Abundance/Ripening Time 2021

 

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.

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.

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.

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.

That's pathetic corn!

I'm afraid work on the home front isn't going much better.

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.

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.

Installing rebar

His back is getting better, but he's still on "light duties".

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.

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.

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

Cardinal flower by our creek

Long Days Time/Fire Fly Time 2021

 

Beans are beginning to climb

The moon is full tonight and you know what that means. Another month has slipped away here at Thistledown Gardens. 

The weather this month has been quite trying. Very much rain, cloudiness, heat and humidity. Our garden has been set back by too much rain and too little sun.

Short corn

Many plants are small and turning yellow.

We hope we've now seen the end of the overly wet weather.

Aduki beans and squash

Still, some parts of the garden are looking pretty good.

Cranberry beans on towers

We've finished with lettuce and peas. I've been freezing parsley, celery leaves, kale and chard.

Cabbage ready to pick

I've begun harvesting my cabbages. I don't have luck with fall cabbage, so I plant in the early spring and harvest now. We eat part of each head fresh and then freeze the rest. It freezes very well.

Shallots (left) & garlic (right)

The garlic and shallots have been pulled and are in the attic drying before being stored for the winter.

Red and black currants and raspberries

What we've had the most of this summer is the "small fruits": raspberries, currants and blueberries. I've frozen quite a bit of this fruit for winter use.

Blueberries

The blueberries have done the best ever. It must be the perfect combination of conditions coming together. I've decided to practice the discipline of "enjoying the moment" with these. Having grown up with food insecurity, my tendency is to squirrel away every last tidbit for use later. It's good to provide for the future, but balance is needed. So, I've put away "enough" and now we're enjoying them in the "here and now". It seems very decadent to munch down a bowl of fresh berries, but not to enjoy them fresh is a loss of sorts. No preserved berry has the flavor of a fresh one. You miss out on a lot of life by only looking at the future. Living in the present seems to take on increased significance the older I get.

 

The back deck today

Bob has finished repointing the foundation and is on to his next project: deck repair.

We have a large deck (28'x18'). As I mentioned last time, structurally it's in pretty good shape - just a bit of improvement so we can add handrails where needed, etc. The decking however, is suffering.

Warped hand rail

Boards are warping...

More warped boards 

...nails are popping out (they didn't use screws, the ninnies)...

Rotted boards

... and some boards are rotting.

Bob has begun dismantling a smaller portion already. He wants to add more support structure before laying the new decking and adding handrails.

The work begins

I'm sure this project will take the rest of the summer and some of the fall, too.

We had a visit from some Minnesota folks this month. They were in New York on their vacation and stopped in to visit with us. We rarely have visitors, so this was a real treat, especially with such affable people. We're so glad you came to see us. There was a lot of  good talk about alternative energy possibilities. This leads me to our final topic this month.

There's a moment in time which is crystalized in my memory. I'll share it here. 

I was sitting in senior Earth Science class (about a million years ago), and I suppose we were discussing alternative energy systems. (This was during an earlier time of energy concerns.) At any rate, I remember thinking how cool (we said that back then) it would be to live in a house with solar power, geothermal heat and maybe even earth berming or under ground. Wow! That would be something!

Well, here we are. No earth berming or underground structure, but with solar electric and now... a soon to be installed geothermal heating and water system. We've been working on the possibility for a few years, and have finally gotten word that the State has approved our project. With all of the State programs, we will be paying just under half of the project cost. The system will provide all of our hot water and house heat. We'll keep the woodstove as a backup and for when the temperatures are super cold. (This rarely happens here.) The heat pump will replace our oil fired burner and will run through our existing hydronic baseboard system.

We are very excited about this. No more need to use fuel oil! Our materials have been ordered and we're just waiting for a start date. You can be sure we'll take plenty of pictures to share with you.

Some of my garden flowers

I'll leave you with a picture of some of the flowers in our garden. My Grandma Wise was a remarkable gardener. Now there's only one other person left besides me to remember her gardens. She always had flowers growing in and around her vegetable plants. I don't know if she just did it because she liked them together, or if she did it to increase biodiversity. It's a tradition that I gladly continue in this, my twenty eighth garden.

Till next time,

Kathleen and Bob

The last head of lettuce

 

Flowering Time/ Bright Time 2021

 

A corner of my herb bed

Ready for another visit to Thistledown? The solstice is just past and tonight's full moon brings our month of Flowering Time/Bright Time to a close.

We've had a mix of warm and cool, wet and dry weather this month.

Most of what's happening in the garden right now can be summed up in one word...greens.

Freezing herbs

We began with harvesting herbs. I've gotten an assortment in the freezer so far: lovage, sorrel and chives mix, parsley and cilantro. 

Garlic scapes

The garlic scapes have been harvested...

Pesto ready to freeze

... and made into pesto. This I freeze to use later.

Lettuce plants

We've been eating lots of lettuce! A big 

salad everyday.

An assortment of greens

Our chard, kale and Asian greens are also producing very well. Most of these are going into the freezer right now, because we're too busy eating lettuce.

First strawberries

Our strawberry bed produced a modest amount. Considering we just reset the bed last autumn, I think the yield was reasonable. Hoping for more next year.

Our raspberries, currants and blueberries look like they'll produce a good crop. Those will come along during the next month.

With the exception of beets and carrots, all of the rest of the garden has been planted. I've also gotten a good, thick layer of mulch on all of the beds. That will keep the plants cool and moist, and keep the weeds under control. We've moved away from the plastic mulches because we didn't like the petro chemical inputs involved. They just helped us get the worst of the weed issues under control for the couple of years that we used them.

Mulched bed

Bob's foundation project is nearly finished! Since our foundation is so old, a lime mortar had to be used to make the necessary repairs. The modern stuff wouldn't work. It would be like patching a thin garment with a heavy fabric. The old and new would work against each other. Bottom line: "no good". 

We had or order the mortar from Pennsylvania, but it arrived quickly. Bob has found it very easy to work with.

Prepared section

First he cleaned out all of the loose mortar, one section at a time.

Filling in spaces

He then worked the mortar into the empty spaces, adding small stones as needed.

That's another skill learned!

His next project will probably be to repair the deck. The structure is sound, but some of the decking boards have gone wonky.

Another year together

During June, we celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. On that day we went for a nice walk. Later in the week we went to the Genesee Country Village and Museum. It's a living history site, like a smaller version of Michigan's Greenfield Village. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We roamed around, in and out of buildings for five hours and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Some sedum pots on my deck

As I write this, I'm sitting on my back deck. The sun is shining, but there is a healthy breeze making it very pleasant. I'm listening to one of our House Wrens (we have four) chattering away.

Fragrant roses draping my deck

Let me encourage you to take time to enjoy the simple things. All it needs to cost is a bit of time. 

Certainly a refreshed soul is worth 15 minutes of time a day.

Till next time, absorb some of the season with all of your senses.

Kathleen and Bob

Apricots forming on the tree

Shoots Show/Growing Time 2021

Apple Blossoms

This has been a month of changes. Weather has changed from chilly to very warm, plants have grown from seedlings to a reasonable size and the closing of another chapter in our lives has occurred.

With the weather finally deciding to warm up and be sunny, our garden plants have begun to show progress.

In go more plant starts

 I had another day of planting out all of the warmth loving starts: sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and flowers.

This week I sowed snap and shell beans, cucumbers and squash.

Right now, we're in the process of putting up the supports for our drying beans. I plan to sow all of those, as well as sweet corn over Memorial Day weekend.

Apricot knocking

The fruit trees have finished blooming and are now developing fruit. The apricots were the first in the parade, and so their fruit is the farthest along. The trees were loaded with more fruit than they could support, so Bob gently knocked the branches and this helped the trees shed excess, usually less productive fruits.

Rhubarb sauce ready for the oven

Rhubarb is at it's prime now. I've already frozen three batches of my rhubarb sauce. So good!

Morel Mushrooms

In the woods, the Morel mushrooms have made an appearance.

Morel dinner

We picked a small basket of Morels and made a delicious dinner: simmered in coconut milk, seasoned with salt, pepper and chives from my herb garden, served over whole wheat angel hair pasta. Life's tough for us plant based diet folks, don't you think?

Bob at the large falls

We've  taken time to visit Taughannock Falls State Park which is less than 30 minutes from our house. We go there fairly often.

One of the ponds in Montezuma

We also took a little longer journey one day to the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge. We spent much of the morning walking trails and had a picnic lunch we had packed. It was a very nice day and we saw a few Eagles and a lot of Great Blue Herons.

Now, since this update is read by relatives and others who knew my mother, Keitha Neill Wise, I will share this.

Mom age 15

On May 12th, my mother passed away. She was 88, and would have been 89 in just three more months.

Due to tenuous financial and medical circumstances, 25 years ago, Bob and I stepped into the gap and assumed responsibility for her care and support. For ten years she lived in our home. For the next 15 years she lived in assisted living settings. She lived in a skilled nursing facility for only seven days before suffering a series of seizures. (Possibly from a stroke. This could not be confirmed.) She died four days later. We were with her for the last several hours and know that she was being kept comfortable and passed peacefully.

My mother had many medical ailments including cardiovascular disease and advanced dementia.

For 15 years, I was the primary responsible party, taking her to medical appointments, social engagements, shopping, etc.

When we moved back to New York ten years ago, Bob said it was his turn. So I taught him how to document medical appointments and handed over the reins to him, and I took up a supporting role.

Flowers sent for mom

My mother could be quite difficult, so ours was not an easy task. As her dementia progressed she became less obstreperous, but lost all ability to reason. This opened a whole new area of problems.

Bob worked tirelessly on her behalf and always treated her with patience, (Far more that I could sometimes muster!) 

He has earned the "Best Son in Law in the Universe" award in my opinion.

Her life was far short of ideal, but now her struggle is over.

I like this photo of her. I see so much of my brother Matt in that face. 

And so ends another chapter in our lives. It has been a month of changes.

Until next month,

Peace to you all.

Kathleen and Bob

The only Trillium on our land