Hello Summer!

It's official...
Summer is here.


She arrived on Saturday and brought her evil stepsisters,
Heat and Humidity, along with her!
Actually, although it is warmer and more humid,
it has not been bad at all.


All of the gardens were watered by a night of rain on Friday.
Luckily, we had gotten two loads of hay stowed in 
the barn before the rains came.

The hay arrived right after we had gotten the horses back to the barn from
a night in the pasture.


It's fun to watch Moonie slowly make his way back to the barn...
exhausted... too tired to even hold his head up.


Even the presence of the hay elevator didn't stop him 
from heading in for breakfast and a nap.


Moving hay was a family affair this time,
with Becky and Rob and the kids helping...
we moved 200 bales of hay into the hayloft in just an hour.
There have been times when just Hubbs and I have had to do it
by ourselves... and it's a lot of work.
Having all of this help was wonderful.


Saturday morning I headed out to get some local strawberries.
The traffic was horrendous!


Saturday afternoon, our friend, Elena, brought her seven hens
to join our flock.  Sadly, she is moving to Michigan,
and cannot take her hens with her.


By Sunday afternoon, the girls were relaxed enough to venture 
out of their house for a mealworm snack.


Sunday was a quiet day here on the farm.


After morning chores, I busied myself with weeding the asparagus patch.
It's amazing how filled with weeds it can get in just
a few weeks' time.


There, that's much better.


We are absolutely inundated with sugar peas.


I was able to pick a few pounds of them yesterday,
and also the first of the raspberries were ripe.


I froze these, and will continue to do so,
until I have enough to make a batch of jam.


There is nothing quite as wonderful as the colors of summer!
Bee balm always looks a little like an alien flower to me.


The view across the road from our farm...


Old buckets filled with flowers...
where once there was one little plant...
now there is a bucketful!


I did a little sewing this weekend...
another twirly dress for Mackenzie -


and some todder-sized masks -


All in all, it was a pretty full weekend...
and a great start to summer.





Comments

Anonymous said…
Red flowers look so pretty in buckets!
daisy g said…
We are easing into summer as well. I can still enjoy cool morning walks, what a treat.

Your sewing projects are adorable.

Glad someone is getting enough sugar snap peas!

Have a lovely day!
jaz@octoberfarm said…
moonie is so cute! i ran into a traffic jam like that the last time i was in ohio! i'm just starting to get snap peas and green beans. the strawberries are wonderful this year! i love those masks....too cute!
Lynne said…
Wishing you happy summery days!
(Low on the humidity would be my wish as well.)
Loved the twirly dress, and the masks . . .
No doubt “the littles” will need them at school in the fall.
Might be a good project for me!
littlemancat said…
Love the traffic jam - that's my kind of traffic! And hope those beautiful hens continue to do well - I'm sure they will. How sad Elena must feel, but happy that they are in your wonderful care.
And those sugar peas make my mouth water!
Mary
I absolutely love sugar peas and that asparagus is looking pretty good too. The fairies are planning on leaving tomorrow and should be at your place by Friday depending on how often they stop to let the dragonflies rest.
Anonymous said…
Hello from Michigan! I'm sorry your friend had to leave her hens, but for the record hens are allowed in Michigan-lol
In all seriousness, thank you for your daily posts, I love living the dream through you and your lovely family.
Anonymous said…
Smitten Kitchen has an excellent pickled sugar snap peas recipe. (I add a couple of strips of lemon peel and a couple sprigs of thyme.) They say refrigerator pickles are good for 2 weeks but I have eaten these at 4 months and they were delicious. /Gretchen
Margy said…
I love the tiny masks! You are so talented. I so enjoy your blog and look forward to it!
This N That said…
Glad you had help with the hay.That's a rough job...Hate the evil stepsisters..I think they are here to stay..
Don't envy your traffic..It's probably worse than car traffic..Nice of you to provide a home for your friends chickens..The more the merrier..Sugar Peas...Yum..Asparagus too..Cute dress for Mack..Stay cool..It's awful out there today!!
Karen said…
Honestly - my mouth was watering for those raspberries:)

LOVE the masks and twirly dress you made. I recently bought your plaid bag on etsy - and it is truly a work of art! I told my husband that on September 1 - I can't wait to use it (he asked why am I waiting? - I told him that it's a fall/winter bag - 'oh' he said:) - I at first thought for a tote bag - but I love it as a purse:) Thank you SO much for making it for me/us to enjoy!
deodar said…
I make a cake with my bee balm flowers, I think it's tasty but I have one grandson who's not a fan ("tastes like soap" says he).
Judy said…
I love your blog and your farm with all its animals.
Can you explain to me why you leave the horses outside all night when you know they can't get any sleep? I've never had horses so I don't know why you do this. It seems like it would put undo stress on them. I'm not trying to criticize, as I know nothing about caring for horses. Just trying to understand. Thanks.