Monsters in the garden!!!!!

Good Sunday morning to you all. The morning weather is beautiful here. Sunny, 80 degrees, low humidity and a light breeze. After my morning chores..I decided it was time to start moving fence panels. Yesterday we took the 2 pigs off to "freezer camp" Yep, in 2 weeks we will be "swimming in pork" Eating "high on the hog" One of them weighed about 340, the other 250. Hams...bacon....chops...sausage...pork shoulder roast..Ohhhh, Drool!! So....moving fence panels.My plan is to clean up the area where the pigs were, and plant winter wheat in there. But, I needed to move the fence first! The one I really needed to move FIRST, was along the fence line between our little pygmy buck and the doe's. Oh, don't EVER let size fool ya!! Our little Fred can pack a wallup! I had to secure him to a fence post so I could get in there and get my work done. He was NOT happy! Took me about an hour to get the fence panel moved, and secured.Oh, Fred was in the shade, right next to his water trough, so he was not suffering....just upset that he could not get to me! Whew! Only 3 more to go. I decided to move on to something a little "easier" So I headed off to the garden. It is so peaceful in the garden...I was picking green beans...pulling weeds..listening to the bee's hum along flying from flower to flower...and listening to the gentle breeze..whisper through the corn, and the cicada's singing their warning that fall is coming soon, from the trees near by. Yes, I was loving life...the green beans are coming in great right now, and I am feeling blessed. I picked them 2 days ago, and got these today!

Thomas, my big orange tom cat was laying lazily in the rows, watching me and purring. ( lazy cat. He could have helped pull weeds! ) So I am moving right along...dropping hand fulls of beans in my basket...when I reached down to grab some weeds....WHAM!!! I screamed like a little girl that just saw a snake! It was Thomas...my "beloved" cat...grabbed my hand in a playful way...no claws...just scared the beejesus out of me. Then he rolled over onto his back, and purred. I took this as a hint to stop, and take a break. So, I sat down there in between the rows...green beans sitting on my right side...Thomas on my left...purring contently as I scratched his head and neck. He really is a great cat...as cat's go. He sleeps in the chicken coop every night, protecting my hens from those terrible mice! Here is the mighty hunter.....

As I was picking the beans, I noticed there were gourds on the volunteer plants at the edge of the garden. They are just ornamental gourds, but they will be great when it is time to decorate for our Fall Festival.

Then I moved on to the last of the potato's. I had this small basket that I planted just a few plants in. They were not the main potato's, just 3 little extra's I had, and wanted to see how they would grow in a basket. Unfortunately for them, and me, I was not very attentive to them...I only mulched them twice, and rarely watered them, however, when I pulled up the basket, I was pleasantly surprised at the yield.

You can see the small basket in the picture. It is about 18 inches across...and like I said, I was not very attentive to them. So...I am not too displeased. There are enough for me to can about 3 or 4 pints. They will be great this winter in stew! So now I am inside, taking a bit of a break, drinking my water...getting ready to head to the kitchen and start canning beans and potato's. I hope you all are having a blessed day...