Saturday, July 12, 2014

Starting to Build the Ark

No, fortunately we really aren't starting the boat building . . . yet.  But we did have rain all day yesterday again.  Temps are still staying cool which we wouldn't mind at all if we weren't trying to grow a good chunk of our year's food in the garden.  Old-timers in the area say they can't remember ever having a summer like this one has been so far.

But this morning dawned with the promise of a sunny day so we were out splitting wood at 7:25.  Our blessed Firewood Fairy brought us two more loads of logs yesterday.  We guesstimate he's given us about $800 worth of wood so far.  We are indeed fortunate and grateful and appreciative.


Our strawberries are finally starting to come in . . . about a week later than usual.  (Kind of curious they are not nearly as sweet as they should be.  Lack of sunshine?)  I knew some needed to be harvested today but it was late afternoon before the plants dried out enough for me to pick.  I also harvested a big bunch of kale and a good sized bowl of baby Swiss chard, Osaka purple mustard and mizuna mustard.  I've been sauteing a skillet full of one green or another (or a combination of a couple) in a small amount of bacon fat with a chopped scallion or two to accompany our eggs we have for breakfast nearly every morning.  The serving of beautiful, fresh greens just makes me feel STRONG!


Yesterday (during the rain) I got some time in my quilt room to work on a flannel blanket/rug I'm making for our granddog to use when he's here.  It doesn't look like much right now, but will shape up as I get more done on it.


It's done using the frayed-edge technique (picture above taken from a book) and it should have a cozy feel to it when finished.  I did some more work on it tonight after I took the picture of the strips on my design wall earlier.  It took much more time to cut out all the rectangles than it is to sew them together.  Now the process is going really fast.

The weather people are saying we're to have another day of sunshine tomorrow so you know we'll be doing some more wood working.  Our large wood shed is just about half full . . . what a relief it will be to have it completely full.

I've noticed I've lost a little bit of weight lately.  I'm still eating like a horse, especially with good vittles starting to come from the garden, but I think I've been working like a horse, too, so it all balances out and still allows my decrepit assortment of work pants to hang a little loose.  Better loose than tight with all the bending involved with gardening and wood working!

16 comments:

Mark said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Mark said...

Sorry about the deleted comment. Embarrassing spelling error.....

Sorry to hear how much your cool summer is slowing down your garden. Hopefully things will get back to normal soon. Here in NE Indiana we've been a little wet, but with normal temps the garden is doing ok. Our weather issue has been damaging storms. We can't seem to get away from high winds and hail.

Chuckling about your loose pants. In the last year I've lost 50 pounds. Most of my 'dress' cloths have been updated to fit, but I didn't feel obligated to go out and get all new 'farm' clothes. I've got several pair of work jeans where modesty is only preserved with a good, heavy belt

Sue said...

Your berries look so good. Mine were...mostly moldy again this year. Seems the rains always time themselves just perfectly. Honestly, I'm considering giving up on them--for the work involved, I just don't get the quantity I need. I tend to throw away more than I pick. Now blueberries, on the other hand---I'm looking at another good year. I've already "tented up" one row that seems about a week away from ripening. Out of sight/out of mind as far as the birds go. I hope...........
Have a wonderful week, and YAY on the weight loss!!!
: )

Tami said...

I've been hearing about a summer "polar vortex" that's going to cool everybody off next week.

Hope you don't get a FROST! @;)

Leigh said...

The frayed-edge technique looks really neat. And eating greens sounds really good. I can't complain because we have tons of squash and cukes and the green beans are coming along. And blueberries! I was worried they wouldn't be as plump and sweet as last year because we've been so dry, but they are still tasty and I'm thankful for that.

Leigh said...

Oh Tami, I hope that includes us! And I double hope it means RAIN!

Kelly said...

Your berries look yummy! Your quilt looks amazing too!

Unknown said...

Well at least you're getting some harvest :) I'm sick of the heat here, high 90's forever....

Sparkless said...

Please send your cool temps our way. We are record breaking high temps for the last week and looks to go for most of next week too. Our gardens are shriveling up in this 40C (104F) heat! Glad to see you are getting something harvested from your gardens even with your cool/rainy weather.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Those strawberries look great. Ours were not very big this year.

Anonymous said...

Sorry you are getting such dreary weather Mama Pea. I would gladly trade you a few days of good rain for a few days of good sun.
I love the layout of the doggie comforter :)

http://caffeinatedhomestead.weebly.com/blog

Carolyn said...

Ooooo! I've always liked the frayed edge quilts. I bet it'll be super comfy for granddog....AND stylish!

FoxyLady said...

Glad to hear your garden is producing. Do you have any ideas for other uses for green leaf lettuce besides salads. I have a lot of that.
Honestly, with the weather this year....I keep expecting to see our first July snows! :(
As for the weight.....I am having some issues there this summer. It is so dang wet, I can't get out there to do the work I need to do because I can't get the equipment there. I was doing fine.....until all this rain started. I have one big pile of willow to chip I can see from the house. I cut it up early....because.....the whole big clump was damaged in that storm with the heavy wet snow. But, the chipper would go to China if I tried to move that over there....or many other places. Bah humug!

Susan said...

I think you may need to put some of that wood aside, just in case you need to build an ark. Holey cow! Oooh, lucky, lucky granddog! I won't even mention this to my two characters - Lovey would be rolled in that comfy, warm quilt in a nanosecond!

Liz said...

It has been such a strange summer! I thought it would be hotter than all get out being the winter was so brutal. I have been saving scraps of flannel to make a quilt like that. What a lucky dog!

Michelle said...

I have a flannel quilt that we use every winter. I need to make one more so there's no fighting over it. It works great at keeping us warm.