Abundance/Ripening 2025

It's blueberry season

Last night's full moon ended the month of Abundance/Ripening here at Thistledown Gardens. 

Today's update happens to fall on the 14th anniversary of our buying this house. It has taken us all the 14 years to do the majority of the renovation work: broken doors and window shades, sketchy wiring, dirty wallpaper, absolutely gross carpets. The list goes on and on. There are still smaller jobs waiting to be done.

Bob has just finished one of those.

Cellar doors

Our outside cellar doors were in need of repair and a new paint job.

Bob had to repair the concrete which covers the original stonework. Then he had to make repairs to the metal doors, scrape off rust and paint them.

The finished job

The job is finished and looks much better. The paint will stabilize the doors, which should be usable for many more years.

I've begun resealing our porch glider. All of the old finish was gone. Now, this too will be protected from further deterioration.

Resealing the glider

I'll finish this job tomorrow morning.

The garden is coming along, although a bit behind schedule, due to the cool spring.

Laying out Calendula to dry

As I mentioned last time, I needed to get one more batch of Calendula blossoms laid out to dry. That has been done.

Harvesting garlic

The garlic has been harvested...

Shallots

...as well as the shallots.

Shallots ready to dry

All of these are drying in the cellar. I'll put them away sometime this week.

18# of cabbage to freeze

All of the early green cabbage has been harvested. Most of it (some 36#) is in the freezer. The late red cabbage will be used to make sauerkraut.

 Blueberries

The blueberries have been very plentiful. I've frozen some, we've eaten a lot and have shared some with others.

Green beans, patty pan squash, peppers and cukes have been coming in as well.

6-foot-tall tomatoes

The tomato plants are looking good and setting fruit. None of it is ripe yet, but as you'll soon find out, that's quite all right.

Sowing beets and carrots

My late beets and carrots have been sowed. I hope that they do well.

You may remember that we use two small chest freezers for much of our vegetable storage. On July 11, one of our freezers conked out (after 21 years of service). That left us with one nearly full freezer heading into prime freezing season. We purchased a new, larger upright freezer that day, which would replace both of the smaller freezers. We figured that since the two were purchased together, the second one may likewise quit at any time.

The new freezer was supposed to be delivered on July 23. Okay, I could deal with that. We had to remove pantry shelves, repair and repaint walls and rearrange the entire room to accommodate the new freezer. We hustled and finished that job.

Dead freezer and shuffled shelves

 

New freezer space

Now for the fun. On July 20th, we got a text saying that our freezer could not be delivered until August 20th!!! YIKES! 

Now our only freezer is FULL! I keep telling the green beans and tomatoes to "keep their pants on" and hold off until the new freezer arrives. It better come on the 20th, or I may go berserk.

We've gotten out a few times this month.

Buttermilk Falls State Park

We walked at Buttermilk Falls Park twice.

On Lammas Day (August 1), we drove to Green Lakes State Park, had a picnic and walked around Green and Round Lakes. It was a beautiful day.

Green Lake

Lammas Day is the celebration of early harvest. For supper we had a selection of vegetables fresh from the garden. Dessert was blueberry pie.

For Lammas Day supper

It was a nice day of relaxation during a busy season.

That's about all of the news for now. As you know, our garden doesn't vanish on Labor Day, so we'll be busy - hopefully filling the new freezer. Stay tuned to find out, "Will they get their freezer, Or will Kathy lose her marbles?".

Enjoy the season.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Lammas Day

Tiger Swallowtail along the path

Firefly / Long Days' Time 2025

Nasturtiums

And just like that, Firefly/Long Days' Time is done. 

Summer has finally found us here with hot, humid weather and several sunny or partly sunny days.

The garden plants are picking up the pace.

Overall shot of the garden on 7/10

Potato plants are very happy.

Potato bed starting to bloom

So are the nasturtiums, which are used for pest control and pollinator attraction.

A bank of nasturtiums

As the season progresses, these flowers are enveloped with a constant buzzing from all of the pollinators at work.

Beans climbing their trellises

The pole beans are all climbing their supports and should start blossoming soon.

The kitchen has been busy. I've been freezing parsley and celery leaves.

Garlic scapes

 

Garlic scapes have been converted into pesto and that's been frozen.

First peas

The peas have come in and are just about finished. (Like me, they don't do well in the heat.) I froze a couple of quarts. That's enough for winter curries and stews.

Freezing Kale

I've begun freezing kale and chard.

Chopping chard to freeze

I'll continue freezing these greens into the autumn.

Dishpan full of calendula

I've picked two large dishpans full of calendula flowers and laid them out in the attic to dry.

Drying on screens

This is a major ingredient in our autumn and winter tea blend. I still need to dry a couple more pans full to have and adequate supply on hand.

Black raspberries and blueberries are coming on now. We really bulk up on our anthocyanins at this time of year.

The lettuce and spinach are done for now. The strawberries are finished. We gave several boxes away.

Garlic and shallots will be pulled soon and laid out to dry for winter use.

Apricot down

 

We lost nearly half of one of our apricot trees this month. It wasn't from a storm. Upon examination, we found a large area of decay in the juncture between trunks. These trees are short lived, so it was not a huge surprise. Now it's firewood.

"No Kings" rally in Ithaca

We've attended a couple of rallies and "honk and wave" events: two on "No Kings" Day and two on Independence Day.

Independence Day

We will continue to speak for Democracy and justice for as long as we can.

On the solstice, we walked at Watkins Glen State Park.

Solstice at Watkins Glen

It was a bit hot, even in the gorge, and very crowded.

The heat has prevented us from more outings. I'm photosensitive and get sick in the heat. We will have to get out more once cooler autumn weather arrives.

We finally sold our gas-powered car and the utility trailer we used with it. After Bob retired the second car has gotten little use. Now we'll save some money on insurance, maintenance and what not. If we find we need a truck, we'll rent one for a couple of hours.

That's about all that's keeping us busy and off of the streets. We hope you're all well and enjoying the summer.

Be safe, be strong, be courageous.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Spleenwort in Watkins gorge

 

Bright Time/Flowering Time 2025

 

Strawberries in bloom

We've been busy here in the last month. Our weather has continued to be mainly cool and wet. Two warm and sunny days in succession is still rather remarkable. 

The garden is about all planted. The cool weather plants are doing quite well.

Covered from the cold

We had a week and more of nights in the 40s, so we had to cover the plants that would be harmed.

This happens here from time to time. In Kindergarten, I told my classmates that my Grandma Wise grew coffee and orange juice in her garden. This I surmised from the juice cartons and coffee cans which she used to protect her tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. I think of this each time I have to cover my plants.

A nice selection of lettuce

We've been harvesting lettuce, tat soi, pac choi, spinach and herbs.

That's some BIG pac choi

Pac choi, tat soi and cilantro have all been put into the freezer.

Our potato plants look fine.

Bob hilling potatoes

Bob's got those all hilled up for greater yield.

Planting Aduki beans

The beans are all planted and coming up nicely.

Planting pole beans

My back and bum have almost recovered from that task.

Our corn bed, which is slow to dry out is half planted. I always plant in two phases so that we're not overrun with corn later on.

The small fruit are coming along.

Blueberry blossoms

Our blueberries were loaded with blossoms and seem to be setting quite a bit of fruit.

Strawberries begin

Right now we're in strawberry season. I've met my freezer quota and we've been enjoying plenty fresh. We had shortcake for breakfast this morning. Sometimes as a kid, I would have shortcake for breakfast at Grandma Neill's. They sold strawberries, so there was always a large shortcake in the refrigerator during June.

The weather has also been fine for Bob's transplanted seedlings. All but one survived. That one looks like it was dug up by a squirrel and dried out before we discovered it.

Hackberry

Sycamore

This year we finally dug out our only flower bed. This big job was necessitated by a very aggressive stowaway, which was taking over the bed.

Innocent looking Chameleon Flower

 

It came in undetected with a day lily. We spent three years trying to eradicate it unsuccessfully.

Digging out day lilies

Finally, we had to dig out everything and destroy it. The area is now seeded to grass and we'll have to dig out any Chameleon flower which may pop up.

Happier Clematis

We did save my three Clematis plants which were at the edge of the bed. We don't think the Chameleon flower had reached there yet, but we'll have to be watchful.

Now that they're getting more light the Clematis are doing better. Two, which I've never seen bloom, have blossomed for the first time.

Another happy Clematis

Waiting in line for books

We began the month by going to the semiannual book sale in Ithaca. We got in line about a half hour before opening on Senior Day. All books, CDs and DVDs are $.50-$1 on that day. 

Our stash this time

For $20 you can get enough entertainment to last at least until the next sale. Anything you decide not to keep you can redonate. Then, they can sell it again and make more money.

Snapper busy laying eggs

We have been out for a few walks. It's snapper egg laying season. We saw this one on a morning walk this week. Really, we saw three that morning. The shoulder of the road is a favorite spot to choose.

We've had leisurely walks in our own woods and Sapsucker Woods and Stewart Park in Ithaca. All were very relaxing.

D Day Protest

 

On the anniversary of D Day, we supported the Veterans by attending a protest in Canandaigua. (There's a large VA Hospital there.)

Of course, we will be involved in the national No Kings movement tomorrow.

I'll leave you now. Stay thoughtful, mindful and strong.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

Oh, to be so relaxed