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!

BET

Forget the BLT my new favorite sandwich is the BET: Basil, Eggplant and Tomato.  We have a decent amount of eggplant coming in and one way I have been using it up is grilling it and pilling it up on a sandwich with tomatoes and basil from the garden along with a little mayo.  It is delicious!

Garden Work

The peas were finally kaput and the garlic was ready to be harvested so both were pulled this week.  I actually should have pulled them both last week but life got in the way.  In their place I extended the tunnel and planted more kale.  I am going to try blanching and freezing a bunch for Andy's smoothies year round.  On the other side I planted some more summer squash and cucumber seeds since neither are quite as prolific right now as I would like.

Storms

Today we had a serious heavy storm that dropped two inches of rain in about a half an hour.  It toppled over all the flowers for my cutting garden.  I spent well over a half hour staking and supporting the dilapidated flowers.  It's not cute but they are upright again and I will still have flowers for cutting.

I tried staking the borage but I don't think it's going to make it the stems are too brittle.

Harvest

The harvests really look like summer now!

The eggplants are starting to really come on and I picked the first full size tomato.

 

The first cucumber also came in last week.

Canning

 

Lately I have been spending a lot of time canning.

 The snap beans made almost 4 full quarts.

 

Last weekend I picked a little more than 6 pounds of blueberries at our local u-pick place.

 Which I turned into some jam.

I was given a bunch of rhubarb and tried a rhubarb conserve.  It is more like a marmalade and not that great.  But I guess now I know.

Flowers

Fresh garden bouquets one of the joys of gardening.

Harvest

 

Herb bouquet I took as a hostess gift.

 

Plenty of Beans

 

More herbs and lettuces that were not pictured.

 

I needed more garlic in the kitchen so I pulled a couple of heads.

The last pint of peas, the plants need to be pulled now. 

The very first cherry tomato and Fairy Tale eggplant.

Driveway

Last week the big project was resealing the driveway.  We meant to do this last year but it didn't happen.  It was a must for this year to keep the driveway from falling part quickly while there are only a few cracks.  Hopefully this will be the one and only time we do this at this house before moving sometime in the future.  I didn't take any pictures before but you can see them from the last aerials.  My Dad came down to help me and we got the first coat down.  The following day I was able to get the second coat down.  Overall I think it looks good!  Next up, work on the front porch.