Peach Tree 911....THERE'S A FUNGUS AMOUNG US!!!!!

There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. 
Minnie Aumonier
This beautiful sunny day started with ants in the wieners food.  Good Grief!  Why is it that everything outside wants to come inside and everything inside wants to go outside?  One of the great mysteries of the universe. 

I haven't even had time to meditate (smoke cigarette and drink coffee) on front porch.  My eyes are barely open but my sense of smell is working just great because I smell wee-wee coming from Maggie's room. (when she gets an allergy shot she has no control so I can't be mad).  Her pretty pink area rug is sopping wet!  She is so upset!  What a way to start the day.

Who could be mad at this precious creature?

After cleaning up all the messes, I am going to the front porch and see what Pushka and Gracie (cats) are up to.  Then it will be time to release the terrors (blue heeler pups) from their night-time lock-up and feed Gypsy (Mom).  Good grief!  A girl can't get a break around here.

Then it's off to mow the yard.  If you mow over an acre, is it still considered a "yard"?  Shouldn't it be called something like Brobdingnagian (huge; relating to or characteristic of the imaginary country of Brobdingnag)?  That sounds big to a little ole country girl like me.  Is it true that the bigger the word the smarter you sound?

This is what a sick peach tree looks like. Darn it!

OH NO!!!  Simple Living 911!!! As I was mowing around my peach trees, I noticed the leaves are turning yellow.  Racing to call my resident expert, Orchard John, the conversation went something like this:

Me:       John, I think my peach trees got too much rain.  The leaves are turning yellow and curling.

John:     What kind of spray did you use?

Me:       What?

John:     What kind of spray did you use?

Me:       What?  (clearly, I'm not the smartest cookie in the box).  The directions didn't say anything about spray.

John:     You didn't spray them for disease?

Now, I'm thinking if the directions said take this tree home, plant it carefully and put poison on it I would have noticed!  Just last night I was teasing Brother Dave because my trees had a peach and his didn't. (he bought his a week after I did).  Pride goes before Karma!  So that's another thing to add to my growing list to purchase at Lowe's today.  Darn. Darn. Darn.  I will make this tree live.  Somehow! Someway! Drats!

Sorry, that's all for today.  Gotta go get medicine for peach trees and kill the fungus among us.  The "Do No Harm" rule does not include ants, snakes, spiders or fungus. Sometimes the learning curve in starting an orchard can be pretty steep but I will learn.  Harmony Acres will survive my naive attempts to be self-sufficient. 

 Adopt the pace of nature:  her secret is patience. 

~Ralph Waldo Emersonhttp://www.quotegarden.com/trees.html

Nature's Music.......rain

When we pay attention to nature’s music, we find that everything on the earth contributes to its harmony.
Hazrat Inayat Khan
Guess what? It's raining!  It has rained for two days! Again!  I can choose to look at the situation as a monsoon or as nature's music (the title says it all, doesn't it?)  To me the sun always shines on Harmony Acres even when nature's music comes in the form of rain. 

It's been a busy three days.  So let me share:

An overabundance of Honeysuckle fills the air with a heavenly fragrance.

Let me start with last Friday.
After the usual dogs in, dogs out, other dogs out, feed cats and gallons of coffee, I mowed (got stuck in the mud again) parts of the yard. The reason only parts of the yard got mowed was because gasoline is now $3.90 a gallon.  Still, to deter snakes and spiders and other creepy, crawly things, I mowed around the house and barn.(and the lateral lines were mowed; hoping to promote drainage in house)  This is the way it worked:  mow, sneeze (tree pollen), mow, sneeze (tree pollen), mow, sneeze (tree pollen & honeysuckle?)!

The serene beauty of old-fashioned Iris plants can be seen throughout Harmony Acres.

Anyway, now let's get to the fun part!  My peach trees that I planted  on March 29th of this year, each have a golf ball size baby peach.  I ran to get my camera because I was so....excited!  Hooray!  Now that's progress!  I couldn't wait to see my friend Orchard John to tell him (he laughed at my enthusiasm over such a simple thing)!

Harmony's first peach!

My neighbor, Willis, trimmed (chainsaw required) out the brush around our pear tree.  The tree was already here when we moved onto the property 18 years ago but it never produced anything.  Just look at it now!

Our Pear tree is loaded with baby pears for the first time.

With all of the rain, we have accumulated quit a collection of shoes on the front porch.  Wear one pair while the others dry you know.

Pushka says "good grief, I can't even get to my bed! (flag pillow)
How many pairs of shoes do you need?"

Joyce, this ones for you.  The pineapple sage you saved for me is doing great!  I plan to repot it today.

Pineapple Sage herb has many uses including tea.

Saturday and Sunday I worked at the store.  Time just flies when I'm there.  Get to see all my rowdy friends.  Now it's time to start a new week with sunshine in the forecast.  Thank you, Lord.

With the damp cool weather, it is a perfect day for a Simple Living food staple:  brown beans.  I will put a pot of beans on to cook (extra heat in the house) add ham (left over from Easter), cook fried potatoes (cheap) and top it off with good old Southern Style Sweet Cornbread.  It doesn't get any better than that.

America is a tune.  It must be sung together. 

Gerald Stanley Lee, Crowds

Justice has been done!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Harmony's First Peach Tree!

Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

Rachel Carlson

Well, I've purchased my peach trees and now I must make another very important decision:  where and how to plant them. Once again, I consult an expert (after throwing out many lifeless plants I've learned to google before I just dig a hole and throw a plant in it). Oklahoma State University is famous for it's Ag Programs, so who better to ask?

After watching the video, I think it would be prudent to take an ibuprofen before I take up my shovel.  "An ounce of prevention..........." My back problem you know. O.K. Now that I have the scoop on the "how to" it's on to the "where". 

Since Becky never met a tree she didn't want to plant, I need to find a place where my precious peach trees won't  be  in  the  shade  from  the  many  other  trees  we have  planted  here  at  Harmony  Acres. 

Hm mm...............What about...no, that is too close to the black walnut trees.  What about.....no, that is too close to the plum trees.  What about....no, that is too close the the cedar trees.  Oh, come on now, we have five plus acres. It shouldn't be this hard. There must be a place!  I can almost hear the little peach trees sighing in frustration and thinking "humans can be so dumb"! 
Meditating on the problem (smoking a cigarette on the front porch and drinking a Dr. Pepper) I decide to go out into the yard and pretend I'm a peach tree.  Where would I want to show off my blossoms and fruit in the years to come?
After careful consideration, and changing my mind no less than a dozen times, I've found the perfect place, I think.  I'll put them out by the Red Delicious Apple tree and start a mini orchard there.  I knew I could do it.

Next week, I'll pretend I'm a  blueberry bush (very picky plants) and  a cherry tree and decide where I want to be planted.  Until then, I will leave you with one last thought for the day:

Beauty of style and harmony and grace and good rhythm depend on simplicity.
Plato

Harmony Acres In Bloom

Ann Morrow Lindbergh (Gift from the Sea)
I have learned by some experience, by many examples, and by the writings of countless others before me, also occupied in the search, that certain environments, certain modes of life, certain rules of conduct are more conducive to inner and outer harmony than others. There are, in fact, certain roads that one may follow. Simplification of life is one of them.

As if by magic, Mother Nature released her personal color palette upon Harmony Acres, our home.  Each day brings forth surprises unsurpassed by anything the human hand can create.  It is with great joy and anticipation  that I step outside each day to see what awaits me as daylight breaks.  This is what I see:

After a lot of hard work, my rock garden is now ready for a new gazing ball and colorful annuals to be added.

We wanted to plant peach trees this year, so my friend John suggested we plant Red Haven.  I purchased the new trees at Lowe's because they have a one year replacement guarantee.  Now when a friend who happens to own an orchard, gives me advice, I am certainly smart enough to take it!  So, Red Haven it is. Becky also wants to plant blueberry bushes and cherry trees.  Will have to check with John to see how cherry trees do in our area.

Even the birds awake with a song in their heart and a cautious eye on the cats.  Cats seem to have a real problem understanding the 'do no harm" philosophy we have here.  

Pushka hates the "do no harm" rule.  She thinks I won't miss a couple of birds.

On Monday my brother David and his wife Vicky helped me put up a new fence for the puppies. I would have blogged about it yesterday but I couldn't move any part of my body without discomfort (translation:  I hurt from head to toe).  The puppies are so excited to have so much room to run and play.  

I really appreciated their help even more because I know David was in a great deal of pain with his knees (waiting for a knee replacement) and ankles (bone spurs). But they kept their sense of humor. Vicky kept me laughing as she declared over and over again to her husband "you knew when you married me I wasn't a country girl." and I finally told David, "just because I am the one driving most of the poles into the ground doesn't mean we need one placed every two feet." He was enjoying my pain a little too much.  You know how big brothers are.
If you look closely, in the background by the trees you will see a blue tarp.  It is attached to the greenhouse frame which the high winds sent belly up.  Someone (David) took a couple of the stakes out of it when we were building fence on Monday.  There is no sadder site that a greenhouse belly up in the wild rose bushes and timber.  Especially if your the one that has to fight the thorns to retrieve it! 
I have found there is nothing more satisfying at the end of the day than to feel physically exhausted from doing the things that bring joy to my heart, a new song for my soul to sing and pure bliss and harmony to my tattered state of mind.  Simplicity really is a gift!  The Secret:  Do the things that bring you joy and true happiness will follow.  It comes from within not from having the most "toys".

 John Burroughs
To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter ... to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird's nest or a wildflower in spring—these are some of the rewards of the simple life.