Catch Up

 

As is custom, I neglected the blog over the middle of the summer due to the busy days that always seem to hit me like a freight train. Not even taking into consideration the new levels of responsibility I keep piling on myself. My plate has gotten full. But as a wise professor once told me, "Do you know the best way to eat an elephant? One bite at a time." Sometimes it feels more like a whale. But I keep chewing and the days keep going on and on, getting easier as I settle into new routines.

 

Today I set these seeds out to dry. These are from a lovely clutch of Amish Paste tomatoes that I bought at the market and am highly impressed with. They will be essential for salsas, pastes, and spaghetti sauces to come. I am eager to put them in next years garden. 

The garden is doing well, though I will not suffer you to view it in its current state as some of the weeds are higher than the plants. And the gourd I foolishly planted in the middle has taken over like some obscene squid taking over a sinking ship. It's tendrils keep reaching deeper into the rows and I swear they increase by feet daily. But the gourds are nice and large and are starting to dry out for picking. They will make great birdhouses for our yard and to sell at the winter market. 

The harvest has been a good one, saving the tomatoes, which suffered blight from the chill we had in May and then the buckets of rain and 95 degree heat. I strongly considered packing cucumbers into baskets like orphans and leaving them on doorsteps just to rid myself of them. I put away 12 quarts of pickles. Then I let the rest turn orange on the vine so maybe I can get some seeds. Then remember to only put out TWO hills next year. Sure. (Until I panic and decide to put in five again just in case)

All the same, one group of new arrivals are enjoying the overripe cucumbers...

Yes, the chickens are here. After all the months of getting after my dear husband for a decent chicken coop, we had one given to us with a bonus chicken. We proceeded to go purchase a menagerie of birds of different breeds so we can pick a favorite for my dreams of dozens of eggs every week. There is one hen currently laying, and she is regular at about 3pm every day. I put my first egg on the kitchen counter and admired it for quite some time. So proud, so excited! What possibilities! But now I am attached and afraid to eat such a thing. Maybe I should blow the yolk and white out and keep the shell as a memento. Like the first dollar in the register. A symbol of our blooming and growing farm life.