Happenings and Insights

These late Summer Days are chocked full of happenings and insights.  If we were in high speed before, we are being asked to push it up a notch or 2 or 3.  All of Nature is doing the same. 

Sunflowers continue to bloom.  I am so glad that I planted several different stands at several different times.  Some are done and spent as Flowers but they are in full Seed production.  The Goldfinches have found them.  We will surely be cutting down a few Flowers for Bird/Chicken Food over the Winter.  For now, I enjoy their stately vibrant grace. More are to come and some are gigantic.

Keren visited us for a few days.  It is always so wonderful to see her and share the Farm with her.  She and Melanie wove themselves in and out of the Garden doing whatever was next up on the agenda.  One day it was picking and drying small Tomatoes.  Dried Tomatoes have become one of our favorites. We rehydrate them in vinegar, drain and immerse in oil with Thyme.  This is great on Salads and in Omelets, or just by themselves for a little snack.  Melanie makes a Tomato Pesto too, which could easily become frosting on Cake.  Just kidding.  But we do love it.

One morning, I looked out front and there were 2 Mama Turkeys with 13 Poults coming down the drive.  We stood quietly watching them with  Binocs in hand. And of course, this pic is not the best.  Yet it is the best that I have.  You would have had to be there.

On her last evening here, Keren made a wonderful Indian meal for us.  I don't know what it is about East Indian Food.  I love the mix of Spices and the combinations which I never would have adventured so far to combine.  The Food is deeply satisfying on a level that I simply cannot describe.  It isn't heavy like so much of our food here in the West. It doesn't just sit there. It's yummy and we love it.  Years ago, Melanie and I got Richard an Indian Cookbook for his birthday.  The Cookbook has become one of our favorite gifts, for all 3 of us.

We do not have as many Tomatoes as usual, whatever usual is.  The mini-drought and extreme heat seem to have taken their toll.  But we have plenty, for which I am very grateful.

I just love Tomato Season.  Those rich colors stare up at me, inviting a Festival of Color and Savory Delights.

Fresh Tomatoes straight from the Garden provide a great example that Food is best when it is in season and local.  Nothing else compares.  Skip the Fossil Fuels involved in production and transportation when eaten out of season from produce at the grocery store.  Hold off on those perfectly round objects which look like Tomatoes and don't hold up to the standard of the Garden.  Just dive into real Tomatoes and give ourselves a treat. Lower that thermostat on Climate Change too.  Such a deal and it is right here in our backyard.  The Grandmas knew all along that there is nothing like fresh from the Garden. That surely is how we are supposed to eat.

The little Roosters have really grown and we can hardly believe it.  It's late August and that means they are soon to go into the Freezer.  This will be a tough group for that, because they are very sweet.  For whatever reason, they are not yet up to their boyhood games of aggression so characteristic of Roosters as they grow.  Usually, when this happens, it somehow is easier to take that next step. 

Note the "backlighting" which the Photographer chose on purpose.  Portraits are often taken this way and they create an interesting effect. It works for People and it works for Roosters too.

We have been taking some walkabouts and they have been welcome.  Yet, we noted some damage to 2 Oak Trees.  We are not sure what this is. I did a "Google" and still didn't find what I was looking for.  I shall have to send copies of these photos to Jennifer Schutter, our Extension Horticulturist.  It is so wonderful to have her help for our Garden.

The Arbor is always ready for a respite or for company. Garden colors are going into peak, but they will soon decline as we move through late Summer into Fall.  We are savoring every moment.

And then, this tag-along Butterfly found my Hat. I couldn't have planned a better embellishment if I tried.

Richard dug the next round of Carrots, which may be the last.  They are vigorous.  He and Melanie have also been canning Carrots for the Pantry. The Fridge is full. These 2 Carrots are huge.



Admittedly, we are in denial that we are headed into Late Summer.  The Gardening Season has been wild.  The heavy rains and intense storms earlier, then intense heat added to drought seemed to take their toll. We seemed to always be responding to the latest Weather Event and we were weary.  I can only imagine how the Plants felt.  We Humans could come inside for a bit of cool and they could not. 

Some crops have done well.  But others have been stressed.  Richard did well with Green Beans, but they were lower in quantity and they just almost immediately stopped production.  On a regular year, he would have gotten more.  We have plenty and we are grateful.  I am sad to say that my Dry Edible Beans have not done as well as hoped.  I will have some.  They either have not produced pods on beautiful foliage, or they have produced pods and the beans inside have not developed properly. 

I talked with Brad Whitaker last weekend.  Farmer Brad always has insights to share which help us understand what is going on.  He suggested that the heavy rains encouraged shallow root growth earlier in the season.  When the plants needed deep roots during the drought, the roots just weren't there.  He also asked if we had replenished the Soil with organic material.  We could do better here.

In the meantime, we are watching the Sorghum Cane.  It is shorter than normal.  Some of the leaves are sprinkled with a rusty color typical of harvest time, and we are far from that.  A few have tops that have rotted.  Generally, it looks pretty good, except for the size.  We are watching our window of time.  The late planting means that we could well have crop, but it will be pushing up against frost on the other end.  Frost renders the Cane unusable.

I shake my head and think: "All that work and the crop could be gone, just like that."  Gardening surely is an act of faith and I just need to "let it go" as it is supposed to be.  That's not easy for a Human who likes to think she is in control.

These last few days, the Seedheads of the Sorghum Cane have begun to appear on about 2/3 of the crop.  The rest should be soon to follow.  After the Seedheads appear, we are usually a month out from Harvest.

This whole season has been a huge lesson in shifts of Climate and their effects on growing Food and the Human. Our health, wellbeing, and Being is tied to the Health of this Beautiful Planet with which we were entrusted.  Hearing reports of drought, crop failure and starvation from eastern Africa are very unsettling, as they should be.  Climate change is real and we Humans are the major factor in it.  We 3 C's continue to do what we can to lessen our effects on it.  I am so grateful that we have made this choice and are on this path. It is not easy but we are focused on doing the best that we can.  How could we not?