Sunflower
Abundance. This month, all we've had an abundance of is rain. And maybe frustration.
Since the last update we've had 6 1/2" of rain at our house. The garden beds have not dried out once this summer. Unless you're growing rice, that's not a good situation. The plants literally drown. We have had an abundance of heat and humidity as well. It makes one long for winter.
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| Some of our produce |
Because of the weather, the garden is not producing well. The potatoes made hardly any tubers, and what were formed have rotted in the ground. So far I haven't found enough to make even one meal.
Cucumbers did very poorly. At least we won't get tired of eating them, like we usually do.
The tomatoes are poking along. The three in the picture are the most that I've picked at one time. I've had none to freeze yet. It may be the winter that we try a Solanaceae free diet.
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| Red cabbage and Wax beans |
I have gotten cabbages and some beans frozen, as well as celery and parsley. I hope to get more beans in before the season ends.
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| Preparing apricots to dry |
Our fruit trees were promising until this last bout of rain. Now the brown mold has torn through and taken most of the apricots and nectarines. I did get just a few apricots to dry for use this winter.
Our corn is probably a lost cause. It never did grow past the spindly stage, and the winds from Fred flattened what we had. We put in some supports and tied up the pathetic stalks, but I don't expect to make even one ear.
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| That's pathetic corn! |
I'm afraid work on the home front isn't going much better.
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| Digging the footer holes |
Bob decided to leave the deck and start with the front porch. We hired someone to dig the holes for the footers. Good choice there.
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| Gravel to be loaded |
Then Bob "cleaned up" the holes using a post hole digger. After this, he went and loaded his trailer with gravel. Then he came home and emptied all of that gravel into the holes, tamping it down as he went along.
After finishing that, he mowed all of our large yard. He did all of this in one day, proud of all he accomplished. The next day, he discovered that he is no longer 20 (or 30, 40, or even 50)! He had strained his back and for the next two weeks couldn't even tie his shoes.
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| Installing rebar |
His back is getting better, but he's still on "light duties".
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| Mixing concrete, another skill |
To make sure he doesn't overdo again, I've been helping out with some of the heavy work. I learned to mix concrete. 20, 60 pound bags is a lot of practice. This went into the forms for the footers.
We hope Bob has finally learned his lesson.
We marked Lammas Day on August 1st. That's the midway point between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox. For once, it wasn't raining, so we went for a walk in our meadow.
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| Plump blackberries |
There we picked some nice blackberries. Our meadow is a wonderful place for birds with many types of food and habitat. We purposefully keep it that way.
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| Black and Blue pie |
After we got home, I combined the blackberries with some blueberries and made a Black and Blue pie. That was our special dessert for this holiday.
We also played a game and read together.
On August 9th, we marked our tenth anniversary of buying Thistledown Gardens. We moved in on the 17th of August in 2011. Still a work in progress.
There's so much to get us down right now. We have to work to maintain a healthy perspective. We can't control the weather. We can't fix our poor garden production. We can't work like we're forty years younger than we are. Since these things are out of our control, we can't fret about them. They are immutable. To agonize is not helpful or healthful. So, we take what we can get, do what we can do and look forward to the next season.
We hope that your summer is going better. If not, we understand. Take a breath and look ahead.
Till next time,
Kathleen and Bob
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| Cardinal flower by our creek |
