August Already.

This is the last day of July. Tomorrow we enter August. I have deeply mixed feeling about August. As far as the garden goes, it is a busy month. There will be ripe tomatoes by mid-month and canning tomato sauce will begin. We’ll start harvesting broccoli and cauliflower and I’ll pull up some early cabbages to start a batch of sauerkraut. There will be plenty of zucchini. The yellow transparent apples will be ripe and we’ll be canning applesauce until we’re sick of it. That’s all good. But by the end of the month, summer will be over for the most part. School starts the last week of the month and it will seem strange because, for the first time in 16 years, there will be no Howe children at Northern Potter. I’ll be the only one going to school this year (although I’m not usually called in during the first week or two).

Petunias on the back porch stairs.

Snapdragons in the long flower bed.

 August is usually the hottest month of the year and if it’s hotter than July was, it will be roasting. But then some years we have our first frost at the end of August. Excessive heat or early frost, I like neither of them.

Potted lantana.

On Monday we finally got some substantial rain. A thunderstorm blew in the afternoon and it poured. Almost an inch of rain fell in about two hours. It was wonderful. Josiah and I sat on the front porch and watched it. We counted the lightning-to-thunder gap. At one point, when water was gushing off the roof, we stood in the waterfall and drenched ourselves. I could almost feel the delight of the lawn and garden as it soaked up the rain. Then the storm passed and the sun came out. Within hours everything was dry again. The rest of the week continued hot and dry. The garden was thirsty again. Once again I resumed watering by hand.

The vegetable garden.

On Tuesday we finally finished the Kitchen Project. All the walls are now painted. All the cupboards have new clasps. All the cupboards and drawers have new knobs. We have a new and improved chicken bucket. The cookbooks are all organized. The final touch was installing a new faucet on the kitchen sink. The kitchen is nicer than it’s ever been since we’ve lived here. Thank you Rachel and Tabor for taking on a such big project. You started it, we finished it, and it’s great.

The finished kitchen.

I finished harvesting the garlic last week. I love garlic and the smell of it as I trimmed off the leaves and roots. I dug up some new potatoes – all the volunteer plants growing in all the places where I once grew potatoes. We had some for dinner on Friday and they were good. I hope my main crop of potatoes looks this good. I’ve been watching my tomatoes carefully. The vines are loaded with green fruit and there have been no signs of pests or other problems so far.

The finished garlic.

New potatoes.

Green tomatoes.

There were several “firsts” in the garden last week. The first zinnia opened. And the first morning glory. And the first of tall phlox. I heard the cicadas for the first time droning from high in the maples – a very nostalgic sound and one of my favorite summer sounds. Out on the wild edges of the yard the goldenrod has begun to bloom, a beautiful but sad sight. Goldenrod is an end of summer flower. It seems like summer just began and now here we have goldenrod in bloom.

The first zinnia.

The first morning glory.

The tall phlox.

Goldenrod in the meadow.

On Saturday it rained again. This time, instead of pouring down an inch in two hours, the rain fell steadily and gently all afternoon. I was out working in the garden when it began and I stayed outside and continued working for a while, letting it soak me to the skin. Then, when it grew heavier, I sat on the porch and watched it. I drank in the smell of it, the sound of it. This rain brought us just half and inch, but it was a blessing. If the weather forecast proves true, we’ll have another thunderstorm tonight, a dramatic sendoff for July. It was a good month full of family and fun. I'm sad to see it go.

Sunset last week.