... This is my Leprechaun Nectarine tree... The blooms have fallen off and left the fruiting stems. First year for blooms!
The koi are back to their ravenous ways
The Weeping Redbud tree has the most amazingly colored flowers!
Aren't they just gorgeous?
The fig is off to an early start!
Obligatory pic of Cupcake 
She's getting all of her chins back again...
Perhaps this isn't as exciting to everyone else as it is me... but my Angel Red Pomegranate Tree is showing signs of LIFE! Pomegranates for everyone!
More apple blossoms. This tree has been blooming since January!
I thought the early blooms of the apple tree would all be fails... But look! Little apples already forming!
The Bing Cherry Tree is getting blooms! That would be the first bloom for this tree, too
The Contorted Filbert Tree is just such a cool tree...
Lovely lavender
The pond is coming alive
Don't know what the heck this is, but it's huge, fuzzy, and looks like it wants to flower. I guess we'll see!
PEACHES! This tree excites me so much
And the flowers are just so pretty!
One of my fruiting pears is blooming for the first time... But its companion tree doesn't seem to be flowering... So I don't believe I will have fruit again this year. But it's still pretty!
I think my Fioja Guava might bloom for the first time this year!
I love when you think something has died and will never come back... and then it DOES! Like this Peony! And there's another one a few feet away!
And the Astilbe... totally thought it was a gonner
A cornflower that Cupcake ate last year. Looks like the roots survived!
I don't think this was meant to come back, but due to the unusually warm winter, looks like it stuck around! And I love it
I'm so excited for wisteria
Welcome back, Grapes
Cupcake has become really accustomed to sleeping on the couch…
It’s almost unbelievable how different my yard looks in the winter. And the flooding of the lower yard? Holy bejeebus. I got this lovely wide angle lens for my birthday… It captures the whole yard (and makes it look oddly small!)
So dead, right? Makes me want to cry…
But apparently no one told the apple tree that it’s still winter and only the very beginning of February…
Because it is having a jolly blooming time. I’m not sure what’s going on with the weather…. Winter skipped us completely. I remember when I first moved here, though, that it snowed on April 1st. I’m hopeful that we don’t have another frost this year….
Because my apple tree blossoms will be destroyed!
True to form the hellebores are blooming. But at least that’s normal for them to be blooming in the winter! Apple tree, what is going on?!
Sweet Banana Sandwich
Anyway… That’s my February “winter” update.
I have been quite neglectful of this blog this summer. The weather got so hot that even Cupcake wasn’t willing to go outside. I would wake up and water the garden each morning out of necessity, but by 7am it was too hot to be out there. Hence the fact that I didn’t spend a ton of time photographing and such. Today is supposed to get up to 85! It’s October for crying out loud! I did get a few photos in, though, so here’s sort of a recap of the summer through photos and video….
At the beginning of the summer, I accidentally over-filled the pond. Cupcake didn’t mind one bit:
The ducks find all ways to get to the tomato plants... sneaky little things!
The zucchini had a prosperous year. Look at the size of that thing after it rained!
Cupcake found the river to be a nice soothing place to cool down
The peach tree put out over 200 peaches this year! I made peach preserves, peach bread, peach cupcakes, peach everything!
The pink Angel's Trumpet put on quite a display
The white Angel's Trumpet got ENORMOUS, but so did the Elephant Ear... and the Elephant ear totally blocked the view!
The Purple Obedient Plant is happily spreading. I started out with only 5 plants 2 summers ago!
I let my lawn go too long without mowing and these beautiful Spider Flowers popped up!
Another surprise addition to the garden was this vine climbing up my fence. Some type of honeysuckle?
That's a happy pig
Beautiful roses bloom again as the weather cools down
Butter and Banana visit Jelly who is inside right now after bumblefoot surgery caused by the simple act of stepping on a rose thorn! Check your ducks' feet regularly
Ichiban, the newest 12 inch addition to the koi pond
I made a succulent garden in my old fishbowl for a new addition to the office garden
Of course, it can’t be forgotten that in August I lost sweet Peanut to an owl attack. I still miss her every day, but am lucky enough to have taken so many photos and videos of her, like Peanut’s Busy Day.
And last, but not least, we have the hilarious antics of Cupcake the pig… She is not “fixed” and when in heat she becomes a desperate girl. When my sister visited on Saturday nothing could keep that pig away!
I promise to take more pictures with my real camera instead of my iPhone in the future!
And if you’re interested in my peach cupcakes recipe, click here: Toffee Peach Cupcakes with Coconut Buttercream Frosting
I put together this little video. It’s mostly footage from this past Sunday. The animals around here have such a wonderful lazy life I did sneak in a couple of shots from the spring that include my dear little Peanut. I hope you enjoy!
Every time I go to feed the koi, Banana Sandwich jumps in and starts eating all of their food before they can get to it. The other ducks never go after the koi food… I wonder if Banana realizes how expensive it is!
