Just a few short weeks ago,

my garden looked like this..........

and now the black eyed peas that I planted have grown to be very healthy. They haven't started blooming yet, but it wont be long..........I hope!

My tomatoes have done well this year, but I am not giving them a chance to turn red............

no, 

they get plucked when they are still green and turned into a delicious plate of fried green tomatoes.

If you would like to make these for yourself, just wash and cut off ends of green tomatoes. Slice about a quarter inch thin....... roll them into a mixture of cornmeal and flour mixed together, dip them in buttermilk,  and then roll them in the cornmeal and flour mixture again. 

Fry them in a deep skillet of hot oil until golden. Drain and serve hot with a side dish of ranch dressing! 

So good!

I had company the other day as I worked out on the grounds. This vulture and a few of his friends stopped by to take a look around.........

and I saw this from a distance

got closer to discover a Coach-whip snake coming out of it's hole. 

It was as curious about me as I was it and I was able to get a good close up picture........

see the dirt still on it's head? 

It is also a time of lots of zucchini on the vines, and time to make wonderful zucchini bread.

For a great recipe, visit my cooking blog by clicking onto this link

My Country Kitchen 

So tell me.........what is growing or watching in your back yard?

I have found that trying to raise wildflowers..........is much like raising children

I adore all wildflowers because of their various and unique features...........

and they grow abundantly on the grounds, but not close enough, I feel,  for my flower beds........

so  I am constantly digging them up from the space they want to stay in........

and transplanting them close to my home......smothering them with care and affection......

just like a mother pulls her child from a place that he is interested in to keep him close,

and just like a child........the wildflowers prefer to be left alone and let to choose their own space and surroundings. 

and after awhile, I begin to understand........and let them be........

sigh

the woods are beginning to get overgrown from all of the rains and looking at them, 

one might think that nothing is there.......but overgrown brush.........

but come with me...........take a look..........

at a glance this is nothing but a scraggly and unkempt bush ........

but any scraggly lady still  loves her jewels.....

and this Texas native is adorned in colorful berries. 

The yucca is also thorny and plain during some months......

but in early spring.........

they have a heavy hairdo of blossoms............

which turn into large pods.........

and then dry, open up, and spill out hundreds of seed.

More beautiful wildflowers have found the perfect spot to bloom.......

and wild vines cling and grow up an old mesquite tree that is also covered in moss.

Sophie has spied something........

a thorny headed , horned toad.......

in the middle of it's  "ant lunch"

(click on photos for a better view)

and it looks as if it is wanting us to go away.

out of the woods and into a little more tame part of yard,

the pumpkin vines are starting to get those big ear leaves that I love.........

and my grandmother's Lantana  is blooming in the garden,

happy that I planted it there. 

The air is filled with the fragrance of fresh mown grass

and my chickens are enjoying the cuttings...........

they do their little "chicken scratch dance"

and nestle down in the soft dampness of it.

and the grounds are now clear of the jungle that had sprung up from the recent heavy rains.

Now...........for the wild ones............there is not much of a place to hide......

The toad seeks shelter by the watering can.............

the rabbit eats cautiously at the feeder..............

and the bull snake rushes up the tree..........

wishing I had not spotted it.........and wishing I had not cut down the tall grass it was hiding in.

(click on photos for a better view)

Yet..........I think it is smiling...........a little..........

don't you?