Back to School and Fall Begins

Last week L started back to school.  First day of school traffic up the quarter mile hill to the schools has always been nuts, but it was particularly bad this year (and even worse on the second day of school, believe it or not.)

1st day of 11th grade

In the days leading up to the start of school, I noticed a couple of ending-type things:

The beautiful end of a day...

The final bloom fell off my orchid

It is always bittersweet to end the summer and head back into the busy days of school.  Sadly, the first day of school brought the sad news that the Theater Director, as well as the Costumer resigned, leaving no one to direct the amazing musicals that our HS has become known for.  It was devastating for L and her theater-nerd friends.

The garden doesn't seem to recognize that summer is basically over.  I have to pick tomatoes about every other day.  I have made numerous pots of pasta sauce that are languishing in the freezer until I use it this winter.  Likewise, I have frozen several containers of (copycat) Panera Tomato Soup for later use, and also canned several jars of tomatoes.  It is not uncommon for me to have an open-faced tomato sandwich on toast daily as well.

I have frozen several pints of corn from the garden over the past couple of weeks also.  And I am just waiting for the perfect moment to pick this lovely watermelon,

I harvested my potatoes last weekend, hardly worth mentioning.

JP and I harvested the pears from our (not just) ornamental pear tree yesterday, and I spent several hours last night and today drying and canning them.  These are the most delicious little pears!

The pears I canned today came out bright pink when compared to last year's pears.  I googled "home canned pink pears" and discovered that the extra high heat with pressure canning (which I did today) makes a natural chemical turn pink, whereas the ones that I canned with the water bath method last year stayed nice and creamy white.

Go figure!

Everything and the Kitchen Sink

Well, summer is essentially over.  The girls and I were able to take one last outing together - we went out for tea and thrifting.

We took J out to Bowling Green State University just over 1 week ago.  Her room is TINY, but we shoved all her stuff in there.  She declined assistance in unpacking, which means that she ended up keeping some stuff that we should have brought back home with us.  I have asked her for pictures of her room and her first day of school, and I'm still waiting.   Apparently, I'm not the only one (this is from the BGSU parents facebook page):

From Bowling Green we went on to Chicago (it took 2 hours to get through the city.)

The Sears Tower

Our destination was a storage unit about an hour west of Chicago.  There we picked up this desk that JP has wanted since 1995.  It has Norman Rockwell's "Four Freedoms" on the front.  He found it on eBay in the Spring and the sellers agreed to keep it in storage for us until now.

We were able to order a Chicago deep dish pizza that night.  It took us 12 hours to drive home the following day - exhausting!

Since we've been home, J has gotten through her first week of classes.  I have been kept busy in the garden.  I've frozen 6 pints of corn and 7 pints of pasta sauce.  While picking tomatoes the other day, I found this nest in my tomato plant!

Finally, this weekend JP and I replaced our kitchen sink.  The builder installed one that we picked out that was made of some sort of composite. We have never been able to keep the drains from leaking for longer than 9 or 10 months.  I have replaced the drains twice without success, so we decided it was time to try a whole new sink.  So far, no leaks (fingers crossed.)

A Little Vacation

 We are back from our yearly trek to Erie for vacation.

The Airbnb we stayed in this time had a beautiful courtyard with trailing grape vines.

We spent several evenings out there playing games and relaxing.

We weren't able to ride bikes this year, but did spend several days on the beaches.  One of the days the sand was so hot that I actually got blisters on my toes!

Soon after we returned home, there was a huge thunderstorm.  The rainwater washed out our driveway, and lightning struck a tree very close to the house.  The electrical surge knocked out several of our electronics, including the phone, the modem, and a tv.

We had plenty of outside work to do after being gone for a week.  I was expecting to have a lot of green beans to pick in the garden, but apparently the rabbits were enjoying them while we were away.  I spent about a long time trying to rabbit-proof the deer fence again.

I picked the first corn for dinner yesterday, and it was delicious!  I found this bonus ear.

I also found this strange egg in the nest boxes this week:

It is almost time to take J back to school.  L has a couple more weeks until she starts back to school.  In the meantime, she has landed a regular job at the library, working Saturdays - today was her first day.

Somehow, summer is almost over.  Sigh.  It happens so fast every year!

Summer Stuff

Unfortunately its been more than a month since I last posted.  The summer hasn't been crazy busy, but it's been steady summer stuff.

I finally got my garden in.  50% or less of what I planted did not come up.  Out of all those seeds that I planted indoors in late March, over half of the little plants withered and died thanks to the poison potting soil from Walmart.  (It had a money back guarantee, so I got my money back.  DON'T USE IT!)

I am just starting to get green beans now; the first planting of corn is in tassel (and it was knee high by the Fourth of July!)

We have also been enjoying some beautiful lettuce and radishes.

J finished crocheting the sweater that she has been working on since Easter Break.

L has attended quite a few graduation parties.  One rare weekend that she wasn't partying, while helping me in the garden, she found a monarch caterpillar.  We put it in the butterfly cage so that we could watch it, and within 24 hours it had transformed into a chrysalis.

The butterfly emerged about 12 days later, and we released it back to the flower bed.

Just a few days later, I discovered that monarch butterflies have been placed on the Endangered Species list.  I'm glad that we could do our part to get one more healthy butterfly out there into the world!

Just this past weekend the girls and I attended our family reunion.  I have 22 cousins on my dad's side alone, and all 5 of my dad's siblings (and their spouses) are still living, with the exception of my uncle, who was killed in an airplane accident when he was quite young.  I always enjoy catching up.  We split up into groups and went on a scavenger hunt and played giant Dutch Blitz.

The girls enjoy spending time with their first cousins and some of their second cousins.

During the week, the girls have been working at the library.  Their summer internship lasts only 6 weeks, so they are part way through their final week.  Unfortunately, that also means that we are on the downhill side of summer and barreling toward the first day of school.  SIGH.

We've been able to get in the pool only a few times, but hopefully we will have more chances over the next few weeks.

How is your summer shaping up?

So...Summer Started!

Sometime in there we went from Spring to Summer.  L's last day of school was June 2nd.  She celebrated with her friends at their annual End-of-School Water Balloon Party.

We have finished picking strawberries and moved right into blueberries.

I weeded my flower bed and put out the pigs and bird baths.

Last week we went camping at Spruce Knob Lake, WV.  To get there, we had to take unpaved roads.  In the rain.

This is how dirty the truck gets in that situation 

We put up the tent in the rain, but had beautiful weather the rest of the time (except for rain the last night as well.)

We put up a hammock in our campsite.  It was amazing the lay there and look up at the trees.

We did a bunch of hiking.  It was gorgeous!

We hiked up to the top of Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia at 4,863 feet.  

It was a nice trip, and I think we finally have all the camping stuff cleaned and dried and put away again - it only took a week.  JP and I have been talking about the next camping trip.

Spring on the "Farm"

It's springtime in our corner of PA.  Things are growing and it's getting very green around here.  This is what I harvested the other day.

We have FINALLY gotten some things planted in the garden.  Our no-till trial has so far yielded a 100% increase in worms in the garden...that has to be a good start, right?

I recently read a sobering article in Consumer Reports recently about the staggering amounts of heavy metals in many common herbs and spices.  If you look at the article, you can see that none of the oregano and thyme have tested appear safe.  I decided that I needed to make more of an effort to preserve some of my herbs instead of just using them fresh.  I just cut off all my oregano and after washing and sorting it, I dried on the rack in my clothes dryer for 2 hours.  I should get another harvest of it this summer.  I'm still waiting on the thyme.

My orchid is continuing to blossom, it now has 3 blooms on the 2nd flower stalk.

There was plenty of color as well at the Immersive Van Gogh exhibit in Pittsburgh last week.

We have also been having some animal sightings around the farm.  This turkey has taken to hanging out right underneath our bird feeders.

J also made this baby snake sighting in the bathroom downstairs.  The picture is so blurry because she was runnig away while taking it.  Unfortunately, it disappeared and we have been unable to locate it in the past week!

Happy Spring!