As if I needed another excuse to daydream about baby chicks, a friend of mine just sent me the link to this really cute and funny video. The video is of a fuzzy, yellow chick running through a barnyard--from the chick's perspective! I don't know how this was done, but it's so fun to watch. Be sure to turn up your sound so you can hear all the peeping.

Enjoy, my chicken-loving friends.

UPDATE: The video seems to have been taken down. It's too bad, because the chick cam was really great. For more cool nature videos can go directly to the Museum of Animal Perspectives site.

This year, I officially transitioned out of the phase of life that involves constantly going to weddings and into the phase that means going to a lot of baby showers. In 2009 alone, I think I've gone to five baby showers, and there are many more on the horizon. Not that I mind. I like babies, and I think making one is definitely worth celebrating. But, I am kind of sick of buying people stuff off of registries. Luckily, I am an avid crafter.

Dakota bought me a sewing machine several years ago, and I finally broke it out of the box this year. I took a beginner class at machine project and then started testing my skills at making soft toys. After a few bunnies I made from patterns found online, I decided to design my own plush. I ended up making these bears.



I really like how they came out. The body is a simple U-shaped piece, and the ears and arms are separate pieces that I attached as I sewed the body together. I made the pattern on regular white drawing paper, and just free-cut the face, which is made of felt.



I glued the eyes and nose onto the face piece with a small dot of fabric glue and then sewed around the edges with embroidery thread. Overall, these bears are fairly simple to make. They just take time. I gave one to my friend Nanci at her shower last weekend, and she loved it, which made me really happy. I can't wait to give away some more.

As our friends' babies get older, Dakota and I have devised another fun handmade gift to give: wooden baby blocks. We made the first set for one cute little girl last year. Dakota took some scrap hardwood from his shop and cut it into small wooden blocks, which he sanded smooth. Then, I used my wood burning pen to spell her name on one side.



And on the other side, I drew and burned in animals that match the letters of her name.



I am happy with how that gift turned out as well, although I'd like to improve my wood-burning skills a little. Also, I like that Dakota and I made these blocks together, so they're truly a gift from the both of us. I plan to make more of these when all the babies we know turn one.

With all my handmade gifts, I hope to create something that the child will really like, and maybe even keep for a while. And I really enjoy giving babies (and their parents) something that's especially for them, that can't be found in any store. Giving gifts is great, but giving a gift you made is even better.

Hurrah! I have finally (finally) managed to harvest a summer squash from my garden. It's hard to believe that it's late August and I am just getting my first mature yellow zucchini. Most gardeners are in the "giving it away to everyone they know" phase of squash production by now.

I harvested my precious yellow zucchini this morning, and I plan to have it for dinner tonight or tomorrow night. I'm not sure how I'll cook it. I want to keep the preparation simple, so I can savor the vegetable's natural flavor. This may be my only homegrown squash of the year, after all.

I'm not the most successful squash farmer. Many of my plants refuse to produce viable fruit, despite my attempts to nurture them with compost and deep, infrequent watering. So, now that a few of my summer squash are finally producing female blossoms, I've decided to help out with the whole pollination process.

My intervention is probably unnecessary because the bees in my yard find the big yellow squash blossoms quite intoxicating. Look at this guy with his whole body inside a male Potimarron squash flower. He was in there for ages, practically rolling around in the pollen.



Still, a gardener can't be too careful. So, I'm doing a little human-assisted pollinating to boost my chances for some harvestable squash.

Growing up, my dad and I favored the Q-tip method of pollination. As you might have guessed, you just take a Q-tip, swipe it inside a male flower and then rub the collected pollen onto the female flower. The technique always worked well for us, but these days I usually use an even easier method. I pick a male flower, peel off its petals and then rub the exposed stamen inside the female flower. Pollen is transferred, and I don't have anything to throw away since I can just drop the used male flower on the ground to decompose.



I suppose it's a bit harsh to rip apart a male blossom like that, but, well, I'm just helping them do their job.

Despite the fact that it's August, I have yet to harvest a fully-formed squash from my garden this year. (Embarrassing, I know.) Perhaps with my pollination methods, and a little luck, I'll get one or two nice summer squash this year. I don't think that's too much to ask.

What's nice about growing eggplants, in my opinion, is that they are lovely to look at long before you get your first fruit. First, you've got their shapely, slightly-fuzzy leaves. Eggplant leaves have a soft, warm green color that's so much more inviting that the bright green of a tomato or pepper leaf. And look how nicely they set off a green spider.



Then, there are eggplant blossoms, which are so much more complex than the one-color tomato or squash flower. (Not that I don't love bright yellow blossoms; they're pretty in their own way.) An eggplant bloom is as attractive as any border flower, with its light-purple petals and deep yellow center. Visually, I think it's my favorite vegetable garden flower.



And, of course, eggplant fruit is gorgeous--so glossy and deep purple. When I see them on the table at the farmers' market, I always have to buy some, especially the striped Listada de Gandia variety, which I am currently growing. Sadly, I don't have any photos of eggplant growing in my garden yet. They are taking their time. But I should have some nice ones in a couple of weeks.

So, that's my little ramble about the beauty of the eggplant. Perhaps you may disagree, but eggplant is my pick for prettiest summer vegetable.

Good news! On Tuesday, Peggy started laying eggs again. The sight of her lovely, light-green egg in the nesting box signaled the end of her broodiness. By my math, Peggy was broody for 23 days, which seems fairly standard.

For about half of that time, Peggy was pretty much glued to the nesting box, with only occasional trips to the feeder and waterer. In the second half of her broody period, Peggy stopped sitting on the nest, but still didn't lay any eggs. Throughout, she seemed healthy and relatively happy--except for the times when I removed her from the nesting box. I think I was right to take readers' advice and just let her work out her broodiness on her own.

Now, Peggy's back laying her big, pretty green eggs. It's nice to see them in the nesting box and in our fridge. She's a good chicken, that Peggy, even if she can get a little testy from time to time.

Yesterday, I was enjoying a nice afternoon in my garden when I came across evidence that one of my greatest garden foes was hiding nearby. As you can see in the photo below, there were tiny black bits of debris scattered on my tomato leaves. Looking closer, I immediately identified the bits as the dried droppings of the villainous, voracious tomato hornworm.



I have mentioned the tomato hornworm before, because it's a very common and fairly destructive garden pest. Luckily, I'm pretty good at tracking this leaf-munching menace. Following the tiny poop trail--or, more accurately, looking at the underside of the leaves near the poop--I found my culprit, chewing on a tasty tomato leaf.



This was a fairly young one, so he and his fellow hornworms (four on this particular plant) hadn't managed to do too much damage. But these caterpillars grow fast, and can really strip a plant quickly if you don't get rid of them. So, I searched the whole plant, picked off each hornworm and fed them to my chickens. I felt a little bad, but, um, well... circle of life?

Speaking of grisly caterpillar deaths, check out this scene. Moments after feeding the last hornworm to my hens, I noticed a mysterious thingy hanging from a different tomato plant. I picked off the leaf, turned it over and discovered the brown, shriveled husk of a caterpillar.



I am not sure how this caterpillar met its nasty fate. Perhaps that little insect, who claimed to just be innocently walking by, had something to do with it? I have heard of parasitic wasps that lay their eggs in caterpillars, killing them. So, perhaps that's what happened. If so, I'm delighted to have some new beneficial insects in my garden. I hope they stick around.

Now that late summer is here, I'm determined to start planning my Fall garden now. That way, I'll have plenty of time to order seeds and get plants in the ground for some hearty cool-weather crops. I still haven't decided what I'm going to grow this year, and I'm curious what other gardeners who live in a temperate climate plan to plant.

There are a few things I'm almost certain I want to grow, like spinach, which is so wonderful fresh from the garden, especially compared to grocery store spinach. Other Fall crops I love include beets, kale and chard. Because I like to experiment, I got some artichoke seeds so I can try a Fall planting just to see what happens. But that still leaves some space in my garden for several more crops. (I have three smallish beds with varying levels of sun exposure, plus lots and lots of containers.)

So, any suggestions? What are your favorite Fall crops, and what tasty or unusual cool-weather vegetables to you like to grow?

As I mentioned in the first half of Tip #4, in an organic garden, bugs are inevitable. Here are a few more I've encountered in my Los Angeles garden.