I had such a nice visit last week from friends of my cousin David.  A very nice family has a new home and will be starting from scratch with their yard.  I recommended no-dig, permaculture methods and mentioned some of the sources of information below.  It was so nice that people wanted to see my garden and talk about the things I am enthusiastic about.

Charles Dowding No Dig market garden methods
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB1J6siDdmhwah7q0O2WJBg

Morag Gamble Permaculture living
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-bU0T-JKZ3kVpO77Nt1hMA

Richard Perkins regenerative agriculture
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3111rvadtBPUY9JJBqdmzg

Huw Richards growing food organically
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeaKRrrpWiQFJJmiuon2WoQ

Native seeds source, including cultural information
https://www.nativeseeds.org/pages/history-mission

I was looking for zucchini for breakfast and found a lovely little toad under the horseradish leaves!  I'm so happy to see him because I hope he eats slugs.  A quick search said that they could eat sowbugs, which I also have a lot of them, too.  I don't know if he is a Woodehouse's Toad or a Western Toad, but those are both the kind you find in Idaho

I can't get a good picture of them, but goldfinches are eating a lot of cosmos and sunflower seeds.  I am so thrilled that I am creating a food source for these wonderful little birds!  I didn't recognize them for a while, because bird book pictures of the breeding males show them so paunchy and bright yellow.  Many of my visitors are very slender, in shades of gray.  I finally figured out that they are juveniles and females.

I have been learning so much about No Dig and permaculture techniques for my yard.  I currently enjoy the Charles Dowding No Dig and Morag Gamble permaculture YouTube videos the most.  I have compared different techniques, with varying success.  The common denominator of all the techniques is that I have been consistently improving my soil.  The following pictures of giant sunflowers, cosmos, zucchini and pumpkins show how enthusiastically plants respond to richer soil.  These are all volunteers, too!

I keep clean water all over the back yard for them, they love to come up to the patio and drink out of the dog's water bowl.  They are starting to get more of their adult feathers.  One is a blondie and has mostly golden colorings.  The other three have blacker feathers on the head and tail.  The darker ones are starting to get a little comb.  I think I may have three roosters and one hen.  We will see!

This is Daphne, with her tail folded so neatly around her feet, keeping warm and peaceful on the windowsill.

It's too bad that when I zoom in to get a better picture, it gets so blurry.  The babies are getting so big!  They actually fly for a short amount of time when they are following Mama around the yard.  Such cute, strong babies!

Usually, Mama parks them in the edges of the garden, but today, all the babies came up to the patio for some grains.  It amazes me how fast their little wings and tail feathers are developing!