Crazy Summer

This summer has been a bit of a crazy one for us thus far...we have been mostly keeping busy with the garden and the day-to-day chores of laundry, ironing, cooking, and cleaning. We have also been busy preparing to install the fence, which meant a lot of cleaning up along the border of the property line. We also fixed all the windows on the first floor so that we could finally install the screens, allowing some much needed air flow during this hot season!

The garden continues to flourish, despite the heat. The Back to Eden method that we have been using has definitely delivered as promised as we have not had to water our garden all season. Here is a picture collage....

So far, we are done with the broccoli, radishes and first planting of salad greens. Our watermelons are growing beautifully, and we just picked our first zucchini and small batch of pickling cucumbers. We are keeping a close eye on the corn, but it appears to be growing well. Our tomatoes have so many green ones that they are literally falling all over themselves. We are going to have to do something about that, and soon. All in all, we feel truly blessed.

Blueberries arrived at the local Amish store, and so we were in full swing canning, freezing and dehydrating for a few days. I should be updating the food preservation page shortly with what we have preserved as well as what we have eaten fresh! Out of 30 pounds of blueberries, we made 4 fresh pies, 2 gallons frozen, 17 half-pints and 2 pints of jam, plus a dehydrater full. My little helpers were eating them almost as fast as I could process them, so I ended up leaving about 5 pounds fresh to be eaten.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer, even with the heat!