How Doth the Garden Grow!

August!  The days and nights are already shortening noticeably with the sun coming up an hour later, and setting an hour earlier than it was in June!  The seasons pass so quickly and the days we anticipate through the long winter come and go in such a hurry!

July is blueberry picking month!

The berries were huge this year, it didn't take my friend T and I much over an hour to pick 37 pounds of blueberries! I froze most of mine, and will have a good supply to get us through the winter. 

We also went cherry picking too!  This iconic truck sits at one of the local cherry farms we visited.

Freshly made cherry pie!

The rest of the cherries were canned, and will make wonderful pies and desserts throughout the winter.

This picture was taken about 3 weeks ago, and my, even since then, my garden has really grown!

My plants are loving the warm sunshine and are doing very well, even in the midst of the high 90s temps that we are having.

A peek at my little garden within-my-garden space... it is always a treat to sit out there after my garden duties for the morning are done, and just quietly relax and enjoy the beauty and peace there.

Just looking at this picture makes me realize that my garden has really, really grown in the last couple of weeks.  The marigolds are now in full bloom, and tomatoes are ripening... harvest is upon us!

Riley begged to be let into my garden, so my daughter and I relented one afternoon while we were in the Garden-within-the-Garden staying cool.  She behaved herself, and quietly lay by our feet.

Loving my pansies this year, they are enjoying the shade, and are quite happy and content.

Where could you find a cuter face than this?

My begonias are blooming profusely in the shade of the garden.

About to take a quick nap... or maybe she was watching those pesky wasps flying around...

I created a new little fabric strip banner for this little space, and as it sways in the breeze with its bright colors, I am thankful for the joy that I find in this little garden, and even in the heat of the summer, it is a cool inviting spot to rest and enjoy the summer dog days we are in.

The harvest is starting, and August will be a busy month of gathering the harvest and putting it up for winter.  The zucchini and squash are in their peak right now, as are the cucumbers, the potatoes, broccoli, and green beans.  The strawberries and raspberries are done for this year, and it was a bountiful year for them.  Corn will be ready in a couple of weeks, as will the tomatoes.  Busy, wonderful days are ahead!

Weather is a funny thing... it seems we always need something of which we don't have.  During our past winter, we had records of more snow, and more rain than before in recorded history, and then, this past July, our county hit a record of having less rainfall than the Sahara desert that month, having only 1/8" of an inch of rain the entire month of July.  Everything stayed green much longer than it normally would have though, because of all the rain/snow we had this winter, but now, the trees are in distress.  Fires are a concern, and our family has a plan of what to take, should we have to evacuate, but Lord willing, we won't have to.  There is a large fire north of us in the Colville, WA area as well as the fires in British Columbia, and we have been under heavy smoke and haze for the last week or so.  There is no sign of rain for at least another couple of weeks, so we are praying that the Lord will sustain us through this as well.

Such is weather everywhere though!  So, we give our Lord praise no matter what comes our way, because in the end, all is well in Him!  

Meanwhile the time of harvest is here, and it is a joy every day to pick out of the garden the food for our table.   Homegrown veggies are wonderful, and the harvest season is a lot of work, but exciting to see the pantry and freezer fill up with food for the coming winter.  These are busy days, but good days :)