Pictured: late summer trees down in the woods 8/22/26.
| This week was my daughter’s birthday week, so I had a few busy days celebrating sweet 16! Our woods walks and gardens were fairly quiet, but I still managed to see some new “life birds” for my Merlin app. Late summer on the homestead is just so peaceful right now. Soon we’ll be cutting and stacking firewood to prep for winter! Enjoy! Amy | Table of Contents: ~ Spying on Wildlife: Trail-cam Videos! ~ The Birds: Discovering with the Merlin App ~ Woods Walks: Hidden Finds & Plants ~ The Garden: New Blooms & Harvests ~ Garden Guide: Phenology at Work ~ The Funnies: Plant & Nature Humor ~ The Blog: Upcoming Editions |
Spying on Wildlife: Trail-cam Videos!
We forgot to swap out the SD cards in the trail cameras this week, so unfortunately, there are no new videos to share! However, they have been reset as of Saturday, so I am looking forward to some interesting footage in next week’s blog.
The Birds: Discovering with the Merlin App
Mom spotted a House Finch over by her bird tree on Saturday morning. She was so happy to see a new visitor! I tried hard to spot it too when she mentioned it—especially since it was my Merlin “Bird of the Day” on Saturday—but alas, I didn’t make it over there in time.
Fortunately, I finally managed to see a Pine Siskin in the trees behind our old barn on Friday, adding a brand-new bird to my Merlin life list! The White-breasted Nuthatch, however, continues to elude me. I keep hearing it, but it isn’t quite as prolific around our place as the Red-breasted Nuthatch. Another target for my life list that I haven’t managed to spot yet is the Western Bluebird, though my phone heard its call on the app. One of these days, I am going to track both of these birds down!
Woods Walks: Hidden Finds & Plants
Shane and I headed down to the woods, but there were no new blooms to report this week. While I was sitting quietly and watching for birds, I snapped a few pictures of the trees canopying around me, as well as some shots on our walk back up to the house.
Here is a look at the late summer woods this Saturday:
The Garden: New Blooms & Harvests
We enjoyed some fantastic fresh salads this week straight from Shane’s garden! Hopefully, the tomatoes will pop off soon so I can skip the produce aisle for a while. Other than that, everything is growing beautifully—we should have fresh zucchini and more cucumbers ready to pick before long. Chocolate zucchini bread is definitely in our near future, and I can’t wait!
Those Green onions are growing from the pieces we planted from the store green onions after making salads a few times. Now we don’t need to buy Green onions for a while! As you can see we get plenty of Lettuce and Radishes from the garden! He has a bunch of Jalapeno Peppers coming on while his Cherry tomatoes are slowly getting riper. Shane cut loose his strawberry runners from the parent plants so now they are rooted in little pots and ready to be on their own!
Garden Guide: Phenology at Work
I switched to using phenology to plan my garden, so I created a practical planting guide to help you do the same! Instead of following a rigid calendar, phenology means watching local indicator plants to know exactly when the soil is ready for your crops.
It’s time for fall planting!!!
What to look for in Mid to Late-August:
– Pacific Crabapples are ripening. Might also see the Hawthorn berries turning orange, though they are a ways off from being ripe!
Harvest immediately as they become ready:
– Cucumbers LAST CALL!
– Summer Squash LAST CALL!
———————–
– Potatoes (look for green growth to die off, stop watering once growth turns yellow, harvest after a couple weeks)
– Beets
– Swiss Chard
– Corn
– Pole Beans (Keep picking your pole beans every 2–3 days! Regular harvesting prevents the pods from getting tough and woody, while signaling the vine to keep pumping out new flowers for a continuous autumn yield.)
– Cherry Tomatoes
– Slicing Tomatoes
– Eggplant
– Peppers
– Tomatillos
– Melons (look for that creamy yellow under-belly)
———————–
– Evergreen Huckleberries
– Figs
– Pawpaws
– Asian Pears
– European Pears
– Apples & Crabapples
– Italian Prunes
– European Plums
Transplant for Fall Crops:
– Kale
– Broccoli
– Cauliflower
– Brussels Sprouts (If you have heard the rumor that Brussels sprouts taste better after a frost, it is 100% true! Cold autumn temperatures trigger these plants to convert their starches into natural sugars, making them incredibly sweet and flavorful. Planting them now ensures they hit maturity right as our first Zone 8 winter frosts arrive.)
Provide temporary shade cloth or leafy branch covers for newly transplanted brassicas for the first 3-5 days to prevent heat scorch.
Start Seed Outdoors for Fall Crops:
– Radish
– Mustard Greens
– Spinach
– Arugula
– Lettuce
– Cilantro
– Parsley
———————–
– Money Plant
– Primrose (shady location)
– Foxgloves
– Hollyhock
Note: If you grow any of your crops in containers or bucket gardens, expect your phenological timeline to move faster than what is happening in the ground. Because containers are exposed to the ambient summer air on all sides, their soil temperatures are significantly elevated compared to the earth. Whether it is root development, leafy green production, or warm-season fruiting; expect bucket-grown crops to hit their harvest triggers up to two weeks earlier than their in-ground counterparts!
Make sure you pay attention to what nature is doing, as the months listed are APPROXIMATE, especially with the crazy weather we’ve experienced this past winter until now! It may seem early to start some tasks, but trust that nature knows exactly what it’s doing! Just because I am here in Molalla, OR, doesn’t mean you can’t use the same phenology in your own yard! The concepts work anywhere, though the exact timing will shift—for example, higher elevations or colder regions may take longer for some plants to bloom or set fruit.
Ready to garden by nature’s clock?
The Funnies: Plant & Nature Humor
The Blog: Upcoming Editions
We’ll see you next week on August 31st for the next Gardens & Nature, where fall planting is happening and more crops are ready for harvest!
Be on the lookout on September 1st for our monthly Livestock Edition, where we talk about how sheep breeding season is going!
In case you missed the latest:
Livestock Edition: August 2026
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Hollow Hills Ranch 