Monday, July 09, 2012

It may be Monday but...

...it's been a fairly productive day at the Aerie.

Terry and I started off with breakfast at Grandma's Kitchen in Mansfield and then went up to Murphy's Blueberry Farm to do some picking. We were there for just a little over an hour and came home with 10 pounds of berries which we packaged in Zip-Loc bags for the freezer.

Then we trailered the ATV up to Elmira to drop it off at Glider City Powersports. I told them my tale of woe and asked them to get the thing running. The shop has about a week's worth of backlog but he promised to get to it when its time rolls around.

Back home again we did some picking of string beans and inspected the damage done to the zucchini by the ground hogs. The plants are putting out flowers like crazy and there are a couple of small zukes forming but if the ground hogs aren't stopped, they'll probably eat those before we get to. The cukes also have flowers galore but there are no signs of any fruit forming yet. Tomatoes are doing very well. They've lots of flowers and green fruit but only a couple Early Girls that are turning red. Some beets are about ready to be pulled and the onions are knocked over under their own weight. When the stalks turn brown I'll be able to harvest some very, very large white onions. The lettuce is pretty well done having succumbed to both the heat and some critter (deer?) that's nibbled them over the low fence.

I'm spending some time cleaning a few dozen canning jars that Mark gave me. He came across them while cleaning out his Dad's stuff. Most are the old fashioned kind with the glass tops and wire springs that hold them on. All we need to do is find a source for the rubber rings that they require. A few are wide mouth jars of the more modern variety that use the rings and lids. I'm pretty sure I can get the proper sized lids at the local Agway. They might even carry the rubber rings.

Today is sunny but much cooler than last week. The high has been around 78 degrees and the breeze makes it feel even cooler in the shade. I'd take a summer of days like these.

1 comment:

Rev. Paul said...

It does sound productive; I'm glad you're catching a break in the heat, too.