August 11, 2023

Is there time to catch my breath?

It's been a very busy stretch and I don't know where to start to record all of it. 

I've been busy in the garden although the pantry shelves don't reflect it. I've canned two batches of pizza sauce, four quarts of chili, a batch of cucumber relish, and seven quarts of chicken soup base. I've had cabbage in the freeze dryer and still have two large heads to process. The tomatoes are winding down, and I'm freezing them so I can make a batch of tomato sauce when they finish.

The butternut squash is doing very well. I hope to can at least seven quarts for whatever recipe I choose down the road. 

I've pulled the green beans, one tomato plant, and two cabbages that just didn't form heads. The garden looks nice and tidy again. I wonder if I want to do a fall planting? We shall see.

There's been mowing and weed-whacking to do, plus household chores. The front gutter needed to be cleaned out. A few days ago, the Lord of the Manor and I had a "staff" meeting - we had breakfast out at a restaurant. I won't name it because we don't plan to go back. We agree on what we'd like to accomplish before winter, and we prioritized our list in case we don't get it all done. We actually had a better discussion since we weren't home and distracted by this or that little thing. 

We weathered a severe and massive storm system that blew through here a few days ago. The worst went around us, but this morning, one tree limb came down. Storm damage or just because? It's hard to tell. 

Tomorrow it's back to mowing. Usually, we get to skip mowing at all in August, but the storm brought enough rain that it's needed. The weather really does control a lot of activity when you live in the country. We adjust and keep going. 

The Lady of the Hideaway


Holly Tree Manor, The Hideaway, rural living, country lifestyle, gardening, weather watching, staff meetings, breakfasts, canning, home food preservation, freeze dryer


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