Bunny Sunday

Thought I'd share one of my favorite pictures of Nutmeg and me lounging in the garden.  :)

I'm sure she thought she should be the one on the hammock! 

Happy relaxing Bunny Sunday everyone.

Checkin' In

Happy Friday everyone!  Just checkin' in to say hello:

This is my oldie, Phoenix peeking into my garden.  He turns 35 this month!  And still going strong.  I see him turning 40.... and beyond.  We open his gate every morning and he gets to cruise around the property to his heart's content.  He saw me in the garden and thought he'd see if I needed any help.  So glad I had my phone/camera with me.  I love this pic.

I've been working on the fencing around the front of the garden, putting up ocotillo to make it look a little nicer.  I'll post pics of the finished project when I'm done.  After that, time to get some manure into the beds and get them ready for planting at the end of the month. 

Have a great weekend!

Bunny Sunday

The weather is beautiful this morning -- very fall like.  The bunnies were happy to get outside to spend time in their outdoor casa.  The casa is connected to the garden, so we let them out to run around a bit before herding them into the casa.

There were lots of binkies going on (for those of you who don't know what a binky is - it is the ultimate expression of bunny joy.  They take off running and then jump into the air, kick their legs out and sometimes even flip their bodies around mid air.  It's quite the sight to see!)  I tried to catch a mid-air binky, but wasn't quick enough.

This is Diggy, pre-binky:

And little Turbo doing a drive-by on Sandie:

Ginger striking a pose:

OK guys, into the casa you go...

They'll get to hang outside for a few hours this morning.  Even though the casa is nicely shaded, it's still getting pretty warm here in AZ, so I'll bring them back inside in a little while.  I've had people comment to me before that "wild bunnies stay outside in the heat, why not these bunnies?"  1) these bunnies are not wild and 2) wild bunnies burrow into the ground to stay cool.  Domestic bunnies should never be left out in the heat! 

OK, that's my bunny public service announcement for the day.  Have a great Bunny Sunday everyone!

Struggling....

My poor garden is barely hanging in there, struggling along in this 100+ degree weather. My tomatoes are finally starting to ripen, so the plants just need to hang in there a little bit longer. Once these tomatoes are done, I'll rip the plants over and start over in about a month for a fall crop.The herbs are faring a little better, they are in a part of the garden that gets more afternoon shade. Every morning, I cut some mint, catnip, oregano, sage and rosemary for the bunnies. And I'm still getting a few jalapenos from my one lonely plant. It might bounce back for the fall, I'm hoping. (I love this wooden bowl, a recent thrift store find for $2.99. Deal!)The mammoth sunflowers are not doing too bad. I guess that is why they call them SUN flowers? I like to plant them around the garden - a few here, a few there. Their leaves are huge, so they provide shade for the plants below them. And they draw bees to the garden, which is good. The birds usually end up eating the seeds, but if I catch them in time, I'll give them to the goats who scarf them down, flower head, leaves and all. They do leave the stalk, though. I guess even goats draw the line somewhere...
My plan for next year is to erect a shade canopy over the main part of the garden that I can put up and take down as needed. Add that one to the "to-do" list...

Bunny Sunday

Looking back at my "Silent Sunday" posts, seems like a lot of them have been of the bunnies, so I'm changing my Sunday posts to "Bunny Sundays"! They are always popular...who doesn't love a cute cuddly bunny?

Sometimes we let Patches and Nutmeg run around in the garden. Patches found the strawberries and jumped right in. Bunnies LOVE strawberries, and they love the plants, too.

After roaming around the garden for awhile, it's time to find a nice cool place to rest.Nutmeg is the little explorer. And hole digger. I can hear her wheels turning, "How do I get behind that fencing???"

Where are the carrots? Cilantro? Parsley? Oregano?

I have to admit, a large part of my garden is dedicated to growing things just for the bunnies. They prefer their veggies to be organic, thank you very much.

An Arizona Summer Morning

Up at 5:30 this morning, gotta get outside before the scorching heat sets in. I thought I'd take some pics of the garden, it is doing pretty well, even in this heat. Most of the garden is dedicated to what I call the "Bunny Salad Bar". Here's a pic:





The salad bar includes catnip, lemon balm, thyme, mint, parsley, cilantro, oregano and lambs ear. The bunnies love it all!

We also have some jalapenos, zuchinni and tomatos growing (not for the bunnies, for us).







I just noticed while posting this pic that something is eating my ripe tomato! Maybe a little garden mouse... Might have to put the cage around the tomato to keep critters out.






More bunny salad bar! Carrots, cilantro and parsley. And some sunflowers scattered here and there...

After checking out the garden, gathered some eggs from the chickens....






Thanks Red Chicken!