Good Adventure?

I often compare my backyard to others. For example, my backyard isn't nearly as big as my cousins and it isn't as beautiful my moms friend's. I look it as unappealing and boring. It's almost like you have black licorice and the rest of the world has fancy chocolate fudge. Obviously a big difference.

However sometimes it does surprise me. 

On October 29th my family and I made a wonderful discovery.

"There were quails in our back yard. There was, what I am assuming, a mommy quail and a daddy quail. They had about six baby chicks with them running around like crazy." (Field Notes)

They were a light brown with small dark brown spots. At one point the babies were scattered around making lots of noise when the mom made a high pitched squeak. All the babies ran over to her and got in a single file line and followed their mother. 

There has been one thing bothering me since this experience. Why were there baby quails running around in October? I looked and looked but I have yet to find when quails lay eggs, how long it takes for a quail to hatch or what time of year they usually hatch. Finding nothing bothers me. 

This blog is supposed to be about my backyard and all the little adventures it holds. To me good adventures include (1) finding new things, (2) going out of my comfort zone, (3) coming across beautiful encounters, (4) learning from the things you find, and (5) if they leave you in wonder. From this small adventure, I am left in wonder more than anything. 

Grow

My backyard grows a lot of things. It contains four small gardens. On the side of our garage we grow tomatillo plants. Thank goodness for those plants because those are the only plants that grow an abodance.  I really enjoy looking at these plants because they are like little green bells. They also have bright yellow flowers and catch your eye since the whole plant is green.

Tomatillo Plant

The longest garden in the back grows a huge variety of plants. It grows pumpkin, a few corn stalks, zucchini, red peppers and sun flowers. We just stared to grow the sunflowers this year and I thought it was gonna be a wonderful idea because watching a sunflower grow is quite amazing. They shoot up out of nowhere, then their leaves start to come out and before you know it you have a flower bigger than any other. Sadly they didn't last very long because the vicious bugs that hide in my yard started to eat it and eventually they died. Except for one. There was a smaller one who for some strange reason never go eaten completely. That one was my favorite and the strongest. Until my sister decided to yank it out. 

We also have a garden directly behind our garage. There we grow more tomatillos, carrots and cilantro. I find myself visiting this garden the most since it it grows carrots and cilantro. During the summer I would grab a few carrot, wash them and them eat them raw. I thought they tasted better than the ones they sell at the store. Maybe its the fact that I was involved in helping them grow, or the way the soil made them taste. i also liked eating them because they always acquired a strange shape and that made me smile and laugh. My family would always fight over who had the strangest looking carrot. The cilantro I used for many recipes over the summer. I loved being able to go into my yard and grab what I need.  

Our last one is my favorite.  When my uncle past away we planted some flowers he had in his own yard. I have no idea what they're called but they are beautiful.  They are red, pink and orange all the combinations in between. They are amazing. 

Background to the Backyard

My family and I first moved to our home about six years ago. I was excited because I thought that the house had lots of potential for a beautiful garden. It had nice soil and a huge space to work with. The two yards (the front and back) are connected since my house has absolutely no fence. I wish we had a fence to break up the two because our front yard is beautiful. My front yard covered with green grass and has two large dark green bushes that frame the two front windows. 

However, I wasn't the only one excited. My family was also wanted to change our unappealing backyard into a forest of many different plants. My grandparents and I visited Home Depot to grab some vibrant flowers for our gardens. We also grabbed vegetables and fruits.  

Out of all the places I could have grown my colorful cluster I choose my front yard. In the front there is a little area fenced by bricks in between the two large bushes. The rest of the backyard would go to my Step Dad and Grandpa. They wanted to grow heaps of vegetables and fruits. They wanted to grow these because they wanted to use fresh ingredients when my Grandma cooked. Some of these fruits and vegetables still stay year after year, but sadly some did end up not coming back the next year.

When I used to picture my backyard back then, I used to think that it was gonna be full of life in no time. I though all of our plants would enlarge and give us a great deal of produce. I thought we would be able to sell some of our vibrant products but the amounts have stayed the same throughout the years. A couple here, a few there. As for my grass, it hasn't grown past the front yard. I still have hope that one day the garden will surprise everyone and it will sprout a mass amount of beautiful plants.