Can you believe it? It's midsummer already! I know I can't quite wrap my cranial matter around that fact either. I mean, even though it's more than a bit toasty outside, I just don't want to acknowledge that we are past the halfway mark on summer.
That said, based on my workload these days, I guess I shouldn't be in denial about where we are on our yearly whirl around the sun, because holy produce have I been busy.
One of the glaring reminders that we are midsummer is that I seeded fall carrots. My dad's birthday was this past week and it's always a reminder for me to seed any carrots that I want for fall.
This year I kept it simple and direct seeded my carrots right under the drip irrigation lines in the corn and on the way to the hops bines. Both of those crops are thirsty little critters (Okay, they are not so little), so the consistent watering under their drip lines will help my carrots germinate well. After clearing a bit of soil open, I seeded about twenty row feet or so of carrots and then went about my business.
Some of that business has been tending to the plethora of zucchini. With the hot weather arriving the zucchini have been more than slightly fruitful, and I have the weird Hulk green-looking hands to prove it. In fact, just a few minutes ago I finished shredding eight zucchini and popped the shreds into the freezer for this fall's baking projects. I truly never get tired of zucchini bread and brownies!
And after I finished grating the zukes, I went out onto the porch and helped the hubs pit the rest of the flat of cherries that we bought. Our local grocery store had a fantastic sale on cherries that were grown just across the border in Eastern Washington. I cannot even U-pick them for the price that I got them per pound, so the hubs and I decided to buy a flat, pit them, and freeze some for future use.
Then, me being a glutton for homesteading punishment, I took about twelve cups of them and whipped up some pie filling to freeze for one of those blustery soggy days that will soon be upon us. (I like to craft baked comestibles on such days!)
After a couple hours spent pitting cherries, making pie filling, and grating zucchini, well, let's just say I looked a bit like an X-men mutant. My hands had that whole zucchini peeling fest green tinge and my legs, hands, and abdomen were covered with blood red cherry juice. I thought I looked pretty cool, terrifying even. The hubs though, he didn't seem terrified. His mood could only be described as amused. (Apparently I had a big glop of cherry juice on my face too...sigh).
Not that I cared if he thought I was intimidating, I know I was, at least to any fruit or vegetables in my proximity. Summer Slayer Vegetable Container could be my mutant name. That's not lame at all.
And on that note I think I will go take a little Kat nap. Things are getting weird...
If you are interested in trying out the recipe that I used for the homemade cherry pie filling, here ya go:
And as most of the time, all of the images in this post were taken on the author's currently garnished in a patina of slightly dried cherry juice iPhone. The text divider image was made in Canva.