Garden Harvest, and The Day We Lost Forrest

 All of the planning, preparing, planting, watering, weeding, etc. is paying off (as it always does!)... in harvests of farm-fresh, organic produce.  No carbon footprint in transportation... just good ole' Victory Garden style, homegrown food.  Real food - everything on this breakfast plate was grown on the farm.

We've been busy harvesting red and yellow onions, carrots, and two types of potatoes.

After a little time drying on the dining room table, the potatoes are stored for later use in our cool, dry, basement pantry.

The onions are now bundled and hanging in the cool, dark to dry.  And the garlic that hangs in the back, dark portion of the barn is almost dry.

We are currently harvesting cucumbers, and summer squashes.

Tomatoes are starting to ripen.  Peppers will be soon to follow.  Beans will also come a little later.  Winter squashes will be ready for harvest in the autumn.   Later in the summer, we'll dig the sweet potatoes.  For now, though, their vines are vigorously growing... producing more sweet potatoes.

Spring vegetables are finished now... leaving behind several empty garden boxes.  I've planted one with another round of red beets that will be ready to harvest after summer.  I hope to get another crop of sugar peas into the ground before August so that they will be ready to harvest before the first frost.  Forrest heartily agrees with that plan!

It's been a great gardening season.  An early spring helped to give us an early harvest and a longer growing season.  It will be interesting to see what type of autumn we have.  Yes conditions have to this point been optimal for growing.  However, now we are in a bit of a drought making watering a necessary task.  We need rain badly. (Send some our way if you have an abundance!)

I honestly believe that I have frozen at least 50 pounds of blueberries from our bushes.  And they are still loaded with berries!  Oh, how I wish I could send you some - they are delicious!

And by the way... this is the current farm fashion trend...

the gnats (midges) are frightful right now!

🦟🦟🦟

Now.... for the tale of how we lost Forrest... (no worries he is fine!). The other morning, Jack was tending to morning chores, while I was busy doing something else at the house.  He returned  home followed by Annie and Chester - but no Forrest.  This was highly unusual, since it was breakfast time for the dogs.

We called him a few times, to no avail.  So off we went to search for him.  Jack remembered that he had seen him around the barn while doing chores.  We guessed he must have found something very interesting that had his immediate attention.

We drove through all of the usual places with a last stop planned for the field where the compost piles live.  On our way there, we passed the upper duck house only to see this sight....

Yes, there was Forrest - on top of the feed barrels, safely out of reach of the very scary, carnivorous, runner ducks.  

"Hey guys!!  I need a little help, here!"

Yes, the same animals that he once carried around in his soft mouth.

Apparently, he had accompanied Jack into the duck yard during morning chores and was not listening when Jack told him to come out. 

 Thinking he would pick Forrest back up on his way back from the compost piles, he closed the door so that the ducks wouldn't escape.  (And then he promptly forgot that he had left Forrest there... driving right past him on his way back to the house.)

Forrest headed for the safest spot he could find!

He quickly sought refuge in the gator between Jack and I and proceeded to tell me how harrowing the whole ordeal had been.  "Don't ever do that again, Dad!  It was terrifying!"  

 (And yes, I am in a bathrobe - that's how things are when you live in the country!!)