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Monday, June 28, 2010

HARVEST MONDAY June 28, 2010

It continues to be very hot here and we have had a couple of short showers from scattered thunderstorms that explode here in the afternoons.  This is typical weather for us and I always hope those random showers will fall on my garden. The showers are nice but not enough to satisfy the water needs in my garden.

My okra is just starting to produce. I only pick about 2 pods every other day but I know once all the plants start producing I will have an abundance and will be able to share with friends. Right now all the pods are cleaned, cut, and put in the freezer with anticipation of our first pot of GUMBO!!

This week I harvested:

Okra 7 pods (7 oz)
Bell Peppers 2 (3.5 oz)
Early Girl Tomatoes 1 (2 oz)
Cherry Tomatoes 6 (1.25 oz)

TOTAL 13.75 oz.

The bell peppers were harvested a little early but I was cooking philly cheese steak sandwiches and couldn't wait any longer and pulled the bell peppers to use for our supper. They tasted so good but now I will be patient to give the remainder of my peppers time to mature.



Yesterday we were sitting at the dinner table visiting with a friend when my husband, Larry, noticed a bird that he thought was injured. I watch for a few seconds and commented that I thought the bird was pretending to be hurt to draw attention and wondered if there was a snake out back. We continued to watch the bird and after a short time, the bird began to fuss and fly at a certain area of the wisteria vine on the back fence. Being the BRAVE soul that I am when it comes to snakes, I went for my camera with the big zoom lens. Well, guess what I found... a COPPERHEAD!!



This was one time that I did not want to be right... The picture quality is not that great because (1) I was shaking knowing the copperhead was in my backyard and it made me a LITTLE nervous and (2) I was not about to get closer. Because of where the snake was located we couldn't kill it and after my husband threw something at it, it left. This area is about 30 feet from my garden. Needless to say, I was constantly looking around while working in my garden this morning.


After all the excitement from the snake, we were blessed with this neat view in the sky. My picture doesn't do it justice but maybe it will give you a little glimpse of the beauty.




Blessings,

Debbie



This blog is linked to HARVEST MONDAY.

17 comments:

  1. Nice size peppers! It doesn't hurt to pick some early...that's what we grow them for...to eat!

    You better watch out for that copperhead!

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  2. Great spotting on the copperhead. and nice pepper.

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  3. Robin, I was so excited to pop out in the garden and have MY bell peppers to use for supper. Such delight!!

    Robin and johanna, I have to say I am concerned about the snake. It has been so hot and dry hear that people are seeing copperheads and rattlesnakes everywhere!! I would have missed this one if my husband had not noticed the bird. Needless to say, I WILL BE WATCHING the behavior of the birds in my backyard!!

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  4. YIKES! I'd be the same way if I saw that in my gardens......nice peppers though!

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  5. Beautiful peppers! EEEKKKK, a snake!

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  6. Copperheads are certainly some vicious little snakes, so you're lucky the bird alerted you to it's presence. I kill them just as I do the bugs in my garden!

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  7. I wish that we had been able to kill this guy but where he was located, he had the advantage on us!!

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  8. Thumbs up for your pepper, and booooo to the snake! I would hate to have to be afraid of running into a snake in my garden. This city girl wouldn't even know how to kill it if she saw one!

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  9. One look at a poisonous snake in the garden, and I'd be buying my veggies at the grocery store.

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  10. Well, Granny, I can't abandon my garden but I was a little jumpy today while I was out there. And I kept watching the birds. I felt pretty good with them happily singing and playing in my yard.

    Sadly there have been so many poisinous snake sightings in our area that many people have purchased snake bit kits to keep handy.

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  11. I always worry about my dogs when we're in AZ. A friend's dog was bitten by a rattler last year, and I'd just be sick if anything happened to harm my little ones. That's one of the reasons I'd like to sell, and just stay home in WA.

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  12. How scary that you saw a snake! Eeeek!

    Bell pepper looks good!

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  13. You are BRAVE! I am terrified of snakes, regardless of the type. We once had a harmless one in our bathroom and I flipped out, LOL.

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  14. I'm happy we don't have copperheads up here. Or at least I've never heard of any. Rattlesnakes at least alert you to their presence and the eastern sort is endangered anyway so there aren't many around.

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  15. You are brave! We have rattlesnakes around here although I've not seen them near the house, just across the valley in the park a few times. There is a resident gopher snake that lives around my garden and I'm happy he's there, I just wish he would eat more gophers.

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  16. Luckily, we don't have copperheads here. When we go fishing in the foothills, it's not unusual to see rattlers, but I've never seen one around our place. Smart idea that you were keeping an eye on the birds today! Congrats on the peppers! It was a long time before I was able to grow any peppers, and even now I've only had a few really great pepper years. Hopefully this will be another!
    ~~Lori

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  17. Becca, thanks for following my blog.

    Dirt Lover, thanks for dropping by my blog. I hope you have a good pepper year, too. Last year I only had one pepper plant and it was a failure. But my family is on a stir fry kick and so I have 8 plants this year.

    Everyone, I wasn't brave. I was scared but tried to be calm and smart around this guy!! So far... no signs of him again!! With the rain we received today I hope he goes back to the woods and away from my yard!!

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