I left you all hanging about jury duty because they left me hanging too.  Monday turns out to have been an orientation day, after which I'm on call for half the work days over the next three months.  The system seems awkward --- I have to check a website after 5:30 pm the night before each potential trial date, and then I'll know whether the relevant people decided to go to trial or not.  According to the judge, most cases end up being decided without a jury, and the average juror is asked to serve only two days during that three-month period.

So I'm back at work on the farm, feeling unbelievably grateful to have such a wonderful "work" environment!  Chattering with Kayla as we perk up the mule garden feels more like socializing than like work, but we still get a lot done.

In case you wanted something homestead-related in today's post, I've got two disjointed observations to throw at you.  The first has to do with flowers --- have you ever noticed that the old-fashioned annuals that are so easy to grow from seed (like the touch-me-nots in the first photo in this post) attract the most pollinators?  The zinnias I half-heartedly tossed out into the same flower bed are also drawing in butterflies and bees, while the irises I was so happy about this spring were largely ignored by insects.

My second observation has to do with the peaches in the second photo.  These are the white peaches on our oldest tree, the first of which came down with brown rot over the weekend.  Even though the ground color looks awfully green, I'm guessing this is the right stage to pick them if I want to ripen white peaches inside.  Has anyone else had experience with the best time to pick white peaches for indoors ripening?