In which it's a good thing the days are long, because we are scurrying

Whoever invented the phrase "lazy days of summer" 

never spent August hanging around us.

The garden has exploded...as usual.

We are eating fresh fruit and vegetables from the property at almost every meal now...and that means getting up early enough that I don't get ambushed by the timer-driven sprinklers while harvesting stuff.

The spaghetti squash has climbed the bean poles, surrounded the corn stalks, and knocked over the fence.

This is our first year planting spaghetti squash, and I must say that it's really gotten into the whole spirit of enthusiasm.  I hope my neighbors like spaghetti squash.  I hope a lot of my neighbors like spaghetti squash a lot....

Basil, another first-time success

I consider basil-growing to be part of tomato-growing, and as explained in prior posts, I'm really not good at either.  However, this year we've managed to keep enough basil alive long enough that I think I might be able to make and can a small batch of our own pesto.  *bowing modestly*

Cherry tomatoes, zucchini, and basil : looks like dinner to me!

We combined shredded zucchini and shredded potatoes with green beans,
onions, garlic, tomatoes, eggs and cheese to make a delicious
sort-of-pancake.  The only ingredient we didn't grow here was the cheese.

I've been picking berries of some type directly into my breakfast bowl every morning since early June: first it was strawberries, then blueberries, and now raspberries and blackberries.

Raspberry yield is moderate on our young plants

Meanwhile, Winter Prep progresses.

We added more wood to the stack in front of the house, scavenged from
the yards, fence lines and pastures of friends.

The horse trailer is helpful for moving more than just the horse

Craig and Margie got a wood splitter as a house-warming present--and they loaned it to us!

 Also scrounged from a neighbor's yard:  golden plums.

Jim is patiently teaching my non-patient self to can stuff.

We do the hot part of the canning process outside whenever possible.

I don't just scrounge domestically, of course.

It's what's for dinner

Patient mushroom-hunting steed waits patiently while I hunt.

We sauteed this gigantic bowl of chanterelles in butter and garlic,
and then spooned them into ziplocs to freeze for winter soups.

 But it's not all work here.

We went whale-watching!

We saw this lone batchelor whale "Ooxja" (aka T65A2) north of Vancouver BC

We went to the Festival of the River!

My friends Peter Ali (left) and Swil Kanim (right) invited young Max (center)
up on stage to play with them.

But then, it was back to work.  I keep taking breaks from writing this post to go stir the latest batch of stuff on the stove:

more blackberries!