It has been a very busy week with picking our harvest of sour cherries and other berries. I have lots more picking ahead to do as things continue to ripen. Our sour cherries have kept me the busiest.
The sour cherry tree was loaded, this photo is after we have already picked over 60lbs of cherries. I expect to pick another 50lbs then just leave the rest for the birds and whatever else wants to come and eat them.
Here is my picking container. An old pop bottle with the top cut off with a short cord that hooks over my head so the container sits right on my chest. Not to long so it doesn’t get hooked up on branches when leaning in to do your picking.
I had to sit and pit almost 30lbs already more yet to do after I pick them. Our freezer is already full from freezing many bags with their pits in them. As I have so many I may try making wine out of the ones I froze. I will do that later this fall. Just don’t have time to try it right now.
Those that I pitted I canned and made jam with.
It’s always a good feeling when the canning is done. However when putting the jam in my pantry I realized I had about 8 jars still from last year.
They all look so luscious and now ready for pies and deserts.
Along with the cherries I have also finished picking black currants and red currants. I am still picking raspberries.
Also producing now are my strawberries. I know most of you have long finished with strawberries, but my growing season is so short that I am often a couple months behind. Most years I get frost just when the strawberries are ripe so I guess this is a good year for them.
I don’t have a lot of strawberries so they are just eaten fresh.
My raspberries are plump and ripening. I just freeze some and make jam later and use for smoothies for next summer. With the fresh ones I make one gallon of liquor that’s take about 6 months before they are ready.
Just in time for Christmas.
I have been lucky this year the chickmunks and squirrels as well as the wasp have not discovered them. But everyday I go out and pick a container full.
These are our 1st grapes which are being grown in the greenhouse. Hubby just had to have some grapes even though they might not make it grown outside, but they have done well in the greenhouse covering an entire window with their vines, which have help to keep the greenhouse cooler.
As I had to make room in the freezer so I went ahead and pulled my bags of rhubarb out and started my rhubarb wine. It will take almost 4 months before it is ready.
I am sure I will only have a short break then my other fruit trees will be ready to start harvesting. With plums, apples and pears still to go.
My garden has been a big disappointment this year. I have a mole that is eating all my potatoes. My peas are only now producing. My beans never recovered from the late frost we had beginning of July.
I have lots of onions and lettuce. I only just finished harvesting the last of my radishes that were planted in June and they were still good. Many of my cold weather stuff is doing alright, but no squash so far.
Oh but of course my flowers have been the best ever. Just can’t keep my garden weeded like I use too with my back and shoulder problems. I don’t enjoy it as much anymore as I see so much that needs to be done in it, but just can’t do it.
Well to add to my sweet week I also received
Irresistibly Sweet Blog Award.
Thank you Janie2 for given me this award. If you don’t know her already please visit her wonderful blogs and photos at
http://sunflowersnaps.blogspot.com/
Standard Blog Award Rules:
1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you.
2. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
3. Pass the award to 12 more deserving blogs.
Ok I guess I have to now share 7 random facts about me and let me warn you I have opened up a bit here as normally I never share much about myself personally.
1. I have been in every state in the United States and lived in Maine, Louisiana, Texas and Washington. I was a Boeing Brat and our vacations and weekends were all camping. Now here in Canada I rarely get the chance to go camping. But where I live is like camping to many people.
2. I can’t spell worth a bean and use poor grammar when writing and speaking, but really don’t care. My friends miss my hand written letters before I had spell check. They always got such a chuckle. Many of you have seen it on my comments or even here.
3. I lived here at the ranch for the 1st 4 years without power and running water. I know how to go without if I have too. I know I could survive in the bush as well. Must have been all those years spent camping .
4. I have never had much energy and whenever I try to be like other people who do I end up crashing feeling sad and exhausted. Sometimes I feel I’ve missed many things in life I wanted to try but just couldn’t muster the energy to do it. So at this time in my life I am learning to except and appreciate who I am (a thinker not a doer) and the life I am still blessed with.
5. I don’t share my feelings well with other people. I could easily be a recluse. However I love being connected with people thru the internet. I am more comfortable here then physically with people. I have always felt a real connection with nature and feel totally comfortable with it.
6. When I was a teenager I had 2 dreams. One was to live in a Victorian style house with a picket fence and have a load of children. The 2nd was to live in the mountains in a log house away from everything and everybody. I think I had a split personality. Well life’s circumstance led me to the log house far from everyone and no children. I will always regret not at least adopting children, but looking back don’t think I would have had the energy to raise them.
7. My passion is photography. Something that doesn’t require a lot of energy and I do have a natural eye for. It comes from my sense that everything has to be in balance with it surroundings and seeing details in what I look at. From colors to shapes to placement, I tend to arrange everything in my house that way. If I don’t feel it’s in balance with everything I have to move or remove it. Photography has brought me a sense of balance to my life where I can share a part of me. I can’t write with a hoot, but my photos helped me to share words that are buried inside me. I tried crafts for a few years because everyone else was doing it and was told one should find something to be creative at. I hated the time it took for something to be finished and was never satisfied with my work. I do wish I had more time to get involved with more photography sites but found when I did I just couldn’t keep up so quit or closed the accounts. I have depended on my photo blogging friends here for inspiration and new ways to look at things. So with my love of photography I really need to move it to the next level and buy a proper camera, that’s my dream now but just don’t know if I will have the energy and time to learn all that I will have to regarding a bigger camera and it’s use. I love the ease and simplicity of my little pocket camera and that is what I use for all my photos.
Well now that I got that off my shoulders here are 12 blog sites that I would like to share. I am picking ones that are a bit different from what most of my close blog friends visit. I wanted to share ones you might not already know so check them out if you like.
1. http://amishstorys1.blogspot.com/
2. http://4pawsandatale.blogspot.com/
3. http://color-humano-daniel-casares-roman.blogspot.com/
4. http://matteotaffuri.blogspot.com/
5. http://imagenesfaleroni.blogspot.com/
6. http://jrnoguer.blogspot.com/
7. http://leroyphotography.blogspot.com/
8. http://lizfernandezg.blogspot.com/
9. http://mygrammassouljo.blogspot.com/
10. http://poppysplace-poppy.blogspot.com/
11. http://sharonlovejoy.blogspot.com/
12. http://twotumbleweeds.blogspot.com/
Well that took me forever. Had to quit for awhile as getting the links my computer starting working over time and quit working.
Hope you have a sweet week
and a
Good Morning… Good Afternoon… Good Night…
Whatever it is to you.
Photos & Words
by
Here I Am/Carrie
