I know, I’ve been quiet this week. My kid sis and darling baby nephew are visiting, my oldest is away at camp and we have been in the grips of a heat wave. I’ve spent the week kissing baby toes while trying to stay cool and hydrated! But never fear, I did find some time to get outside this week…
Plant Something: Nothing, nada, zip. It’s way to hot to try and start anything. I did pick up my fall seeds though. Need to get those going by next week — no time to lose!
Harvest Something: Chamomile, lots of basil, thyme, sage and rosemary. Cut a few green onions, too. Oh! We also got 30 cherries from our tree that finally managed to produce something.
Preserve Something: I picked up a couple of pounds of garlic scapes at the Farmer’s Market Saturday and turned them into a delicious pesto after combining them with some garden basil, olive oil and parmesan. We ate a ton but I managed to freeze a couple of pints worth for later use. I also dried a bunch of herbs for winter.
Waste Not: With my biggest yogurt eater at camp, we ended up with an extra quart that needed used before I started a fresh batch. I turn half of it into ricotta for a crockpot lasagna and used the other half and our tart cherries for dessert smoothies. Better than tossing it out!
Want Not: I made my nephew two dinosaur taggie stufties with scrap felt and batting, which he adores, instead of hitting the stores for a gift.
Eat the Food: I used the last of our frozen vegetables from last summer this week. Just in time, since it looks like next week harvesting will be starting in earnest on a few of my plants. We also didn’t eat out once, opting to pack picnic lunches when out sight-seeing with sis.
Build Community Food Systems: Really, all I have done here is support my local farmer’s market and introduced my family to it.
Skill Up: It’s not much, but I mastered the use of my hand cranked food processor. I also am getting better at drying herbs on the racks and figuring out when they are dry enough. Learned to make cheese with the yogurt, which is so simple I am looking forward to experimenting with it more further!
Did you accomplish anything with all the heat?
