Bee~ Journal of then...

[2dream]

Bee - where do you get the energy? I get tired reading all your ideas. LOL

Glad everything is going so well. Missed ya. I love my mom but she has what I call the "The Princess" gene. She does not own power tools. I think I might have Mom Envy.

So glad everything is ok with your Mom and your Dad seems to be settled and satisfied.

 

[punkin]

Bee, it sounds as if your whole tone of life has changed back to our ever optimistic, future planning, love all things, BeeKissed.

I'm so happy for you. You seem to be in a good place.

I envy you visiting that farmer's market. It sounds like my idea of what one should be. Ours is just a (short) row of pickup trucks backed in under a shed. Everyone sells the same thing: corn, melons, tomatoes and beans (one does have Brussels Sprouts).

But, you are giving me ideas about setting up next year with some of my homemade products (that I haven't got done yet, but is a winter goal to do).

 

[TanksHill]

Welcome back bee!! Glad all is well!!

 

[lorihadams]

Sounds like you two are going to be a force to be reckoned with!!! Good thing you got the new camera so we can see pictures of all these new projects!

 

[BeccaOH]

Welcome back!

 

[Beekissed]

Becca, I love your siggy line!

Just cruisin through tonight, as I am on call and shouldn't be tying up my phone lines.....

Can't resist peeking in and seeing what everyone is into....all these chicks and ducks hatching!

Tomorrow I can be on here much longer and can finally read up on everyone's summer canning and projects.....love all the new ideas!

 

[Beekissed]

Well, today was mildly productive and blessedly beautiful here in the mountains. The humidity finally broke and there was a lovely breeze, fluffy multi-hued clouds and mild sunshine....my favorite kind of day.

The walnut trees are really shedding. In this breeze they spiraled down to the ground in showers of gold...positively lovely to watch. Made me feel like I could see the Earth turning. Love it!

Got a late start but got the fencing taken down around the garden. That blasted, ineffectual fence that took so much fiddling and patching and didn't really keep chickens out. Surprisingly enough, it kept the livestock and dogs out very well...even when the electric was not on!

The boys shocked the corn, I harvested a few spindly ears and cut it off the cob to use in soups later. The corn fodder will be stored up in the hay for later this winter.

With the weeds mowed down I discovered quite a few green tomatoes! Unfortunately, with the fence down, so did the chickens and the livestock!

The maters have decided to set on fruit....a day late and a dollar short. I doubt if they will ripen before cold weather, but who knows? The pepper plants were pitiful, with some taller then my waist and others above my ankles and shriveled. Worst garden I've ever grown....a combination of getting it in late, cold and wet spring weather and neglect.

NEXT YEAR.....just you wait!

It felt good to get the yard and garden partially cleaned up and one project down the tubes.

Next Saturday we start on the horribly dirty and cluttered outbuilding and the cellar. YAY! The boys think I'm slave driving them..... ...they worked a total of two hours today..... :/

The Bettys and Hitch have died and gone to heaven! They are eating everything they can reach, from big yellow squash to green tomatoes. They were even eating my pepper plants!

I didn't get nearly enough done today but I did get out in the sun and fresh air and I did get a little work out of my lazy-boys!

My mother and I decided to make the garden into a large squarish oval shape next year. This way we don't have to turn the tiller in a corner of the fence. We plan to till around the entire inside perimeter of the fence and plant our tomatoes along the fence and use it as a trellis. We are putting in a permanent fence this time....no darn electricity! T-post and woven wire, good and sturdy to last a long time.

Imagine a large oval standing on its end...as the garden runs long ways in my yard from top to bottom. We will plant tomatoes around the sides and the top and flowers across the bottom. Then we will have straight rows across the middle about 2.5 ft. wide, with 2.5 ft. wide permanent pathways.

The top row will be large sunflowers acting as a trellis for pole and bush beans. Mom tried this for the first time this year and was just tickled with the results! She says she will never put up bean trellis again.

Mom asked "What about the animals eating the leaves hanging outside the fence?" I said they are welcome to anything that grows on that side....it will only keep things neater if they trim it up!

I already have a gate put up on this side and will install another across the garden from it with a permanent pathway across the middle. The gates will have spring hinges or a spring of some kind to bring them shut behind us.

Doesn't that sound great? I will, of course, take pics when we get it built and laid out. We are selling her big ol' Troy-Bilt tiller and will buy a smaller, more manageable one that won't be so wide. We want more narrow rows this year....like 2 to 2 1/2 ft. wide.

It will be so great to have a partner in crime this year! I bet we grow the best garden yet, between us both!

 

[Beekissed]

Built a fragrant wood fire in the yard and took blankets and pillows out to toss on the ground. Watched the stars shooting across the sky and the clouds blowing smoke rings around the moon.

The night bugs are in full chorus tonight....you know, the fall ones. They have a distinct sound that differs from the summer bugs. I think it has more urgency in the tone, like this is the last hooraw and we better get it done before cold weather!

I love this time of year! I especially love the night sky where I live. It seems like you can see the whole bowl of the sky and it looks like speckleware. You know, the black porcelain pans with the white spangles? Except brighter speckles and black velvety in it's softness.

The combination of wood smoke and the smell of the end of summer all makes me want to hold this time and this moment in my arms until I get my fill of it.

If you guys don't ever do this, I urge you to try it! I never feel as close to God as I do when I lay under a star-sprinkled sky and hear the night birds singing softly about the end of summer. I can sort out my thoughts and thank God for all I have and all that I am without any distractions.

Try it! Turn off that TV and go outside. Lay down in a fluffy blanket, bundle up by a cheery, little fire and feel humbled by the immensity of the sky. You will feel peace like a river! Good ideas spring to your mind, and you can see all that you are feeling and thinking about on the wide-screen of heaven.

I hope you do......

 

[freemotion]

That sounds like heaven! I used to do that on crisp nights in Maine...not the fire part, but I would lay on the ground or on my car, sometimes I would drive to a spot with zero light pollution, and I could see the shape of the Milky Way! And in the fall, before it got too cold to lay outside, sometimes I would watch the most amazing displays of the Northern Lights. Sigh.....

Here, the mosquitoes are huge and hungry and fly even over the snow sometimes! And we are on a very busy road, so.....not nearly as nice. You are making me wistful....

 

[Farmfresh]

Mee TOO!

When I was a kid I used to lay on a blanket in the pasture and look at the stars. Sometimes we still get to do that at my aunts or my sister's house.

If I lay in my yard I can only see about two or three stars and sometimes maybe the moon. We have SO MUCH light pollution the sky is ACTUALLY lit up and pink at night.

If I built a little fire outside I would be talking to the police within the hour.

I REALLY need to move!!!!