july

Good morning!  I hope you had a good long holiday weekend.
This weekend I:
went picking blueberries with a friend and with some of my mom's friends.  Picking on this weekend at a teeny-tiny family farm is my family's tradition.  It's perfect, especially when the heat holds off like it did this weekend.  I made off with three gallons.  Then I made:

this.  In the crock pot.  It is yummy and easy.  And still in the fridge, because I didn't get around to processing it.  I also have a batch in the dehydrator.  We love dried blueberries in our granola.

watched my husband finish up the nesting box for our chickens.  The coop is finally all ready to paint and pretty up.  I'm excited about this step.

Went swimming with friends on Friday and Saturday.  Watched my boy dive into the pool and swim all the way to the shallow end.  Watched him swim from the shallow end to where I was bobbing around in the deep end.  Was mystified by his sudden progress.  And realized that for the first time since I was a college student, I have a tan.

Took vows to simplify my life a bit more.  Sometimes I try to do too much.  When you try to do too much you (read: I) aren't happy or gracious or welcoming.  Simple is better.

Bisque fired on the evening of July 4, listening to the sounds of neighborhood kids shooting off firecrackers.  Today I'll start glazing.

Helped my mom finish digging up the heirloom plants at her old garden to go to her new house.  She has some irises that belonged to my grandmother and her grandmothers.  The teeny tiny daffodils from Louisiana are hidden deep in the ground and will have to wait until spring when they show their leaves again.  And organized her new pantry, hung some plates I made before N was born on her kitchen wall, and washed all of our cars.

Started learning about planting by the moon phases.  Interesting.  I'm going to try it with a second batch of potatoes (even though it's really too late, I found some fingerlings hiding in my basement root storage) and those green beans that have dried up.  There's certainly no harm in trying them again.

This week:
holding out hope for rain and cool temperatures
more swimming- practice after this week's swimming lessons
processing the blueberry butter
making blueberry-blackberry jam (oh, hello! jam!)
glazing.  That part starts today.

talk to you soon.