Tuesday, July 14, 2015

The garden in July

Although the Pacific Northwest has suffered from record high temperatures and drought, my garden seems happy.  It's cranking out a lot of food - something for every meal of the day.  The still life below shows pesto-in-the-making with a hefty salad.


We grow a large garden, with almost every vegetable you can imagine, except okra and other Southern veggies.  Come to think of it, this hot year would have probably worked for stuff like that.

The main garden is relatively well maintained, although you can always find weeds.  But there is a corner of our land where we planted squash, beans and corn this year, a corner where the goats are fenced close by, but not not close enough to foster frequent weeding and watering efforts by us.

So imagine my surprise when I inspected said area today on my way to leading the goats to pasture.  Zucchinis as big as baseball bats hid in the foliage, and I didn't even know the zucchinis were growing yet!  As big as a baseball bat, I tell you!  It scared me.  Fortunately, the goats considered that thing a huge delicacy and polished it off in no time.




The bean plants, having been so cruelly forgotten by me, had found their way into the squashes, intertwining their tendrils with theirs.  I had to carefully untangle their passionate embraces and tie up the beans where they belong - on the bean pole tipis.

I hope they won't resent me.



Ahhhh, yes, I am grateful for all the lovely, fresh veggies in our garden.  The cabbages are big enough to make sauerkraut with.  The spring-planted garlic is putting out scapes, soon to be made into pesto.  Broccoli is coming out of our ears.  The kids keep pulling out carrots for a snack, which is fine with me.  The beets are large enough to be processed into honeyed pickled beets.  And the tomatoes!  The incredibly flavorful, ripe, red tomatoes!  We harvest a basket full every single day.  And the poppies are going nuts, but I don't use them for anything except beauty!



















And of course blueberries... We have lots growing on our place, but we often go to the nearby organic blueberry farm to pick many pounds worth.  It helps to take the kids, since they are a real help, except when they are not (as is the case with Eva and her friend, who would rather stuff berries into their mouths instead of the picking basket).



This summer we are finding plenty of time to go to the river and pond.  There are birthday parties and playdates and blissful days spent eating melons by the water with friends.  I love summer!


And of course cheese making never stops.  Ohh, remember, there are only a few days left to register for my online cheese making workshop!





7 comments:

  1. Love the earless goats, love the expression on your face!, love the three sisters (you know the indians called them the three sisters, right?) SO jealous of your garden! But relief is coming for me soon. We hope to have our own place by the end of the year and boy oh howdy is it ever going to have good soil and water. I'm going to grow storage potatoes for my husband and everything else for me! Cheese cheese cheese (chant)

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    Replies
    1. So excited for you! And yes, cheese, cheese, cheese!

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  2. Looking good!!
    Here spring and summer mostly resembled autumn. We had days with temps as low as 10C... daytime in july! Tons of rain too. I hear many saying much of the sown and planted crops did not do a thing. Our spinach vanished, beets and carrots are 5cm above ground and we just planted beans. Cabbage is a no go in general.
    By the way your posts with your mum visiting prompted me to go back to Holland in december and see mine. Make things right while I can. A heartfelt thanks for that!

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  3. Ron, this is making my heart sing. I am so happy that I somehow inspired you to make things right with your Mom. It's hard, but it's worth it. Or maybe it won't be hard at all!

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  4. I love that quote in the last picture!! So true:))

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  5. Oh wowee what bounty! Your garden looks lovely and those giant marrows are the kind of thing that made village vegetable shows great! I'm glad the goats liked them :)

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