Pictures from the End of Summer

Waiting happily for my friend to arrive for Bible Study.

I love to say it usually doesn't look like this, but it does.  There is always a project, or twenty, going on.  I was going to do a nice post, and I still plan to, on my kitchen remodel, but this is simply the everyday picture of reality.  The pot on the stove is full of wild plums cooking so I can skim the pits out and make fruit leathers.  The crock-pot is full of oil and herbs for a new batch of Healing Balm.  The big baskets on the counter are full of windfall pears, a neighbor's tomatoes, and some early apples.  All the stuff on the island is what I'm working on for gift baskets to sell.  The four pumpkins are ones that were ripe already in the garden.  Two are now on the porch for decoration, one became dinner and some desserts and one is still sitting here next to me.  Between my Seasons~Autumn Board and my Farmhouse Kitchen Cooking Board, I've got lots of uses for the thirty or so pumpkins I've got growing!
Actually, I just looked around and noticed everything is done and the counters are really pretty clean!  Well, there is still a pile of new baskets I washed drying on the counter behind me.  I'm planning on using my late afternoons and evenings to really get cracking on making all my stuff for the sales.

All the kids love to watch and play with the chickens.  Cupcake is a bit to small still to just roam with them, but she's loves to feed them with me.  She and Pumpkin were watching these guys.

The chicks sure have grown!  We're down to four, but they seem to be going strong.

I love tea.  Have I mentioned that before?

Cupcake loves olives, so he sure enjoyed these guys. I was inspired by this pin.

Sometimes we all play with our food.

Even Pumpkin liked the penguins although he doesn't like olives to eat, they were fun to play with.

My zinnias have been a source of delight this summer.  Definitely something to grow every year.

Just a little pretty I've had for years.

After redoing the kitchen, I moved my odds and ends out of the dining room built in, put down vintage shelf paper I bought years ago, and filled the cupboard with my canning and my dried herbs in jars.  I like it.

Now, the cool mornings and lessons make me feel that Autumn has arrived.
It's the best time of year to me.

I took these pictures over the last couple of weeks and just decided to throw together this post while the kiddos are doing chores.  Time to go and get back to the other lessons!

A Taste of Summer

I mixed together a basic pie crust.  I just mooshed it into a tart pan with removable bottom and bake it while I mixed tons of chives into some cream cheese and sliced all those yummy fresh picked tomatoes.  When the crust cooled, in front of the fan, in the freezer, I spread the cream cheese around the bottom and arranged the tomatoes.  Then I sprinkled it with a mix of fresh grated Parmesan, my Herbal Salt, fresh chives and basil and some bachelor button petals all from the garden.
It was pretty and yummy and all gone by the end of dinner.

In the Garden

We've been outside since breakfast.  it's a cooler morning so we took advantage of it. 
The kids played in the yard and with their water toys while I harvested herbs and flowers in the garden.
We fed the chickens some grain and a zucchini the size of a bat.  I'm not sure we've gotten over the zucchini glut of last year.  I know we still have a ton in the freezer.  However, the chickens don't mind at all!  I'm letting the zucchini grow huge and we're putting them out for the chickens.  Dumpling especially likes this plan as he only likes zucchini in Miss Teddi's Chocolate Zucchini Spice Cake.  :)
I've been trimming herbs as needed for our meals and have dried some, but nothing like last year.  I also have less weeds than last year, so that's a bonus!
I bundled in the Tarragon Forest and brought it inside.  It's four feet long and about a foot in diameter.  I had to put a bath towel on the counter to catch the drips from washing.  It is taking over half of the island.  The other half is filled with mint, cilantro, chives, and savory.  It smells so wonderful.  I'll bundle some and hang them to dry and load others into the dehydrator to become our yummy Herbal Salt.
The sunflowers are amazing.  The plants are so crazy tall.  I was hoping they'd follow the sun and I'd be able to see the blooms for the afternoons and evenings, but they seem to be stuck facing south, sadly away from the house.
We picked jarfuls of zinnias and placed them on the nightstands in everyone's rooms.  Such a cheery flower!  I remember we had zinnia in our front flower bed back in Phoenix growing up.  This is the first year I've ever grown them and I'm sure planning to plant them every year now.  I planted large and small ones.  The small are a cut and come again type and look prettier than the large ones.  Plus, the colors are so fun.  I'll let some go to seed for replanting next year.
Also, pumpkins are taking over the universe.  I thought I the seeds in the jar were from the Guatemalan Blue Banana Squash we grew and ate last year.  Apparently I should label things when I do them.  They are pumpkins!  And there is a lot of them.  Here's to lots of pies and lattes and breads this Autumn.
I can't seem to find my halo hoe so weeding didn't happen.  Besides, it has warmed up considerably now.  So the kiddos are off playing in the other room.  I've washed my arms off and loaded up with Healing Balm on all my scratches and itches.  I rubbed it all over before I sat down to start typing and I'm so glad I did.  All the welts and redness are almost gone and the itching has stopped.
That's something else on my list to do.  I need to make more Healing Balm soon.  I picked more Calendula this morning, plus I have a ton I picked and dried last fall along with the neighbor's Comfrey.  I don't have enough oil today, or I'd get it going.
I've got all sorts of fun ideas for more Herb Goodies to start making including some different Herbal Bath Teas.  I was also offered the opportunity to sell gift baskets with my products at a friend's Lodge.  I am so excited about it.
I think I'd better get my rear in gear and get on all this before our school year starts up in a few weeks.  I haven't had much motivation lately, so I hope it kicks in soon.  Part of it is planning on things for the fall craft shows around here means I've waited because I like making things as fresh as I can. I've also been waiting on everything to grow.  I also accomplish more with a deadline, sad but true. 
Some herbs I usually have just wouldn't grow this year so I find I may need to buy some from others.  I hate to do that because I pride myself on selling my own---totally own grown---things.  However, I think I need to step away from that concern and just do what I can this year. 
Well, I need to stop typing and get making lunch.  *sigh*  The problem with making three meals a day is simply that one must do it every day.
Today, I'm really missing ChickFilA.
And I'm afraid to reread this for proofreading because it's such a rambling post and probably makes no sense and whatever.

**Found my hoe.  A neighbor returned it a few minutes ago.  She's apparently borrowed it the other day when we were gone.  At least I'm not going crazy like I was afraid I might.

 

Homestead Barn Hop

Breakfast Salads

We've got an abundance of wonderful lettuce right now.  We're having it at every meal, including breakfast.  Everyone just gobbles it up! 
The herbs are starting to take off as well.  We've had tarragon and chives for awhile now and they've gone into all sorts of dishes.  I add them to eggs in the morning and our salad dressings and sprinkle them all over chicken, or whatever else it sounds good on.  Now I am adding cilantro to the guacamole, or "yuckamole" as Dumpling christened it.  That's fine as it means more for Sweetheart and I. 
I am excited that I'll have fresh savory ready to go by the end of the week.  Basil keeps germinating and dying and I keep reseeding.  Maybe now that it's warmed up, it'll be okay.  I've got parsley and thyme, but I keep forgetting to use them because they are in the old garden areas.  I tried transplanting several times, but to no avail.  I'll give it one more go soon.
The mints are doing well.  We enjoy sprigs in our water bottles and I've even been adding sprigs of lavender to mine as well.  It's so refreshing on these sweltering days.
So, from breakfast through dinnertime, our garden is adding fresh flavors and extra goodness to our meals.  What a blessing.

Just Add Heat

So this is what the garden looked like through June.  Things started and just stopped.  It rained a lot and was deliciously cool.  Nice for me, but not for the plants.  Everything just stayed the same size.  Well, except the weeds.  They grew.
Then we got the first three days of this intense heat.  (We topped out at 112* yesterday evening for those who are curious.)
Here's what it looked like this morning early.

Amazing difference.

Summer's Here.

Cupcake

Remember how I just mentioned how odd the weather has been?  How it's been so much cooler than normal?  Yeah, that's over.  It is 109* as I type this.  The sunflowers are more than doubled in size from just a few days ago.
Guess I'll keep pinning cold drink recipes...

Odd Season

I know that the calendar says it is summer, but here we seem to have gone back to spring.
I harvested these rose petals about two weeks back the day before rain was expected.  It's rained quite a lot since then.  It's still raining today.
I like the cooler temperatures myself as I found the 90* days in May to be a bit much for me.  We don't typically plant around here in May, June 1st is the generally accepted day for planting out here.  While May was hotter than June we did end up with one 24* night right at the end of the month so I was glad I waited!
I started seeds indoors in April under lights with the plan to set them all out on the first of June.
I really had mixed results with this.After hardening them off, I did set out all my seedlings the first week, as pathetic as they were.  I also did a lot of direct sowing.  Now, a few weeks later, the direct sowing plants are as large, if not larger than my little nursed along seedlings.  But even that's not saying much.  Without the sunshine and heat, they are still so small.
I think next year, I want to plant early directly in the garden and have row covers ready to go.  I had hoped for that this year, but it didn't work out.
Meanwhile, I continue to forage what I can find growing wild, and dry what I can pick now.  The wild pink roses I've collected will go into my Sweet Dreams Tea blend.  These yellow petals will be turned into potpourris and Bath Teas.  Due to a bunch of rule changes and too many unknowns, we'll not be joining up with the Farmers Market we did last year.  It's disappointing on the one hand, but a bit of a relief on the other.  I am planning on focusing on the craft fairs and Christmas sales around here this fall.
This was decided last month.  And now that I see how pathetic our growing is going, I'm even more relieved.  It has taken a lot of the pressure off.  I am grateful.
I'll also have a lot more freedom to sell what I want and all the things I make at the craft fairs instead of needing to maintain a certain percentage of veggies versus other products.  And it was looking like all I would be allowed to sell was produce.  I made a lot more off of my other herbal products like the salts and balms and other things than I ever did off of the veggies.
So, we'll see how it all goes.  I've got lots of ideas and things I want to make.   Guess I'd best get to work!!!  Until then, you can still shop our little venture online here.  ;)

~Poppies~Have a Little Sunshine

I took these pictures last night.
This one is the same shot I did two years ago sitting on top of the septic tank.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fleeting Summer Days

Sunflowers

Summer Smiles

Just so you don't think I've disappeared entirely...

There are no further updates at this time, but just thought I'd share some fun pictures from our trip a few weeks ago.
****Grr. Blogger is not playing nice. Maybe I'll get more posted later.