The pleasant weather this evening reminded me of this same date last year and our fun adventure. I thought this post was worth sharing again for those of you who might have missed it and for those who were there (my husband, sister, niece and great niece). I am thankful for these memories.
Thanks for visiting.
Thanks for visiting. 🙂
Hello and Welcome!
I suspect I’m in the minority when I say I’m sad to see summer end. Mostly because the cooler temperatures have caused my time in the pond to come to an end. Also, because when autumn arrives, winter (my least favorite season) is just around the corner. For now, I am going to live in the moment and enjoy the many things there are to love about autumn. I hope you do the same.
“Autumn is the mellower season, and what we lose in flowers we more than gain in fruits.” –Samuel Butler
“The heat of autumn is different from the heat of summer. One ripens apples, the other turns them to cider.” –Jane Hirshfield
“Everyone must take time to sit and watch the leaves turn.” –Elizabeth Lawrence
“Fall colors are funny. They’re so bright and intense and beautiful. It’s like nature is trying to fill you up with color, to saturate you so you can stockpile it before winter turns everything muted and dreary.” –Siobhan Vivian
“May you Fall in love with October
and all the beauty it brings,
May your life be as colorful as
the turning of the leaves,
On each blessed autumn day.”
—Charmaine J. Forde
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It was a cool, crisp, fall-like morning despite being late August.
I visited the gardens and took a few pictures before getting started on my task for the morning.
The bees were all over the sunflowers.
This bird was perched on a goldenrod in the back field.
The above picture was my workstation for the morning.
These are the tools I used.
Cleaning the garlic was my task.
The sights, the sounds, the whole atmosphere was beautiful.
The sky was deep blue with fluffy clouds drifting by.
I couldn’t have asked for better working conditions.
Ruby stopped by to remind me to take time out to play.
It took about 75 minutes to clean that bucket full of garlic, including tossing the ball a couple times for Ruby. (I neglected to take a picture of the clean bulbs.) Conditions were equally as pleasant this afternoon when I finished cleaning the second bucket full of garlic. What a relief it is to have that job finished.
I am still canning tomatoes (31 quarts so far), dehydrating eggplant and freezing peppers. We have been so blessed with a bountiful harvest this year.
Thanks for visiting.
Hello and welcome. Despite having very dry weather, and doing our best to keep things watered, our gardens have flourished.
Right now our hibiscus bushes are the star of the show.
Their large, showy flowers are stunning.
I don’t like to play favorites, but if I had to pick a favorite flower, it would probably be the hibiscus.
This hibiscus that I planted three years ago on my mom’s birthday was just beginning to open on Sunday, August 10, which would have been my mom’s 80th birthday.
Today it was in full bloom. 🙂
Several weeks ago we decided that we needed to rework the memorial garden the we planted this spring. This garden memorializes our parents who have all passed away. The beautiful lupine plants that were planted on either side of the rock were struggling, apparently not getting enough sun. My husband dug them up and planted them in the very sunny prayer garden and they have since developed new growth.
On Saturday, August 9, I visited my sister who wanted to thin her flower beds. My husband and I decided the shade loving hostas would do well in the memorial garden. My sister had just what we were looking for. She was very generous, selecting the large beautiful plants, instead of the ones the deer had eaten. The two light green hostas were one that my husband split before planting. I also brought home a lungwort plant that my husband split and planted (the dark green wilted plants). It looks sad after being transplanted but I read that it will develop new growth and should be fine.
Our garden situation is changing daily and some of these photos are about two weeks old. I’ve just fallen behind in my blogging.
The honeybees that moved into our empty hive seem to be doing well.
Bees love squash and pumpkin blossoms.
And this is what can happen when a pumpkin or squash blossom is pollinated. 🙂
A basket of fresh garden goodness. My husband has been bringing home this basket full of veggies every day.
Eggplant, sweet corn, beets, green beans, tomatoes, banana peppers and cucumber were the haul on that day. Many of these vegetables are being eaten fresh. Others are being canned or frozen.
I made four pints of dill relish last week.
On Wednesday my husband and I made a trip to the orchard so I could can some peaches. On Thursday I canned 23 pints of peaches and had a dozen left over for eating fresh. Sunday, I made peach cobbler with five of the fresh ones.
One of our peach trees produced two peaches.
One for my husband and one for me. They were perfectly ripe when I picked them yesterday and so delicious. The orchard peaches, that were picked before they were ripe, were not as sweet as these.
They are not ready yet, but it looks like we will have a great apple crop.
The other thing the bees are enjoying right now are the sunflowers.
But who doesn’t love sunflowers.
This week’s projects include canning tomato juice (I did 6 quarts yesterday), making sauerkraut (I started it fermenting today), and cleaning garlic (tomorrow or Thursday).
Thanks for visiting.
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