Missing Willow Farm

Along with sunflowers, we planted morning glories and moonflowers this year in pots from seed.  This will happen annually from now on.

They’re starting to bloom and are so much fun.  I’m definitely planting them again next year.

For the past week I’ve been roasting  tomatoes, canning them, serving BLTs and making tomato pies.  The roasted ones are done with a sprinkle of olive oil and salt.  Once they’re cooled, they go in a quart zip loc bag and right into the freezer.  I think salsa is next on my to-do list.

Here’s my first attempt at making bitters for cocktails.  I used oranges that my dad brought us from his neighborhood in Florida along with cardamon, cinnamon, cloves, allspice, coriander and demerara sugar in a base of grain alcohol.  They aren’t quite ready to sample yet.  I got so excited about the process, I already have a batch of bartlett pear and vanilla bean bitters brewing.

The pickling cucumber on the right is about three inches long.  The monster on the left was hiding very low in the garden.  Apparently, cucumbers turn bright orange when neglected.  The chickens loved it.

A dozen eggs, two quarts of goat milk and enough veggies to keep me busy in the kitchen for a bit.  Our new deer fence is the reason we have green beans for the first time ever.  Of course, the bunnies have been chewing at the fence.  At least they don’t like beans.

The garlic is harvested and pumpkin seeds have been planted in their bed.  Last year I planted them too early.  Maybe this year…

The pickling cucumbers are still going strong.  I think I’ll have 20 quarts of dill pickles by the time the season is over, plus lots of dill slices and relish.  The pimentos have gone from green to yellow.  Red and harvest is next.  Tomatoes are just starting to ripen and boy are they good!

I put a few sunflower seeds right at the rear of our garden on the edge of a raised bed.  They are seriously twice as tall as I am and are still growing.  They even dwarf our greenhouse. I hope we’re able to see the flowers when they bloom.

We spent the morning harvesting honey from our one remaining hive.  It’s doing so well, Brian split it into two as he was pulling frames.  It’s been just three months since we purchased our bees, they’ve been busy!  Our sourwood trees are just starting to bloom, we’re hoping for another harvest before the summer is over.