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On the Trails at Brazos Bend State Park
Now that we’ve entered the non-camping zone of summer, I am now looking back at our second to last camping trip of the season. In early May we went to Brazos Bend State Park; it was warming up but it wasn’t unbearable quite yet. Thanks to the shady campsite we had, we were able to stay a little cool in the middle of the day by lounging in the tent. Our last camping trip, to the LCRA Matagorda Nature Park was the opposite of that—hot, sticky, no shade. At Brazos Bend there really is a plethora of things to do and it is probably one of the more popular parks…
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In the Edible Garden | Early-Mid June 2017
Tomatoes have started slowing down in production, which frankly—and I can’t believe I’m saying this—I’m glad about. The hustle of getting food processed over a few short weeks when everything is in abundance can be tiring. Especially tomatoes. That said, we are still rolling in blackberries and green beans are still giving us a good amount to stash and freeze once a week. We should have more beans over the coming month or two as I recently planted Dragon Tongue, Painted Lady, and Royal Burgundy. In addition, I should have Big Red Ripper cowpeas coming eventually, too. A crazy canning and food preservation day a few weeks back. Earlier in…
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Enjoying June’s Blooms
The patches of tropical milkweed have been blooming profusely the last few months and have now made it all the way into seed setting stage, with their fluff floating seeds about the garden, ready to start more milkweed wherever it pleases. Last year I moved a couple of plants that had sprouted next to our driveway about 30 feet away from the garden. I went ahead and sowed some seeds on the potting bench in an effort to get more milkweed germinated ahead of the August/September return monarch migration in hopes of having some plants in containers by then. I have three I also dug up from the compost that…
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Tomato Portraits (and a couple of Squash!)
A few tomato portraits from this season. It’s been a few years since I’ve taken fruit and vegetable portraits—err, looks like I filed a kombucha post in the wrong category as you will see if you click through that—and I got around to doing a few one day before canning a few weekends ago. Hopefully I can get out and do some more this summer! Togo Trifle/Togo Trefle: These tomatoes have been fairly prolific this season but they have also been targeted heavily by the leaf footed bugs and as such I’ve had a ton of them rotting on the vine because of those pesky insects. Rutgers: This tomato isn’t…
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Friday Five | 9
It’s been awhile since I’ve done one of these, last August, in fact! This will be one part good things, one part things I’m reading/link-ups, and maybe one small rant. Blackberry Jam! Last summer I made my first ever batch of blackberry jam. It was a half batch and the jars lasted all year after I had canned them. This was awesome! About a month ago I was going to open the last jar to use up before the blackberries came in but I was dismayed to see that the jar had come unsealed! So sad! I opened it and it smelled fine but I wasn’t about to test it…
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Around the Garden | Spring 2017
Being a photo heavy blogger has lent itself to being more difficult these last few months. The interest in processing large quantities of photos waned and I found myself wanting to spend a lot less time on the computer during the evenings and weekends. When I did process photos, I then could never find the time, rather, prioritize the time, to sit down and write a blog. What would I write about? This is blooming, that is blooming, we’re harvesting this and this and that. Sometimes it all seems rather monotonous to keep sharing but I know that I definitely regret when I look back at particular points in this…
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April & May Harvests from the Garden
Taking photos of the harvest on a consistent basis started when I stopped one day to put some of our pickings on the slab of rock on the pathway to the house. I took a few photos and Forest and I went inside. The next time we were out I wasn’t planning on taking photos but as we approached the path Forest began getting excited and talking about taking photos and wanting to arrange the harvest himself. Well, I couldn’t say no, so I started trying to make an effort to take photos each time. Then I remembered the leaf and vegetable portraits I did a few years back on…