Trading Vegetables

All things considered, this hasn’t been an overly hot summer here in northwest Montana. Two years ago, we had weeks of 90+ degree weather—June was especially bad—and I had to rig up a misting system for the chickens. Still, I have a lot of trouble with the heat. It totally saps my energy. I’m good until about noon and then I become a slug. We have three days of forecast high 90s this week, after which we are supposed to cool off and (hopefully) get more rain.

Our friends, Tom and Marcie, gave me a bag of green beans yesterday. Their garden always produces a ton of them:

I like these wide ones. I will run them through the green bean frencher that Elysian gifted me a few years ago and can them up today.

Tom and Marcie know they are welcome to tomatoes from my garden. I love that we all share the bounty around the neighborhood.

Speaking of tomatoes, I am tickled by the lovely colors this year:

The green-and-orange Zebra Ezels are fun. At the top is a Black Strawberry. That one looks almost glassy to me. And the yellow is another Atomic Sunset.

The first Paul Robeson is almost ready to taste. Sarah said she really liked that one. Its appearance is nothing special, but sometimes the most unassuming tomatoes have the best flavor.

Anna got the last three zucchini from my garden. I think I am going to pull up those plants soon. They are done producing and the vining squash are running over them.

I’ve been watering the apple trees every couple of days. We have great water pressure, but I have to water 20 trees and that takes about 45 minutes. The Lodi apple tree I bought at Costco in March is still struggling. That tree took forever to leaf out and now it just looks pathetic.

I am sure we can replace it next year with something else. Susan has at least a dozen grafted trees started for me. She showed me the list after church a couple of weeks ago. One is a Sweet Sixteen. I had a Sweet Sixteen (from Costco), but it succumbed over the winter a few years after we put it in. I will be happy to have another one.

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According to my calendar, fall is going to be busy. I’m teaching quite a few classes and taking another trip to Tennessee (October). Things don’t really ease up until after Thanksgiving, although December could be busy, too, depending on what Christmas activities we plan at church. I’m okay with this schedule, because having so much already on the calendar makes it easy to say no to additional requests.

I am still looking for my sew-jo. I am stuck in that place where it would be nice to have some additional T-shirts and dresses for hot weather, but I’d like to start sewing for the cooler months to come. Nothing really excites me and that’s the problem. I have four yards of a sweater knit that might become a duster-length Harper Cardigan. I am teaching that class next month and it would be good to have another class sample, or a cardigan to wear to class, depending on the weather.

I suspect my energy and motivation will come roaring back once this hot weather eases up.