*harvest time (again, and again)

 

 

 

 

 

It is time
to gather together in the warm sunshine,
taking great care
to gently pick all of the fruit ripened there.

 

 

 

 

 

Today was quite a day!  Shortly after waking from my deep delightful slumber, my feet hit the floor and the fun began.  The garden is in full force production at this stage. We are picking cucumbers, yellow squash, zuchinni squash, tomatoes, butter beans, peppers, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, snap beans and okra from the garden now.  Today momma picked a bushel of butter beans and we "put up" 7 quart bags of those babies!  We also cut, battered and froze okra and squash for frying at a later date.  Momma canned some peppers this morning and shortly after that I took my turn with the canning pot and made some pickles!  I must admit it was pretty exciting to do some canning. Tomorrow will look much like today and for that I am grateful, so grateful that our garden is producing at the rate it is.  

Momma's pickled banana peppers and hot peppers.

Never mind my dirty kitchen window!  Look at these tasty tomatoes.

Momma and I have been working diligently almost daily preparing sliced frying squash for the freezer.   Here momma is starting to bag the slices we did last night. We slice them, lightly salt them and then let them sit for a short while. Then we dredge them in a flour and cornmeal mixture and lay them on a tray with excess flour/cornmeal mixture and put into the freezer over night or for several hours. Once they have had time to freeze we then take them back out separating any that needs separating, remove all the excess batter before bagging them for freezer storage.

Today, for the first time I made PICKLES!  I was thrilled to be canning some of the bountiful harvest from our garden.  I decided since we were new at this pickling thing that I should put different things in some of the jars so we could taste test and make more of what we like most. We added dill from our herb garden to most of the jars along with dill see from the grocer.  Some of the jars got a small amount of powdered mustard, or garlic or peppercorns.  I can hardly wait for a week to pass so we can pop a jar open and start the tasting!

 

More squash and okra go into the freezer for frying in the months to come.  The Pampered Chef baking stones have come in handy for this little endeavor.  The stone holds the cold nicely and seems to help the slices freeze more quickly.

OKRA!  A very dear friend of mine gave these awesome Pampered Chef Stainless Steel bowls and they too have been a must have in our country kitchen.  So handy.

Momma dredging more okra, covering it good before it goes into the freezer to set up.  Momma and I have hit our stride it seems. Each time of her being back here seems we have to find our way with each other. We are having a blast together and I am truly grateful for her hearts desire to help at the level she is helping at. 

These zukes are going into the dehydrator for the use in soups in the winter months. We decided to slice some of our potatoes as well to fill up the other 5 trays in the dehydrator.  The potatoes will likely also be used in soups.

 

Our snap beans are almost finished producing, here Momma is putting up what might be our last picking from those this year. We probably have 25 bags of pole beans (snap beans) in the freezer from this years harvest.

 

 

As I said before, each time Momma is back here it seems we have an adjustment period to go through. I suppose that is normal?!  Sometimes I feel that certain boundaries have to be laid and protected for our family unit and while I still strongly feel this way, there have been some areas I could have possibly handled a bit more gently but didn't.  God in His mercy has helped Momma and I to begin to work together like a well oiled machine.   We truly are having a good time together, today was an amazing day all the way around. Our day began together in the garden and ended together on a walk to the garden to turn the sprinkler off. Our walk back home held a moment of prayer and thanksgiving to God for the abundant harvest He has blessed us with!  

 

*strawberry patch, strawberry patch

This past week while our nephews were here I read in the local paper about a strawberry farm that is only 5 miles from our house.  One morning we headed out to pick strawberries, some willfully and some against their will.  The strawberries were pretty abundant and the patch was quite large, but unfortunately since the owners do not use pesticides on their fruit (which I appreciate) the fruit was full of strawberry maggots, it was quite nasty.  We did manage to find 16lbs of tasty strawberries to take home with us. I dehydrated most of them and we saved some for dessert over the holiday weekend.

After we left the strawberry patch, Momma and I took the boys over to the park that was close by.  Their first question was, "Can we go swimming?!" I of course allowed them the desires of their hearts.  We were not really prepared for swimming - no towels, no change of clothes etc.  Sometimes we have to live by the seat of our pants and be a bit spontaneous.   I knew when we got back home that the boys would be tasked with some tree trimming and leaf gathering jobs so I wanted to treat indulge them a bit. 

These boys can be A LOT of work, they just can, but I love them and I love spending time with them.  I hope that one day they will cherish in their hearts the time they spent with their Aunt Lynnie, Uncle Eric and of course their cousin, Henry.

*beeing brave

Getting suited up on a hot sultry day in Florida was less than fun.   But, it was recommended to me to enter  the hive area to do any work in mid day when the bees are busy.

To the left you see the supra that I am about to add to our hive. The brood has grown so much that we need to add the supra already.  I am getting my gloves on and making sure everything is tucked in before I begin working with the bees.

When I took the top board off it was covered with buzzing bees! I remained calm and carried on with my work.  To open the hive and hear the wings of the workers fanning hard and to see them buzzing around was a pretty awesome experience.

Carefully I am putting the top board back in place, doing my best not to kill any of our girls!

Success!  The job is done! In a few weeks we will open the hive again to check out the work that has taken place in the supra since we added it.

Since adding the hive to our farm, the tall sunflowers are covered with our "Honey's" early each morning. Our garden is now buzzing more ever too. Speaking of the garden, it is growing well and our freezer is starting to fill up with our harvest to carry us through some of the year.  Soon I will share with you a new way to preserve yellow squash for the freezer. Well, it was new for us anyway!

*summer break continued...

Cousins are those childhood playmates who grow up to be forever friends.

Having come from a close knit family I am happy to say that our boys have always been able to have the same privilege as my sister's and I did as children, the opportunity to KNOW their cousins.  I grew up in a small town in Georgia with most of my family members very close by and others only a few hours drive away.  This is not the same case for our boys, but getting together has never been a problem.  The boys have spent summer after summer together over the years as well as a few spring breaks! I feel very privileged to have them here during their time "off". 

Today we spent some at the  Air Museum in Ft. Walton Beach, Fl.  I mean, how could I go wrong with that? Planes, weapons, bombs, missiles.  The last time we came to this museum we couldn't go inside because Henry forgot (!) to wear shoes and of course shoes are required to go indoors. Imagine that!

Lynnie

*sunflower, sunflower

"Keep your face to the sunshine
and you cannot see the shadow.
It's what sunflowers do."
by Helen Keller

*summer break - yahoozie!

You know that saying.. drifting into the sunset? Here it is in photography for your enjoyment...

These were taken a while after they arrived on Thursday.  Together again, scouting, exploring, and doing what boys (young men) do.  My heart is glad.

Susan is sitting nicely with Skyler.  He tried to get her to sit on his shoulder but she wasn't buying it.

After a bit of work trimming some trees and pulling up some fence post they boys hit the pool for a refreshing dip or two.  They made up a game involving one person sitting on the float chair and the other two trying their best to make that one fall off. They were allowed to do most anything but the only rule on this round was DO NOT TOUCH the person in the lounger or the lounger.  They did their best to dismantle Austin when it was his turn to be in the chair, but they never succeeded.

I LOVE having my nephews here! I love spending time with them, doing for them, I love having them help us on the farm this summer, I love that they love to come and stay with us. This is a memory making time I look forward to each year.   

Since these pictures the boys were taken, all three of them, have helped cut trees, drag trees down, move branches, move firewood, and dig holes for new fences that are going in.  Friday night our oldest came over for dinner with his girl friend and then the boys went with Robby to spend the night for the weekend. I am sure they were ready to get away from the work for a short while.    I feed them well, so they don't really mind the work that much.  That is what I keep telling myself anyway. More work awaits them on Monday morning. I am firm believer that work and partnership in the family unit helps create ownership in the family's business (meaning all that the family owns, does etc..)  I believe in having fun too, so don't worry, I wont work them too hard without encouraging them to play hard too!