I’ve been off social media this month. I do this twice a year usually at least. No virtue in it. I just know when I need to clear my head space. I have been spending loads of time in the garden, reading, slowing down, and preserving my little heart out but I do miss writing, so I thought I would up date you all a little on the garden. I do love sharing the little jumping off creative bits I think of while weeding or when the light hits just right during the golden hour.
What a garden year! Almost perfect. If I had to complain about one thing it would be my carrots. They sulked a bit when I put them in too early this spring. Then it was dry and we are still recovering from the drought last year. In order to germinate carrot seed like it moist ( thanks to Justin Trudeau that word will forever seem weird now), and I didn’t stay on top of it in my first planting. But there I go jumping into the one thing that went wrong.
Peas, garlic, Swiss chard, cabbage (after a little help with wood ash and DE), broccoli, onions, shallots, beets, spring and summer turnip, potatoes, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, lettuces, spinach, green onions, cucumber, tomatoes, basil, herbs, leeks-all producing bumper crops so far. Rhubarb had a hard time but it was my own fault-ill timed wood ash in the spring meant it was tying up nutrients trying to break that down and couldn’t focus on its stalks. I did buy two new beautiful crowns of rhubarb this year as well as blackberries. The chickens got the currants. C’est la vie.
I planted an acre of pumpkins and squash (both summer and winter) at the other farm and whew! That was an amazing amount of work for one lady. But I have high hopes for this little pumpkin patch. It’s already producing summer squash by the bucket full, Delicata is fruiting now, and so many other wonderful varieties I planted. It has gone so far better than I could have ever dreamed.
A little tip for using Bread and Butter Pickles as more than a side pickle is to chop them and put them in tuna or chicken salad. I use the tuna or cooked chunk chicken with red onion, garlic powder and onion powder mixed with mayo . Perfect lunch when dipped with a sweet potato cracker.
The garden just keeps giving this year, and the preserving is semi chaotic right now (as August always is) with me still harvesting, still planting and tending young fall crops, and trying to preserve everything.
My favorite mantra for hearing off overwhelm right now?
How do you eat an elephant?
One. Bite.At. A. Time.
Love,
Jenn xx