Summer's last gasp

 

September is proceeding with its typical temperature fluctuations. It’s warm when that sun is out and cold when the wind blows. Last Thursday was one of the warm afternoons. Our 6 tom turkeys think that we installed solar panels to provide shade for them.

Six toms under the solar panels

The iridescent colors of bird feathers fascinate me. When I got too close to the turkeys, they moved from the shade to the sun, where the reflected light produced a lovely copper color.

Iridescent copper feathers on the turkey facing right

A few weeks ago, Nancy brought us some broccoli rabe plants. She’d gotten them free at a botanic garden. She doesn’t like broccoli rabe. None of us do, really, but it is against our principles to throw away plants. We put them in a raised bed in the high tunnel. At the time, they were puny and chlorotic (yellow). They had been potted up into 2” pots, but their roots were still bound in a 1” cube in the middle of the new soil. No wonder they didn’t look good.

Broccoli rabe

They have come out of it, though, and are finally looking green and healthy. My brother suggested sauteing in olive oil with garlic. We’ll give it a try, although we are not fond of bitter greens.

The lettuce and radishes are getting their new leaves. I will plant the next crop this week.

Lettuce, top; radishes, bottom

Our raspberry harvest this year is slow. We will probably lose the bulk of the berries in a killing frost. Terry thinks it is because the river birch are now so tall that they are shading the raspberries. My hypothesis is that a cold and wet May put everything behind.  Be that as it may, we had enough raspberries to make Ruth Reichl’s recipe for Oléron berry tart. After making and blind-baking the crust, I filled the tart with a mixture of butter, sugar, almond flour, and egg yolks topped with raspberries. I expected the tart to come out of the oven with baked raspberries on top of a dense marzipan-like layer of almonds and sugar. Instead, the filling had risen up to engulf the raspberries.

Almond filling rose up to engulf the raspberries

After the tart cooled, I put fresh raspberries over the baked filling. It was delicious!

Oléron raspberry tart

We finally got some rain Sunday evening and into yesterday. Even though there was no rain on the radar, passing showers moved through all day. Hilda and I were going to put the chicken fence around the Coop 1 run, but after lunch, I declared that it was just too wet. I went for a walk instead. I hadn’t been to the creek all summer. Every spring, I have plans to keep an eye on my woodland garden back there. By June, I remember about the mosquitoes.

There were still some mosquitoes around yesterday, but not enough to carry me off. The whole area was covered in beggar-ticks gone to seed, including much of the woodland garden. The one plant that is doing really well is Joe Pyeweed. It towers above all the other vegetation.

Seed heads of Joe Pyeweed

I don’t remember seeing pokeweed in the area before, but it’s there now. It’s an annual and produces abundant seeds. I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of it.

Pokeweed

The stems are tough and slow to decompose, but I love the magenta color when they are alive.

Magenta stems of pokeweed

Most of the flowers are gone now. When New England aster begins to bloom, you know that summer is heaving its last gasp. It makes me sad. Can’t put it off forever—October begins this week!

New England aster--one of the last blooms of summer