Hot Weather Garden

 This week my gardens seemed to have had huge growth spurts. From top: the tomatoes, squashes (that are probably too close together), carrots, onions (that must be picked today), lush row of carrots (ditto) and the corn that competes with the dratted grass are all filling out and so far have not been tasted by insects.

Puerto Rican Fruits

My family returned from Puerto Rico yesterday. We saw an abundance of natural beauty--sea life, plants, birds, beaches, and animals. Fruits and vegetables are sold by the roadsides and at markets such as the Plaza del Mercado, also known as La Plazita.

Below are fruits such as bananas, plantains, chayotes, ajicitos, yuca, parcha (passion fruit), mangos, guavas, papayas, panapen (breadfruit) and many others:

I am in the process of creating a larger page that will discuss unhealthy influences on Puerto Rican eating, most notably frying. While these foods are available in many places across PR, and are delicious by themselves, fast food places seem to be even more common.

Baldwin High School. The 4A State Track and Field Champs

Congratulations to the Baldwin High School Boys and Girls Track Teams. They won the 4A State Track and Field Championships this weekend at Wichita! Both teams were behind going into the final event: the 4x400 relay. The boys needed to place third to tie with Louisburg for first, while the girls had to win their relay to tie with Colby. Great job to all and congratulations to all four teams.

The Boys Team!

Tosh is the tall one in purple.

Most of the girls team, with some of the Colby girls in orange and black.

Late May, 2011

This little guy, possibly a gray tree frog, blends in with the gray wood of our shed. When I picked him up to put him out of harm's way, he left sticky liquid on my hand. 

One of our many Echinacea plants.

Various butterfly plants are growing under the bison.

Spring Garden in Baldwin

My butterfly garden is thriving right now. All the plants that were planted three years ago have jumped up.

Spot the bunny.

An iris growing next to the dog kennel.

The TCU horned frog is a nice decoration in the butterfly garden.

Iris in the small pond.

Grape vines have found the metal arch in my vegetable garden

Potato plants have almost overgrown their sacks.

Tomatoes

I finally got all my tomatoes in the ground today. They grew like crazy in the greenhouse and now they're outside in supports and covered with mulch. I left the green wraps on from last year.

A tomato blossom.

Robins

The robin on the bird bath has been attacking its reflection in the basement glass window for two days; the one in the background collects grass for the nest.