The Best of Summer

It took me no time to get back into the rhythm of normal daily farm life yesterday.
I awoke to a cool, sunny morning...
a bright blue sky filled with storybook clouds.


After morning chores were finished, I headed up to Becky's to pick some peaches


from her tree's heavily laden branches.


By the time I finished, I had about 10 pounds of peaches.
(Which also included the 8 peaches that were on my own tree.)


I decided that rather than make a peach pie right now, I would peel and slice the peaches
and freeze them.
I simply clean and slice the peaches and pack them in a vacuum sealed bag.
Then, when I am ready to bake a pie, I will thaw them and add sugar and bake them.
Mmmmmm....how wonderful a peach pie will taste in the middle of winter!

After the peaches were done,
I cleaned and chopped yesterday's hot peppers and canned hot pepper relish.


While I was out doing afternoon chores, the clouds began to darken and I thought a storm
might be brewing.  Unfortunately, we got no rain...and boy do we need it!


I took a few watermelon treats to the pigs...
something new for them.
Ginger loved the watermelon.
MaryAnn wouldn't even try it.
(Just like kids!)



Curiously, after weeks of hanging out in the barn, Kenny finally emerged


and went for a walkabout.


(I dropped off a piece of watermelon for him as well.)


Even though temperatures were quite hot yesterday, with relatively no humidity
the animals didn't seem to mind the heat.
The goats rarely seek shade...they don't seem to mind the heat.


The sheep spend their hot afternoons in this grove of trees.


You might notice that there is no underbrush or leaves for the first three feet from the ground.
The sheep are excellent landscapers and will clean out all manner of brush.

I wanted to show you how pretty Faith has gotten.


Her brown fur with black accents is just lovely, I think...
and next to Hope (who always looks a little dirty) Faith always looks clean.


As for the garden....


the corn is ready.


A few ears were lost to a fungus....I presume due to the weeks and weeks of rain we had.


Tomatoes


and cucumbers are gifting us generously.
These are lemon cucumbers.  They look a little like lemons, but taste exactly like a cuke.


There is tons of basil as well, so I will be making spaghetti sauce in the next few days.


I am still harvesting an occasional squash, but they are almost done now.


I love the way the gourd vines have covered this trellis.


And my favorite corner of the garden is this little sitting area,
shaded by perennials, vines and an umbrella.


(You can see I need to do a little weeding!)

Beets are in, so I will be roasting a bunch of them...


What you don't see in most of the pictures that I post are the ever-present
turkeys, Tom and Chuck.
It's hard to believe these two are six years old now.


The rest of this week will be spent continuing the catch-up...
mowing the front pasture,
cleaning out garden boxes in preparation for fall gardening,
and putting up tomatoes, and tomatoes and tomatoes!!

I'm really looking forward to the weather at the end of the week....
highs in the 70's...
sounds heavenly!

What are you up to this week??

Comments

jaz@octoberfarm said…
i thought all pigs would love watermelon. i am locked in my house each day with teddy from 7:30 until 3:30 every day. the painters told us yesterday that this will take 2 months. i am not happy!
jaz@octoberfarm said…
ps...we got tons of rain...finally! i love your scales!
Lynne said…
WOW . . . amazing . . .
Love the zinnias too . . .
Unknown said…
What a fun walkabout! I feel like I'm on the farm with you through your images! The turkeys are so funny- like sentinels that guard the place! I confess that I am smitten with your dear lambs!
Anonymous said…
I'm still playing catch up from my weeks of traveling. I can't believe the weeds, will I ever get catch up? Faith is adorable, snuggle time for sure. I will be canning tomatoes this week and probably for the next couple of weeks, yikes they went crazy. Enjoy your cooler temps ours are still in the nineties, Oregon go figure? June
This N That said…
WOW..Those peaches look yummy, yummy..My favorite fruit..I wonder what brought Kenny out of the barn..Is he getting picked on again??Enjoyed you produce pics..Faith has become pretty...Love the playhouse with it's sunflowers..Enjoy this beautiful day..xxoo
Anonymous said…
hi bev...so enjoyed reading of your's and tyler's adventures...and all that heart melting love...those peaches look fantastic and a fresh peach pie...in the depth of winter...yum...faith, hope and gracie do quite a clean-up job...now turning my thoughts and projects to the fall/winter holiday season...the animals are wonderful as always...thank you for sharing...take care...sally
nuri said…
Lovely photos, mouth-watering photos, endearing photos (love how the turkeys follow you around) and video! Have you posted your recipes for hot pepper relish and spaghetti sauce before or could you post them, please? That relish looks "to die for"!
Amazing that Annie wants to play fetch even in her freshly stitched-up condition - and here I imagined her drinking out of a straw for a while!!! ;-)
Go, Kenny!
daisy g said…
Those peaches look absolutely mouth-watering! I sure hope you sampled a few before they got frozen!
Your garden is lovely. I sure envy your temps. We won't have 70's until near October. Enjoy!
An American in Tokyo said…
Beautiful, beautiful!! =)

How large is your freezer and fridge?! You must have industrial sized ones because of all the great veggies you harvest!!