Summertime

If you remember my posts last summer, I was struggling with keeping my garden and yard plants alive in the severe drought we were experiencing. This year we've had rain and just this week we've had several inches of rain. It is glorious to have the plants performing at their best, the saplings putting on some height and the grass greening up and making up for the patches that were lost last year.

The roses have been beautiful this year. In early June, the bushes were covered solid with blossoms. It was amazing. Now we are getting another bloom and I'm so happy because I bring in these fragrant
blossoms to add a light scent to my home.

Now this is amazing! We picked up this kohlrabi at the local produce stand today. It is a hybrid kohlrabi that gets this large and is not woody! I grew kohlrabi this year but mine did get woody so I must have had the original cultivar. Next to this monster is a bottle of wine and a peach to give you perspective! It fills one side of my double sink. Aren't plants interesting?

To our delight, family from South Dakota came down for a quick weekend, niece Mindee and her son, grand-nephew Dausyn. What great guests! Dausyn volunteered to mow the lawn. With all the rain, the lawn requires mowing more often than I can get to it some weeks so this was a great help! Look how green it is this year. Thanks, Dausyn! Our yard is so large that I mow in sections four days per week. It's a good thing that I love to mow.

Pure joy swinging on the double swings --- an activity experienced by most guests. Buddy is always in the middle of this. Mark, Mindee, Dausyn, and Buddy went on a major trail ride on Saturday. They all had a great time.

I've been doing small batch preserving this summer. The cucumbers are from my garden and I made them into dill pickles using my Mother's recipe. The beets are from the county fair and my first batch of pickled beets. I've planted beets for a fall crop and hopefully I will be pickling more beets this fall. Love putting up the harvest.
The tomato plants are huge and full of green tomatoes. We are now waiting for warm weather to ripen those fruit red. Tomatoes are our favorite so we are anxious to begin eating our own tomatoes.

The pullets are growing and have just begun to lay eggs. We've reduced our flock to just 12 and have sold all the rest. It was getting to be too much work and expense so we're back to what I originally wanted for a hobby. I'm so happy. The downside is that I won't have many to share with friends. I love my current breeds,  7 Americana (green & blue eggs), 1 cuckoo Marans (dark chocolate brown eggs), 2 Black Copper Marans (dark chocolate brown eggs), 2 Golden Wyandottes (standard brown eggs) - gorgeous feathers and colorful eggs.

I gathered three pullet eggs today. See the tiny eggs on the left of the carton? They are tiny to begin with but will get larger as the laying hens become older and more proficient.

Hope you are thoroughly enjoying your summer,
Delores