Happy Tuesday! I hope you are doing well. It’s not like me to post so closely together, but I’m awake, and a have a few things to jot down super quick….

It’s a beautiful morning here on the ranch! I’d go out and snap a picture, but I’m all snuggled in with the dog and cat piled on the bed and Joe’s all settled in – popping the bubble wouldn’t be very fun right now – so the bubble stays a bit longer.

We were awake around 5:30 this morning, my cousin and her two kids did a sleep over last night – she needed a babysitter for her 4-year-old, and her son is the one we took on our trip, so he came out to hang out with us too. She lives 45 minutes away, so I thought it would be fun just to have her sleep over after a long day at work yesterday – and she brought pizza – so it was a win-win for everyone! So, she was off to work this morning, her daughter is all settled in on the couch, her son still sleeping in the camper we put in the yard, and my other cousins 3-year-old is still asleep in the camper also. And our 15-year-old niece is sleeping in the guest room – we have our hands full today, but it will be a fun adventure-with 4 borrowed kids today from 15-3 – what could possibly be funner?!

We bought a canoe last week, so the game plan is to take the older ones out on the lake for a bit of fishing, and the two littles will stay on-land with me and we will do some exploring, and meet back up with the bigs for lunch! The little four-year-old had fun playing in my flower garden yesterday, we set up a little pretend florist shop in her little play kitchen and she filled up lovely vases with all sorts of color,it was a grand adventure! Joe had planned ahead and saved two very large boxes from our furniture delivery last week with anticipation of having the kids enjoy the fun of the boxes – turns out the two teenagers had more fun in them than the two littles – oh goodness! Lots of pictures that might make it on here – totally not garden related…but part of life on the ranch!

The three-year-old happened to be at my aunts when I picked up the other two, I thought it would be fun to toss him in the car with the group, his mom could use some quite time too-and he’s spent time here with Joe and I in March and he was such a joy to have around – so why not?

So, for now – the bubbles remains in tact – we enjoy the quite before breakfast, before kids get up and around and the noise begins – silence (other then me tick-tacking along on the laptop!).

A few updates on the garden…

I managed to get some weeding done – it felt great to clear a few things out, I harvested my Celoisa, hung some up to dry, poked some in market bouquets yesterday, and saved some for Friday’s bouquets. I cleared out space around the Lisiathus to check and see what I had left, it appears that I have four more in the field, so they will be finished by this week’s delivers.

I’ve been saving a lot of material to dry, I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to be doing with it all, but I’m sure it will come in handy for something this Fall or Winter. I made some potpourri for a friend, and put some in our guest bath – it looks lovely and I can put any essential oil in it to smell pretty, so we will enjoy it for now! I have an apple box about a quarter full of dried rose petals, chamomile, sage, red clover heads, statice, Zinnia heads, sweet pea pods, spent Strawflowers, and whatever else looked good at the time I was tossing things together. I bring out flowers all the time from the house, ones that have spent a week in the house, I just lay them in the green house to finish dying and let them dry out, if they look good, I will toss them in the box to put in the mixture of potpourri fillings.

After making my 5 market bouquets yesterday, I made four extra special bouquets. Of course one for my mom, my aunt & daughter and one for my mom’s neighbor. When I stopped in to drop off some things for my mom on Saturday, she was at her neighbors house, there was all sorts of chatters about my flowers and asking if they were going to get their Monday bouquets. It was heartwarming to see them excited for their flowers. Mom usually goes with me on my Monday deliveries, she looks forward to going. It’s really just a car ride for her, she just stays in the car while I run in and drop off the flowers, but there’s lots of visiting and lots of giggles along the way – and usually a lunch at a drive through. Yesterday, there were more giggles with three kids in the car!

Three of my subscribers received their last bouquets yesterday. I had mentioned to one of them that there might be a possibility of there being an extension option, but wasn’t sure what that looked like. I didn’t want to bring it up again, but she did – so we worked something out. She knows that a lot of my fancy flowers are gone, but I have plenty of colorful Zinnia’s left – especially considering my second crop is starting to put on heads – and I see that I have more sunflowers and Dahlias are putting on heads! I’m thinking the bouquets will still be good size-at least 15 stems, and possibly just about as fantastic, I don’t think she will be disappointed! She’s always been a big fan of her bouquets-she’s the only subscriber I’ve never met in person! She found me on a Facebook ad this Spring….all very interesting. All of my subscribers know that I have a flower stand and always have extra flowers, so if any of them wanted flowers, they know they can reach out to me, I’m not really a fan of trying to push things on people-like Joe says, they know where the flowers are if they want them.

I think I have Black Eyed Susan growing in the garden, I have four plants that have stayed big, green and bushy – but no stems on them yet, I’m pretty sure that BES are the only things that have not shown their faces! Still waiting…how long can it possibly take for goodness sake?! Hopefully it will be a grand surprise and make me super happy!

Speaking of surprises – a while ago, I had mentioned shifting ground….I couldn’t say specifically what the shifting ground was yet because it was still early and not everyone had been notified yet, but now I think it’s safe to mention – my daughter is expecting her first baby in March! Joe and I are very excited to have a new little one to spoil and cuddle! As you well know, growing a garden begins early – as in I’m making plans for Spring right now – so I have to decide how much energy I have to put into the garden, and still be available to help out with the baby. I’d much rather help with dishes, laundry and diaper changing than spend cold days in the milk house poking seeds in seed trays-though the sound of that does make me smile! I think it’s safe to say that five rows, five subscriptions and a new grand baby will keep me plenty busy-maybe my other two will be back by then! In any case, it will be a different Spring for sure. A mother-daughter relationship is so much different than a mother-daughter-in-law relationship-I didn’t get to help much with the first grand-babies, I felt as though I was intruding all the time, it’s different when it’s your daughter, I can be intrusive and not feel like I’m stepping on toes.

In addition to the new baby, we are also looking at boats to buy – we are hoping there will be more traveling next year, just to local lakes and nearby islands in the sound, but the less to tie us down to the ranch the better. I don’t think we can honestly say that we won’t be doing a garden next year, but we can safely say that it will most likely look different.

I should probably end today’s blog – lots to take in – thanks for reading to the end… I hope you have a great day where ever your adventures take you! Until next time…hugs to you and yours.