Tiptoe Through the Tulips . . . Ooops, I Mean Garden

Here's an overview of the raised beds (for you, Michelle) taken from a second floor window this morning.  Empty bed front middle row was all radishes.  All gone now.

Down on the ground and out tritzing through the heavy dew, here is one of the bean rows.  Since the field garden is fallow this year (where I usually plant all the beans), I used one of the raised beds for an 8' row of green beans and another bed for 8' of yellow beans.  No sense raising more than we can use or give away, so these are adequate.

Don't know if the Morning Glories planted at the base of this tepee trellis will ever grow big.  They are as s-l-o-w as molasses in January this year.

I planted pie pumpkins in the middle of this raised bed hoping I could convince them to climb up and over the hoop trellis.  There are finally some vines starting to run, but they look like they're trying to escape the bed all together.  I'm going to have to have a talk with them about using this fine trellis I've provided for them.

The shell peas are planted on either side of 40' of cattle panels for their trellis.  Not as much growth on them as I'd hoped to see by now.

A couple of years ago Papa Pea made a few shade cloth covers like the one on this bed over the spinach and Swiss chard.  I'm hoping to keep them going longer into the season by blocking some of the too bright sunlight.  The Swiss chard would probably be okay without the shade cloth cover but the spinach would not.

The scarlet runner beans are planted at the base of this garden trellis and they've finally taken off climbing.

There are colored gourds planted on either side of the trellis down the center of this raised bed.  I didn't think they were ever going to germinate.  (Too cold, I think.)  If our fall weather holds out (and doesn't frost early), I may yet get some decorative gourds from them.

My onions are kinda scary this year.  Most of them are now 3' tall!  I can only cross my fingers that all their energy hasn't gone to the tops and left none for the bulbs.

The green and colored pepper plants are starting to size up and even have blossoms on them.  One plant never got any bigger than when I transplanted it and eventually died.  The rest are looking good though.

That's a partial tour through the raised beds.  We got an inch of rain yesterday and it really gave the plants a shot in the arm.  Real rain does them so much more good than all the watering I can do.  With our now very summer time like weather, things were really drying out so we were glad to get the rain.  Now if this humidity (gasp, gasp) would just go away . . . 

My Love/Hate Relationship with the Haskap Berries

Our three haskap berry bushes have produced abundantly this year.  And a few days ago, our resident robins were the first to alert us that the berries were ripe.

We checked the bushes out and sure enough, although there were still a few green berries to be found, several ripe ones had already dropped from the bushes to the ground.
    
Time to harvest.

The bushes are growing by leaps and bounds and we're wondering just how tall they will get.  Especially the Berry Smart Blue variety in the center.

The foliage looks very healthy and thick.

The berries a bit harder to pick than blueberries because the fruit grows on the underside of the heavily leaf-laden branches.

Over a two day period (last Thursday and yesterday -- thanks to Chicken Mama for her help in finishing up the task), we picked 98% of the ripe berries from the three bushes and left any that might still ripen for the birds.

Yesterday I processed them by first cleaning them . . . 

. . . and then measuring out the amount I needed for making our haskap berry syrup.

The above bowlful (a 6-quart bowl) is about a third of the total we harvested.

You may remember that in the past my attempts to make haskap berry jam following my blueberry jam recipe have failed and we've ended up with haskap berry syrup.  This has actually worked out just fine because we've used a small dribble of the syrup in our daily small dish of probiotics (yogurt/kefir mixture) and as syrup on pancakes, French toast and waffles.  We've been out of the last I made for a couple of months so I was eager to have more.

I made two and two-thirds batches yesterday (can you say hot and steamy kitchen?) and ended up with 10 pints and 2 half-pint jars.

There was a partial jar leftover that I put into the refrigerator for us to sample.

This morning I made French toast for breakfast looking forward to having and tasting the haskap berry syrup from that partial jar.

Can you guess what I'm going to say next?

We now have 10 pints and 2 half-pint jars of lovely, haskap berry JAM.

Why?  Why did I get jam this time when always before using the same recipe the consistency has been syrup?  I don't use any pectin in my jams so perhaps did the berries this year have more natural pectin in them?  Are the berries changing somehow as the bushes mature?  Are our haskap growing adventures going to drive me crazy?

Scratching my head I may be, but the jam is yummy.  It's full of antioxidants and who knows what other things that are good for us.  (I know it doesn't have too much sugar in it.  If only I had been able to make a video of our daughter's facial expressions when I asked her to sample it yesterday before it was refrigerated and set up!  I asked if it tasted too sweet to her.  I'll just say it did not, and let it go at that.)

So what will happen next season when I attempt making jam with those persnickety blue/black, nutrition-filled, prolific berries.  Darned if I know.

(Jeopardy) Question: It's Been A Full Summer's Day

(Jeopardy) Answer:  Why am I tired?

First thing this morning, I harvested enough peppermint to

fill eight trays of the dehydrator and dried them.

This is about halfway through the drying process.  

Sure do shrink up, don't they, considering the

tray was solid wall to wall edge to edge

 leaves to start?

Harvested asparagus and processed it

for the freezer.  The wonderful

asparagus just keeps comin'.

Did four loads of weekly laundry and two loads

of rugs.  Hung out on lines to dry.

Made a batch of yogurt.

Split and stacked six wheelbarrows full

of wood (with Papa Pea's help.)

Watered the asparagus with the hose.

Watered the fruit trees with the hose.

Watered the window boxes with the watering can.

Fixed and served two meals.

Weeded the strawberry rows and then

put additional wood shavings

around the spreading

plants so the berries would stay clean.

Harvested the first real picking of strawberries.

(Found five ripe ones a couple of days ago.)

Only 1.65 lbs. today but enough for a big

family-sized strawberry shortcake.

(Old picture.)

Can I make it tonight?  

Nope. 

Don't believe I have the energy.

Fourth of July Decorations

Here are some of my 4th of July decorations I've put up around the house for the holiday.  I think I promised to show these about two weeks ago, but I was a bad girl and have neglected to so until now.  Given that the holiday is tomorrow, it's now or never!

Apologies beforehand for the poor quality of most of these pictures.  Most were taken when the sun was shining too brightly in through the windows.

This banner of little flags hangs from a book shelf over our kitchen table.  (Looks as though somebody had better climb up to straighten those books.  Fast.  And dust while you're at it, too, please.)

A red, white and blue wall hanging is between our two big kitchen windows.

I made this runner several years ago and always meant to make two more for the kitchen.

It goes on this storage unit which is a shelf below my little kitchen TV.

One of the new runners I made this year turned out a little . . .  well, garish if you ask me.  I think I got carried away with the design and find I'm not particularly fond of it.  I guess that happens sometimes when you just let the creative juices flow unchecked.

I put it on top of the storage unit that holds the telephone.  (Yep, we still have a land line.)  Looks as though the runner could use some heavy pressing with the steam iron.

This second one came out much plainer because I was still suffering from the visual overload of the other one.

It's on a shelf unit next to the back door.  The basket holds library books to be returned.

Mr. Bear wishes all of you a very festive, enjoyable 4th of July spent in your favorite way!

The Garden, The Bugs, and The Grouch Called Mama Pea

I have a few pictures of the garden taken on July 1st from various years back.  Although not quite July 1st yet, the pictures are definitely positive proof our growing season is very slow this year.  Who knew sun and warmth was required for the growth of plants?

The buckwheat we sowed in the field garden and two other smaller plots as a green manure crop was apparently too old and did not germinate.  At all.  Anywhere.  Duh, why didn't I think to test the seeds for germination?  We're going to replant barley, some seeds of which I have undergoing testing as we speak.

I did harvest the first of our radishes earlier this week.  The first two I sampled after bringing them inside for cleaning were hot, hot, hot.  I assumed they would all be that way because they grew so slowly.  Funny thing, after I had stored them in water in the refrigerator and then served at a meal later in the day, not one had that same unpleasant flavor.  Did the chilling cause the biting "hotness" to disappear?

Lettuces are still too small to harvest, but I do have some baby spinach leaves I can now use for salads.  And baby Swiss chard is nearly big enough, too.  Hooray for the first crunchy greens of the year.

Much was accomplished in the garden yesterday but not without me unwillingly donating blood to the still present, and abundant, black flies.

I started by donning a long sleeve shirt, head net, gloves and bug repellent but they found the plackets of my shirt sleeves and dove in for the kill bare skin.

Black flies draw blood to the surface when they bite and I had traces of it coming through my shirt.  Somehow several also got under the head net and I got a bite on my hairline in front, outer corner of my right eye, cheek and crook of my ear right where the bow of my (close work) glasses hits.

I came inside and took some Apis and slathered on calamine lotion both of which sometimes help with the prolonged swelling and itching I get.  Changed my outfit to the total bug shirt which I tied tightly around my hips and wrists.  This outfit resulted in only two of the little black devils finding their way to my skin.

I realize people who don't attract biting insects like I do can't relate to the agony it causes me.  That's my excuse for the terrible grouch I was for most of the day yesterday.  Good thing not many souls were exposed to the spread of my very bad vibrations. 

Why don't I just stay inside until the bugs disappear?  I told Papa Pea yesterday that if the bugs were this bad every year, I would seriously contemplate not gardening.  (Whoa, did I actually say that?!)  As it is, those of you who do garden know you either take advantage of any time you have to keep up with thinning, replanting, transplanting, harvesting and weeding in a timely manner or your gardening efforts will be for naught in short order.

On the upside, the less than pleasant time spent outside these days is balanced (well, almost) by the progress made and the wonderful warm shower, clean clothes and inside bug-less atmosphere when I come in for the day.

And sometime soon, the life span (and reproduction cycle) of the black flies will be over.  Please tell me it will happen.  And make it happen soon, please. 

P.S.  For those of you lucky enough to be unfamiliar with black flies, here's a picture for you.

This morning I ran (literally) out to the garden to crack open the cold frames (without protective clothing on -- dummy) and was attacked by the biting black devils.  When I came back in, this one was caught in my hair.  He did not live to bite another day.

Tree (Almost) Down On Driveway

We had rain most of the day yesterday and then A LOT of rain last night.

This tall, dead tree apparently couldn't hold on anymore in the soft, wet dirt.  It came down right across our driveway, but got caught up in trees on the opposite side so never hit the ground.

It had been dead so long that nearly all of the bark was off of it which enabled the wood to dry out quite nicely.

Making the first cut was the trickiest part but Papa Pea did a good job of it.

Then the whole length got cut into stove size pieces.

We loaded them into the truck to haul back to our wood splitting area.

I'm dressed in my down-filled work jacket and was none too warm.  The day was very damp, cool and foggy.  (We're really into mid-summer, you say?)

A rather quick way to get more firewood.  Plus, much easier trying to drive in and out of the driveway now.