2025 Blackberries

Did yard work today, the first full mow of the season.  I got some trimmer string and rewound the trimmer.  So much easier to use than the brush cutter.  The plastic blades though really aren't that sturdy.  Cut the mint a little but really it doesn't grow very tall so it was literally just the top leaf or two.

Speaking of growing though, the blackberry in front around the tree had this little guy growing on the vine.  This is the first of who knows how many blackberries we'll get from the plants.  If they all turn out to be this small though I may just kill it.  It's pretty thorny for such small berries.  It needs to be at least 4 times this size for it to make the cut.  No pun intended due to those thorns of death.

Calling back to the mint though, when the yard was cut (and thus the mint) the fragrance was not overpowering. It was more a hint of mint in the air.  Pretty nice actually.

Update on the fig tree:  The little branches are getting significantly bigger.  Not quite as fast as I'd like but getting there.  Still removing bottom leaves occasionally and it's working pretty well.  I can tell the difference between the branches I remove leaves on and those I don't.

Gathering at the Bird Feeder

As far as I can tell these are house finches.  These are all female though since the male has a distinct tinge of read on his breast. I don't think I've ever seen this many birds on the feeder at one time though.  I have been keeping up with making sure there is always seed there so I really shouldn't be surprised. 

Among the other birds we've seen flying through are blue jays, cardinals, and mockingbirds.  Flying above and around the are there are often turkey vultures, ducks, herons, and some other kind of smaller raptor, probably a hawk of some sort.

The seed we get is relatively fresh since the spillage has created a small sprouted forest.  It will be mowed down this weekend so somewhat short lived I guess but I wasn't trying to grow my own seed anyway.

Looking forward to mowing the mint though.  We'll see just how minty the air will get.  Our friend who gave us the  mint says when he mows it a nice aroma that fills the air.  We really don't have a lot of mint though so I'm not expecting it to be overwhelming.  I might try to reign it in a little though so it doesn't really become a huge problem.  I do need to get the edging done though before we take off on our trip. 

Fortunately we have friends coming to take care of the house and cats, mainly the cats.  We've been prepping for them and have made several dishes that we've frozen for them to have plenty to eat.  Still need to get that manual put together so they have a go by for anything they need to know.  Missing the cats already and haven't even left.