Garden Update - and a small adventure

It's been a while, so I figure it's time for a short little garden update. It's still doing well, though I've been battling the heat and one spunky little green-tomato-eating worm (found and donated to my son's scientific endeavors). None of the tomatoes are ripe yet, either, since it's been so hot. It's driving me nuts.

The okra, however, is thriving!

Okra blossom... quite beautiful, aren't they?

Baby bell peppers are cute, too.

Here's the overall garden view these days.

After checking the garden, the kids and I decided to go check on something else that we have growing around our place. I did have to take a small detour back in the house for someone first. A very dear friend of mine, in fact.

Meet my girlfriend... Mabel! She's my outdoor/sun hat who is just a lot of fun. I bought her last year when a friend and I were visiting another friend in Indiana. She was sitting in a cute little antique shop just waiting on me. I'm so glad it's time to break her out again!

So Mabel, the kids, and I all headed out to...

the pasture.

Where milkweed awaits the monarchs...

and other flowers blossom all on their own, unaided by man or horse. (Did I mention that there are actually three horses living on our land? They're not ours, and I didn't get photos of them today, so they'll feature in another story another day.)

However... we didn't go into the pasture to see plants or even the pond. We went to check on the...

BLACKBERRIES!

They're not quite ripe yet, though there were a few here and there. M1 was so excited he brought a huge bucket with him.

M2 even braved the brambles to pick a few.

Then they got to enjoy the "fruit of their labor."

Clearly picking blackberries is a huge hardship. I can't wait till they're really ripe in another week or two. I love hauling them all in. Makes me feel all summery.