God Bless Mother Nature...

Ten days is a long time to leave a country property unattended, especially in central Missouri in mid-July. And especially this year where it really is the heat and not the humidity so much. But sometimes life dictates doing just that. Big Daddy and I were fearful that all our little efforts to actually grow something out at Le Rustique would have burned up in ten days with temperatures hovering around 100-degrees and no water.

But God Bless Mother Nature. When we arrived yesterday, I immediately saw life in my little herb garden in the front of the house.

And you can tell from this shot that even the edges of the leaves were in good shape.

Sure, the cilantro had bolted, but it always does that fairly early in the season. At least it's still growing.

I was most worried about the persimmon trees that I cultivated from recovered seeds and planted in a half-barrel on the south side of the house just before the first snowfall this past winter. If I lost them now, I'd be starting over from scratch in a few months. After checking on the welfare of the herbs in the front of the house, and finding them alive and well, I went out back to check the rain gauge. I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it measured 1-1/2 inches! Where and when that came along is a mystery, because all the weather reports had been hot and hotter, dry and drier. So I braved the trek around to the side of the house, and voila!

There are nineteen of these baby trees. Four of them hadn't even been born yet when I left ten days ago. I'm so excited - and thankful. And so is Big Daddy. His tomatoes and peppers must have gotten some good runoff from the barn, because they're doing just fine as well. The deer stayed out of his garden, too.

Yes, God Bless Mother Nature!