Honestly, not a ton cooler, but lower humidity, and comfortable enough temps to spend a day working outside instead of needing the blessing of air conditioning every 15 minutes to keep from collapsing. I am not built for temperatures over 80 if humidity is a factor.
And I had Pike along for the day. Still warm enough for him to prefer shade when just hanging out.
Was kind of funny, to see the banty roosters coming up and displaying at him. When I was not in direct attendance, I kept Pike tied to the hitch on the van, just to make sure that the chickens all stay alive. Have not worked with Pike on real birds, but I am working up to that.
Took a bit for him to work out just how to retrieve his new mallard, but once he did, he was quite enthusiastic.
He has enthusiasm for the whole thing. Just need to work in the finding and hunting side of it.
The day was spent picking beans (mostly dry) and weeding. The pic above is one of the rejects from the grow out of the old F3 Hidatsa Shield/Dragon Tongue cross. Not because it is not pretty, but because production on this one was not good.
This is one of them that I did save to continue to grow out.
As is this,
And this,
And this one.
I have about a dozen different ones grown out, and while they are all different, some are much like others I have already developed and stabilized out of the cross, some do not have vigorous enough growth, and there are a few that are expressing bushing tendencies which is specifically not what I want. Nice thing is that all of them produce beans for the pots of winter chili, and we do go through a lot of that.
My accidental planting of Fish Peppers is doing well.
They make a pretty ornamental as well. Thinking of doing half pints of pickled ones, like I have done in the past with Thai Sun. Spicy fire and beer, along with a good sharp cheese. They hold on the plant well, so will pick those next time I am there.
By the evening, I had a few bushels of dry flour corns, and a mixed flat of beans, peppers, tomatoes, and even a few winter radishes from thinnings. Still kicking myself in the ass for not doing the tomatoes at my house where I could tend them better, but life is a learning experiment. I did get through all the pepper plantings, weeding them completely, and hopefully I get more picking of the Jimmy Nardello peppers. All of this is sitting in the back of the van and will have to process through it tonight.
