Eyes to the sky...

I harvested tomatoes this weekend.  I always plant purple bumble bee tomatoes.  My favorite way to save them is to quarter them, sprinkle with olive oil, onion salt, oregano, basil, salt, pepper, and garlic.  Then I roast them for 20-30 minutes.  After the cookie sheet cools, I stick it in the freezer.  I keep a bag of them in the freezer for pizzas all winter.  They are so delicious.

I do the same thing with my carrots.  I had a pretty good harvest from the greenhouse.  I made parmesan eggplant out of my little eggplants. They were delicious.  Below is my husband's great pumpkin.  It is making phenomenal growth these last few weeks.

The clouds have been awe inspiring this weekend.  The cloud formation below was all over facebook.  People all over were taking photos. 

The dark clouds in the front mushroomed up in record time.  Within five minutes they covered the white clouds in back.  I couldn't take my eyes off of them.  

Clouds below were from last night.  They were further north.  Later that night the lighting was racing through them.  I took some video.  

This was the calm before the storm.  

The leaves are slowly starting to turn.  We have had such a wet summer there is no hurry. 

The colors and clouds have been pretty inspiring.  I am loving this weather.  

When was the last time you watched the clouds?

Exhausted...

 I did absolutely nothing this weekend.  I was exhausted.  I canned the prior weekend, and the weekend before that I had company, and the weekend before that I was getting ready for company.  I had a rotten week at work filled with naughty students and even more vexing parents.  How embarrassing to be 22 and your mom is calling because she doesn't think things are fair.  Does she plan on going to his job interviews and chatting it up with his bosses?  Anyway, I was pretty crabby by the end Friday.  I didn't do anything this weekend but sleep.  

I think Dollor (that is how it is spelled) understood, because he also slept a lot.  Bless his little heart, he even let me sleep late on Sunday. The above photo is us catching a little sun and sleep on the porch steps. 

I have tons of tomatoes, but I didn't do anything with them.  Except wander through the greenhouse and eat some.  Here is my husband's giant pumpkin.  It is gaining weight daily. 

I don't have any giant pumpkins, but I have quite a few white pumpkins.  I planted plenty of varieties, but these are the only ones that came to fruition. 

I think this photo turned out grand.  The sun was shining though the grass this morning, so I grabbed Dollor, plopped him in front of it, and told him to stay.  By golly he did.  I think it made for a pretty nice photo. 

I feel rested tonight.  I'm hoping for a better week.  At least I won't be running on empty.  

Have you ever had a sleep filled weekend?  How do you recharge?

To everything there is a season...

This is my campfire rose.  Isn't it amazing? The photos are a week apart.  It just keeps evolving.  

These are the first photos.  It started out somewhat light and then the colors get more vibrant with time.  It is just about the only thing blooming so I need to enjoy it.  

I picked my sweetgrass last week.  I didn't get as much as I normally do.  I had a partner, and he was an impatient puppy. Especially since it was very hot that day. 

To everything there is a season, and this is the season of harvest.  I got a pile of plums and a peck of peaches.  It makes for an exhausting weekend, but it is by far the thing I look forward to in the summer.  I am forever thankful for a mom who taught (at the time I felt it was child labor) me how to preserve and use the food from her garden.  I am proud to have this skill.

Something I learned on the internet was the best way to remove the seed in stone fruit is to cut it in half and then gently twist the two sides.  Voila.  They separate easily.   It only took 50 some years to learn that.  I do appreciate the internet when it comes to finding new recipes.   

I ended up with 9 jars of Spicy Peach Preserves, 8 jars of Maple Whisky Peach Jam, 10 jars of Vanilla Peach Jam, 8 jars of canned plums, 2 jars of plum syrup, 2 gallons of plum wine, 2 gallons of peach cider, and a bowl of peaches and plums in the fridge.  There is NOTHING better than a bowl of peaches and cream.  I've been gobbling it up.  

I also harvested some of my carrots. Seasoned them and roasted them in the oven then froze them.  I also canned 6 jars of beans from the garden.  On the herb front, I picked and dried some sage, oregano, and basil.

I forgot to take a photo of my Minnesota midget melons.  They were delicious and I did save the seeds.  

Besides canning, gardening, and chasing a puppy, I managed to braid the sweetgrass.  I am so glad my mom bought me a sweetgrass braid for Christmas one year. Until then, I didn't know it was possible to capture the essence of summer. I take this as seriously as I do canning and freezing food.  

As for puppy chasing, Dollar has us busy. On the positive side, he is keeping the deer and turkeys at bay.  They don't know what to think of him.  

While Ella loved pinecones, Dollar loves sticks.  He is always picking them and carrying them around.  Our yard is littered with them.

The bigger the better.  We can't go for a walk without stopping to inspect every branch and log.  The one below is his absolute favorite stop.  He is determined that someday he will take it home.  

Right now, he is crashed out at my feet.  We are finally getting into a routine.  For a while there he thought 5 am was a great time to eat.  Finally, he realizes 6 might make for a happier household. 

There are some nice sunrises at 5:30 am.  I do appreciate that aspect of getting up early.  

When was the last time you got a new pet? Do you do any canning or freezing?  If so what are some of your favorites?  Who taught you to preserve?  

Camp Hygge...

 I constantly say how thankful I am for the life I have.  These last two weeks have been a prime example of why life is good.  My friend, Christina, came with her niece to visit.  They are from Denmark, and it was her niece's first visit to the United States.  

We showed her niece everything the area has to offer: Spearfish Canyon, a buffalo at Custer state park, the Needles, Mt. Rushmore, the badlands, my parent's ranch, the little Harrold School, a rodeo, a major thunderstorm, Deadwood, an escape room, tubing down a creek, and Devil's Tower.  Whew.  It was exhausting, but fun.  

Poor Lilly had never been in a real crash bang thunderstorm.  It caught us while we were driving across the state.  We also experienced the Badlands in 103-degree weather with no air conditioning.  I fell in the creek inner tubing but survived and the rest of the ride was relaxing.  We got to see my nieces and nephew at the State 4-H Rodeo Finals.  Christina's niece does dressage and show jumping.  It was a bit different, to say the least. 

I wish I had kept track of our miles.  We drove a lot.  Especially when they are from a country that takes 2 hours to cross.  We drove 5 hours and were still in the same state.  I showed her mountains, valleys, badlands, little creeks, the mighty Missouri, cattle pastures, fields of corn and sunflowers.  We saw antelope, mule deer, white tailed deer, big horn sheep, buffalo, and fed my chipmunks out of their hands. In the evenings we taught Lilly how to play poker, played pool, giant Jenga, bean bag toss, and roasted marshmallows.  I don't think things could have been more perfect. 

We got lost, we got found, we hiked, went to an escape room, drove the jeep with the top and doors off, and inner tubed for several miles.  We had Dairy Queen Ice Cream, smoked venison, picnics, and my mom's home cooking.  Life couldn't have been better, except for the thunderstorm.  Poor girl.  

After dropping Christina and Lilly off at the airport, we went back across the state to pick up our new addition.  Meet Dollar.  He is a Wirehaired Pointing Griffon and my new gardening partner.  

As you can see above, he enjoyed romping through my beans and nibbling on my tomatoes.  

He seems to be getting along fine with the chipmunks and encouraging the deer to stay out of my flower gardens.  He has also put the run on our more than bold turkeys. Hopefully, he will keep us young.  

We have sure taken quite a few walks trying to keep him busy.  The fawn in the picture above doesn't know what to think of him. 

That is the extent of our adventures.  I call it camp Hygge (the Danish word for cozy).  I think we achieved our goals.  If you had someone from another country come visit, where would you take them?

Veggies

 My vegetables are doing pretty good.  I got tired or fighting my way through the hail netting, so with my husband's help I made a door.  

My beans and broccoli are doing great. I'm afraid the chipmunks and mice ate the corn and peas.  Drat.

Here is my husband's giant pumpkin.  He has a good chance of going over 50lbs this year.  It is certainly off to a good start.

I, on the other hand, am going for the smallest melon prize.  Here is my Minnesota Midget.  I have two and they look great1

I have 3 eggplants.  That really makes me happy.  I decided to close up the greenhouse as it really hasn't been overly warm here.  Since I have done that, they are making good gains. 

The chipmunks planted some sunflowers for me in exchange for eating my corn and peas.  They really do look pretty and the bees like them. 

The bees must be doing pretty good, as the keeper has added several boxes.  There is nothing better than honey from your flowers.

The motorcycle rally is finally over.  Just a few leftover bikes.  I have no flower photos.  What the hail didn't nail the deer and chipmunks ate.  So frustrating.  I have some pretty special company coming this week and I'm pretty excited.

How are your vegetables doing?  How are your flowers?  Any part of the summer you are glad is over?