Sweeping Changes

For the past couple of months, I've not had a vacuum.  The refurbished one I'd bought a number of years back finally gave up the ghost.  So, I've been sweeping the floor.  I've noticed how I enjoy the quiet, and the peaceful rhythm of it.  Thankfully, I have all wood floors, which makes it doable.  The floors, however, are 1930's era, from a schoolhouse up the road that was being torn down.  And they were a first experience in laying wood floors, so it's not as tight in some places as others, making some cracks where dirt can get down into.  So, I don't love that piece.  When I mop, I notice the floors are not as clean as when I vacuum. 

For a few years, ever since I read an article on a simple homemade system, I've been thinking about installing a central vacuum.  The things I don't like about vacuuming are the noise of it, the smells of an old unit, and the dust it emits.  The central unit takes care of all of these things, as it lives outside the house.  We found some used, though in great shape, hosing online, with attachments.  So now we just need to get a new shopvac, and the floor pieces that you connect the hosing to*.  I've asked J if he can get it set up for my birthday in a few weeks.  *He ended up buying a used central vacuum module, instead of the shopvac.

Despite the heat and dryness, the garden is producing quite well.  This week, I've canned more dill pickles and tomatoes, frozen okra, and shelled lots of limas.  The above picture is of the heirloom limas I wrote about recently.  They're quite a prolific variety.  I canned elderberry jam today.  I have a good amount of syrup left from last year, so wanted to try jam.  One of the women who came to the open house makes tea from dry berries in the winter, so I'm going to dry the next round of them.  We ate our first canteloupe yesterday, and I've got a basket of crowder peas to shell today.  It's good to know we'll eat well this winter.  How is your garden growing?  I'll leave you with a most appropriate cartoon that was in my inbox this morning.