Happy Summer Solstice 2014

'Gold Nugget' tomatoes ripe on June 12

Beets to add some color

Welcome first day of summer 2014! Summer solstice, known in ancient time as Midsummer and in the Christian era as John the Baptist’s birthday (six months before Christmas), has been celebrated for all of recorded human history; sources say we feel significantly happier at this time of year, most likely due to lengthening daylight hours.¹ Farmers and homesteaders, always tied to cycles, know that summer means extra work and long days. As we’ve sown diligently, we reap the firstfruits of an abundant harvest. Blessings abound; there is much for which to give thanks.

White garlic (not elephant)

It’s time to pull canning jars out of storage and gather food in the harvest (the homesteader’s version of Solomon’s proverb). We welcomed tomatoes almost a month early this year thanks to different heirloom varieties.  Summer isn’t summer without a batch of our overnight refrigerator dill pickles; I host a much-anticipated pickle party in the work office each June.

Dill heads are an ingredient for great
pickles; picked an average
of 28 cukes per day!

We feel reward, seeing a plate of roast chicken and a variety of fruits and vegetables, realizing we grew everything here. Taking Solomon’s advice in time of abundance, we ladle produce into canning jars for a leaner time; maybe it will remind us of summer sunshine and rain when we open these jars. Who needs an excuse to celebrate when there’s sweet corn, blueberry pie, kids running through the sprinkler, and fireflies at dusk.

Ecclesiastes 5:18 Behold that which I have seen: it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labour that he taketh under the sun all the days of his life, which God giveth him: for it is his portion.

Red and black raspberries, and blackberries; these went into triple-berry jam

White onions, many the size of softballs, drying in the barn

Sweet corn silked out June 15; it will be ready by the 4th of July

¹Message me for citation

August 20, 2012

'New England Pie' pumpkins curing in the barn.

Grass mow is thick, mornings are dawning cooler, and evidence of the changing season is seen in fruits of harvest.  Look closely, and there is even some early leaf color in the dogwoods.  Our apple trees have let us know that their fruit is ripe and ready to be tasted.  One of those late-evening walks out to the back of our property, so busy with dragonflies and jumping locust, came to a stop when we noticed several red apples had fallen to the ground.  Their fragrance was spicy-sweet, and a bite confirmed the fruit was dead-ripe.  We sprayed these trees until the end of June with a home orchard insecticide/fungicide and then left them alone to get washed in July rain.  Insects have not bothered them in the last half of the season.

A perfect 'Winesap' apple paired with ripe figs all from our orchard.

We are seeing more fruits than vegetables as summer winds down slowly but inevitably to the autumn, our favorite season of year.  We did harvest a bushel basket of tomatoes, imperfect, but tasty enough paired with peppers and onions for salsa.  A fall crop of red raspberries is producing heavily, reminding us of a seemingly long-gone June berry season.  We picked the last of our melons and mowed the patch to the ground.

Thursday morning dawned at 58 degrees F at our elevation.  Refreshing!  Sunflowers and pumpkins are a cheery pair as we begin to think about the impending garden clean-up.  If you did not have enough milk jug covers last spring, start saving them now to cover tender transplants that will be set in the garden in early September.  We need to begin thinking of cutting down our yellowing corn patch to make room for the fall and winter garden.

A cheery sunflower bows out as summer 2012 comes to a close.

July 16, 2012

Pumpkin, gourd, and squash fruits are setting.

Can you guess this vegetable?

Part of our corn harvest.

Brussels sprouts seed planted a week ago are unfurling two green cotyledons (the first embryonic leaves) on a window ledge in our barn, where they are protected from voracious green worms, but receive plenty of sunshine for stocky growth.

All heirloom paste tomatoes.

This week meant corn and tomatoes in a BIG way.  The first half of our corn patch (20 ft. x 12 ft) came ripe; we went through and picked well above 200 ears.  The number 200 is our standard, benchmark, goal for corn production; it means we had a really good year.  Cut off the cob, we froze 24 quarts.  Earlier last month, the SC State Climatology Office reported that corn across the state was growing so well it looked "fake" (see note 1 below).  We could certainly say the same is true here, especially after our week of generous rains.  Corn crop two is topping out taller than crop one, and is now in silk; it will be ready to harvest by August 4.


The garden looks like a jungle after last week.  We will be canning tomatoes on a weekly basis through July, and when we get tired of canning them whole, we will put them through our strainer/sauce maker for thick, rich sauce.


Melons are still swelling, but they aren't hinting of turning ripe.  Pumpkins are setting every day, and one of our Prizewinner giants has set fruit; we will allow it to set up to three fruits before determining the best one to leave on the vine to mature into a hopeful 100-pound pumpkin.  


As part of routine maintenance this weekend, we summer pruned all our peach and apple trees to remove water sprouts and crossing branches.  And if that wasn't enough to do, we pulled and cleaned our onion crop, which is now curing on a shelf in the barn.

"The walkway."  Pumpkin vines have claimed our pea fence to the left
and make the walk to our orchard kind of cozy.

Experienced gardeners may guess:  it's a bloated, ripe cucumber!  Eastern European homesteaders
settling the plains would slice a yellow cucumber in a pail of fresh milk for a cooling
and nutritious summer meal.

Note 1 - http://www.dnr.sc.gov/climate/sco/ClimateData/weekly/wk061712.php

June 25, 2012

Tomatoes Opalka paste (top, bottom); Amish paste (left); and Big Beef (right).

I don't remember needing to can green beans this early last year.  No, I checked; we're a full two weeks ahead of schedule.  Fourteen quarts are put up for winter so far, and that's just the beginning.  We also picked the first vine-ripened tomato - four of them to be exact; and, the first nectarine. 

14 quarts of green beans canned for winter.

The humid days of summer are here where that settled regularity of temperature--low 70 F and high 90 F--and sunny with hit-or-miss afternoon showers forecast makes everything grow with wild abandon in South Carolina.  In June, we love the settled weather; by August, we're itching for a change.  Sweet corn is fully grown and silked out; we are expecting first corn harvest around July 10.

Juicy, home-grown nectarine.

We're really pleased with the progress our pumpkins are making so far.  Vines are stretching out five to seven feet and will begin flowering soon.  We're still hoping for that 100-pounder by September.

Next Monday July 2, we will take a break from blogging to get our hands dirty: look for our next post on July 9. We wish y'all a happy and safe Independence Day USA!

Sweet corn is silked out.