Friday, June 24, 2011

Summer weather is coming back!!!


The past two weeks have been pretty hit or miss with sunshine. The last week was not so summery but perfect for what I needed to get done in the house! I'm so thankful for the variety of weather we get!

Last night after the kids went to bed I went outside to look over the animals and I decided to take my time checking on the garden. I was very surprised to see, pleasantly I might add, that my cool weather crops are coming up with a vengeance!!!  This cool rainy weather has been such a blessing in so many ways! I hate it when people complain about the weather, sure we all want sunshine but sometimes we need a little rain to get back on track!

Not only have my cool weather crops came up wonderfully (except my peas) but the weeds have also came up in what seems like overnight! So I spent about an hour picking out the bigger weeds. I do not have time today or tomorrow, but possibly later this coming week I will have to really concentrate on my garden! I don't want to let those weeds get the upper hand on me! I need to get my scarecrow cowgirl set up and placed in the garden too.

I mowed the lawn just last week and despite the cool weather and lack of sunshine the grass grew like crazy too! Now this coming week will be more "seasonal" in the 70's-90's so I will have to plan accordingly. I also have to get out to pick strawberries. They are just starting to ripen in the patches here and if the temperature really does get that high they will go really fast. Last year they were only good for about a week, then they rotted right on the vine. I was so thankful I got to pick strawberries and process some jam and frozen ones before baby #2 was born! In fact I had been hoping to go into labor and my due date was that Friday. I went picking on Wednesday before my due date and went into labor about 2 hours after I put the last strawberry in the freezer! I also canned about 2 dozen pints of strawberry jam before I froze the rest! Wow, talk about thankful! If I hadn't gone out that day I would have missed out on the berries because by that weekend the patches weren't open for picking anymore!

I can't wait to process strawberries this year! I've already did violet jelly, dandelion jelly, rhubarb jelly, now it's strawberries turn! My house is pretty much organized, although not decorated as homey as I would like it, I still need to get my farmgirl touch on this house, but that will come with time! It is more important to put away food for the winter. I do NOT want another winter like last! It was so awful having to buy store bought jelly after I ran out of my strawberry jam! Plus I wasn't able to preserve anything from a garden because I wasn't able to have a garden last year. Oh nothing is like the taste of a homegrown tomato, still warm from the sun and sliced between some homemade bread! Oh nothing like summer time! I am excited to taste my heirloom varieties this year! I am trying a new one out from Italy! It is like a beef steak but  can also be used for sauces! Yay for more than one use! That is why I love heirloom varieties soo very much!

Happy Summertime!
~KT

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