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| Thimble berries |
The month of Abundance has passed. We've had an abundance of produce. And of rain!
First I'll talk about the rain. In the predawn hours of August 14, we were socked with a terrific rain storm. By 6 am, we had 6.5" in our rain gauge and our creek was roaring!
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| Our bridge in high water |
At one point, the water was so high that it flowed over the top of our bridge deck. This was too much for the bridge to take. The banks on each end eroded back by about six feet, and one of the very large concrete supports was washed downstream. The bridge is now a pile of debris in the middle of the creek bed. We don't have the resources (time, money or skill)
to replace it. For now we'll have to ford the creek to reach the other side. Perhaps we'll place some stepping stones across in a more placid spot.
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| View downstream from our bridge at high water |
One good thing to come of the storm was a flush of growth on three of our shiitake logs. Thunder storms sometimes trigger these growth spurts.
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| Basket full of shiitakes |
We ate a few of these fresh and dried most of them for winter use.
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| Some of one day's harvest |
The garden, too has been producing abundantly. I've dug both "regular" potatoes and sweet potatoes. I've frozen beans and tomatoes are at their peak.
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| Some of our "regular" potatoes |
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| Sweet potatoes |
We've eaten many tomatoes fresh, I've dried some, and canned many. This brings me to the promised discussion of my new canner. I had one of those blue granite ware canners that you see everywhere. Mine was flat on the bottom and worked on my stove, but not well. After doing a bit of study, I found that this canner base was 1" too large for my largest heating zone. It wasn't heating efficiently. Hmm. What to do? I still wanted a canner. (I don't have enough freezer space to freeze my tomatoes.) I found an induction compatible stainless steel canner with an acceptable base diameter. Okay. Good reviews. I ordered one. When it came, I found out it would do both water bath canning and steam canning. (NB steam canning was approved by the USDA in 2014.)
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| New canner |
It's more efficient because it's the proper size, it holds 8 pts rather than 7 pts and if I use the steam method, only uses 3 qts of water compared to 11 qts for water bath canning. It uses less water and so, takes less time to get to the proper temperature for processing. Win, win! Now that I've used it about a half dozen times, I've refined my technique and am very pleased with it.
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| Jars of tomatoes fresh out of the canner. |
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| Such a helper! |
Lunette's been helping Bob lay fresh wood chips on the garden paths. She protects him from any large earth worms he may uncover.
As she's aged, her hips have become more troublesome (a typical issue among her breed). She slips on our wood floors and has fallen down our entire staircase at least twice. We're worried she may fracture a limb. Bob mentioned this to our vet, who recommended these gripper booties.
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| Baby's got new shoes! |
We put them on her any time she may be going up or down stairs and they work very well. She also seems to have regained some confidence about going down the stairs. Now all three of us have special house shoes.
Bob continues to be busy with various garden and wood cutting chores.
We did take time on July 29th for a walk in the Finger Lakes National Forest near our home. It was a nice break.
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| Teeter Pond, one of Lunette's favorites. |
We hope you're all ready to ease into your autumn schedules. Catch up with you at the end of Ingathering.
Till next time,
Kathleen, Bob and Lunette.
