Gardens Update

72°f/22°C, very humid. High of 95° expected today, with a heat index of 104°. 

The heat continues, and it is brutal. We were outside just after 6am to get out in the gardens.  We picked a 10 quart bucket of green beans, more zucchini and cucumbers, and I pulled some beets. Then I got out the stringtrimmer and tidied up the garden while Larry tried to get his weedeater running. I swear that next year he is going to have a battery powered trimmer like mine! He has so much trouble with his gas-powered ones, and the one he has right now is only a year old. I don't know what he does to them. 

I went back out before it got too hot, to take a few photos. I have missed getting pictures of most of the lilies as it has been too miserable to take them, and flowers are fading quickly in this heat. 

It really doesn't look hot, does it?

I miss getting a photo of the hollyhocks in full bloom. They were so pretty. This is all that's left now.

The roses are trying, but soon drop their petals.

This garden by the porch used to ve so unsatisfactory, but when i moved the hosts here, that soon changed. I am so thrilled tfat the white phlix is thriving here too. I remember back when I was carrying mail on a rural route, there, was one house that had white phlox growing in the shade beside a small stream. I would often just stay at their mailbox for several minutes, just drinking in the cool vibes of that scene. Carrying mail in summer was a hot, dusty business, driving those back roads for hours with the windows down. Those flowers and the shade just seemed like a distant oasis. For years I tried to grow white phlox myself, but failed until I put them here.

 

The planters on the patio are underwhelming this year. We have not yet completed the project to replace the broken patio pavers---almost but not quite finished. So I waited to put anything in the pkanters because they were not in place. Finally i gave up and threw some plants in, and put the planters sort of in place.

Either I have a lot of pink flowers, or this is just the time of year for pink blooms! Seems like early spring most flowers are yellow, and this time of year, pink. At least that's how it is in my gardens.

I just planted this one last week...gomohrena, I think?

There are a few spots of other colors, and yellow will return once the coreopsis recuperates from being cut back. Here my carefully nurtured butterfly weed is making a tiny showing. There are two of these, actually, both doing pretty well.

I need to cut back the lambs ears and the iris blades, but that can wait for cooler weather.

The planters are handy for providing splashes of color in this big bed.

My "chaos" bed, where I took the last 6 picturss above. It's pretty big, about 20x30 feet, and many of the flowers seed themselves. A friend asked if I had paths through it. Never thought of that! I just pick my way carefully, but maybe paths would be a good idea.

The herb garden is getting a little unruly too, but everything is thriving.

A look at the vegetable garden. This is my garden; I didn't get photos of Larry's this time.  As you can see, the rattlesnake beans have completely covered their arch. The limas, however are finally terminating, or at least a few are, on one side of their arch. I hold out little hope for a harvest from them, and planted cucumbers today on the other side of the arch. Might as well get something growing there. Those are the earlier cucumbers in the bottom center, and bush beans in the middle. I pulled most of the beets in this section today.

From the right, dill, basil, squash and zucchini,  and the cucumber arch. Also a couple tomato plants because I like to have some close to hand to munch on. The bulk of oyr tomato plants are in Larry's garden. You can't see it, but there is Romaine lettuce under the cucumber arch. And you can aee a little of Larry's garden in upper left. 

What I missed getting a picture of is my upper garden, where the peppers, rainbow corn, sweet corn, more beets, carrots and leeks are. Oh, and butternut squash. I have pulled the lettuce, spinach, and radishes, and the kale is doing terribly this year. I also missed getting pics of the cabbage and broccoli, but since the deer munched on them they aren't that great either. Seems like every year, one thing or another takes a back seat.

Overall, it's been a good garden year. I am so grateful for my mulch, which makes garden maintenance much, much easier.

I guess we will be out early again tomorrow to avoid the heat. No big 4th of July plans here, just too hot to go out!

A Hot Week

72°f, hot and humid. 88° already at 11am.

And here he is! Mama Hannah and little Sutton are both doing well. I have not yet seen him, but will wait until she is home and settled to do that. Meanwhile, my son Derek is at Hannah's house, caring for her other children. He's a good Pawpaw.

The moon Tuesday night, just beautiful.

My current morning tea "set".

We have been out getting our booths ready for the July 4th weekend. Usually we do both in one day, but it is too hot to be out working in the afternoons, so we did it on two mornings this week. Yesterday we were in Ravenswood and picked up lunch afterwards, to eat in the car at the little park right by the river.

The old Sayre log cabin. 

It boggles my mind that a walking bridge would cost over 2 million dollars! I think the intent is to bridge Sand Creek and make a walking route from town to the park, which is a little ways from downtown. 

More construction at the park. The sign says this will be a welcome center.  I had heard that it was going to be a waterfront restaurant,  which would be so nice. A welcome center? Meh. That won't benefit the town or our county residents at all.

We have been staying inside during the afternoons. Larry's skin cancer creams have made his skin highly sensitive to the sun, and it's just too miserable to be out anyway. We are getting a lot of squash and cucumbers, some broccoli and a few small tomatoes from the garden. The beans need to be picked, but that will just have to wait. The heat should break Sunday. I hope!

And last, a friend posted this recently.  Sums up this weather.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Mingo Flats Road

75°f/23.9°C already at 8am. Apparently that African dust cloud from the Sahara has made its way here. Yuck.Andrea! Oh, and rabbit, rabbit, rabbit!

Hannah's little boy was born yesterday after a rather difficult birth. Poor girl. I am so glad it is over, and he is a fine, healthy, big boy!

I first discovered this little road in 2009. The name intrigued me, and I had noticed that the road made a loop, returning to the main road a few miles away. This is in Randolph county, WV.

The post office is no longer in the abandoned store, of course. Apparently it was consolidated with the post office in Valley Head, not far away.

The surprise is coming upon this beautiful bronze sculpture, hidden along this narrow, rarely traveled little road.

The statue is an homage to the Mingo natives who lived in this area, surprising to learn as I had no idea that tribe had come this far east and south.

Unfortunately the writing on the monument has worn away to being unreadable.

However, I did find this on the Randolph-Elkins Tourism website:

"This monument is erected in memory of the passing of the “Red Man.” An Indian village was located near this place according to local tradition. It was frequented by the Mingo tribe, and at one time was an Iroquois outpost – Mingo Iroquois, meaning “Foreign Service”. The Mingoes are said to have been expelled by the Iroquois for disloyalty. This village was on the trail from the Lakes to the South, but had been abandoned prior to the coming of the “Pale Face”. From this tradition came the name of the present village. The Magisterial District and the adjacent stream – Mingo Run. Tal-gah-Jute-John Logan-The Mingo Chief, is supposed to have used this habitat. He was terrible in war-fare, yet humane in peace and was a factor in Colonial History."

How much of that is true, who knows? But it is good to know what the faded words once said.

A gate behind the monument seems to lead only to a steep, overgrown hillside.

This sign to the right of the Mingo promised more to see on this out-of-the-way road.

I'm pretty sure it was further than 3/4 of a mile, but then the road was so curvy, who could tell? After a few minutes of twists and turns, there stood the monument to Confederate general Robert E. Lee, just as it had when I first ventured back here, all alone on a quiet rise.

According to The Clio website, "August 1861, General Robert E. Lee took command of Confederate forces in western Virginia. The Rebel army encamped around Valley Mountain, near Mingo, in Randolph County. The soldiers endured cold temperatures, incessant rain, and mud. Sickness ravaged the camps and many died. The Confederates left to assault Cheat Mountain, where they were defeated in September. In 1913, the United Confederate Veterans dedicated a monument to the Confederate soldiers of Randolph County and those who died in the camps at Valley Mountain. It was rededicated in 2013 by the Sons of Confederate Veterans."

 

The Clio article goes on to say that over 40 men were killed in battle and buried on the Jacob Marshall farm, where this monument was erected.

Today, it is a quiet serene place, with no echoes from that bloody, violent past to disturb the peace. 

I turned around and drove slowly back the way I came, thinking about what it must have been like back in 1861.

Click here to read my post about my first visit to Mingo Flats, back in 2009. 

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.