A Bushel and a Peck and……

Camera in hand!

Yep! we have one camera left at home. We share this one, but the other share-holder seems to use it the most often. Hmmmm....... now I can take pictues too and share what is happening here.

July is definately berry season here. We have been busy picking, jam-ing, freezing and picking somemore!


Our own raspberries! So many of them coming on! My husband says please don't sell them- please! No doubt, raspberry jam IS his favorite!

This year may be the first year since we moved that we likely won't be U-picking blueberries. Sort of sad but on the other hand, we got about 25# off our first picking! Probably picked about 1/3 of what is still coming!

My novel funnel -a flex cutting mat with a little scotch tape to keep it in place.
Works great!

A neighbor called last evening wondering how busy I was, "Hmmm" I thought maybe she had another "project" in mind for us...... Well turned out she had gotten free apricots and was done with her share. So gave us about '20' lbs well more like 30+. This is the kind of neighbor that is hard to get to know, but the Lord has given us some "ins" with her in a unique sort of way and besides she loves our strawberries too.

Pack it away for winter! When the cough and colds come, we are thankful for yarrow tea. It really helped for Heidi's cough a week or so ago.....

Mullen too for respiratory. Throw in a pine bough end an wow it clears up those coughs! Amazing! This mullen is a bit sparce. Usually it is very tall and abundant. But I had to pray the Lord would help me find some!

One beautiful lavendar bush!

The pruning process.... is one of those things in which I dare not consult my feelings.... because it's so ruthless. It just has to be done! Now it's one thing to pinch out those tiny little shoots but today? well I just grit my teeth and starts cutting out suckers. It's hard to watch when the plants are already so big.... They needed this a week ago. They are so full looking.......until.......

.......they just look like stocks. BUT it works so well! Especially in our area where they don't get an abundance of heat. Amazing though, how much fruit they put out. Almost thought this would be a year without tomatoes as we didn't start any....We just had such a full spring otherwise.... But thanks to a friend, who started lots, we have some this year . The plants are healthy and doing well!

Tomatoes are one of those die hard things I do every year. It's almost redundant. Sometimes I ask why? we don't have the earliest harvest here.... They have to ripen in the house- often in November....Who wants to can tomatoes in November. Well... we use plenty of them ......but it just wouldn't be the same without tomatoes! or the lessons shouting from their silent stalks, I prune, tie and arrange them in their growing process, the lessons whisper to me every year......

This arrangements always looks so neat. 100 ft row of string for beans. Now they can climb! This year Ron lowered the top wire. It had been about 8+ ft and was a pain to string and pick that high. Why didn't we do that years ago! Such a breeze to string today and will bemuch easier to pick too. It
took about 45 minutes to put in place. Ususaly it takes a couple hours, two people and an 8 ft ladder!

Like a threaded loom, it adds a vertical dimention to our garden-scape. Works great to shelter some crops.