Lushness of the season

Apples in the old orchard look like they'll be abundant this year
A lady slipper orchid passed its prime, but still beautiful Our red brook the farm is named for. Believe it or not, the brook is crystal clear. the bottom is red sand, and that’s why it looks like that Wild strawberries are growing in abundance along the paths
Took the dogs for a long hike threw our property yesterday, While I hunted wild roses to make some rose jelly.  The forest is so incredible this time of year.  The berries are just starting, there's flowers every were, the birds are singing and the air smells sweet. I just had to share the beauty with all of you. I feel so blessed to live here.

wild rose getting ready to boil

The finished product

Making rose jelly must be the best smell in the world. Imagine the smell of an old fashioned rose, intensified, and drifting threw the kitchen with the steam. I can't wait till that snowy day when I open a bottle of this summer sunshine, and eat it for breakfast. I intend to experiment with this recipe, over the next few weeks, while the roses are blooming, and make several batches of rose jelly.

Today, its raining hard. After the heat wave, and weeks of sunshine, its a welcome site. I intend to make a trip to the farmers market this afternoon, to get some local peaches and strawberries and, well what ever else caches my eye. To then spend my evening again, canning.

Quiet Homestead

Well, Paul and the kids are off to Ontario in our new 04 GMC Envoy. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anyone to watch the critters, so I had to stay behind and hold down the fort. Its strangely quiet with no one else home...I can't remember the last time everyone was gone. I miss the kids already.
I'm taking this time to catch up on the weeding,(this being a new garden, I'll never get them out completely, but the vegetables don't mind the remaining few, so nether do I). The garden is growing beautifully, The Zucchinis are in bloom,  the swiss chard is getting huge, Tomatoes have a ways to grow, but I'm dreaming about fresh tomato sandwiches. Its already almost time to plant the fall crops too. I'll be adding some winter greens, (mache and kale) and some turnips. Nothing is better for the soul than gardening. I've been doing some canning too. Made some jams, jellys, and vinegars. I love how it fills the cool evening air with the most wonderful smells. Its like condensing the summer, and putting it in a jar to enjoy when the cold weather comes.
In other news, I finally got a hatch out of my new incubator. It was my 3ird try. It seems the temperature gauge was slightly off. I think I finally have that set correctly, but there's still a problem. I got 5 chicks out of 35 eggs. At least I'm on the right track. Next, I'll try to adjust the turner, I'm not convinced that its turning them adequately.
With the homestead so quiet, I'll probably get lots of extra time to catch up on my writing too, so you all can expect to hear from me a lot in the next week.    

Lazy, hazy days of summer

We're in the middle of a heat  wave here, and enjoying the sun.  We had planed a  family vacation to Ontario this week, but  our car died,  leaving  us scrambling to find a new one, and delaying our departure.  No need to say, we've been sticking close to home. I think a few days of quiet relaxation did us all a lot of good, and we'll enjoy our trip  even more.