Free Fall

Hello August!

I realize it has been awhile since I updated the blog, and for those who are my loyal followers, I apologize. It seems like life just got so crazy a few weeks ago and hasn't slowed up a bit.

I think, too, that I get so caught up in that 'perfect blog entry' that I don't ever have the time to actually do it (of course not, who does?). What I am going to try to do from now on (fingers crossed) is to update more often but with shorter stories. I also get annoyed with blogger and how slow and clunky it is for photo uploading and moving things around, so you 'old timers' on here, drop me some advice to make my posting faster. TiA.

Barry found quite a great little freebie the other day. He told me he had found a tree that had fruit that looked like "a cross between an olive and a cherry". Hmm....when he took me down to the edge of the woods to show me, I pulled down a branch, smiled and said "Muscadines. We've got wild muscadines!" Then I jumped up and down with happiness and ate a few grapes. Yes, ma'am, this is a great little farm, with or without our help.

So tonight Barry dragged the ladder out to the tree (there are four, actually) and tried to get as many grapes as he could. This is a big bowl, and we've left at least two more bowls on the tree because it is just too high up. If that isn't just the saddest thing I've had to write, but yes, we can't reach all the fruit. Well, I guess the birds will feast on us this month.

For all you non-Southerners out there, muscadine grapes are native to the southeast U.S. and taste nothing like table grapes. They have a thick skin and a sweet, juicy, delectable center that is like candy. Scuppernongs are similar but remain green when ripe.

I'm off to look up muscadine jelly recipes. Mmm...

See you soon~

This Week in Pictures, Part 2

The turkeys are getting bigger every day. They are starting to really look like turkeys (instead of cute chickens) and the males are starting to "strut", when they fluff up their tails and fan them out. They wouldn't do it while I had the camera, of course.

Barry is watering the corn and potatoes. He's looking a bit grim about the lack of water, and the extreme heat lately. It affects him as much as they plants, and they both wilt.
















Last night during Bee Rush Hour.


















A volunteer squash of some kind in the compost pile. We don't know what it is since we haven't eaten much squash this year. Clearly the compost doesn't get hot enough to kill seeds. I'm hoping for cucumbers.
I made this berry tart with an almond flour crust (no gluten for my friends who ask) and homemade cottage cheese for the base. The blackberries are from around the corner, but the strawberries and giant raspberries are from the store. Seriously, how do they get them to be larger than strawberries? I probably don't want to know.














Scarlet Runner beans. Not as prolific as we'd like, but they have pretty red flowers in late spring.

Squash blossom in the garden. This is a summer squash I planted only a few weeks ago and it is going nuts and taking over the entire garden. Next year I'm planting all the squash types out in the field where they can take over and run amok.
My first strawberry from my planters in the front yard. Tasty and beautiful.