Some of gifts of the garden

Here's a photo of some of yesterdays harvest.
I'm definitely in squash hell - need to find a food bank, fast! The freezers are maxed out and so are our squash appetites. It's here if anyone wants to pick it up today or tomorrow. Just let me know.
Yesterday was a very productive day. I'm definitely feeling like this bug is going, going, and almost gone. I got in the garden for two hours and planted a bunch of annuals, another Russian sage,did a some weeding, dug up a few more potatoes and picked tomatoes, squash and the first bush and pole beans.
A raccoon or deer knocked over my one, mature corn stalk, but only nibbled on the not quite ripe, ear of corn. The new corn seedlings seem to have been left alone, for now.
I made pizza again, for dinner. That was the last of the current dough which was in the fridge because there was no room in the freezer, so we wound up having pizza three nights this week. We had home made banana ice cream for dessert and then enjoyed a relaxing night of TV starting with the Brit coms on PBS, followed by Inspector Poirot. I fell asleep mid way but Jim filled me in on the ending this morning - the husband did it!
Overnight, some critter or critters attacked our biggest peach tree and there are only a few peaches left, which I'll pick later. I have to keep remembering that it's best to share! The culprit broke a good sized branch a couple of days ago and we cut it off yesterday. Fortunately, the break didn't damage the trunk.
I must be ready to get back in the studio. I dreamed I was throwing bowls last night; but I'm giving myself one more day of heavy vitamin therapy and hopefully Bonnie and I can get into the studio tomorrow.
We just got back from breakfast and a shopping run at Walmart. My almost thirty year old watch finally died and it was time for a replacement. I got a couple of new toys for Bonnie - just for the studio, so I don't have to schlepp all her stuff into the studio when I take her in there with me for the day.

Gardenia in zone 6B

Here's a gardenia that I planted this spring. We're in zone 6b and this is a zone 7 plant; but I'm hoping that some heavy mulching this fall will help it make it through the winter. If we don't have a severe winter, I think it might survive. For extra protection, I'll put some rocks around the base to retain heat during the day then release it over night.

I took a brief walk in the garden yesterday and guess what? There were 3 more summer squashes to pick - two pretty large zucchini and one yellow. Hopefully, my friend Betty will take some off my hands today!

If you've been reading my blog, you'll remember that the critters ate all but two of my corn plants. Well, miracle of miracles, one of the surviving stalks actually has an ear of corn. I have no idea how that happened since the only other survivor is too far away from it to have pollinated it. Maybe one of the birds we feed daily, or the bees who dine on all our flowers took pity on me and pollinated it. Jim says I should eat it all by myself; but I couldn't do that. I'm hoping the late corn I planted will give us a few more ears before the first frost.

I noticed that I have some beans on my few bush bean plants and the newly planted seeds are up, so if the bunnies leave them alone we'll have another small, late crop. I picked a few more peaches off one of our three peach trees. Seems the peaches on the two older trees have some disease. I don't use poisonous sprays on the food I grow; but I'll have to see if there is some organic sprays to prevent this next year.

I'm feeling a tiny bit better this morning, so maybe all the vitamins and homeopathics are having some effect on this bug. I hope so. Being this tired and not being able to get in the studio or do necessary garden work is beginning to try my patience.

Peach pie

Here's the peach pie I made yesterday. I hadn't made a pie in quite a while and forgot just how labor intensive it is. How did my grandmother make all those pies, keep a garden, can, do laundry without our modern washing machines or dryers, no permanent press clothing, no frozen foods, cook on a wood stove, clean house, etc! With all my gadgets I still feel like I have less free time than she had!

I think these computers, for as wonderful as they are, really do eat up a lot of our time that we would be spending on doing all those other more creative and more productive things.

Yesterday, I got in the garden long enough to pull a few weeds, harvest more summer squash (what am I goin to do with it all!). The freezers are pretty maxed out but I'm hoping I can get some of it in small baggies and find some little spaces to squeeze them in. I sauteed some of the thickly julienned zucchini in olive oil and garlic with some fresh chopped basil and parsley last night, which is one of the few ways Jim actually enjoys summer squash.

Tonight is pizza night, so I'll get started on my dough after breakfast. I've got some real Buffalo mozzarella that I got at the Italian deli in Cornelius last week, that I'm eager to try. Jim likes pepperoni on his half and I found some at Earth Fare that doesn't have all those preservatives.

By the time dinner was over, I was too tired to start on my light box project; and I was fast asleep halfway through the Anthony Bourdain show. For the past week I've been super tired and really having to force myself to do anything. The leftover flu bug from months ago comes back every time I tired myself with too much hard, physical work. Maybe it's just old age telling me to slow down a bit.