Someone new moved in

We have a relatively small backyard in the suburbs, but we have always had a lot

of wild life we are happy to share our little corner of the Garden State with.

Last week there was a bear in our neighborhood. Yesterday we discovered someone

new moved into the cherry tree in our back yard.

Just when I thought I had outsmarted the bunnies and the chipmunks were my biggest problem this year. (the chipmunks are KILLING me right now!)

I guess we will get used to him just like we did the Opossum family,snakes,hawks,owls,woodpeckers,cardinals,doves,bugs,rabbits,bats,chipmunks,squirrels and occasional deer and wild turkey, and all the neighborhood children.

I love my wild life, but I am missing the neighbor's old cat,George who did a lovely job keeping the chipmunks under control until he passed away this spring. I guess we will get used to our little racoon as well. Do you consider such creatures pests or neighbors?

An Organic Backyard Garden in New Jersey

We have butternut squash growing up over the green beans... Bugs are welcome

we aim for a harmonious balance between bugs who eat our food, and the bugs

who eat them.

This little cucumber is getting a second wind...

Butterflies are encouraged to come and go at whim

with lots of their favorite plants surrounding the vegetable garden

Heirloom tomatoes

a golden squash

grown from organic seed right here by us...

Zucchini and swiss chard too...

We know the balance is working when so many different creatures

choose to make their home right here..

Can you see the Robin in the plum tree?

Weeding,wildlife and food

Is there more to gardening than that?
Weeding found a few more butternut squash babies growing in other places in the garden.They are my favorite squash.
We had a lovely break in all the heat, and then free water fell from
the sky to moisten the garden.And it kept falling for two days....sometimes quite heavily.
I hope free water falls where you need it too.

Wildlife

Our yard, I have been told, is filled with wild life.
We are pretty used to the critters who share our home,
but visitors keep pointing out that there are so many.
I took pictures over a time span of about thirty minutes,
here is some of what we saw....



see the squirrel in the have -a- heart trap, (I expected to see the ground hog).
Our resident Mr. Cardinal. (the Mrs. is harder to capture on film)Mr Blue Jay.
Flipper (who allows P to feed him/her clover)

Flipper's bud (or baby..we're not sure)
I had a harder time capturing the Robin family sitting in the pear tree feeding their fledglings,
or the elusive chipmunks who are everywhere all at once.
Thankfully, we are in the middle of the block, so we do not get deer and we have never had a bear,
unlike some of you, although one or two people have thought that was what the ground hog was.
We do get a lot of birds...

There are also other nocturnal animals underground who we never see, although we have a pretty good idea that they are here. They are all welcome, as long as the don't eat more than their fair share of the veg or berries,
or my flowers!! ;-)