Harvest

Here are the few pictures I did manage to take over the past few weeks from what I have gotten from the garden.

Busy

I've been around lately but just super busy, too busy to blog.  Once August kicked in I hurried up to finish the projects that I had had been putting off all summer: patching/repainting the porch and fixing cracks in the bathroom.  Then I started to feverishly cook food from the garden and prep meals to stock the freezer for the school year.

I've been picking things from the garden but not taking many pictures.  The past few weeks have been solely focused on getting ready for the new school year.  Ready or not the tomorrow is the first day of school with my new batch of first graders.  I met most of them at preview night last week and I am excited to get started!  Once the school year is underway I should be around a bit more.

Flowers

Lately I have been enjoying lots of flowers from the garden.

Tomato Jam and Green Beans

 

A Day At The Fair

We went up to Bowling Green to spend the weekend with my Dad and Connie.  Of course we had to hit up the county fair to see the animals and the usual sights.

 

 I couldn't pass up the opportunity to pose next to a massive (pregnant) milking cow and pretend that this is everyday stuff for us.

  Those pigs looked precious as if they were snuggling, even though I know better.

 

 Sweet corn at a beef auction and my city boy pretending he knows how to drive the tractor.

 

I loved this artwork!  I would buy it if I could.

All in all it was a fun day spent at the fair!

Harvest

Harvest

Salvaged Wood

Earlier this year a strong storm sent my Grandmother's barn leaning.  It was a very old barn, according to her 200 years old, but I'm not sure if that's accurate.  We can safely say it's been around for generations.  It's been structurally unsafe for years and was already planned to come down this summer.  Nature just helped to get the process moving.

They tore the barn down earlier this month and I asked that some of the wood be saved for me.  I don't know what I am going to do with it but I have seen lots of ideas out there some are here, here and here.

This past week I went up to sort through what was saved with my Dad.  Much to my dismay we had to cut down some of the pieces that were 18 feet long for storage and transportation reasons.  But I think I got a good haul.

I was able to get some in my car, the rest we got off the ground for storage.  This is one of those many moments I wish we had a truck.  I'm not quite sure how I will get the rest to Cincinnati or what I will do with it.  But I'm looking forward to having it for future possibilities.

Good or Bad?

This looks like it might be a ladybug larvae but I'm not quite sure.  I let it be, but I  hope I won't regret that decision later.

Grrr, Squirrels!

It had been a few weeks since we lost tomatoes to the squirrels so I thought they might have moved onto greener pastures and were done terrorizing our garden.  But I was wrong.  This past week they have resumed their attack on the tomatoes.  Below are just a few of the victims, unfortunately there were more.

Harvests

Refrigerator Pickles

The first batch of refrigerator pickles.  We don't like cucumbers on their own but I have given them a spot in the garden every year just for the pickles.

Indy

Every summer I look forward to the weekend we go to Indianapolis to spend time with my sister and her husband.  We normally see them when there is a holiday or an event going on, this visit is always just cause to spend time together.

We climbed 32 flights to the top of Circle Monument in downtown.

 

As usual we ate our way through the weekend.  I've heard that a Mexican Coke is better because they use sugar cane instead of corn syrup.  So when we went to a candy and soda shop I found one and had to try it.  We also did some olive oil and balsamic vinegar tasting.  We walked away with a sun dried tomato oil and pomegranate vinegar.  It was a great weekend!

Harvest

Lots of good things coming in last week, especially the first zucchini!