Wednesday, July 4, 2012

A Patriotic Summer Harvest

Day 160
The Daily DuBrule

Happy Fourth of July. I am gorging myself on raspberries and blueberries this week. Anyone that stops by goes home with a container filled with fruit (along with a bag of greens, beets, and sugar snap peas). I have never seen such a crop of raspberries come in so heavy and all at once in my life. The blueberries? Well, they have been providing me with berries for weeks now. 

Yesterday one of my best girlfriends came over for a visit with her daughter and her first granddaughter. This is a friend who shared her three children with me when they were young. I was quite kid deprived, you see, and this really made all the difference in the world to me. So now, how fitting it is that her first grandchild also hangs out in my garden during the first few months of her life. 

I LOVE to grow food. Truly, it is my passion. I also love to give it away. That is why this red and blue harvest was so special to me. Does my husband get to take advantage of this bounty? Well, last night he did. Usually I just graze in the garden after dinner. Last evening I brought in the colander of blueberries and raspberries pictured above. I added some edible borage blossoms to make it look more festive. Pretty sky blue starbursts that taste like cucumbers, yum! The daisies add the white, but please don't eat the daisies! They are only for show. After I took this beauty shot, we each had a bowl of sorbet (lemon for me please) and ice cream (chocolate for Tony please) and smothered it with fruit. Delicious! All the weeding, pruning, feeding, and mulching was worth it. As usual...

Today I worked in my gardens for many hours. I did a lot of cutting, pruning, weeding, and Japanese beetle squishing. It is an intense time of year. Lots of food to harvest, lots of growth to tame, so much to do. I don't mind. I play beautiful music through my outdoor speakers. I take photographs of orange dragonflies on the fennel. I plant root crops like carrots and the last of the gladiolus bulbs now that the full moon has past. I spread shredded straw. I tie up the cucumbers. All is right with the world... and I am very well fed in the bargain.

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