First week of summer

It happened again this morning. The radar showed a lovely dark green and yellow blob headed right for us. The forecast was for a steady rain through 11:00. But about 9:15, it all just disappeared. Again. At least this time we got half an inch. The last several fronts have broken up without a drop. We are grateful for what we got yet frustrated by what could have been and wasn’t. Terry says it is because of cold air masses from Lake Michigan. I think the sky just hates us.

The garden is doing well. Hilda and I took the row cover off the peas, beans, and Coles on Saturday. The peas and kale look spectacular. I struggle with how to use kale. I put kale chiffonade in a pasta dish last night, and we liked it. I’ll try that strategy again—slice thinly and put it in other things. It’s a super food, after all.

The peas--no blossoms yet, but the foliage looks great.

Kale

The beans look good also, although they are full of weeds. I know I am being unreasonable, but I always think, “Damn it! I weeded them once already!”

Beans--and weeds

I do hope we have weeded the asparagus for the last time. We’ve finished harvesting and let the stalks grow so they can store up energy in the roots for next year. Hilda and I sweated for 4 person-hours in the hot sun pulling out the sedge and thistles one last time and then mulched them heavily. When we were done, I was filled with a sense of pride for a job well done.

Asparagus, weeded and mulched

Terry is trying a new variety of blackberry this year. It’s called Chester, and it is blooming already, giving us hope that its fruit might be ripe before the frost. The most interesting thing about it is that the flowers are a pale purple.

Chester blackberries

The grapes are doing well. If we can keep the birds away from them, we should have plenty of grape juice for next year.

Baby grapes

And while we’re on the subject, I went out Friday morning to pick cherries again. There were three robin fledglings inside the bird netting and NO cherries. We need to figure out a different system.

I took a walk around the property to check on the wild black raspberries (not ready yet) and noticed that the restoration area now has spiderwort growing in it. I didn’t see that last year.

Spiderwort

The robins under the deck are growing up. Here is a picture I took with the mirror from a week ago Saturday (June 20).

Baby robins a week ago

And here is a picture from yesterday. I have only seen two little heads stick up so far. Not sure if that third egg hatched yet.

Yesterday

Summer is going by fast. Up until last week, I was going to bed at my usual time (8:00) and reading, even though it was still light out. I realized that this was stupid. I was missing out on one of the parts of summer that I most love.  I started sitting out on the patio to watch the sun set and the sky grow dark. The hummingbirds like to come to the feeder at dusk. I wait until the fireflies come out. That’s what summer is about. Fireflies and hummingbirds—just seeing them makes you happy.