Jill Ruth & Co.

Black Tailed Bee Fly

Wednesday, June 22, 2016

Yesterday around the milkweeds I have in the Tank Garden I noticed a lot of buzzing and found what at first I thought were bees.

But, then they didn't really look like a bee. As they darted from flower to flower they would sometimes stop and hover. So cool to watch!

And, by the way, do you know how wonderful the blossoms on a milkweed smell?! I hadn't realized this bonus until Sunday when my second daughter pointed that out to me. As I took these pictures, the scent was so delightful adding to the fun of watching these busy "bees".

Long legs and long proboscis (tongue)!

With the help of my 16 year old daughter, I was able to identify this as a Black Tailed Bee Fly.

And, look at the bright milkweed bug photobomb!

I'm not thrilled with the milkweed bugs as they eat up the plants and I want the monarch butterflies to feed on them. I still need to learn more about these Black Tailed Bee Flies. They kill other bees, not good. But, do they do good themselves? At least I enjoyed taking pictures of them!

We've had some nice rain at our place, but our tiller has been on the fritz so you know what that means in the vegetable garden. Hopefully, we'll get a chance to get those weeds knocked down again.

Sticks and Fibers

Tuesday, June 14, 2016

My youngest girls are working on a couple of weaving projects for 4h. Since I can't get too far as they have questions and trouble with the needle, I began a little weaving project of my own while sitting with them.

I had sticks just sitting in a pail waiting for a project!

Simple.

But, a tad tedious to hold the sticks while you pull the fibers over and under so might not be for little fingers to do. I think I need to find a way to hold the sticks while you weave so the girls could do this too.

It would also make a great little piece of wall art!

More Garden Pictures

Thursday, June 9, 2016

You can certainly see why I went to a raised bed a.k.a tank garden here. It's a barren sandy area!

The blooms are beginning and some early perennials are already done.

It really is a bit of a secret garden so to speak.

I've had this bike, just painted gray, for quite a few years. I started to spiff it up with yellow spray paint which didn't cover well, so I broke out left over craft paint. Don't look too close! But, at least it's color!

Just a little vignette outside of the garden. Overshoes, or as my grandparents called them, rubbers. These would actually still work well...however, I'm glad I have cute gardening clogs instead!

We've been doing swimming lessons, softball, and had a fun 4h tour on Monday. Now we need to start hitting some 4h projects.

I hope your summer is going well.

Tank Garden 2016

Saturday, June 4, 2016

I've been hitting the gardening pretty hard this spring, if only the weeds would honor my work and stay away! As soon as I turn around, there they are.

I'm waiting for the Tank Garden to fill in to take a big overall picture, but here are pictures of some new additions this year.

I'm pretty excited about this sink turned planter. A rusty old cream can works perfectly for a base. I drilled holes in the bottom of the can so the sink drains into it and out again. I want to add something to the "mirror", any suggestions??

It's already pretty and it's just getting started. I don't remember the plant in the middle's name. It doesn't flower, but has really pretty green and purple edged leaves.

And, then there is this wind chime I made a couple months ago. It doesn't make the sound I'd hoped for so I'm trying again with some other sticks.

I do like the movement of it though and that is just as important.

I used my wood burning tool to make the letters. (The letters screw on to the wood burner.)

More wood burning! I made this tic tac toe grid 5 years ago when I saw the idea online, but I never came up with the Xs and Os. I think the cement blocks were 10 cents each on clearance.

Then it occurred to me the other day that I could use a branch and wood burn them. Well, I had branches of this cedar tree already dried and in the barn so I used that and that's why there is the red center. Distracting in a way, but really kind of neat too.

I don't know how long the bark will stay on, but it's neat for now!

Now, the girls will play with it, but at this age it won't entertain them too long. However, in that 5 years, I've had two granddaughters added to our family...and a THIRD GRANDDAUGHTER IS ON THE WAY!!! There will be someone to play with it!

I'll take better pictures of this new addition when the sun isn't glaring so brightly and the plants fill in. It's a great old tin bath tub!!

I dug out a bush and replaced it with this spool-turned-table and thought I'd give a succulent tray a try this year.

I scrounged rocks from our lane to fill it in. I'm really liking this and will try to not over water it.

I grabbed this bucket when everything was planted so I pulled some volunteer "Love in the Mist" plants to put in it. I should have more flowers coming up from seeds in about a month to transplant in here later. Nice rust, huh?!