The oregano is blooming. A tidier gardener might have been tempted to trim it back, but I'm not tidy, plus I'm fascinated by this herb's frequent visitors of late.
The oregano patch starts each morning quietly, in the shade. When the sun comes out, the entire patch lights up with buzzing. Bumblebees can't resist this delicate white bloom.
Honeybees are equally drawn to these frilly cups, and it's fascinating to watch them forage.
I'm hoping some of that oregano flavor makes its way into the honey this year.
You may remember that I was really excited about purchasing garlic last fall and determined to actually have a respectable garlic yield. Over the course of the last 8 months, I watched my garlic go from tiny sprouts...
Our peas started out quite slowly this year, and for awhile it didn't look like they were going to do much. In late April they finally started to climb the trellis, but looked quite skinny.
The heat and moisture combo of June this year, though, really inspired them to grow, so by late June we were in full-on pea-harvest bliss.
Sugar-snap peas are a cherished treat in our home- we love to make stir fries, risottos, or just eat them straight out of the garden. My loyal garden buddy has picked up this habit too, it seems.
For a little while I thought about busting her for this, but it completely charms me, maybe because she finds so much joy in eating them.
The last weekend in June, we headed east on Highway 20 for a quick Methow getaway. The objective of the weekend was to put the dogs through a rattlesnake aversion training class, so that they could learn to steer clear of rattlesnakes on our many Eastern Washington adventures.
Though we had intended to do this training for quite some time, it was an encounter with this guy over Memorial Day weekend, on a hike in the Tieton River Valley, which solidifed our decision:
