Festivals and Frogs, Peace and Pawpaws

I hope you've been enjoying these late summer days.  The days have been full, with soapmaking, harvesting, and preserving.  Throw in some workdays, some homestead projects, and a few custom orders, and maybe you'll forgive me for not stopping by lately.  My Mom spied the peace banner, and got it for me... love!

Black and Blue salvia

Hawthorne

I recently saw a preview for an interesting film, Dive!.  It's not something I have a burning desire to do, and am rather squeamish about the thought of that food, but I admire the folks who are gleaning from the waste stream.  I had the idea that our society had gotten somewhat better about our enormous amount of waste, but it appears we have a long way to go.

Pawpaws

Pawpaw season is upon us.  I could stand to expand our pawpaw repertoire, and have been looking at recipes.  They're great in smoothies and fruit salads, and the pulp freezes well.  This weekend, I saw some local pawpaws for sale for the first time ever.  They are typically not seen in the marketplace, because they don't travel well.  They bruise easily, and the bruised area can take on a bitter taste. Otherwise, they have a lovely tropical fragrance and flavor.

12 Apostles lily

While harvesting okra at dusk last night, I had a little tree frog keeping me company.  The light was too dim to get a nice picture.  I'm taking part in a large festival in a few weeks, my largest show ever.  There are 10 batches of soap curing. Today I'll be making my Sirius dog shampoo bar, and I believe that will be the last batch.  There will be lots of soap wrapping going on soon!

A Slow Start to Summer

The garden work has taken place between showers.  It's been an unusually wet year so far.  We are about 6 inches above average rainfall.  The garden was off to a slow start, but intermittent warm days have helped it along.  Joseph and I put bean supports up this evening, and I put cages around the eggplant.  There are at least a dozen green tomatoes.  Every day, I look for blooms on the cucumbers and squash... patience.  I made potato salad with this year's first potatoes tonight.  Garlic was harvested last week.

Our first ever gardenia bloom. I noticed today that two more had joined it.

I've been freezing lamb's quarters, and canning mixed berry jam (raspberries, blackberries and mulberries).  It's beginning to feel a bit like summer.

Things I'm enjoying:

this blended coffee drink. I'm of the age where sleep can sometimes be hard to come by.  I enjoy an afternoon cup of coffee, but rarely  make any for the sake of sleep. This iced drink uses only 5 cubes of  coffee, an amount that doesn't seem to affect my sleep.  Yay!

this summer treat, in Sicilian Pistachio.  My Mom's parents were Sicilian immigrants.  Joseph surprised me with some a few days ago, and I'm savoring it little by little.

sweet images here

this book