It rained a bit earlier this week and we had a brief power outage. It is supposed to rain again for the next four days and the temperature is expected to drop a lot in central Oklahoma. I didn’t visit the farm last weekend but I am planning to go this Saturday and the following Saturday. I have started a few seeds indoors for fall last week including red yucca, common milkweed, showy milkweed, nicotiana, marigolds, black eyed Susans, blanket flower 2 types, fanfare and Arizona sun, Texas star hibiscus, confederate rose, California poppies, dianthus. The nicotiana and marigolds were self harvested. So far the showy milkweed, marigolds, fanfare blanket flower, and red yucca have not sprouted. I have found milkweed to be a bit hard to start in the past. The common milkweed sprouted but died shortly after from damping off. It will be awhile before these seedlings are ready to be transplanted. I have not been able to keep seedlings outside recently because something is munching on them at night. The new hydrangea has been affected by some type of leaf spot. I tried to pull off the infected leaves but it is continuing to spread. The marigolds, zinnias, and, nicotiana are still blooming. The vitex are growing rapidly. Next weekend, I will plant the two vitex, the hydrangea, and the whorled milkweed. My first bell pepper was burnt by the sun but the plant has another pepper growing. One of my pepper plants is flowering but the other isn’t. I saw more butterflies on the zinnias this week. I saw another beautiful gulf fritillary, a skipper, and a hackberry emperor missing a large piece of one wing. I made a butternut squash soup yesterday with pears and dark chocolate. It tasted pretty good but the color was unappealing. I started reading a book about painting still life and flowers. I am enjoying it so far. I drew another butterfly this week from a library book. I went to the Asian grocery store in my city and they sell plants in front of it. I bought an aloe vera plant for only 7 dollars. I am excited because aloe really helps with my lupus skin rashes. I think I need to move it inside before it rains because it likes a dry environment. It is not perennial here so I will have to move it indoors in winter. After I plant the vitex, I will transfer the aloe into that larger pot. I am looking forward to the cooler weather this week and I can’t wait to see my cat again this weekend. My boyfriend went to check on her earlier in the week and he discovered that she has a new cat friend to hang out with. It was scared of my boyfriend and ran away. This week, I will prepare my entries for the county fair. I hope I will be able to get everything ready in time to enter. I will be making the fideo soup this week and continuing to draw butterflies for awhile.
Lisa Ledbetter 