Vegetable Garden Calendar

I found this on the Homesteading Self Sufficiency Survival Blog (don't read too much into my following that blog), but haven't determined the source.  I'm interested in whether you think it's above or below our 39th parallel.  Down here by the river at 570 feet above sea level, I consider May 1 to be frost-free, but friends on Dan's Mountain and Jersey Mountain add as much as two weeks to that.

TinEye Reverse Image Search

As a former field biologist, friends often ask if I recognize this or that critter.  The one pictured here was new to me.  But after down;loading the photo or copying the URL, I went to tineye.com and within a minute or two I found the same picture labeled, "Blue Seaslug".  A wikipedia search confirmed it was Glaucus atlanticus.

Nesting Turkeys

Ruth Martin stumbled onto this nest of turkey chicks at Church View Farm, near Three Churches, WV.  She was mowing a nature trail and the hen was startled when she passed by and flew away. Later, she and her husband Steve walked back to take a look and found about a dozen eggs in the nest. Last night they walked back again, the hen took off, and they heard lots of peeping. All of the eggs were hatched, and Steve and Ruth scattered too, waiting to see the whole family later in June looking for insects around the farm.

Indigenous Roses

The Carolina Rose (Rosa carolina) is native to the Eastern U.S.  We've been spotting these along the trails just above our wetlands .  You can find it from hardiness zones 4 through 8.  The shrub (actually classified a sub-shrub) grows from 3 to 6 ft high with 2 inch pink blossoms appearing once annually in spring or summer.  The hips appear in fall-winter.

Carolina Rose (Rosa carolina)