colors of summer.

It is that time of year - canning, drying, freezing, saving. I love when the summer fruit starts showing up - so sweet, so colorful, so fragrant. While fruit season doesn't last long, we try to preserve enough fruit at peak time to last the rest of the year. There is nothing like frozen fruit for smoothies in January, or dried berries for home made granola when the snow is piled high outside. It is a busy time in the kitchen, but it is worth it for all the months we get to enjoy our labor!

It is a busy time with CSA boxes, garden veggies, and recipes at my food blog, cook.eat.think. I'm starting a few things over there - photo challenges, canning, dehydrating, giveaway...all coming soon!

Growing Strong.

The garden is in full swing, and we feel her pull every day. We are growing a lot of things in our tiny yard, but with such good soil, organic fertilizers, and loving care, it is a dense jungle filled with beans, peas, lettuce, squash, peppers, tomatoes, berries, herbs, flowers, seeds and more.


While the general day to day gardening is my domain - and I do love strolling through, watering, picking, tyeing, snipping, placing - the whole family works together happily most days to keep it all going. Today my guys picked quarts of wonderberries, which we made into a delicious jelly - 3 pints worth!


Even with our small space we are bringing in buckets full of food every day! And what cannot be eaten within a week is immediately placed in the dehydrator to dry, is blanched and frozen, or is canned.


Even our deck is a place for preserving food, as we hang herbs, cure garlic, or hang up large heads of sunflower seeds to dry. We have pots of fresh herbs on our deck, which we use for dinner each day, or dry in the dehydrator for winter!


The garden has become a jungle - so lush and green. I must look carefully to find all of its bounty...and it is often like a treasure hunt, finding something where we least expect it.


We have cucumbers growing up a tree. Well, one up a tree, one up a sunflower - all good!


Our rain barrel (yes, that is it above!) is completely covered in plants - including a wandering pumpkin that decided hanging from a rain barrel is the perfect spot!


We have beans and morning glories growing up twine, reaching from the ground, up the deck, and up the sides of the gazebo. There are dozens of tendrils inside the gazebo too, dangling flowers and vegetables wherever there is a space. We have lemon balm, nasturtiums, borage and calendula - for salads, teas, or a vase. While we harvest some sunflowers for ourselves, we also plant many just for the bees and the birds. There are loud excited goldfinches in the garden most of every day, picking the heads clean!


August is when we get busy with the garden and the kitchen. But it is so much fun, and well worth the effort when in February we are eating garden vegetables while watching the snow fall. Although it is very hot this week with thunderstorms and heat warnings, I can feel that autumn is coming. The garden is peaking, and we are ready!