Saving Summer

In August I start to feel the need to save things. In the flower garden I save seeds. I stopped deadheading poppies, larkspur, and cornflowers weeks ago to let their seeds mature. Now I’m gathering them, saving them to plant next spring. In the vegetable garden it’s harvest time – the time when I pick and preserve everything I can, saving them for colder days to come when there will be no fresh things to eat.

The upper part of the long border.

I also savor feelings and memories to save for those colder days. I cannot let a morning pass without a walk to drink in the greenness, the soft dewiness, the mildness of a summer morning. Every sunny minute I can spare, I need to be out gathering the mental fuel I’ll need to sustain me through the winter that is coming.

Scenes from my morning walks.

On Monday I picked currants. I used to have a row of currant bushes along the nearer edge of the orchard, red (Ribes rubrum) and black (Ribes nigrum), but over the years, most of them died. I only have two black currant bushes now and one wild red currant bush growing where my old compost pile used to be. I picked all the ripe berries from all three bushes. I love the smell of black currants, leaves and berries. And the red currants looked like little rubies with the sun shining through them. I didn’t get enough juice from them to make a batch of jelly, so I went back out and picked a bowlful of aronia berries. I planted my aronia bush (Aronia melanocarpa) sixteen years ago after I’d read some articles about how nutritious they are. They are rich in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals. But they also don’t taste very good, at least when eaten raw. They are astringent and dry your mouth out, which is why they are also called chokeberries. But they make a tart juice that makes a nice jelly. I added the juice from the aronia berries to my currant juice and froze it. We’ve been picking and freezing raspberries. In a few weeks the elderberries will also be ripe and we’ll go hunting for them. Then some clear day later in the month I’ll make jelly.

Red and black currants.

Tuesday morning I went outside intending to take my usual morning walk before the sun came up, but I stepped onto the porch and turned right around and went back inside. It was 38° and I refuse to put on a jacket in the beginning of August. I waited until later when the sun had warmed things up before I took my walk. August is usually the hottest month of the year here, but there have been years during the time we’ve lived here that we’ve had frost in August – later in the month, but still August. I hope this is not a year for August frost. We have labored so diligently with our tomatoes, beans, pumpkins, peppers, and other heat loving crops, and to lose them to an early frost would be devastating.

I don’t grow sweet peas every year and, when I do, I often get poor results – but not this year. I planted some along the rail fence at the head of the driveway and they have been spectacular. The shape of their flowers reminds me of orchids. With their lovely colors and beautiful perfume, they are delightful. I bring bouquets of them into the house every few days. I’ve decided I will grow more of them every year from now on.

Bouquets of sweet peas.

The flowers beds are starting to look a bit bare as I continue to clean out spent plants, but there are bright colors. The phlox and coneflowers are at their peak. The hollyhocks are blooming like champs as they try to finish blooming before the rust consumes them. It happens every year. Rust is a fungus (Puccinia heterospora) that loves hollyhocks. There’s nothing I can do to combat it. Every year I hope the hollyhocks will finish flowering before the rust destroys them. This year was pretty good. They are almost done blooming and just now succumbing to the rust. My angel’s trumpets (Brugmansia) that grow in big pots on the back porch stairs are finally in bloom. They are beautiful and in the evening they are very fragrant.

Coneflowers.

Gaps in the flowerbeds, but still some color.

Hollyhocks.

The first angel's trumpet blossom.

I’m still at war with the deer that are determined to eat my beets and chard. After the first attack several weeks ago, I sprinkled the remaining mutilated plants with cayenne powder as a deterrent. That worked for a while. The plants began to grow back. But it has rained a lot and the cayenne got washed off. The deer returned and ate the plants down again. This time I put netting over the plants. Again, that worked for a while and the plants started growing again. Then the deer came back and pushed the netting down and ate any leaves that poked through it. Then I reinforced the netting with sticks. This time the deer pushed the sticks and netting aside and ate the end rows of chard. I thought it was just one very persistent deer that really likes beets and chard, but then on Wednesday morning I saw them. That morning they attempted their raid later than usual just as I was setting out on my morning walk. It was a big doe with a fawn. They crossed the road and were coming across Shillig’s lawn toward my vegetable garden. I chased them off and they ran back across the road into the thorn wood along the creek. They haven’t bothered my beets and chard since then, but yesterday I discovered the tops of my broccoli have been eaten off. This morning they were out there again. I saw them from an upstairs window. The doe was under one of the apple trees eating fallen fruit. The fawn was in the vegetable garden. I opened the window to take a photo of them and they ran off as soon as they saw me. They have done so much damage to my garden. In addition to eating my broccoli and decimating my beets and chard, they have also nipped off the ends of my cucumber and pumpkin vines. And now apple season is about to begin, which means an escalation in this conflict. So I’m onto the next phase of my Cervine War (like canine for dogs, feline for cats, bovine for cattle, equine for horses, etc., cervine refers to things deer-related – I looked it up). I did some research to find out what the most effective and recommended deer deterrent is and now I want a solar powered motion activated sprinkler. I’m determined to win.

Unwanted visitors.

This morning.

The Shilligs are away for a bit attending a grandchild’s baptism and visiting family out west and we are taking care of things here for them while they are gone. Kurt is the one who mostly tends the big garden. He runs the drip lines and weeds and keeps an eye on things out there. Miriam and I have been doing the watering and tending things while he’s gone. On Wednesday morning I went out to water and pick peas. You can tell how mild our temperatures are here because we’re still picking peas in August. I picked a nice basketful. While I was watering, I checked Kurt’s cauliflower. His cauliflower plants are gigantic. I found five big heads ready to harvest, so I cut them and brought them in. That afternoon we blanched and froze them. Now, I pride myself on growing things from seed and I started my cauliflower from seed this spring as I always do. I planted them out in one of my raised beds at the proper time and I’ve tended them carefully these many weeks. They are puny, pitiful things compared to Kurt’s. They have wimpy stems and little leaves and no sign of any heads yet. Kurt bought his starts from a nursery. Guess what I’m going to do next year.

Peas and cauliflower.

On Wednesday afternoon the weather was so fine I couldn’t resist taking a hike into the hills. I went up the Rapley Road to the hollow, then up through the hayfields to the woods. I took a path through the woods and out the other side, then skirted the edge of the woods and the high fields of clover as I climbed higher. The sun was hot and the air was still. Parts of the clover fields had been cut and gathered and the lingering smell of the sweet hay was strong. As I hiked, I kept saying that I’d go just to the crest of the next rise, but there was always another crest beyond and I had to keep going up. Finally I could go no higher. I stood and looked over the scene below me. The hills here are not so high. We are in the Allegheny Highlands and our hills are mostly gentle and rolling. The top of Cobb Hill, which rises behind Gold, is 2,570 feet above sea level and is the fourth highest peak in the county. My hike was on the lower hills rising to that peak. After taking in the view for a while, I headed back down, following the tractor paths through the hayfields and then the corn fields. The tractor paths brought me to Highway 49, the main road through Gold. I walked along its verge, past Burrell’s where there were dozens of Canada geese on the pond, and then home again. It was an afternoon well-spent.

The route I took on my hike.

Going up the Rapley Road.

Through the hollow.

Across the fields.

Into the woods.

At the top of the hill.

Down through the corn.

To the highway.

Geese at Burrell's pond.

On Thursday I began harvesting onions. I have three varieties of onions growing in two raised beds in my vegetable garden – Yellow Spanish, Redwing, and Copra. The Yellow Spanish are ready to harvest now. I pulled them up and set them to cure in the greenhouse. The other two varieties will be ready in another week or so and I will cure them on the back porch. About that time, all the onions out in the big garden will be ready too. I don’t know where we will find the space to cure all of them. We have an abundance of onions.

Pulling up onions.

Curing in the greenhouse.

Later that afternoon we went to the Potter County Fair. We have lived in Potter County for 21 years now and in that time we’ve only missed going to the fair three or four times. This was the 85th year for the fair. The fair grounds are in the town of Millport in the northwestern corner of the county. Our fair is modest compared to many other county fairs. Every year that we have gone, we always follow the same route through the fairgrounds. We start at the Home Show building where the hay and grain, vegetables, fruits and nuts, baked goods, canned products, floral exhibits, needle crafts, quilts, art and photography, apiary and maple products are on display. Once years ago, I entered a purple cauliflower in the vegetable division and won a Best In Show ribbon. In other years past several of my children have entered quilts and other things and won ribbons, but we haven’t entered anything for a long time now. Looking at the baked goods this time, Miriam thinks she will enter some items next year. From the Home Show building we next move to the Sheep and Goats building, then on to Rabbits, Dairy Cattle, Beef Cattle, Swine, and finally Horse buildings. Then we make our way back up the fairway past all the rides, food vendors, and games of chance, but we never stop at any of them, until we get to the Fowler’s Taffy booth. It is our tradition to buy some taffy to eat as we drive home again. That’s how we do it every year and this year was no different.

The vegetable display at the fair.

The sheep and goats.

Elvis!

Highland cattle.

Rides we never ride.

The fairway.

The taffy booth.

Friday and Saturday were good days for working in the garden. The weather was fine. I continued clearing old, spent plants from my flowerbeds and collecting seeds from poppies and lupin to plant next year. Stacey spent the day on Saturday at the Frosty Hollow Herb Fair where we had a table selling my barn quilts and Miriam’s baked goods. We didn’t sell any barn quilts and don’t really expect to. We do it mostly to generate interest for future orders. Miriam’s baked goods were a hit. She had loaves of sourdough bread, brownies, angel food cake, chocolate chip cookies, and a pound cake for sale. Most of it sold out right away. Next year we will be sure to take more. She’s a great baker. A storm blew in on Saturday afternoon just as I finished my yard work, a perfect ending to the day.

Stacey at the Herb Fair.

Today is a beautiful Sabbath day. It was cool and foggy this morning, as it has been all week. Once the sun was up over the hill, the fog burned off and it warmed up. We took a load of eggs and zucchini to church with us to give away. No one has been buying our eggs lately (too much local competition) and there was no more room in the refrigerator. And between Shillig’s garden and our garden, we have an overabundance  of zucchini. We were happy to share it all. Now we are home. Lunch prep is underway – tacos. And then there is a quiet and restful summer Sabbath afternoon to refresh us.