The Leigh Family

I had the pleasure of meeting four generations of Leigh's last weekend. Carole has worked with and known both of my parents for years and I finally got to meet and her whole family. They have a really beautiful spot in Portland and some adorable grandchildren!

Julie and Baxter

Saturday I went to Lansing to take photos of Julie's 11 month old Boxer/Pit Bull Terrier mix, Baxter. He has such a fun and charming personality, he loves people and all of his toys. It was really great to visit with Julie and meet Baxter and her bird AJ.

Contrast

After a quick rain shower I walked around the yard with my macro lens and got some pretty shots of my mom's flowers. We also had dessert at the neighbors and stayed for a visit, Sette showed me all of the posters in her room and then wanted to see what it was like to use my camera. I let her walk around and take pictures with it, and she took a self portrait that I thought was cute. I hope her interest in photography continues to grow, she certainly enjoys it now with her own camera. It would be fun to help her learn more about it as she gets older.

Backyard bon fire

I was home for the weekend to shoot some family portraits, those will be coming up shortly! We had a little fire in the new fire pit with the neighbors which is always nice. Lisette showed off her face paint, and Jules had attended a Harry Potter themed lock in at the library where she made her own wand. We also got to visit with Emily's parents who were in town from New England for a visit.

Then and Now

Just to show you how our garden grows...here are pictures starting in the beginning of April, going through May and June until today. We started out with just seed packets and a lot of hope that everything would work out. After just over a month in the greenhouse we were able to move outside and with lots of compost and hard labor we got the ground ready for planting. You can see how much the plants have enjoyed being outdoors from the beginning of June when we didn't even have the squash planted to today when the zucchini plants are huge! We've harvested Kale and constructed two rain barrels which serve as containers for hand watering. The rain barrels are sitting beside our compost pile which has two containers to make turning it over that much easier. You can see a picture that shows part of the compost and the rain barrels behind the squash and melon plot. The other thing that we didn't have when we first got started was the youth plot in the garden which is now on the other side of our flourishing potatoes. They are growing peppers, tomatoes and beans on one end of their plot and squash, melons, radishes, carrots and beets on the other end. I brought home my first cucumber and zucchini from the garden, even though the cucumber was kind of a funny shape it was very tasty! The learning garden harvested about 90 radishes from our first crop, and one of our buddy gardeners, Sue, found that funky pear shaped radish hiding in her plot. We have a LOT of green tomatoes that should be ready really soon, they have flourished outdoors if you look at the first pictures when they were staked with little sticks compared to the pictures showing how bushy and tall they are now! Today we are battling some hungry deer and pesky moles, but these problems come as little surprise to us and we are working on natural ways to deter both. We are also always looking for more volunteers and one day hope to have a spot in the Ypsilanti Farmer's Market. It has been a lot of hard work and a lot of fun but our garden has grown in leaps and bounds in just four months!

Vinny and the raspberry bush!

Heather called me up one day and informed me that she had witnessed Vinny doing the cutest thing when she let him out that morning. He was gently stealing ripe raspberries off of the bush in the backyard! I got to see him later that day, and while he had discovered that it was just as easy to eat the berries on the ground we were able to get him somewhat interested in the raspberries on the bush too. Note to Heather: I hope you are still living it up in Ecuador, and I can't wait to see you when you get back :)

In the garden

We are starting to see more and more produce in the garden each day! The sunflowers that are planted on the border of the garden are blooming and they look beautiful. Unfortunately, they are attracting some deer who must find them to be a tasty treat. We are taking measures to deter the deer and try to preserve our sunflowers. I can't wait to take home some zucchini and cucumbers :) The little lady bugs we are finding here and there need to invite their friends to help keep some of the pesky aphids on our tomato plants!