If you’re going to play with water, you’re going to get wet. 
Learning how to make bubbles.
Grandpa, this is pretty cool.
Big kick, big ball.
On to the cows. Aaron really likes to go moo and listen to the cows respond.
They are very interesting to watch, but what about the babies?
Finding the babies.
Who are as curious about them as they are about the baby cows.
It becomes a stare down.
Enough of the cows…for now.
It was one of those magical hunting days where you actually find what you’re looking for.
We found an area on the forest floor that was filled with Chanterelles. Granted, the majority of them were covered with dreaded slugs, but there were still enough left behind for us to share.
Some of them were a really nice size. This one, without slugs, is about the size of Chuck’s palm.
They are a beautiful mushroom.
Our bounty was good and by the time we got home, we had a plateful.
The next step was sauteing them with garden garlic, mushrooms and onions. (Tina, we’re getting closer to that hunt/gathered meal.)
Fresh out of the garden for the event. The garlic has been drying for weeks.
They made a wonderful topping for a grilled pizza.
Add the mozzarella and voila — dinner. It was WONDERFUL!
In anticipation of Aaron’s weekend visit, Chuck is building a new toy. Aaron has an obsession with balls and together they discovered the excitement of putting a ball one place and it returning to another.
Chuck attempts to teach Aaron the dynamics of this contraption.
The ball goes in one end, drops down and travels back to the beginning.
What fun, he had two spots to drop the ball. Now he had to just figure out where it would end up.
In the top.
Where did it go?
Out the bottom.
And again.
One vegetable that has managed to fight off insects, slugs and fungus is our cucumbers. And boy are they happy this year. It seems I could pick a basket a day and still find more cucumbers. But what does one do with so many?
These cucumbers are from seedsavers and are a pickling cucumber.
The answer to my cucumber problem—pickle.
I have never made pickles before. I have watched my mother make them and it always seemed like a lot of work. I don’t have many little cucumbers, but I gathered what I could and thought I’d pickle these.
Then while reading lots of recipes online, I realized I could make pickles in a day or in two to eight weeks. I didn’t have the ingredients necessary for refrigerator pickles, so I made the kind that sit on the shelf for a few months and you hope for the best.
Several of the recipes called for a grape leaf in the jar to make crispy pickles. We have wild grapes, so some of my jars have grape leaves and some do not.
Wild grape vines.
Wild grape leaves are three-lobed with toothed edges. There are many things you can do with these leaves. Check out the wild foods website.
This is the basic recipe I followed:
In the jars I put:
I topped off the cucumbers with the liquid, put on the lids and boiled under water for 15 minutes.
Here’s a jar with a grape leaf.
And ta da …pickles. If these turn out, I know what everyone is getting for Christmas.
Time is not on my side. I can’t believe that July is almost over…seriously. Here are a few garden photos to let everyone know that my garden really is growing.
Tonight we had our first green bean feast. Actually they were not all green. We had some purple speckled beans as well. But it is nice to know that green beans are here for the eating.
We have more cilantro than I know what to do with. If anyone has ideas, please send them to me.
The pickling cucumbers are taking over a lot of territory. I need to keep an eye on these guys or my tomatoes will be in for a challenge.
Peppers gone wild. It has been about 10 days since I took this photo and my peppers have gone crazy. The plants are not that impressive, but they are loaded with different types of peppers.
So far the only tomatoes consumed have been cherry. But the plants look pretty good. I do have to take a lot of leaves away because of early blight. This Monday I will dedicate to blight eradication.
Last October, I planted sixty plus little cloves of garlic. I’ve never planted garlic before, but like most bulbs, you put them in the ground in the fall and when winter is over, wa la…there are plants coming through the ground. Like the tulips, the garlic came through. Unlike the tulips, there were no flowers to enjoy. Here the beauty was under the ground, but sigh, I did not know what was going on. After reading a few books on garlic, I realized that I could have pulled the soil away from the bulb and check in now and then.
Timing is everything and the books tell you to wait until the plant is 50% dead, or is that 60% or perhaps 30%. The longer you wait, the tastier the garlic. If you’re too early, the garlic won’t last as long. If you wait too long, the garlic skins dissolve and no longer hold the bulb together. There is a delicate balance. I planted five different varieties of garlic. I did not realize the grew at different rates. So we ended up with early garlic, perfect garlic and late garlic. But they are all beautiful bulbs.
Here’s hoping we have a year’s supply of garlic.
What a glorious bulb!
Here is my first canned harvest of the season—pickled beets. These are heirloom beets grown from seeds purchased at Seed Savers. They did not come out of a can, nor do that taste like blah. Chuck described the taste as a cross between potatoes and sweetcorn. Now there is an endorsement. However, I’m not sure what pickled potatoes and sweetcorn would taste like. Hopefully they will be as yummy as they are pretty. But seriously, I have grown up HATING beets. These I rather enjoy.
Maddy, Aaron and I went to the Three Gaits benefit horse show. The judge was awesome and really moved the show along fast. Which is a good thing when you’re entertaining a 17 month old. Maddy did really well and Aaron had fun with the ribbons.
Not only am I behind in my gardening, I’m behind in my posting about gardening. These photos were taken June 19th after a day of cleaning.
Things are almost moving as planned. I’m in constant battle with bugs and slugs. Since the photo, excessive rain has threatened my garlic. I keep my fingers crossed that when I pull up those bulbs, they will be large and healthy. The note in the garlic books says…don’t water during their last four weeks. Sigh. I think Southern Wisconsin has received double the amount of rain that is normal.
It is amazing how much has changed since these photos. I will take some pictures today. The recent hot, humid weather has allowed plants to double in size over night. Seriously, weeds included. But fruits are appearing on plants and vines are taking. It is all very exciting. But I must still battle the bugs and slugs, not to mention early blight. It is almost like taking care of your pets. You need to protect them from harm.
