August Already!?!

Oh, boy! Our few beautiful days of summer are flying by. The gardens are loving the warmth and sunshine after weeks of rain. My tomatoes look like a jungle. The bumble bees have multiplied, even saw a honey bee the other day. A friend gave me a magenta butterfly bush last spring. Large feathery blooms have indeed attracted butterflies including a large black swallow tail. Red raspberries and black currants are in the freezer along with chives, blanched kale and local corn. Still have some frozen wild blueberries from last year. My blueberry bushes won't produce for a couple years. Cucumbers are soon to be done producing. Ten pounds of cukes wait in the kitchen to become bread and butter pickles. We snack on sweet peas right off the vine. Green beans made it to the table yesterday for their first meal along with a salad of tomatoes, green pepper, onion, and cucumber - all freshly harvested. The slug population is diminishing but still takes the summer squash and zucchini. They can't stay away from those large yellow blossoms. Peaches, pears, plums, and apples will soon be ready at the local orchard for canning. Bought my first pressure canner last week and will use it to preserve something this season.

Seed selection, planting location, soil preparation, planting, cultivating, fertilizing, pollinating, insect and pest control, water management, harvesting, EATING, and storage...all take concentration and diligence, especially when avoiding chemicals in the process. But all this seems like play compared to figuring out how to feed your family year round from your own garden produce and the locally grown food you are able to preserve.

Start the process of learning to feed your family now.

Years ago I planted a purple coneflower in my back yard. It struggled along then finally disappeared. Last year three coneflower plants grew up near my raised bed - about one hundred feet from their original location. This year they are wonderful. Must learn how to preserve Echinacea (coneflower). As an herb, it has properties that help boost the immune system. Grace is currently in a doctor's care because her immune system seems to be deficient.

LESSON: Trust in The Creator and effort to cooperate with His design brings Blessing beyond your trust and effort alone.

5, 4 ...

The time is here for a little update on the overall change progress. OK, the only thing left to plant is bee balm seedlings and perhaps more leaf lettuce and greens. Tomatoes need to be staked with longer stakes, peas need to be tied up. Potatoes need to be mulched. Boy, guess this weekend is going to be busy.

Harvested parsley and chives for eating fresh. Drying dill, cilantro, mint. Oh, I canned 7 quarts and three pints of wild blueberry sauce using berries from my freezer, making room for something new.

At a flea market several weeks ago we met a couple selling local honey. This week we purchased 60 pounds of their honey. It is sooooooooo luxurious. Just a living, flowing gold. Our favorite bread recipe contains honey.

All my extra tomato plants have new homes. The first plant I tried to give away was rejected! Probably my babbling about non-hybrid, heirloom varieties and seed-saving made the baby tomato plant too much work. So I backed off on the details and gave a total of 21 away - not counting the three that sacrificed their lives so I could harvest their soil.

Education is coming along the lines of saying "no" to comfort eating. Learning what an addiction is, how to stop, and turn around. It's hands on, or rather hands off, learning. A big thank you to the Quit It Today Challenge by Chile Chews at http://www.chilechews.blogspot.com .