Solstice has come and gone. The days of summer are here.
The gardens are changing daily. Flowers are coming in and out of season in rapid secession as the days are very hot and humid. I have not had to water much this year, unlike last years drought. I stand at the ready with sprinkler hoses in hand but the ground has stayed saturated. The only thing I am watering are newly planted carrot and bean seeds, above ground beds, containers and that's about it.
Hello Annabell........
June has been nice; hot and humid but not so frantic. June has seemed manageable. I've had a few indoor days for playing in the kitchen. I've had time to take a couple classes too! Strawberry season has come and gone. Storms have come and gone.
Cherry season lasted three days this year. We have been under a heat dome for way too long.
My strawberry bushes were just loaded this Spring and I had high hopes of picking and filling the freezer. Then the chipmunks moved in and Roz, the neighborhood feral murder mitten mistress, went MIA sometime in late winter. Roz was our feral chipmunk, mouse and mole eradicator; best murder mittens ever! Roz showed up one day, stayed and I was grateful! We knew Roz was good but I didn't know just how good. After drooling over this bumper crop and not getting one strawberry; I was reduced to supporting a local farmer. I knew I had to make a few changes! New covered beds and new chipmunk killer on the way!
I do manage to get out in the garden everyday. I walk around the "estate" with morning tea and assess the days chores. Work until noon or 1 pm, then get out! Don't work in the direct sun! Hydrate! 4-5 hours and I'm pretty well toast. I'm not really wanting to go anywhere and many outdoor projects got put on hold.
The garlic is ready to be harvested and I'm having one of the best onion years ever!
So many garlic scapes this year! I made scape pesto and scape oil; all in the freezer ready for salad dressings, pasta and stir fried veggies.
Rhubarb and strawberries are still waiting in the freezer. Every year I attempt a jelly or jam and fail miserably. I try to make a few jars for Butch but it ends up syrup as it never sets. This year Harbor Gardens in Ashtabula offered a low sugar/no sugar class, I signed up. It was great and I learned a lot!
So fire up the canner and let's go!
I've already started making canning lists for this year. The freezer is almost full and tomato season hasn't even begun! I guess there will be a few bubbling pots on too warm days! Summer is the season of bounty and I love to take advantage of everything that comes in from the garden. A bumper broccoli and cauliflower year! 10 bags tucked away for winter dinners. We ate so much I don't think I'll be ready to eat cauliflower & broccoli until winter! We grilled it, served with plant based cheese sauce, bbq sauce, tossed it with tofu and anything else I could think of. The last two plants were pulled yesterday and beans were quickly tossed in the open ground. This is my first year of diligently working at succession planting.
Then this happened! Yes, we hired someone to build this. They were done in 3 hours and we paid them. It was amazing and would have taken us all summer.
He's a happy camper and can now cross this off his list! The hammock has already been hung. In another few weeks it will be a terrific outdoor canning kitchen! I had to remove my raku kiln for the "pavilion" and now have barrels of fire brick sitting around so next week if the weather holds I will begin an outdoor pizza oven. Or veggie oven or bread oven.... I'm anxious to get this project underway! I have just about all the materials needed after years of kilns and pottery projects. I think the only thing I'll need to purchase is a chimney pipe, mortar, outdoor surface brick and cement for the pad it will sit on.
I flipped the compost pile as I came up with these big pizza oven plans
The compost is cooking nicely!
The carrots and beans grew while I thought about it......
And as I wandered the yard looking at flowers I came up with a pretty good plan.....
or so I think; stay tuned for that adventure!
What a year for poppies! I should have enough poppyseed for Hungarian poppyseed rolls this year!
What year for roses too...... they love a good drink!
Speaking of poppies let me introduce Poppy!
She was born on April 8th and arrived last week. Poppy is an Aries, as in the god of war. She will be an outside cat, hopefully catching chipmunks and moles. At night she will be on the porch in her heated humble abode. She has job to do and as her mother is feral and Poppy is pretty close, I think she'll be a great addition to this small homestead. I don't foresee her sitting on anyones lap.
I have only ever, in my 70 years on the planet had dogs. Dogs are great! Instantly they come at you, tail wagging; "Are you my new mother?" "I love you!" "Let me lick your face, friend!" and then there is this kitten! So suspicious! Do not touch me and my job is to escape your evil clutches! Every morning I take my coffee out to the studio, turn the lights on and cheerfully say: Good Morning Poppy, how are you today?!
Poppy shrinks back to her corner and yowls. I talk and drink my coffee, she never makes a move to come out. Okey Dokey, our hour of bonding is up and I'll be in the garden if you need me. I eat lunch with Poppy and spend an hour in the evening. Nothing doing lady, get out but leave food! During this heatwave Poppy has been in the air-conditioned studio. When temperatures finally drop I'll move her to the porch. She can have the run of the porch and eventually be let outside. She has escaped into the studio twice and there are just way too many hiding places in the studio! We are off to the vet to get our shots and spayed.
BUT, I'm looking for a dog! A tail wagging, face licking friend, smaller than 95 pounds. Kirby almost killed me lugging him around.
The chickens are doing very well and are now mostly getting along.
Fern is a bitch and I do carry a super soaker if she goes after the Littles.
She's learning though and we haven't had a maiming in over a week!
Good Job Fern! Fern has gone on strike in the egg laying dept. since the hot humid weather hit.
No pressure, we just don't eat many eggs.
Poppies and petunias, what could be better?
Time for drying herbs! Holy or Tulsi basil is drying under the ceiling fan.
and more heat.......
Star of the garden this year; Clary Sage!
What a beautiful flower and the smell is wonderful!
I'm still working facebook marketplace. The roofers were tossing bundles of shingles on the roof so hard our beautiful chandelier came crashing down! Of course after they left..... We have had a dangling light bulb hang where the stained glass fixture used to be. I shopped and looked and could not find a replacement that I liked as much as the one we had. Then the waters parted and a "hanging light fixture" was listed for $10 and it matched the one in the sitting room we already have! What are the chances?
I even let it sit for a week because it was an hour away. One night I got up in the middle of the night and looked at the dangling lightbulb and thought go check on the "hanging light fixture". At 3:30 am I whipped off a message asking if it was still available. The next morning I got an answer; Yes, it is! That afternoon in the pouring rain, we met in a Sheetz gas station parking lot on route 90 and I handed over $10. This is what I got! We wired it ourselves too, team effort!
I'm over the moon with this!
I will save other marketplace score for a later post. Mining the gold.....
So it has been quite a June and I can't believe Solstice has come and gone already. I've reveled in the garden this year and all the outdoors. I'm so enjoying summer this year and watching things grow.
I'm finding great peace in the garden. We've attended protests and rallies and can't wrap my brain around where this country is headed. It is truly a scary time to live in the U.S. because we are far from United. If the Big Beautiful Bull Shit bill passes we will need to help our neighbors unlike anything we have experienced in a generation or two. It's a fearful place we now live in. Blessing to one and all who stumble to this blog........ some how we must find a way back to sanity.
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