Saturday, August 23, 2014

August Garden

My August Garden cannot compete with the June Garden for beauty, nor the July Garden for productivity. However, nothing beats the August Garden for perseverance. Insects have taken their toll and the weeds have gotten ahead of me in most of the beds. Tomatoes are giving up to blights. Yet I still pick more than I can use every week and I am still doing a little canning/freezing.  With a few pounds of tomatoes and ample apples, I made Apple-Tomato Chutney on Friday, a recipe I found in my favorite old church cookbook. Ask me, and I'll share because I ended up with 12 half-pints and 5 pints.

August 22 Harvest

Pear trees are laden, but pears aren't quite ready for picking

With the new bamboo trellis, I need a ladder to pick pole beans.

Pole Beans are blooming profusely, thanks to plenty of rain this month.

Peppers come into full production when it gets really hot. They love August!

No more squash, but the marigolds like the heat.

Tomatoes are looking sad, but still producing more than enough to eat. Basil is ready to pick again.

Okra thrives in hot weather. New for this year are purple hull peas, which were planted when the bush green beans were pulled out. They haven't matured yet.

Multiplying onions and marjoram are perreniels.

Eggplants have been unusually prolific this year.

The Swiss Chard looks pretty ragged, but in September I will cut it back and it will continue to produce tender greens until a hard freeze.



Monday, July 7, 2014

Finally Fishing - Melton Hill Lake-Hickory Creek

Eight twenty-two, cool,
clear sky, calm water, heron
watching, fish waiting.

Heron watching

Nice catfish,  Bill and I each had one

Unusual catch. Close-up makes this 4 inch fish seem larger. Catching the mussel shells is unusual!
We took home a nice stringer of 8 blue-gills.

Early Summer Garden

Early morning air,
Cool, fresh and sweetly scented
Welcomes me today.

Bush Beans May 31

Yellow Squash, June 7

Raspberries,  June 24

Raspberries, June 24

Squash, June 24

Tomatoes, May 31

Beets and Carrots, June 27

Pole Beans, June 7
Pole Beans, June 24

Pole Beans July 7
Squash July 7, after a squash bug infestation

Tomatoes are ripening
Tomatoes

Bell Peppers



Lots of apples and pears on the trees

Watts Bar Fun and also the Zoo

Fun afternoon with the Matzeks on Watts Barr Lake - June 14

Girls just gotta have fun!


Black-crowned night heron
American Egret and Cormorants



Great Blue Heron sunning, Black-crowned Heron in the back

Great Blue Heron sharing a perch with two cormorants

Knoxville Zoo, June 26




Joyce Kilmer Forest and Cherohala Skyway, June 12

On June 11-12, Bill and I stayed overnight in Robbinsville, NC, hiked in Joyce Kilmer Memorial Forest on a rainy morning and drove home on the Cherolaha Skyway.

Raindrops and birdcall
No human sounds intruding
Poetry of trees.










Cherohala Skyway

One of many beautiful views


Bald River Falls, near Tellico Plains