Thursday, August 11, 2011

In the cold month of August

2011-08-11

I would love to say that my garden is flourishing…  and it is… sort of.  But we are just now getting June bearing strawberries and our VERY first tomatoes and green beans.  The sunflowers started opening last week.  A month late.  They usually open around the 4th of July.  For Pacific NW gardeners, the weather has been frustrating to say the least.  I am trying to enjoy our 78 minutes of summer and we are planning two camping trips for the next few weeks so I am really hoping it warms up again!

Even with the crazy cold weather I have gotten some summer projects started.

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This chicken coop was a hand-me-down from a friend and I have always loved it!  I am remodeling it to make it something even more beautiful for my bitties to live in.  I will show you the finished product soon I hope.  Just got the rest of the paint yesterday! (Notice behind the chicken coop the dead grass?  At least it has been warm enough for that!  Or has it just been dry enough for that?  Even our pastor said last week that we should get out in this ‘balmy 70* weather for a while and nobody better complain to God about heat!’  lol!)

In other news, I just discovered Zaycon Foods.  Has anyone else used this?  The only thing I have ordered so far has been peaches which arrive at the end of August and so I can’t speak to the quality but I can tell you that the price was amazing!  $16 per box.  Right from a local source.

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Family news:  Don started the Paleo diet this last week.  Not sure how long it will last for my carb loving husband, but we will see.  It’s kinda trendy, so I am super skeptical as usual and am sticking with Nourishing Traditions and Marco for me and the kids.  Minus the dairy and soy.  I have thought and chatted with people about this diet a lot lately.  I would love to hear thoughts on it from you guys. 

That’s about it from here.  I have a huge dentist apt this morning.  I am hoping to get the chicken coop fully painted this afternoon, but I may be on my couch with an icepack on my face.  :P

Blessings to you all for a beautiful Thursday!

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5 comments

Kimberly said...

Wow, Val - one thing that is fascinating to me being a gardener is the wild variations in microclimates. You and I live so close to one another, yet my strawberry crop was great but has been over with for probably 3 weeks, I have NO beans yet, still have peas, and have lots of red-but-not-quite-ripe tomatoes. I can only attribute it to the influence of the lake by me or else our varying shade. But strange, eh?

Shay said...

Would love to hear more about your chicken coop. Your title caught my eye as the 100-110 temps around my area have melted/burned about everything in sight.

Val in the Rose Garden said...

Kim - that is SO funny! You are not even 10 miles from me and so it seems that we would have the same but perhaps it is the difference in shade? Perhaps the only runners that survived from the strawberries were all the late bearing ones? They are called... day-neutral berries. I had some. But I thought I had mostly June Bearing. Maybe only the day neutral ones survived? Who knows... but that is my reality at the moment. And beans? We have gotten cups per day of beans this week.... but only two red tomatoes to count! HUNDREDS of green ones.

Blessings,

Val

Cat J B said...

Our summer was pretty dismal this year and it felt like winter got an early start. My tomatoes ripened slowly and late, giving only one or two at a time. Now it's starting to head to spring, but still feels like mid-winter. I am OVER it!

I'm eating primal right now, which is like paleo but still includes dairy. I think, lol. Off all grains, legumes and sugar. My husband has just joined me and he's been going two weeks now. He's finding he's less fuzzy/groggy when he wakes in the morning and he's losing weight . He doesn't really have any to lose but wanted to drop about 5kg.

I've found I can make it through the day without that afternoon slump. And I've lost all my baby weight (without breastfeeding, stillbirth at 28 wks). The boys I'm doing NT with.

Hope the dentist goes well!

Val in the Rose Garden said...

Cat - Im so sorry about your loss. I am really glad the diet is working for you though. :) I can't wait to see what it does for my husband. It's a HUGE change (like he was a carb addict) so I am guessing we will see results quickly and dramatically.

Blessings to you and your family.

Val

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