End of Summer and the Farm Report

School starts tomorrow.  Summer's over and it seems like it just started.  As soon as school was out we took off to see the Utah family.  Once back it was hard for me to find my daily rhythym for some reason.  Several days of migraine headaches every two weeks that were worse than usual didn't help.  Neither did a mild case of shingles.  Yes, shingles, the old person's disease, wierd.  I don't even qualify for the vaccine for another 10-20 years.  I didn't really realize what it was until it was over.  So, I'm sorry if anyone got chicken pox as a result.  It's just been that kind of a strange summer.  Things finally fell in place a couple weeks ago and now it's over.  Time to shake it all up again.  I'm looking forward to it even though Buddy Boy isn't at all.

And now for the Farm Report:

It has been great to have a bit more garden this summer.  We planted tomatoes, zuccini, and cucumbers in the raised bed and beans and sunflowers along the back of the house.  The sunflowers were just for fun, not for the seeds.  I thought that birds would eat the seeds, but it turns out that little birds have been eating the leaves.  I thought it might be bugs, until I saw the little birds pecking away at the big leaves.  I don't feel so bad about that.  They can have the leaves, and the seeds for that matter.

The zuccini have been great.  I've been able to get my fill of the little guys right off the grill.  They are so good that way.  Unfortunately the cucumbers haven't done so well.  Oh well, maybe next year.

The grapes along the side fence are doing well.  They seem to have enjoyed the harsh haircut they got last winter.  I was a little worried, but I think it worked well.  Since I don't do the wierd pucker face anymore when I try one they will soon be ready to pick and dry.  More raisins.  Yum.

I've enjoyed watching the beans grow taller and taller and wind themselves around until they now reach the roof.  I didn't have any bean poles, so I tied twine on nails under the eaves then tied the strings together in a sort of loose net.  I weighted the bottom down with some big rocks since I didn't have any stakes either.  It seems to have worked great.  I planted tri-color beans, really just three different beans in one package.  They haven't all come on at once.  The yellow beans were first, then the green, and now the purple beans are coming.  Purple beans just make me smile.

The tomatoes are just starting to ripen.  It's been a cool summer so far.  That isn't a complaint, but the tomatoes like a little heat.

The figs are also doing well.  I picked about 8 yesterday, the first of the season.  There are lots more, but we'll see what happens.  Last year I had big plans, but thanks to the squirrels I only got a handful for myself.

So far, so good.