only in steamboat

Watch for falling rock

"On life's journey faith is nourishment, virtuous deeds are a shelter, wisdom is the light by day and right mindfulness is the protection by night. If a man lives a pure life, nothing can destroy him." -Buddha. Here's a classic trail crew sign. Look out.
So far we've put away four cases of tomatoes. That's 100 pounds in 24 quart jars. Hopefully we can get 70-100 quarts put up before winter.
The zucchini bonanza is on! Just keeping up with harvest is a challenge. We picked two dozen squash this week.
Dill is blooming.
Late Broccoli is in.
Borage is going off.
Their called Mammoth Gray Stripe for a reason.
Bread seed Poppies.
The gardener's best friend hard at work.

Shelling

"To practice five things under all circumstances constitutes perfect virtue; these five are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness, and kindness." -Confucius. Took a little vay-k to Wisconsin to see family. Man do they have some good food up that-a-way. This is a picture of Mom's new pad complete with garage, shed, three acres, and apple trees! So happy for y'all.Three varieties were all producing lots of fruit. yum.
When we got back we were greeted by this, nine foot tall sunflowers!
Got a lot of catching up to do harvest wise.

Harvested two bushels of shelling peas this weekend. They then had to be shelled, blanched and frozen. Looks like we can count on about two bushels a week for the next four or five weeks.So we'll be spending a lot of time doing this.We'll be putting away a bushel of snow peas that I just picked tonight.
Squash world is a jungle right now. The pumpkin vines are about ten feet long with fist size fruit. Got about a half dozen fist size acorn squash going and the summer squash are starting to yield. The temperature got down to 37 last night. Yikes! Hopefully we get a few more weeks before it drops much lower!

The future of food

Please watch these!

Harvest time

Well harvest time is upon us. The garden's really producing. Lots of broccoli, spinach, and peas. A lot more than we can eat. That means it's time to start putting things up. Been freezin' a lot of spinach this past week. About three bushels full. All from a 30 foot row. Here's an overview of the process.

Harvest.
Wash.
Place in steamer.
Steam.
'Till wilted.
Remove.
Allow to cool.
Chop.
Freeze

Once frozen, place in freezer bag.Label and return to freezer. Viola.
Got a good soaker on Friday. It rained on and off all day with a couple of good downpours.

Here's the squash patch again. The first zuccini is almost ready to pick.

Midsummer's night

"Who is this that appears like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, majestic as the stars in procession? I went down to the grove of nut trees to look at the new growth in the valley, to see if the vines had budded or the pomegranates were in bloom. Before I realized it, my desire set me among the royal chariots of my people." Some serious growth going on. The above and below pictures were taken seven days apart! Finally things are starting to bloom.
We caught a game at Coors Field before the all star break. Decided we had time for it at last minute and just went for it. The Rocks lost though. It was still a lot of fun to see the team live. Also really cool to watch Ubaldo throw. Man does that guy have some nasty stuff!
Some crazy weather going on. It was super hot all week, which caused some evening thunderstorms. Managed to catch a couple bolts on film.

The cottonwoods are extra cottony this year making things extra miserable for allergy sufferers.
First squash blossom. What the heck? Super late. We're not gonna have zucchini till august?
Onion world
Borage is starting to flower. That makes us happy.

Made some new counter space and shelving for the kitchen. No more storing jars in the closet and behind the couch. Plus an extra five feet of counter space. It's like a whole new world in there for us. This is the best thing to ever happen to our kitchen. Here's bashor kitty checkin' out the handy work.

Ameriduh

Daily rain has been a real blessing as everything is real thirsty.

Potatoes are starting to flower.
Early spinach is starting to bolt.
Berries are starting to redden.
Poppies are in full bloom.
A case of green beans all put up. Happy America Day. Don't Tread On Me!!! It sure is amazin' how the city gov can afford all those fireworks while good workers are still furloughed. Guess there's hope. tsk tsk.