The August light has returned and I am enjoying the late summer sounds of crickets and other winged creatures.
This morning I watched the butterflies work over my Joe Pye weed, which towers above the garden at almost 9 feet tall.
They use a biological fungicide called Serenade early in the growing season and copper sulfate as the season progresses. The main ingredient in Serenade is Bacillus subtilis strain QST 713. B. subtilis strain QST 713 (marketed as QST 713 or Serenade) has a natural fungicidal activity. Not a dangerous to humans compund....in other words. Copper is a mineral useful to plants, and is used effectively in the grape production to control fungal disease.
Next year I will be armed and ready for the blight. I was able to pick several boxes of my favorite tomato's from the patch I planted at the dairy farm this spring. I made sauce from the Black Plum, and dried the little oxheart tomato Princepe Borghese So I have been busy and eating well!
I have noticed that Finn has quite a weekly routine going on at work. On Monday's, his friend Daisy cleans out the fridge, and Finn gets snacks of the leftovers from the weekend barbecues. Sometimes he stands at the door and barks, like he is expecting a meatball to arrive. There is a nice pond on that job for his swimming entertainment and liquid requirements.
On Tuesdays, as soon as we arrive to the job, he is off to Debbie's garage next door. He is friends with her black lab 'Abbie'. Finn likes to borrow some of Abbie's toys for the day. We always return them when our work is done and head for home. If the garage is closed, he will sit there and bark until Debbie opens the door and gives him a treat, which Finn knows are kept on the shelf with the toys. He always seems to get back to the job in time for his treat from his buddy Welbourn.
There is now a construction job going on across the street, and Finn loves construction workers...they always have sticks and snacks, so he heads over there for a while. I can hear them playing and talking with Finn while I work. Sometimes he proudly brings me back a chunk of 2 x 4 so we can play while we work. If he gets a little hot, he heads over to Dean's next door where we built the pond and goes for a dip.
Dean has two Shar-pei dogs that have a big pottery crock of toys on their back porch, so when ever we water the planters there, Finn sticks his head in the crock and takes out every single toy....which we have to put back before we leave.
Sometimes on Thursdays we head over to the Farm Market to help Matt Cooper keep his little girl Sita entertained while he sells his produce. Finn with the little ones is a dear sight, they all love him, and he attracts a lot of dog loving customers to his table. It is a very dog friendly market. And Blowing Rock is a very dog friendly town.
On Fridays we start out the day on Wonderland trail, where a new home is being built right next to the garden we manage there. The construction workers there feed Finn bologna sandwiches and throw sticks over the cliff of the gorge for Finn to haul back up the mountain. He loves this, and is shortly exhausted from the fun. When we finish there, we head over to Margaret and Franks who are big lab lovers. They sometimes share a bit of peanut butter sandwich, or last week a turkey burger, much to his delight. They even let Finn in the house at times, and last week Finn tried to climb into Margaret's lap while she was petting him on the porch.
By the end of the day we are over by the elementary school, just in time for recess. As soon as hear hears the voices of children he is off running, ears flapping in the wind to go to the playground where hundreds of kids happen to think he is a really cool dog.
What a life he lives. Most in Blowing Rock know Finn by name now.
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