The garden is in peak production mode. Mornings consist of harvesting climbing beans, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers, watermelon, pears, figs, mountain tea, and potatoes. We've bagged and delivered the veggies to the neighbors and local family. We are a household of three and the amount is overwhelming.
Send recipes.
First round of figs.
Finished the red and green plums and are still waiting on the sweet sugar plums to ripen.
The pomegranate orchard was trimmed, cleaned and few irrigation lines were replaced and new drip nozzles installed. We've noticed late flowering on several trees. We are anxious to see what October brings.
The changes month to month are always dramatic but so lovely. The vineyard is super full and the trelices are holding the vines. It's great to have full shade underneath the vines for the chickens and the hammocks.
Mid June shot of the homestead.
We did step away for two days of fun. One to celebrate Art's birthday at the Lake Shkodra Resort. It's about fifteen minutes from the homestead and a seasonal RV park with a small restaurant set on the lake. We had enjoyed the setting and the strong winds created a nice melody of sea noise that enhanced the ambiance.
We also had the chance to check an item off our Albanian bucket list. We took a ride down the Lumi i Shala. This river has ferry boats that take you back to a cove with small cafes, accomodations, restaurants, and beach bars. The waters in the cove are crystal clear and ice cold. After a hearty lunch, four out of nine of us took the icey dip in the frigid waters including Art and I. It was great way to cool off before the boat ride back to the ferry terminal. It's a two hour drive from our homestead to the ferry around the beautiful Komani Lake, but the last fifty minutes of the drive is very rough but otherwise the trip can be done as a day trip from Shkoder. I am very curious to see what this ride will look in early spring as the snow melts and early fall when then leaves change. Would you add this to your bucket list?
June brought in some new additions to our chicken population. We currently have six mama hens and about fifty baby chicks. The evening feed round is when they choose chaos over order. We spend a good five minutes every evening redirecting the mamas to their correct condo. We also moved the first two rounds of little chicks into the hoop coop in the back and they are now going back on their own. Average egg count is back up nine after a dip in the heat wave.
We had to refill our deep freeze with more protein so Figgy got a new companion whom we've named Houdini. His first night here and he managed to escape our piggy pen and hung out near the fence line visiting his mama next door. But he has officially made friends with Figgy.
Our bird game from the front porch has been overwhelmingly Old World Sparrows but we did manage to capture a few new birds in June. Do you have a favorite?
We have a summer project that we hope will be ready to share soon. Stay tuned for more information.
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