Tomatoes and other good stuff

 I got my first ripe tomato from the garden this week and more are starting to change color!! This is what I've been waiting for since February. I did share too, even though I didn't want to. I probably should have let it go for another day or 2 to get even riper, but I just couldn't resist. It was still a million times tastier than a grocery store tomato.

This is going to be the second ripe tomato of the year

Small Red Cherry tomatoes are almost there

I got rid of the blossom end rot I was fighting on the Romas

Beefsteak

My German Green tomatoes are blooming

 Aside from that I've been getting tons of summer squash. The patty-pan are the best producers so far, but the zucchini are doing pretty good too. The yellow squash are just doing so so. I've made squash fritters (they were amazingly yummy), squash pickles, fried squash, sauteed squash, squash in soup... Well, you get the idea. I got a great recipe from my great gardening friends at The Easy Garden Forum for a summer squash chocolate cake that I'll be making and feeding to Ian (aka: Mr. I Hate Vegetables) to see if he likes it.

Lily likes to help harvest 

The rest of the garden is doing well too. I've harvested okra, radishes, wax peppers, and pickling cucumbers which, along with some squash and some tiny onions, all got made into pickles. It was my first try, but everything worked the way it were supposed to and they look pretty.

The pink ones have radishes in them

 The winter squash are starting to produce little fruit and one watermelon plant has a teeny tiny melon on it. The corn is also starting to get ears, which means we'll have plenty of time to get another crop in after this one is done. Peppers and tomatillos are also doing well.

Itty bitty watermelon

Winter squash (it's about the size of a baseball now)

An ear of corn starting to develop

Wax peppers

 In other garden news, Mike has enlarged the garden enough to add 16 more watermelon hills. He just mowed the area as short as he could and then dug up the hills and added bunny poo to each one before planting the seeds. We might also put some corn in this area this year, if we can get the tiller fixed or borrow one.

The new watermelon area

 On the animal front, I hatched out 13 new chicks last weekend and they are outside in the brooder. One of my Buff Orps has gone broody and is sitting on 6 eggs, so I'll have more chicks in a couple of weeks. The rabbits are getting bigger and we should be able to process them in a couple of weeks. I lost 2 of my ducklings to a predator this week, it happened during the day and both the dog and the cat were in the house, so I'm thinking a hawk. Now we just have Duck, Goose, and Jill, but I may be getting some Pekins this weekend to add to my flock. And our kittens are adorable and into everything these days. I may have a home for one already.

My favorite is the black one in front

They're hoping I have treats

Here's all 5 ducklings a few hours before Duck and Jack disappeared

Looking for trouble to get into

Miss Broody (since I don't name my hens all broody chickens get called Miss Broody)

 That's it for now, I gotta go check the tomatoes for hornworms and maybe fold the mountain of clean laundry that's trying to take over my living room.

 Blessed Be...