I was busy pruning up the storm damaged leaves and tidying up the dying branches and thinking. I do that way too much I guess. I work hard to keep my plants pruned up, I love the fact that by doing that I can extend my growing season. I always start to get a bit sad this time of the year, watching the transition from a lush and vibrant mini-jungle to the yellowing leaves as it starts to fade away. I know that I will still be harvesting for at least another month, but I know the end of this growing season is looming near.
In another few weeks I will start planting my fall seeds, I spent time yesterday looking into a fall garden here in the mid-west. I've never gotten around to planting one in the past, first I worked too much and then I had my knee surgery, so this is the first year that I will have a fighting chance at having one. I'm sort of excited at the thought of trying my hand at some of these new to me harvests. I've never grown beets or turnips before and I am going to try growing garlic.
As I was working on my canning yesterday and Hubs was doing his honey do's I was thinking about how in the heat of summer we naturally move to being inside, no different than in the deep of winter we move inside for warmth. Is it any wonder that spring and fall tend to be many people's favorite seasons? Very few folks seem to thrive in the extreme heat or bitter cold, most of us tend to gravitate to the mild temperatures surrounding those extremes.
Yes the sunshine was beautiful, looking out the window tugged hard on my need to be outside, the heat definitely cured that. I don't like humidity. I enjoyed the sunshine from inside, where I was cool and comfortable. Just like during the winter I stay inside toasty and warm. Same feelings, different times of the year.
As the August heat is forcing me to choose to be inside, I am working on getting varying projects done. Yesterday I canned an entire box of potatoes. I made even more jars of jalapeno's as I do not want to waste even the smallest jalapeno in my garden. I harvested fresh basil to make pesto for dinner and harvested more tomatoes.
In a few moments I am going to take all of my tomatoes and a few peppers, onions and some garlic and cook them down into a rich tomato sauce. In the cold of winter it will remind us of the bounty we have been blessed with.
Hubs is on vacation this week and we are spending it resting and puttering. I love these kind of days. When there is no rush, time is fluid and you can simply do what you feel called to do. Hubs just headed up to nap, the pups were not willing to allow him to do so in the living room, each moment that he drifted off they pounced to encourage him to play.
In a short while I am going to finish my blackberry jelly, I cooked the berries this morning and they are currently dripping. I will also make a loaf of bread (I love that I have found a recipe that reminds me so much of my favorite German farmers bread with the added benefit of no grains). I don't think much else will happen today.
I might finish loading the quilt I started to load yesterday, depends on how much time I have. I will also finally weave in the ends of my new dishcloths and put them in the drawer to use. It's time to stop working on "fillers" and start on the sweaters that I want to be able to wear come winter. I am quite happy with this ebb and flow kind of life I now am blessed to live.
I still need to wrap my grand daughters gifts before her sweet 16 party tonight. Mostly, I think I will enjoy the lazy, hazy days of summer.
love and peace...
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