Our Food Forest!

Summer kicked in with a major heat wave. We had three days over 100° F and more in the forecast. Is this our usual summer days? No, not quite. We are usually topped out at 95 and sunny everyday but there are more triple digit days in the ten day forecast. Watering the garden has become an evening ritual. And our veggie rations have reached near overwhelming status. The squash and zucchini alone could feed a village.

So far we have grilled, fried, baked, and made pizza crust with a the bounty.

The peppers, cucumbers, potatoes, green lettuce, carrots, yellow romano beans, strawberries, blueberries, and fresh basil are picked and prepared almost daily.

We are pulling the fresh garlic and onions as needed.

So that's just in the garden. On to the rest of the property. We have four giant mulberry trees still in season along with our spring pears and figs.

And that's just what's primed for picking now. In the next few weeks will we have okra, eggplants, watermelon, cantaloupes, blackberries and plums plus more the above. Hungry yet?

So with added watering and irrigation this year means the additional weeding is required. The triple digit weather has restrained this until late evening hours. I started weeding the tomatoes around seven the other night and finished around nine when the mosquitos were out and the sunlight was beyond gone. Fun times!

The vines have tripled in the last few weeks. Check it out!

June 1st and June 27

Other projects started includes two hammock stands and two well covers. Art is becoming quite the welder. Now we can move the hammocks to any part of the vineyard. Orchard is surviving the start of the hot summer season.

The shade the vine trellis has provided is a great spot in the late afternoon to retreat and recharge after writing all day.

Speaking of writing. I've started the third book in the Ember in Time series and a standalone mystery set back home in Missouri. Inspiration is a funny thing. A seed of story starts and grows, matures, wilts and then comes back to life much like our homestead.

We have added the following books and journals to our publishing catalog in the last two years.

Stay cool my friends!