Sunday, August 26, 2018

Picking, pecking, preserving, and posing

With all the family time we've been trying to squeeze in, the garden and animals have been getting minimal attention beyond the essentials. So Thursday afternoon (after my parents left and Brian's lower wisdom teeth were removed but before Rick's sister arrived; whew!) I took stock of the garden. The basil and parsley are doing their best to go to seed, the snow peas have dried up, the bush/pole beans are a disappointment, and the eggplant require patience, but there were a few things to harvest.


Then I walked out to our little pasture pear tree and picked the few perfect-but-petite pears I could reach, and filled the rest of that small bucket and a bigger one with apples from the tree that ripens first.




On Friday, a neighbor brought some overgrown zucchini for the chickens and a small box of tomatoes, enough to can seven pints. (He left with a dozen eggs.)



Now to find time to tackle applesauce and pie filling!

Before I head to the fair this afternoon to look at other people's animals, here are photos of a couple of mine. Friday morning I got to ride my meaty mustang for the first time in too long (will be updating my horse blog ASAP), and earlier in the week I captured a good head shot of my polled Shetland ram Blake. I may be biased, but I think both are handsome boys. 😉

We even have a few pretty posies out front!



That's it for post #2 today from . . .

8 comments:

Sandra @ Thistle Cove Farm said...

You're right to be biased; both are beautiful boys! My weeds are growing fabulously well and some of the basil has gone to seed. I'll harvest some of those seeds for next year so it's all good. /smile/

Retired Knitter said...

How you keep up with all of this is beyond me. Handsome animals, both of them.

Michelle said...

Sandra, one blessing from our hot, dry, smoky summer is that the weeds aren't rampant.

RK, I DON'T keep up with it all, but I'll die trying!

Goatldi said...

Blake has a kiss me face he is lovely for certain. If your meaty mustang was at my house my grandgirl Claire would classify him as a Meatloaf mustang. Which is what Miss Claire calls any critter with extra padding.

Photos are lovely and I envy your harvest. Especially your pears and apples. Because I have to admit defeat almost but I fear I will loose my bare root apple and pear to the smoke and heavy inversion layers created by it. I am not ready to concede yet but I may be buying trees number 2 for pear and 3 for apples in bare root season one more time.

Jeanne said...

I love your photos! The flowers are beautiful.

Are the white "things" eggplant? We used to grow eggplant, but always the purple ones. I don't think I've ever seen any white ones.

How's Brian doing with his extraction sites??

Mama Pea said...

Oh, my gosh, you are one busy, busy gal. Always good to have family visit, but so close to the end of the gardening season and right before school starts? I know the "perfect" time can't always be worked out.

Your veggies and fruits look wonderful. Our apple harvest this year is going to be very sad, so be aware I may be lusting over your apple products!

Michelle said...

"Meatloaf" definitely fits him right now, Goatldi! I'm trying to give him "30 minutes of forced exercise daily" which is the recommendation for Equine Metabolic Syndrome, now that the smoke has abated.

Yes, Jeanne, those are eggplant. I've never seen them before, either, but it was the only color available for Japanese eggplant (the long, skinny ones, which I prefer to cook with) when I was shopping for starts.

My SIL's visit was dictated by my MIL, Mama Pea; I wasn't consulted. But she came during the dahlia festival and the State Fair, so there was a lot to see and do.

Susan said...

Lance is such a beautiful boy! I bet it's been hard for you both, with all the smoky air. Your garden is producing so much better than mine. I wish I could grow eggplant, as they are one of my favorite vegetables. We are getting close to apple season here, so I am looking forward to applesauce and dried apples!