August on the Homestead

Life has been so busy that I frequently have to get out early in the morning to enjoy the peaceful dawn as the world wakes and also to be able to enjoy God's miracle of creation right in our very own yard.

The butterflies have covered the Anise Hyssop and Butterfly bushes this year, so much so that they seem
to blanket the plants and move in waves.  Every where we look there are butterflies this year.

Georgia Flame Peppers for salsa!  We grow Cayenne, Habanero, and the Georgia Flames mainly for salsa, but also for making the most scrumptious Habanero Jelly.  Habanero Jelly has a sweet apricot base with sweet peppers, onions and hot habaneros in it.  Most tasty on crackers with cream cheese!

These are Chocolate Morning Glories.  This is my first year growing them, but I will be saving the seed to spread them everywhere, they have very large blooms and are quite beautiful.

It's great to still see squash blossoms after the onslaught of squash bugs this year.

My favorite Marigolds, these came up on their own this year.  I didn't know they reseeded by themselves!

After losing my first crop of Crookneck Squash to stem borers, I successfully replanted in mid-July and have been rewarded by it.  Several people have said that summer squash should be planted in mid-July after the stem borers life cycle is over and also to avoid most of the squash bugs.  It seems to work well!

We have had many weeks of extreme heat which we labored through picking bugs and watering for hours ... one big concern was running the well dry.  Thankfully, we have been blessed by rain several times in the past two weeks and cooler temps.  The crops that survived the heat seem to be recovering, but our heart goes out to those who have completely lost their crops and gardens.  We provide produce at our locals farmer's market and have our own local produce stand where we are hearing story after story about people not having the food they need from their gardens to get them through the winter.  Our own crops have suffered greatly, but the Lord has been good to us, we do not fear the coming winter and we are grateful to provide for others also.

I am actually looking forward to winter and several months of rest, but there is still much canning to be done before then!