The Mountain Thymes

Thermometer topped off at 102 degrees by 3 PM.................in the shade........... on the mountain.  Summer squash is ripening smaller than usual.  Cylindra beets are popping out of the ground and I picked a half dozen Dragon's Egg cucumbers today.  Made a couple of cheese sandwiches on oatmeal bread mid-morning for a snack.  Actually, I was curious about the black krim tomatoes and wanted to cut into one and see what the inside looked like and see if it tasted as delicious as it looked.  Not disappointed! They are a beautiful deep red inside and taste scrumptious.  We also sliced another one for our salad at lunch and added a fresh cucumber. more black krim and the first Dragon's Egg cuke These two are awesome and are keepers.  I have seven new tomatoes started for the fall garden, two of which are the black krim. cukes and cylindra beets This morning when Cliff walked out onto the porch, he was greeted by a doe standing in the d...

Just plain hot today.  Went to the garden with my coffee and a bottle of water at 6:30 this morning to enjoy the quiet and watch the titmice flit from branch to branch talking the entire time.  Dug up a few more potatoes and picked eight summer squash.  I've been enjoying the cherry tomatoes now for the past couple of weeks and this morning picked the first two black krim. The green and deep red colors run into each other giving the tomato a rich appearance.  Also picked an Amish paste the other day, which is suppose to be excellent for sauces.  We've been without measurable rain for at least five weeks and the sprinkler just doesn't satisfy the garden as a good rain does.  As of this posting at 3:15, the temperature is mid 90's.

Today was hot, 91 degrees, too hot to work in the garden so about 8 PM when the sun was going down behind the hills, I started down the path to tie up the lanky tomatoes.  Half way down the path I spotted a young doe standing in the Swiss chard staring at me with her big beautiful eyes. I backtracked to the house, grabbed the camera, and took some pictures from the porch of her sampling the parsley and whatever else she wanted to taste. They're a bit blurry because I had it set on full zoom and sometimes it's hard to stay steady. How could you not love those eyes?

Saturday Farmers' Markets are a stimulating place to visit as I social with the vendors, learn gardening tips from the farmers, and try new varieties of vegetables.  This year I planted cylindra beets which are a red elongated shape.  Saturday I bought music garlic and a bunch of orange beets and grilled the beets in foil. Delicious and easy.  Areas in the garden are freeing up again since I've dug up a few potatoes and spinach and lettuce are done.  I'll probably pull the yellow bean stubs today.  They don't stand a chance of producing leaves again with the little hungry bunnies making their midnight visits.  I'll buy beans when the farmers bring them to market.  Today I'll send in my fall seed order in to Baker Creek Farms for Chioggia beets, Ornamental Fringed kale, Brune D'Hiver head lettuce, and Chinese Red Meat radishes.  Mid July the planting can begin again.  Within the next week or so we'll be eating summer squash and have been eatin...

Mother : You're 18. You can do what you want. Daughter: So I can run away? Mother: No. You're 18.  You'd just be leaving. Daughter:  Oh! This will be Olivia's conversation with her mother in fifteen years.  One never knows what will come out of her mouth at any given time.  One day when I was out on the back porch watching the children play, Olivia came up to me, fluffed her long, curly locks and said, "I have all the hair I need."  She gets so excited with life.  Out of the blue, she'll exclaim, "Pau Pau, we have trees!!!" or "Pau Pau, I have ducks!!!"  It was as if she had just opened her eyes and discovered these things for the first time.  Through the eyes of a child......what a world. Olivia with all the hair that she needs.  We put the hummingbird feeder out, Sofia set up her camera and tripod and waited patiently for the HB to show up. Jim did this science experiment with Sofia.  Hayden showing me how to...

After spending that afternoon with the kids digging potatoes in Mr. Mello's garden, I was so enthused and energized that I checked my potato plants the next morning after we arrived home.  He had set his potatoes on March 20 as I had.  I thought they needed a few more weeks, but after seeing what he dug I knew some of ours would be mature enough to dig up.  The garden has about 100 plants and Friday I brought about ten pounds to the house, averaging around one pound per plant.  The Yukon Gold and redskins were the first ones ready and  Kennebecks will be mature late July.  There are still a few more curly red lettuce plants growing in a shady area.  Little bugs share the Swiss chard and kale with me.  I leave the eaten leaves for the insects and check the newer ones daily, cutting them early in the morning before anything starts chewing holes. Last night the deer and bunnies enjoyed a lovely meal of cucumber and bean leaves and a few carr...

 Olivia and Grant After going to the Farmers' Market in the historic section of the city, we took the kids to the walking trail so they could ride bikes and play conductor.  Benjamin riding the scooter Sofia  At the market I met Mr. Mello, a retired paleontologist who lives on about thirty acres of the most beautiful property I've ever set foot on.   Later in the week we visited his farm where he dug potatoes with the children, showed them how to wash and dry the potatoes in preparation for the Saturday market.   view from his garden Hayden and Grant washing potatoes Olivia telling Papa some wild story she's concocted. The Mello home tucked among the trees.  The rustic workshop where he and his wife and daughter hook rugs, weave, and do their crafts.  The family built their own house and the many outbuildings from the trees they felled while clearing for gardens, etc.   Peaceful paths that ...

 Hayden I just spend the most wonderful week with Hayden, Sofia, Grant, Olivia, and Ben........and of course, Lauria and Jim.  There was constant movement and chatter, laughter and tears, new discoveries and hummingbird sightings.  The photos in this post were not taken by me.....but by Sofia, Grant, and Hayden!  Sofia has an eye for composition and captured emotion, texture, and action in her shots.  She also deleted any shots that didn't appeal to her.  We decided suddenly last Thursday that we should go to Virginia to see the children.  When I called Lauria and told her what Cliff had proposed, she figured he wouldn't follow through because it was spur-of-the-moment and that was not his nature, so to avoid disappointment in the children, she told no one.  We packed and left early Friday morning.  When we pulled into their driveway in the afternoon, five surprised children came flying out of the house and Jim asked, "what do you mean ...

Picked the first snap peas.  That's all there were.........so I ate them. Went down to the garden at 7:30 AM in my "Nona" shoes and tied up more tomatoes, picked three cherry tomatoes before the deer could eat them, and hoed around the summer squash.  Cut more Kale and pulled more red frilly lettuce for our salads.  Carrots are still sad looking and some minute insects are eating the Swiss chard.  If I had chickens and ducks, they would be taking care of the slugs and insects. Our box turtle came out of its hole after the Monday night rain and hid under one of the tomatoes plants when it saw me digging in the garden. The John Campbell Folk School  in Brasstown offers free classes for local residents when a class doesn't fill.  I've been reading the site weekly hoping to find a free art class or some other class to take.  Running the weekend of May 18-20 is Gardening & Homesteading: Backyard Chicken Workshop .  It would teach me how t...

Last night we attended the opening performance to kick off the summer activities in the John Campbell Folk School festival barn.  Featured groups included the Rural Felicity Garland  Dancers, Sticks in the Mud Border Morris, and Dame's Rocket Northwest Clog Morris.  No one knows for certain the origin of Morris dancing but it's mentioned as far back as the 15th century throughout Europe.   "Border Morris" referred to the traditions of Herefordshire, Shropshire, and Worcestershire - countries along the border of Wales.  Dancers wore colorful, elaborate costumes with pendant sleeves and attached bells.  By the mid 18th century, dancing became popular with the common folk who couldn't afford the fancy costumes and resorted to ordinary clothing garnished with ribbons and flowers.  Dancers' procession to the stage  A seasonal, ritual dance performed by men with painted blue faces, colorful rag coats, and loud leg bells.  Shouting rude taun...