August is the Last Summer Month...

"The sky is blue. The sun shines.

The sune shines and shines.
The cows doze away the noonday.

You know it is hot when the old
cat comes out for a breath of air.

The flowers are growing, too. Flowers
need hours of attention in August heat.

The vegitables need attention, too..."

This passage is just a bit from one of my favorite childrens books The Year at Maple Hill Farm, but Alice and Martin Provensen.

August has been a lovely month so far. Not only has it been filled with the adventures of traveling with seven people in a mini van over a ten day period, but the flowers seem to have a bit more flair and vibrance this time of year. There are frog everywhere!.. another one of my favorites: catching frogs and taking pictures of them:) Although, they rarely stay still enough to get a good picture (they are not very photogenic).

We've been blessed with an abundance of vegitables from our garden and some fruit as well. The grapes are ripe and we'll be canning grape juice tomorrow, which will be a lot more fun than this afternoon because the weather man claims it will rain tonight, chasing away this horrid humid heat! Thank God! It's hard not having central air conditioning on the great plains, although after a while you learn to grin and bear it.

On some strange whim I took my little sister (and myself:) out on a drive down some gravel roads - mostly unused roads with breathtaking views of rivers running around, alongside and under them. The night air was truly beautiful. Crickets sang strongly. Frogs bounced across the road happily (most of them had very unhappy endings as they were squashed into the road by car tires). The moon was just a sliver of silver in the vibrant bluish hue night sky....

It is amazing that God creates such breathtaking beauty with a simple phrase "let there be."

Mom and I canned peaches this afternoon, I cut grapes to can tomorrow, and mom made salsa to can tomorrow too. The salsa is pretty good, although I think it could stand to have a bit more zang.. or spicey flavoring to it, however I live in a "low spice tolerance" home where the majority of the people think that garlic chicken is VERY hot and spicey.

In the middle of our family vacation at the beginning of August I spent a day with my older sister at her college in Kentucky. To be quite frank, I have not had so much fun in many, many years. Which, in my opinion, is just pitiful, but this mostly has to do with the fact that I am overall unhappy in the place and situation I am in life right now. But this season will too soon end, as so many other season have ended in the past, I am here, right now, in this place, with these people, for but one fraction of time and the rest of life is an unknown path to take - a great adventure awaiting you and I :)

God richly bless and keep you this week.
Miss Elizabeth

Gardening on Saturday

Gardened ALL DAY on Saturday. The weather was incredible! Sun shining bright, intoxicating aroma wafting on the Summer breaze and clouds only before dusk. Truly incredible!

A visitor, a painted turtle,

in our three acre front "yard."

Oh my goodness! Mulberries and strawberries!

They are SO delicious!

Right before we went into the house,

after a long and hot day of outdoor work

we had the opportunity to witness

the beautiful promise of God's love and patience of human kind -

a rainbow

You can't see the rainbow nearly as well

in this picture,

but it's in the upper right hand corner of the picture

coming "out of" the trees.

Dusk on the Paririe.

That little speck, on the left edge of the photo

is actually the moon:)

The moon and the stars,

in all their wonderous glory.

As Laura Ingells wrote

"they were singing!"

The colorful specks are witness that God is an artist.

Looking at this picture, it appears

that the Author of Creation

took a toothbrush and flicked a bunch of shimmering

multi-colored speckles onto

a deep blue canvas,

does it not?

The Garden

Our beautiful potato patch :)
This years lettuce went wild!
Twice a week we give a bag full away, and still
have delectable salads
every evening :)


One of my younger sisters and my favorite places to snack:
Straw berry patch: Three 4x4ft "raised beds"
absolutely FULL of rich red strawberries.
Four years ago we transplanted this Wild Rose from the side of the road
into our front yard flower bed.
It has finally bloomed.
The aroma that wafts from this bush is fantastic!
And, finally, a "full," or partially full at least,
view of our vegetable/ berry garden (this area does not
include our cluster of raspberry bushes, blueberry bush or
three seasoned mulberry trees.
"In the Meadow, in the Garden, where we once tasted all we could eat. There's a meadow, in the garden; I'll dance in the garden, dance in the garden with Eve."

~Cyndi Morgan "Dance in the Garden"

Gardening, "one of life's purest pleasures," takes up the majority of my Summer.

Starting in late winter, with the snow still thick on the ground and freezing temperatures still holding onto the weather, for dear life, we begin planting.

Teenie seeds, sometimes as small as the pin of a pen, are plucked into miniature holes, made by our pinkies, in small pots, which are carefully arranged on the front porch. Daily watering, first beginning as drops of water, fed by straws, onto each small seed, then "graduating" to spoon feeding. After that's it's basic watering, sometimes fertilizing and "Miracle Grow"ing :)

Since our front porch works, more or less, as well as a green house in the winter, we'll start planting as early as February and March. (Feb. being the most snowy month of the year, here bordering the Black Hills.)

This year is our first growing potatoes. We planted three variates. Although I don't know the technical names for each potato I do know that we have "Early" red potatoes, "Mid" and "Late" brown potatoes. So far we have harvested only the red ones, but one brown one did get into our beautiful mix last evening.

Any time of the year, mom makes sure each of her children (all four, and five when my sister is home from college) have their "outdoor" or "Vitamin D therapy." I thoroughly enjoy this time of the day. It's not particular "set" time, but most of the time after three in the afternoon.

There is something very therapeutic about growing and eating one's own vegetables, eating berries and gently searching out potatoes.

My goal is to post on here at least once a week, and if at all possible more. The theme is, obviously, gardening, recipes from the garden and Summer treats (snacks, desserts, beverages, picnic foods etc.), as well as sharing some incredibly awesome homesteading and recipe books!

I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing!

(And if you have any comments, concerns, questions or advice, please feel free to post a comment on the latest posting:) I'll be happy to and take into consideration what you have to say!)

God bless, keep and grow you and your family,

and bring you a Bountiful Harvest this Fall!

~ Miss Elisabeth