Summer's Window Closing

Summer has the best days, but now that the daylight is waning, we are starting to harvest, can, dry, save seeds, and develop our new cold storage plan.

I was waiting to post with photos from Holland, but I'm not any closer to having them downloaded and assembled than I was in July, so that will wait until the madness of summer growing is put to bed. Even though I'm in Canada, I'm sadly not really at home much, so when I am, I'm immediately immersed in the most pressing and least pleasant chores to offer some relief to my, kind and more than helpful, caretaker of the over abundance of projects (that I've started) requiring watering and feeding. 

Our orchard is not only growing, but also producing fruit! It's really pleasing to see; even better to eat. We've been picking the sweetest strawberries for weeks (when we can beat the wasps to them), the few apple blossoms that survived the winds have matured into fleshy fruits (so tasty our resident fox has been picking them for us, and sampling a few), and I returned to ripe raspberries on my last visit home. I suspect next year our berries will ripen earlier, as they will have the chance to start growing as soon as the weather warms, meanwhile this year they started taking root and establishing from dormant plants long after the weeds showed their happy faces. The hazelnut whips we planted are the worst fairing, and I'd be surprised if one even survives. The blueberry bushes are growing but tend to look less lush than I wish they would... however the worst looking plant we dug into the ground - the sole apricot - is bushy and alive! 

What's the best thing about the garden? Probably Jordan's growing fondness for vegetables!! We had hail again this year, torturing every leaf, but there are many signs of recovery and the weather has been warmer than last year, so it's quite possible more plants will fully mature before the frost. Though, the count down is on! Rather chilly nights over the past few days cause some apprehension about our first frost date: September 13. By now, last year, we already had had a light frost! 

So far the turnips are huge, and though lovely fried up, we have so many I'm considering pickling some. Could be a very tasty accompaniment to a kebab type wrap. Some beans, beets and cucumbers have been pickled, and snow peas have been processed for the freezer. Zucchini salsa is hopefully coming soon, including almost all home grown ingredients, plus there are already quite a few bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer! We will save the over-grown, too seedy candidates for treating the chickens.  I'm really looking forward to the mass ripening of six types of tomatoes, possibly mild peppers, potatoes that look promising from above, onions, garlic and kohlrabi... I'm trying not to get too hopeful about eggplants, corn, squashes, amaranth, hard rind squashes, pumpkins, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, and heritage wheat, but I remain positive! I try to keep a smile even when battling the thistles. ;) I will win. As with the mice. It just may not be this year...