November Hill farm journal, 188

 July 4th went better than I expected. Although there were a lot of booms, the Rescue Remedy and pheromone gel worked well for us. I gave out peppermints during a couple of the most actively booming times and all was well. We also had a delightful day with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson earlier in the day, so that energy definitely fueled my own calm state going out just before dark to sit with the herd. 

A little chaos on the hill this week. Our daughter had an anaphylactic reaction to what we think was a fire ant sting. She was photographing osprey and thankfully wasn’t too far from us. She ended up getting an epi pen at a fire station on the way to the ER, then got IV benadryl in the ambulance, and spent a chunk of that day being monitored in the ER. We’re grateful for the people who helped and also for epi pens (which she will now carry) and for the possibilities of venom immunotherapy. 

Husband was at urgent care prior to that with cellulitis and thankfully the antibiotics kicked in and assisted. 

We’ve continued to have both heat and rain and it’s jungle season in the gardens here right now. I am officially tossing in the towel when it comes to keeping up with growing things. Will target a few things as I can from now until fall. 

I’m enjoying prolific coneflowers this summer. 

And the mountain min and pitcher plants along the walkway to the front porch. 

This patch of ferns are doing well. I removed a few interloping natives that I didn’t want growing up through the ferns.

The front bed is its own habitat right now, with the button bush blooming and the understory plants also doing their things. I can’t fully capture the constant activity of many butterflies, all species of native bees, honey bees, and some moths who all make the button bush look as if it is constantly aflutter. 

Just one shot of one swallowtail among many.

I would call these the lazy days of summer except no one living with cats, dogs, horses, ponies, donkeys, and family members can be lazy! Life is full of things to do and sometimes full of challenges, but always full of love.