July was scorching hot with a record number of days breaking triple digits in Fahrenheit and over forty for those Celsius folks. Regardless, we still got a lot done. We started the month with harvesting the remaining potatoes.
Eggplant preservation was in full swing, so much so, I had went through our garlic harvest. We had to buy more garlic, olive oil and containers. But a tasty success.
We also canned tomato sauce to restock our winter pantry. Four rounds so far and about sixty jars of sauce. We made a few varieties with added flavors of basil, onion and garlic to a few batches and some just plain strained tomato sauce. How do you can your tomato surplus?
Art also pulled our bush beans. We left them to dry out for a few days and then played game of stomp and whack with the bean pods. After sifting through the debris we were left with giant pile of beans. The next day we hand sorted the beans to exclude any defects or dirt and froze them for a few days before we put them in five liter bottles. We put some aside and planted another round.
We've been working hard to keep our trees inside the garden and in the orchard watered. So thankful for the well that has kept them alive while the mountains around us have been hit with wildfires this season.
The pomegranate orchard was hit with a late spring storm that left some of the trees bare of fruits but others have been working hard. Fingers crossed come Octobery we are drinking fresh juice.
We have a new pomegranate Greek variety in our garden has produced this year and are anxious to taste the difference. Between our domestic and wild pomegranates we have squeezed sweet juice to pucker your mouth tart here at Homestead Albania. Hoping this variety adds to our semi-sweet category.
August brings in a wide variety of figs. We (meaning Art) has been busy over the last few years grafting figs from local homesteads and family near by to add to the figs here at home. And we have successful grafts and fruits of two additional varieties to add to the total of six.
What is your favorite fresh fig? Plans to preserve figs include marmalade and drying.
The hens have been finding new and interesting places to lay their eggs to combat the heat. This makes finding eggs every evening an epic egg hunt. One spot was at the end of a row vines in tall grass. Not in an area we walk by everyday but they stopped laying there. And we found another stache under some steel we had resting on some blocks. And this morning they chose to be peeping toms in our bedroom window and lay on a table we have in the carport. We are averaging four to six eggs. We have one mama hen with her chickies and we are transitioning the rest of the new chicks to the big hoop coop.
Our thana (cornelius cherry) trees are ripe and ready to pick. We have discussed a round of raki but haven't made a final decision. If you haven't tasted one, it is mostly a pit with a little meat with loads of tannins.
Our chestnut trees have taken off and grown a few feet in the last few months. We are excited to try them this year. We had a few drop late last year so this will be a first year to harvest the chestnuts, hazelnuts, and our walnuts are all doing well too.
We have three kinds of plums ready to pick and eat. Two of these are on the same tree that is also grafted with the nectarine. Art's grafting is paying off big time this year.
The vineyard like the orchard took a pretty hard hit. The grapes are just starting to turn but the quantity of grapes that survived the hail is pretty small. We still expect a vine to wine to season but are setting our squeeze expectations pretty low.
Art and I did take a little break to run up to Lepushe to pick up fresh picked wild blueberries. And the scenery is nothing less than magical.
And despite the heat, our bird watching still had a few stunning shots.
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