Bike Trip, Garden Progress, Heat & All Those Little Things To Do List

Bike Trip-
We went on a 10 mile bike ride yesterday morning when it was still cool! We went along the "green belt", a long paved bike trial that runs all the way through parts of Boise. We drove out towards the edge of town, parked the car, and rode about 10 miles to a small state park by the Boise river. Yes, I get the irony- driving the car to go for a bike ride, but we live on the other end of the city, and couldn't ride THAT far. It's so nice to not have to worry about being run over by cars on the green belt! Then we had pizza after our ride, an unexpected, last minute decision. Dave and I went buy a wood-fired pizza oven place and dashed in. Good idea. Man, my rear end is sore though, I needed to replace my old bike seat. Dave swapped mine with his, since his was more of a touring seat that came with his used bike he bought recently. I think that will fix things. I could have ridden a lot farther, except for the pain! If you don't know what I'm talking about, never mind....

 

Little dam near the park

Took our rest break here, the 1/2 point, nice little state park near Lucky Peak Dam-

Garden Progress- Pretty good so far, considering how late I planted! Lots of : tomatoes, about 6 varieties! Ready to harvest in a week or so

4 kinds of peppers 

eggplants 

lemon cukes, finally!

cabbages

Tons of basil in pots, that I grew from seed. Ready in another week or so.

Collard greens are ready to harvest

Apples and Nectarines are coming along, at least the city didn't kill my nectarine tree! They sprayed our easement with weed killer and my nectarine tree started to turn brown on the lower branches. I watered really heavily for a couple of week to flush out the toxins. Not sure yet if we'll eat the fruit :(

Molly on patrol- The chickens are doing a great job with weed and bug control again! They also bask in the sun on a cool morning, my growing New Hampshire's. I wasn't sure what breed they were until they were bigger. The feed store goofed up, but that's okay, I just can't tell them apart! Great dispositions, both of them, and should be laying in another month or so...

my nasturtiums 

Heat- We've been in the 80's and 90's, and supposed to start hitting the 100's by this weekend. At this point I just wish we'd get some rain! I try to water as much as needed, and we mulch heavily. I know I'm lucky we have city water available compared to people who rely strictly on the rain. There's a cost to that too, so I try to really conserve water as much as we can. We live in a desert basically. I grew up in southern California, where most of the water comes from other states, still. I don't think most people there realize how vulnerable they are, as far as long-term shortages that already looming (that's another, much longer story....).  I do use our rain barrels too, but we need rain to keep them filled! I thought about laying straw in the veggie garden, but the girls would just make a mess. Our composting is coming along, so we'll add more soon. I try to do outdoor stuff with the weather, like tying up my tomatoes at 10 p.m. the other night! It was cooler and I could still see :) I should mow this morning while it's cool, but I'm too stiff from my bike ride. I sure used other muscles yesterday- upper back is pretty stiff. Time to stretch!

 All Those Little Things To Do List-

With the summer off work I try to do a lot of projects around here. One summer we replaced our cedar fencing around the house, since the one one was rotted. Dave and I set the posts and stringers, then I screwed in every board in 100 degree heat. I really LOVE my fence! I usually deep clean the house, and there are repairs, etc. I've done much better this year starting the projects early and then I won't feel like a failure come back-to-work time. I know what a luxury it is too. I've been able to do more crafts this year than usual, mostly because of all the inspiration I see reading other blogs! I really want to start canning, but it's a little early for my garden foods. We're going to go to a farmers market Sat. to see what's available. I'd like to get a jump on it and start NOW! My empty jars from last year are crying! And I have the time. Last year I made a mad rush with the apples ripening right as I went back to work, of course :)