What's Growin' On 6/29/06: Flying & Hopping

Realization Of The Day:
I am becoming a bit obsessed with butterflies. . .




. . .and bunnies.

Butterflies are welcome in my garden. Bunnies--not so much. Unfortunately this little rabbit (which looks suspiciously like yesterday's rabbit) appears to have taken up residence. I saw it this morning and then again this evening in the garden. And naturally it is not afraid of me (because nothing is). This evening I had time to walk back into the house, grab the camera case I usually always have slung around my neck, walk back out to the garden, and take the following photos. They're not the greatest because the light was low, and the camera is set on auto everything.

Jeph wondered how I was able to get yesterday's furry invader to sit still long enough to get such a close shot of it. Well, if you saw the few other slightly blurry photos I took tonight besides these, you, too, would quickly realize that not only was this hare in no hurry to hop away, but that it was posing for pictures (before it went right back to eating). This is one brazen bunny.










I realize of course that bunnies in the garden are nothing new, and that even urban dwellers with tiny porch potagers are plagued with ravenous rabbits. I guess I'm just shocked that so many critters are attacking my tiny plot of planted space when I have two dogs (including a beagle who loves to catch and eat rabbits), and they have about two thousand acres to graze upon.

I had something totally different planned to write about today, but at the moment I don't have a clue what it was.

Check It Out!
A Farmgirl Fare reader asked me this morning about the source of my recent score of five gallons of locally grown, organic blueberries (some of which went into my Blueberry Breakfast Bars). My supplier is all sold out for the season, but I went online to see what I could come up with, and I hit upon a fabulous website called Pick Your Own--"where you can find a pick-your-own farm near you!" They have links to farms all across the U.S., plus lists of pick-your-own farms in several other countries, including Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. The site also includes all kinds of other information--everything from picking tips to canning instructions to recommended books. Check it out! (Note: I have noticed that many pick-your-own farms also sell already picked fruits and vegetables for those who don't feel like picking.)

From Garden To Table:
--First Dragon Langerie beans of the season! (Chopped up and tossed into a salad.)
--Baby Swiss Chard from the greenhouse (because the deer haven't found the door to it yet).
--Nero di Toscana cabbage (in above salad). It rallied back nicely after being fried the other day. I also learned from my foodie pal Clare at Eat Stuff in Australia that Nero di Toscana cabbage (which I knew was also called Black Palm Cabbage) has several other names as well, including Cavalo Nero, Black Kale, Tuscan Kale, Lacinato Kale, and Dinosaur Kale. I know, I know. I said cabbage and these say kale, but it looks like the same thing in the photo. I did do a google search for Nero di Toscana cabbage, but nearly all of the links were on my blogs! Anyway, click here to learn more about Cavalo Nero, which I'm pretty sure is my beloved Nero di Toscana. And if it isn't, please let me know.