Is It Just Me

Is it just me or do others think it is lush and very green this year.  Everytime I look at the hills, take a ride or walk around our property here in Clara I am amazed at the green, lush beauty of it all.  Everything looks like it grows inches overnight.  It is a beauty that only nature can provide.  When we get a little rain it almost looks tropical.  The wild apple trees are loaded with so many little apples.  Soon a few will start dropping to give room for the ones left to mature.  Nature knows it is the survival of the fittest and to provide that there will be healthy fruit some must be lost for the cause.  The blackberry and raspberry bushes are also loaded with young fruit.  Like the garden only nature can make sure it will be a good harvest year.  By the first of August we should be picking berries for the freezer.  Jams, jellies and deserts will be made in the down time of winter.  With the amount of food being provided for the animals and us it may be one of those cold winters with lots of snow.  Natures survival for life.  If there is going to be a hard winter there must be a bountiful amount of food for the wild animals and for us. 

August will be canning month at Cook'n by the Creek.  Green beans and garden peas should be first followed by beets, carrots, corn, peppers and tomatoes.  September will be dig potatoes, we are hoping for over 100 pounds to put in the cellar.  They are growing and look very healthy.  Rutabagas are looking good too.  This is our first year for them.  Honeynut squash is a first too.  We bought some from a big Mennonite farm near Penn Yan last fall and decided to plant them.  They are like a butternut, just sweeter and great texture.  They keep in the basement like potatoes.  During the winter we will be able to dig parsnips from the garden.  They actually have a better flavor after the cold freezing temperatures set in.  Kinda fun to dig them up for supper on a cold winter day.
Only time will tell how much and how good the garden harvest will be.

Most of Saturday was in the garden doing little things that needed done.  The tomatoes were staked and lower branches pruned.  Next we will prune off the suckers.  I watched a youtube on how to increase the number of tomatoes per plant.  The idea of trimming the lower branches made sense.  We have had trouble with them rotting.  This way no branches will touch the ground and allow for air flow to help keep moisture down,  Something else we snipped the center of the pepper plant, this is to allow more branching out rather than grow tall.  It is also saying more peppers per plant.  Everything we do from planting, name of seeds we planted, fertilizing and pruning we keep in a garden diary for next year's reference.  We use to say remember this or that, ha!   Now we write it down.  It does no good to tell one another to remind me or him........those days are long gone.  Kinda nice because now we don't blame each other for forgetting.  One less, I told you to remind me! 

The knit blanket and doily will be put in the mail tomorrow on it's way to Illinois for our great granddaughter.  You know the saying, it's the thought that counts.  My thought is someday this little girl will be a woman and say, my great grandmother from Pennsylvania made this for me when I was born.  That makes my heart happy. 

Tonight we are setting on the back deck enjoying 71 degrees and a breeze that just makes ya want to smile.  What a night!  Two doe just came out of the woods headed for the grandson's food plots he has been working on since spring sprung.  The fields look beautiful with clover, corn and a few pumpkins mixed in the corn.  It is nice to see the young taking an interest in the land and preserving it to help the wild life.  Now if those deer know the difference from food plots to our off limit gardens..........4 ft orange fence has been put around the big garden but that doesn't mean they won't take a flying leap if they smell all the goodies. 

Listen.   Everyone must be home for the night, no traffic.  Just an occasional bird calling.  The Orioles are busy getting their jelly fix for the night. 

I must mention a very special lady we got to visit with today at her granddaughter's birthday celebration.  Bea West, what a joy to set with and talk of years gone by.  Sharp and I was happy to ask her a couple questions of people that I wasn't quite sure of from my younger years.  You know like what was their father's name, etc.  On top of that her sense of humor is right up there.  She had me laughing and sometimes in amazement.  Her love for speed!  Her son tattled on her about driving fast.  Bea, Burdette and their family have given so much to our valley and a lively hood  for so many families.  Hard work, never give up and carry on is what their family is known for.  What a day it was.

Saturday night supper, hot dogs with onions and German Mustard.  A dish of butter beans, one of our favorite meals and usually on Saturday night.