Rain...

(I'm in the habit of starting with a pic, so what you see above is some Dutchman's britches and other early spring posies I picked a couple of months ago. This was the first time I'd seen Dutchman's britches growing in the wild, as far as I can remember.)

May flowers and May rain... So much is going on in the wide outdoors. Our strawberries are starting to get ripe. The blackberries look great, but oh, my poor apple tree! I'm afraid it has fire blight.

From what I've read, it sounds like I blew it when I fertilized the tree with Jobe's tree spikes. Apparently, a fast growing apple tree is more vulnerable to fire blight, so it's better not to fertilize until you can tell the tree needs nourishment. Anyway, I haven't seen any oozing on the trunk yet, but the branch tips are curling down and turning brown. Yuck. Last night I pruned off the parts I could reach, using disinfectant on the nippers each time. There is still a lot I can't reach.

Oh, well. It's not like we will starve to death if we lose the apples. Not yet, anyway.

Here's a Bible verse... "And I have given you a land for which ye did not labour, and cities which ye built not, and ye dwell in them; of the vineyards and oliveyards which ye planted not do ye eat." (Josh. 24:13) I like that verse because the Lord gave us this property, and if we eat anything from these trees and plants, it will be without our having planted them. I think that's cool, and I give Him the thanks and praise for putting us here.