The garden is doing SO well this year! But, it's a bit overwhelming to me. I just can't keep up with it right now. I had also hoped to be blogging a little more often, showing new projects and new topics but I just don't have it in me. I'm tired, tired, tired. My chest aches and I get winded walking back from the chicken house. I seemed to be feeling better there for a while but the fatigue and foggy-headedness just won't go away. Something is not right, but I don't know what it is. I suspect I know but am not sure. Thought I knew several times before now. At any rate, I am going to try to keep posting something. It may just be photos or such for a while though.
And speaking of photos, here's a bunch of the garden just so ya'll can see. I hope all of ya'll that have a garden this year are also getting a good harvest. I have managed to can some green beans and some dilly beans for the first time but am not sure how much more I'll do.
Even my eggplants are doing good this year!! Now, ya'll long time readers know how I have fought and cursed with these things over the years, never able to eek out more than a couple puny little fruits. But this year they are really doing good and we have enjoyed several of them for supper. I think what helped was all the rain we got early in the season.
The bug patrol still helps me when I pick green beans. I can't tell what they are eating but they just go nuts over something in the plants. I planted Contender this year and I swore I will never plant a bush bean again. The bending over to pick them is killing my back. I also am not real thrilled with the flavor of the Contender. Oh, it's okay but the French heirlooms have a much richer taste.
I have been ecstatic to see so many honeybees on the corn this year. Just a swarm practically. They were slow coming around but they are here in force now. While they are here they also come up to the house to drink from the chickens' water basin. I'm happy to keep water out for them and we keep several dishes and bird bathes out for such purpose. I don't think the chickens are real thrilled with sharing their water with them but they don't hurt the bees.
The sunflowers are all volunteers but they are doing great! The wild birds use them for food and I'll throw an old head to the chickens every so often. They enjoy picking through them for the seeds.
I had a mystery plant appear in a not too crowded area of the garden, so I just let it grow out of curiosity. Seems it's a pumpkin!! So far I only have this one fruit but I'm hoping it might make at least one more. I'm excited to see if it's going to get very big.
My first year for successful green onions also!! Yay!! These are great and I'm going to try to keep some going at all times. Right now I just kinda pick them as I need them and they seem to be doing fine without going to seed.
It's been an extraordinary year for squash also. I may try canning some for winter casseroles, maybe. If I have the energy. I would at least like to put up some more salsa, peaches and peas, which are starting to come in now. I suppose I could freeze the peas if I got desperate and then can them later. Maybe? Can you do that?
11 comments:
Oh man. I just hate when I don't have the stamina to do things I enjoy. Keep hanging in there Annie trying to figure out your health problems. I had to and it was disconcerting and you feel frustrated and people poo-pahing you all the time. But if you don't do it... who will. You know yourself better than anyone. :)
Your garden produce looks so delicious!
Such nice food, Annie. The eggplant is a gem! I wish all my $ and effort had yielded just the amount you've pictured. A complete failure. No more gardening for me. I'm so weary and the heat is so bad.
For your back - have you considered chiropractic? Sure helped me in past years; need it now but $ you know how that goes, I imagine.
Being weak and very tired is a problem with so many these days. Ah, something in the water, eh? Joking aside, its become a serious situation. Everyone I meet speaks of this. My energy level is zero.
Hey Erin! thanks as always! I will keep hanging in and working on finding out!
Hey Sissy! I've been going to a chiropractor for about a year now. I thought I had written about that but maybe not. Not sure how much he has helped me though.
A lot of people are tired and stressed for sure.
This heat has zapped me too. But I just keep busy in the house so as not to be sitting on my butt all day. I hate summer here.
Your garden has really produced some beautiful fruits and veggies. I love eggplant but it is so expensive and yours looks like a real gem.
I have a volunteer pumpkin, but so far only male blooms. Guess they were sterile seeds or something. Might as well cut it down but instead, I just watching the vine grow. :)
So sorry you are in one of "those episodes." I have them, too. If you don't feel up to blogging, please keep posting the photos. I love them and they tell a story without words. The garden produce is fantastic! Reminds me of mine in years past. I agree with your assessment of bush beans. I eliminated those and stuck with pole beans and peas. Wishing the best for your future health!
I'm not sure why you would freeze peas only to can them later. I just freeze them period. They taste much better frozen than canned which leaches out the flavor and makes them mushy. I shuck the peas, blanch them, cool them off, put them in plastic bags and freeze. They freeze very well. When I want some to eat I simply empty a bag into a microwavable dish and nuke until hot. Easy peasy!
Garden looks great. At the end of the day, it is much more pleasant to be overwhelmed by fresh vegetables than underwhelmed!
Hey jo! these eggplant have tasted so good! I've been hiding out in the basement or house too!
Hey Anon! Most all the blooms on mine are male too but I was hoping to get maybe one more fruit and it has been fun watching it grow. I've never grown pumpkin before.
Hey Ken! thank you! I'll try to keep up the photos if nothing else!
Hey Ed! well, possibly we are not talking about the same kind of peas. I do blanch and freeze some but these are purple hulls, which are common in the south perhaps we cook them a bit different. They are quite good canned actually and not mushy at all. I try to avoid the microwave and I just don't think these would cook well like that. And, I prefer to store food such as this in ways that do not require continued power, like a freezer. I like to can because it requires no further upkeep, you know. And it tastes good to me.
It does sound like a different kind of pea to me. My mind just got focused on the peas we grow up here. Definitely understandable reasons for canning.
Could it possibly be Lyme disease? Thinking of you as you try to figure this out. Rita
Hey Ed! yeah, it must be. These peas definitely require a long, slow cook.
Hey Rita! they have actually tested me for Lyme, possibly even twice, and it came back negative.
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