It seems like I just sent out a Journal – oh, wait, I did on Wednesday when we got back from Idaho. After being away from home for almost a week, it was nice to get back into the swing of things here. I had a lot of catching up to do. It was almost as if the weeds knew I was gone and grew twice as fast while their slayer was away. So my week at home began on Wednesday afternoon after I’d recovered a bit from traveling. The first thing I did was pick flowers. It had rained early that morning and many of the gladiolus had fallen over, their big blooms made top heavy by the wet. I cut two big bouquets. There were dahlias, sweet peas, and carnations to cut too. The dining room table was full of flowers.
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| Bouquets. |
Next I grabbed scissors and went deadheading. If I don’t snip off the spent blooms, flowers like snapdragons, cosmos, and phlox will set seed and stop blooming. I spent an hour wandering the flowerbeds snipping. Then I picked tomatoes. Kurt and Julie had picked tomatoes and processed several batches while we were gone, but we’ve reached the point now where we will pick several bucketfuls every day. I filled four buckets on Wednesday that I turned into soup and sauce on Thursday. On Thursday, while I was processing Wednesday’s tomatoes, I picked another four buckets. On Friday, I turned Thursday’s buckets into sauce and then went out and picked four more buckets. Yesterday Stacey took over working with the tomatoes and canned more sauce and salsa. She had tomatoes cooking all day and into the night. That’s how it will go until we run out of tomatoes. Remember when I said that after a while I grow tired of the smell of cooking tomatoes? I’m there now.
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| So many tomatoes. |
On Thursday afternoon we began harvesting cabbages. Kurt cut them and tossed them to me. Hannah and Miriam loaded them into the wagon and hauled them to the back porch steps. There were thirty heads. It took two trips. Then Miriam and I cut off the outer leaves and washed them. Later that evening, Stacey wrapped them for storage. I saved out eight heads to make into more sauerkraut. Miriam and I started two more buckets of kraut on Saturday. We also opened the bucket that we started back in July. It was perfect – crisp and mild. We bagged it and put it in the freezer. So it looks like we’ll end up with about fifteen gallons of kraut when it’s all done. That might seem like a lot, but we usually run out by the new year. I don’t think we will this time.
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| The cabbage harvest. |
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| Making new kraut. |
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| The finished kraut from July. |
All day on Thursday we processed sweet corn. The Shilligs worked on several loads at their house. We did a load at our house. When sweet corn is ready you have work fast before it gets starchy. We husked and blanched a hundred ears, cut the kernels off the cobs, bagged and froze them. We will do another big load tomorrow.
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| Picking corn. |
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| Processing corn. |
I also picked and processed beets on Friday. I only grew a small patch of them this year. The whole harvest filled one five gallon bucket. I’m the only one in this house that really likes them. I love them. I canned several jars to use for pickled beets – my favorite way to eat them. The rest I chopped and froze. We will freeze dry and turn them into beet powder.
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| A bucket of beets. |
Harvest time is a busy time. When things are ready they must be dealt with. Our harvest this year so far has been good for most of the things we sowed. We’ve been blessed and I’m thankful for the bounty. It’s nice to see the results of all our hard work. Now areas of the garden are emptying out as we harvest. I’ve cleared out five of my raised beds already – carrots, onions, beets, shallots, and green beans are all done, their beds clean and tidy. I sowed some fall lettuce in one of them and will sow late carrots in another. The others I’ll let rest until spring.
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| Empty beds in the garden. |
We are at the end of August already! It passed in a flash. School started on the 24th and, although I haven’t been called in yet, I need to be ready every weekday just in case. That puts a different complexion on my day. It feels less free even if I get to stay home. Even though it hasn’t stopped at our house for six years now, I still feel a slight pang of anxiety when I hear the school bus go up the road in the mornings. Now with September lurking just ahead, I begin to see summer rapidly declining. The leaves on the maples are looking a little tired. The tall grass in the orchard and the meadow and the fields around us have gone brown. We’ve come to the Late Summer Big Spider Time. I see beautiful orb spiders in the garden. Goldenrod and asters are replacing chicory and Queen Anne’s lace along the roadsides. I watched a V of geese fly over one morning last week and took note of their direction. They flew west to the pond down the road, but soon those V’s will all point in one direction – south. If you could hear me as I write this, you’d hear me sighing sadly.
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| Orb spider in the garden. |
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| Goldenrod on the edge of the orchard. |
Sadly, and yet I love this time of year. These late summer days are glorious. The flowerbeds with their bright flowers are still delightful. I revel in every minute of these days. I love the warm sunny days. I love the cool misty mornings. The growing world is holding on to every second of the heat and sunshine and so am I. Autumn is coming and I love it too, but it is too brief and what follows seems endless.
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| The long border. |
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| Helenium, one of my favorite late summer flowers. |
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| On my walk this morning. |
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| On my walk this morning. |
Today is the Sabbath, a day to rest from our labors. I felt a special need to rest today. It was nice to wake up and think that I didn’t have to pick anything or can anything or dig up anything today. When I went on my early morning walk, everything was quiet and serene and the earth seemed at rest. Coming back from my walk into the quiet house, I saw jars lined up on the kitchen counter, the rewards of a lot of hard work, and I felt thankful for it and glad to have a day removed from it at the same time. The week ahead will be even busier as we continue harvesting. There will be long days of picking and digging, tending kettles and canners. I love it but I’m also glad that there will be an end to it eventually when we pick the last tomato, dig the last potato, and husk the last ear of corn. I’m thankful that “While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease” (Genesis 8:22) and that “To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted” (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2) and that “Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest” (Exodus 23:12). Good Sabbath.
