Check!

I crossed something my Things to Make and Do list yesterday and sent in my form to be an exhibitor at the County Fair! I wish I could have entered a few more garden vegetables, but with the season going the way it is I'm not sure we'll even still have tomatoes in mid-September.
I'm bringing the premium book with me on the Northwoods cabin-and-camping crawl we're embarking on momentarily, and perhaps I'll be able to talk Jake into entering some things too!

Goings on in the Garden

It is dry around here. Real dry. The NOAA declared our area of Wisconsin in moderate drought. We're watering the garden regularly, but things are still droopy. The early spring, the hot early summer, and the very low rainfall have made for a strange season. What had promised to be a great blackberry season is over now, the berries dried up.
Our garlic was already harvested! We finally were diligent about snipping off the garlic scapes, using them in stir fries and salads, and were rewarded with big beautiful garlic bulbs. We live, and we learn. They're curing on the porch.

The kale keeps coming and coming. "Kale" is my new favorite color.

The spinach bolted early, and for the first time, we saved the seeds. 

I harvested the first red tomatoes yesterday, but in the climb through the jungle of squash vines and bean bushes and the reaching through tomato cages, I jostled some green ones to the ground. No matter... fried green tomatoes for dinner last night!

Tonight it is pesto, made fresh today.

Jake had I had designs on eating exclusively from our yard and garden (chicken, duck, eggs, honey, maple, berries, and vegetables) for the month of July, with the exception of coffee and flour and oil. But then... Xan came along, and that plan, along with the garden, fell by the wayside. 

Maybe we'll do a week of sustaining solely on TelltheBees produce in late July or August. 

Hopefully we'll get some rain soon. 

Fowl Play

The unknown predator we think was a fox got away with both Rutherford Domingo and Maude the duck before disappearing, but the winged creatures of TelltheBees have grown in ranks nonetheless.

First, a friend gifted us two goslings and two ducklings, all four of whom have been taken under the wing of our existing geese, Marsh and Marais. They're crabbier than ever now. 

Then, a new rooster and two new hens were dropped off by a friend whose family was outgrowing chicken-keeping. 

Here's Roo, the beautiful, and thankfully mild-mannered, Ameraucauna rooster.

Here's what a visit to the chicken coop produces these days. 

Last, two of our buff ducks teamed up and hatched out some ducklings! Six at last count. They're still sitting, so maybe we've got some more on the way. Homegrown peeps!

They're crabby too. 

Regardless, exciting times on the life of this egg farm!

Heat Advisory

This part of the Wisconsin has been in a heat advisory since Monday. It is projected to extend until Friday.

Yesterday morning we got a brief respite from the arid heat during a fifteen minute thunderstorm.

Look! Actual rain pouring off the corner of the screen porch roof!

Later in the afternoon, though, the heat was back. I packed up and we headed to the only beach I know of in these parts, a tiny patch of sand in a dammed up convergence of two creeks. The night before Jake had come home with the tiniest life jacket he could find, complete with not one but two crotch straps and an Elizabethan collar. It is pink and purple. A classy accessory, that. But... it works!

Look at that!

He just bobbed around and kicked a bit while we swam around him. It made me laugh a lot.

Spongedog Sandypants watched from the blanket, old dog that he is. 

A good day. 

Next blog post: back to originally scheduled programming.

  

Pizza Farm

At long last, I finally made it to A to Z Pizza outside of Stockholm, WI! My aunt had been telling me about this place for years, but it is only open on Tuesday nights, and my usual summer schedule made it tough for me to make the trip. Now that I know how great this place is, though, I'll throw caution to the wind and head up there as often as I can.

It was good to go with someone who'd been there before to learn the ropes. Nancy, said aunt, packed a quilt, plates and forks, nonbreakable wine glasses, snacks for pre-pizza appetizers, and a garbage bag. We drove to Stockholm and puttered around. Stockholm is beautiful little town on the shores of Lake Pepin, full of art galleries and shops and cafes. Before heading up the hill, Nancy and I stopped at the Stockholm Pie Company to pick up some dessert. She said it was tradition.

We meandered up the hill, onto the bluffs flanking the Mississippi. There were no signs advertising the way, so I was again glad for my guide. We rounded a corner and she pointed to a line of parked cars on the horizon. It felt like knowing a secret! We parked a ways down the road and walked over.

We looked for a spot in the shade and got settled. It was a gorgeous evening!

For a few discombobulated minutes, I thought I'd lost my keys, but Nancy hiked back to the car and found them safely on top of the car's roof. I've been doing that a lot lately. 

All was well by the time my friends Abbey and Ole arrived. Ole was dressed for the occasion. 

He hadn't met Xan yet, and greeted him with "knuckles!"

We walked over to main building to order our pizza. We were pizza number 153, I think, and were told we'd have a 55 minute wait, which we were happy about because it gave us time to visit and people-watch and explore the beautiful setting and have a glass of the homemade wine that Abbey brought. Ole pointed at cows and ran and touched tractors. Xan mostly slept.

After a while, we went to check on our pizza.

Then, we ate it. 

And it was great.

We walked around a bit afterwards too... even though Xan and I had a long drive ahead of us, we didn't want to leave. It was like a festival! People brought dishes and beer and folding tables and chairs, lawn games and candelabras.

Truly, truly, a great summer evening. I hope to recreate it sometime real soon.

Cabbage Patch Baby

Paletas de Coco

Its hot and dry in a scary way here. No rain for weeks, none in the forecast. The garden is droopy, an apricot tree has withered away, the grass is brown. To beat the heat we've been swimming in the Kickapoo, reading under the fans, and eating and drinking cold things.
I recently bought a homemade popsicle maker- my mom had something similar when I was a kid, except it was much better made than this one. I remember diving into the great big chest freezer that was in the garage to fish out a frozen grape juice-cicle. I also remember apple cider-cicles.

Inspired by the paletas ("Latin American ice pops usually made from fresh fruit") that I've been enjoying from a shop in town (they have paleta punch-cards!), I decided to make my own. I mixed a can of light coconut milk with about an eighth of a cup of honey and a dash of vanilla extract, and added about half a cup of non-sweetened shredded coconut, and froze overnight. They were great! And a nice cool treat for this scorcher of a day- the thermometer on my car said 111 degrees today! I think that car thermometer is a little bit of an exaggerator, but still. 

As soon as this batch is done, I'm moving on to better and more beautiful fruits and herbs... blackberry basil pops! Watermelon mint-cicles! The possibilities are endless. I hope you're finding such pleasant ways to beat the heat!