Slow and steady as we go

That seems to be my way of life these days. Not sure what happened to my energy but it is long gone. I had to adjust some of my meds back down and it did seem to help some. I have felt a lil better the past few days. On those crappy days I just don't get a single thing done outside in the gardens. I have decided that if I don't feel like being out there in the heat I am best to just stay inside and do what ever needs doing and let it go at that. It is really exhausting to force my body to keep going when I feel so rotten. Any who, Rodger has got the garden all worked out and it looks pretty good. We sure do need rain tho. We planted a lil later than normal for us and missed all the early spring rains. The plants don't have deep enough roots yet to get water down deep as they would if we had gotten it planted earlier. So they do suffer some in the dry weather. But I am sure we will get rain when we are supposed to. I bet my dad is sittin up there sayin " I taught ya better than that".We are still having a lil trouble with the tater bugs, but not bad. But I did spray this evening to keep them at bay so they don't attack the tomatoes and beans. The peas are pretty much done and I was thinkin as I walked past the trellis spraying that maybe I need to just go ahead and pull up the plants and plow the ground leaving the fence in place an plant the length of fence trellis in White Half Runner beans. They do make the very best shuck beans. The Ky Wonders that we raise are OK for shuck beans but the half runners are much better.
I checked out the grape vines in the back yard and they Japanese beetles have attacked them again this year. So I caught a bunch of them and the chickens had a feast. Then sprayed with some Sevin to kill the ones I missed. They can destroy a grape vine in a matter of a couple days if left unattended.
Yesterday evening I went down the the old house and outbuilding to check on the Cornish cross and got to catch one of Luna's puppies. Gosh they are so fat and cute. The one I caught was a lil girl and she looked like her momma. As luck would be I didn't have my camera with me so no pics to post here yet but for those of ya that are on my friends list on facebook you can see the pics there. Sorry, I got a smart fone and it is for sure smarter than me and I have no clue how to get the pics from the fone to the puter.
But I did take a few pics in the garden when we were over there. So I at least can share those even tho it has taken me 3 days to find the cable to my camera so I could load them in the puter. Can ya tell I am technically challenged?

Well for some odd reason blogger is cooperating and I cant even upload the pics to the blog. I am done cussin now so we shall go on.

I have been harvesting and drying some herbs along the past few days. I am still researching and studying up on medicinal herbs and making my own natural salves, balms and meds. I did make a small trial batch of skin balm a couple days ago and it does sooth me skin after a shower and don't feel greasy. I love the way it feels and it actually smells nice. I added a small amount of lavender just for fragrance. It consists of coconut oil, round leaf plantain, lavender, comfrey leaf, a few drops of vitamin E oil. Melt the oil in a small pan and add the chopped herbs and stir to get as much of the essential oils from the leaves as possible then add vitamin E, stir and strain in a small container and let cool. The total time on the heat was about 30 minutes. So far I do think this works for me to sooth irritated skin after a shower and working outside.
I talked to my friend Rosie  and got a ton of ideas for different plants that can be used for many things. One thing that grows really well here is dandelion and the dandelion root teas is nearly a cure all for many aliments of the body. But this is still a learning process. I had an older fellow tell me one time that if you didn't learn at least one new thing everyday that you wasted the day. I think he might be right. But dang I don't think it will do me any good to learn things as I forget too quick. I reckon I will need to make an investment in a journal to keep notes.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella