summer is flying by...

David's parents were in town last weekend. They brought with them a bushel of peaches from South Carolina, so we got to do some canning - - peach butter and cold packed peach halves. Also, they got us a Weber Grill as a garden warming present! The new grill has been so much fun!
The garden is full of growth - the ginormous sunflower in the middle of the garden is by far my favorite!
and my addiction to spinning continues... I got some roving from Hobbledehoy's etsy shop. It is spinning into beautiful yarn.
hope you are staying cool this summer!

spinning

I have found a new (highly addictive) hobby...
This book was incredibly helpful in figuring out techniques. I also watched several YouTube videos. I can't believe how easy it is to spin yarn. No kidding! I just got the spindle and book last weekend and I already have a skein of yarn.
The yarn became a bit frizzy during the finishing process. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to correct this? We are thinking that I may have brought the water to a boil too quickly.
So, as soon as I finish the cardigan (that I've been working on for a looooong time...see below), I plan to knit something fun with my first skein of handspun yarn!

summertime bliss...

strawberry sundaes, fried green tomatoes, an abundance of peppers, the first tomatoes turn red, the perennial flowers refuse to be shown up by the annuals, and let the preserving begin...

yes, please...
david is experimenting with ferments this year...
lots of growth...

echinacea...
hungarian wax...
evening...
about to be fried...
okra is finally making an appearance...
the first of the roma tomatoes are turning red...

Poison Ivy, Round 2

Back in the beginning of May, I got a nasty poison ivy rash on my arms and neck. We were down in SC at the time, so I assumed I had run into the poison ivy while helping my dad prune the plum tree in my parents' yard. However, we didn't see any poison ivy around. The mystery was revealed when Rebecca and I got back home and saw the unwelcome leaves-of-three mixed in with another, innocuous, ivy. I got suited-up in long sleeves and rubber gloves and pulled out as much of the poison ivy as I could. I filled up four trash bags with the stuff that day.

More recently, I've been noticing the poison ivy re-emerging, mostly around the edges of our garden. It climbs our cinder block wall in the back and becomes one with the chain link fence. It also created a long root network running through the gravel. This morning I went out for the second round of poison ivy clearing. I only filled two bags this time around, but I got some of the larger roots pulled out. Hopefully that will slow its next inevitable assault.

lots of changes in the garden...

Dodging raindrops over here, we are trying to keep up with all of the growth - vegetables and weeds. Here are some pictures we've been taking for the past couple of weeks.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It turns out that I really enjoy demolition work. Here I am tearing down the old fence.
Our peach and apricot trees have lots of leaves on them!

coreopsis

kale

chocolate mint and spearmint


cosmos

teepee tomato staking

weeding

relaxing

lettuce

cabbage

oregeno


pepper

petunia

david behind the really tall buckwheat covercrop

feverfew

rhubarb (1st year, so we can't eat it)

parsley

and of course, a bouquet

new summer bag

Thought I'd post something a little different on the ol' blog today. I finally caught the sewing bug and made the "mama bag" out of Amanda Blake Soule's wonderful "Handmade Home" book. The book encourages re-purposing old fabrics, which is something I've done many times in the past. I used one of my Meemaw's old tablecloths for the outside of the bag.

On the inside of the bag, I used a favorite cotton print that I found at Joann's last spring. The bright yellows and oranges remind me of my room as a kid.

I highly recommend the book, which I was able to get at the library.
SouleMama's blog is also a fun site to visit!

Before and After

On the left, is a picture from 2009 when we still had a beautiful mulberry tree. The tree gave us plenty of mulberries each year to throw in pancakes and scones, but we had to cut it down because the roots were knocking down the retaining wall into our neighbor's yard.

On the right, you can see that David already planted an apricot tree and behind it is the stump from our beloved mulberry tree. Early this spring, along with the apricot tree, David also planted a peach tree. We'll have to post updated pictures of the new trees, as they have lots of leaves now.

Below, the picture on the left was taken in the summer of 2009 prior to the removal of the mulberry tree. On the right, is what the garden looked like last weekend.

Here is a picture of our lot last summer - covered in weeds.

and here is the picture of the garden taken last weekend. Both of these pictures were taken from our second floor window.

Last, but not least on the left is our Naomi in 2006 when she was just a little kitten. On the right, you will see that she has grown into a large cat.