Entering August

With my newest grandchild.

While most of the country complains about baking in excessive heat, I do not. That’s because we don’t really get much in the way of excessive heat here, at least not like they do in places like Texas, the Midwest, or the Southwest. Here in Gold to hit 90° is rare. I love summer heat. Days in the 80's are a treat for me. And if you throw in a little humidity, I’m even happier. I’ve experienced extreme heat in the past. When we lived in Southern California we often hit the triple digits in the summer. I remember driving home at night when we lived in the Santa Clarita Valley and seeing the temperature at 100° as we drove past the bank and thinking, good, it has cooled down! I don’t live in that world anymore, and I’m glad. But I crave hot days in the summer and here in Gold, that means the mid 80's if I’m lucky. Last week was a mix of hot and cold. Some days were warm and then a bit of rain would fall and the temperatures cooled for a while, sometimes too much. On Tuesday morning last week, when I went out for my morning walk, it was 45° and I had to put on a jacket and that just felt wrong for the end of July.

On a chilly morning walk.

We are at the end of July. The last day, actually. Tomorrow we move on into August and that makes me sad. There is a feeling that comes over me on these summer mornings as I walk and wait for the sunrise. There is so much beauty around me that I can hardly take it in. The world is green, but I can see it yellowing at the edges. The sun rises later now. The predawn light is soft and the air is still and in the quiet I can feel time rushing by. Already the early goldenrod is in bloom and even the first asters are flowering down by the barn. As I pass the beaver pond, the geese rise and fly away crying to each other, and sound of their voices makes my heart ache. Summer passes too quickly. Life passes too quickly. We grow old too soon.

Early goldenrod.

Balloon flowers (platycodon) in the long border.

I have seasonal literary traditions that I keep. I re-read books that I especially love that evoke a particular season. At the beginning of summer, I read Ray Bradbury’s Dandelion Wine. Sometime in the late summer or early fall, I read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird. In August I read J. L. Carr’s A Month in the Country. I received that book back in the 80's when I belonged to a book club. I’d never heard of it until then, but I fell in love with it. It is set in the years after the First World War and tells the story of a young war veteran who is commissioned to restore a Medieval mural in a rural English church. That might not sound like a compelling plot, but it is a lovely book that captures the feeling of summer passing, time passing, in an age that is passing on to something new. I will begin reading it tomorrow. It is a thin book and will only take me a day or two to read and then I will feel sad that it is finished, just as August makes me feel sad that summer is almost finished too.

But there are still glorious days ahead. Days full of bright bouquets of gladiolus and dahlias. Days filled with the best work of the year as harvest time accelerates. There will be buckets of tomatoes, bushels of peppers, beans, and cucumbers to pick and process, potatoes, beets, carrots, and onions to dig from the earth. There will be jelly and jam making days, relish making days, and salsa making days. The big hot water canner and pressure cooker will stay in the kitchen all month. I love harvest time.

The first glads of summer.

Cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.

I saw an interesting poll last week that listed America’s ten most liked and disliked vegetables. At the top of the list as America’s favorite vegetable was corn, followed closely by potatoes. Carrots and tomatoes were tied for third place, then came onions, green beans, cucumbers, broccoli, cabbage, and peas at number 10. I like all ten of those, except tomatoes, which I will not eat raw. The list of the most disliked vegetables was surprising to me. Going from the least hated to the most hated it went – asparagus, mushrooms, zucchini, butternut squash, eggplant, artichokes, Brussels sprouts, radishes, and turnips as the most hated. I agree with that last one. I can’t stand turnips. My mother used to cook them with boiled potatoes thinking we wouldn’t notice, but we did. I’m also not overly fond of eggplant, artichokes, or radishes. The poll also showed that 25% of the respondents said they never even eat vegetables, but I think they probably don’t know that French fries are made from a vegetable.

On Wednesday I worked with the brassicas. I picked another big batch of broccoli. I picked the last of the cauliflowers and cleared their section of the patch. I also picked four cabbages and then taught Miriam how to turn them into sauerkraut. Those four cabbages, when chopped, filled a five gallon bucket. So the first batch of kraut is underway. There are at least 30 more cabbages in the garden and most of them are ready to harvest now. I guess I only planted early cabbages. We’re going to have a lot of sauerkraut.

On another morning walk.

Same sunrise at Burrell's pond.

Miriam worked all week baking. She made her usual sourdough loaves and also turned some of our abundant zucchini into loaves of zucchini bread, which she froze for later consumption. Zucchini bread is our favorite, but not the healthiest, way to consume it. It is too delicious to be very good for you. She also made banana bread and pumpkin bread.

Miriam's baking.

Hannah, Miriam, and I left on Thursday evening and went down to spend the weekend with the Thayns. We had to see that new baby boy. His name is Russell Wallace Thayn. We had a fun weekend together. Sarah and Tosh could not be there, but Tosh sponsored some fun events for the weekend. On Friday we went miniature golfing. There were craft projects, peach milkshakes from the Chick-fil-A, root beer floats, games, and lots of good food. Most of all, we enjoyed just being together. Everyone had to take turns holding little Russell. He is a precious little boy. We’re so happy to have him in our family. This morning we went to church in the Thayn’s ward. After church we had lunch. Today is Tabor’s birthday so he opened presents and we had apple pie or brownies a la mode. Then it was time to come home.

Florence and Russell.

Russell and his dad.

Miniature golfing.

Tabor's birthday.

We arrived home an hour or so ago. Everything here looks good. Kurt took care of the chickens and the gardens while we were gone. We’re tired from spending so much time in the car. It’s good to have Stacey home again. Now a new week lies ahead. It looks like there will be things to harvest  – carrots, cabbages, more zucchini, maybe beets. I need to mow the lawn and weed the flower beds. There’s a slight chance for some much needed rain midweek. August is a busy month. Later in the month we will travel to Idaho for Josiah and Vanessa’s wedding. We’ll see lots of family there and that will be great. It will take some of the late summer melancholic edge off the month. It’s good to be home. It’s almost time for bed. I hope you had a good Sabbath.

P.S. There was much shrieking upstairs a moment ago. A little bat in the house to welcome us home. I ushered it downstairs and out the front door. From all the hysteria, you would have thought it was a vampire bat or a pterodactyl.