First raspberry haul....

It was a big'un!!!  :P

Peas Please!

When my husband I bought our house, one of our first tasks upon settling in, was to install a vegetable garden.  We didn't have a lot of space to work with on our acreage.  Most of it is a giant, rocky, slope which was once pasture land - not ideal for maneuvering a tiller.  We settled on a small patch in the existing turf adjacent to our house.  Knowing we were going to be battling our furry deer neighbors, we got to work creating our own 'Fort Knox'.  Tall field fencing was wrapped around concrete anchored posts.  This thing was going nowhere and no one was getting in unless they had opposable thumbs.  It also meant that the size of our garden would pretty much be a finite situation.  It didn't take one growing season for me to realize that this space wasn't going to be big enough for my horticultural desires.  $#@^!!!!!

In an effort to increase our veggie haul without increasing the garden space, we've gradually been integrating the vegetables with the flowers.  First it was the asparagus patch which joined the herbs. This year, I decided to plant a row of snap peas at the back of our front flower bed where we have a bit of chicken wire fencing.

Oddly enough, this is my first foray into the pea realm.  I've never been a pea lover but have always tolerated the snap pea.

I decided to give it a whirl - more spring veggies are always a welcome thing.  I planted seeds in late March and waited patiently for them to make an appearance.  The long, wet, chilly spring made everything move slowly but they eventually got busy growing and we had our first harvest over the Memorial Day holiday.  Baby birds and peas all in one weekend, oh my!  Although temps have been unseasonably high, the peas seem to be handling it like a champ.  This is a cultivar I will try again.  Great for salads, stir fry and many don't even make it inside the house.

Butterfly Bush - Not just for Lepidoptera....

In amongst a butterfly bush in our front flower bed, what I believe to be a song sparrow, has made a home with her mate and sprouted 5 babies!  We've been keeping tabs on this growing family since we discovered the nest accidentally while harvesting sugar snap peas which are behind the shrub.  We took a closer peek while mama was away gathering food and snapped this shot.

The babies hatched sometime between May 29th and May 30th.  Memorial Day Kids.  All 5 seem happy and healthy.  Mama and papa have been so patient with all the activity around the nest.  We can hear them nearby, calling out the distinct 'chip' note as an alarm.  It shouldn't be long before these little ones fly the coop.  It's been fun watching them grow.