out and back

So behind that I don't know how I will catch up with all the happenings around here, but let's see if I can do it in five minutes or less...

Secondo and Terzo went to camp and had a great week, except Terzo being very, very blue about the fact that it was Secondo's last year. HIS LAST YEAR. I am blue, too.

After picking them up, we headed north for vacation, but since we had a little time to kill, stopped at a few colleges to give Secondo a few ideas. Middlebury was our favorite; too bad it doesn't have his major. But I plan to apply there.

Then onto points north and Montreal. Lots of architecture and art and churches and history.

Even a jaunt up to Quebec.

Our favorite day was the day we rented bikes and toured all over Montreal, across the St. Lawrence River to the Parc Jean Drapeau Island, down to the St. Lawrence rapids and up the Lachine Canal.

We have just about recovered and now it's time to turn ourselves around and head back out for fair this weekend. Better stock up on sleep now.

july greening

All the rain we have been getting lately has meant a lot of greening up. April colors were more like August's parched brown, but July is looking positively May in tone.

The corn just down the road, shown here as dusk was falling, is taking full advantage. Not quite as high as an elephant's eye, but getting there.

cleaning sheep houses

Big projects last weekend, with big boy toys—a Kubota backhoe from Home Depot. That sucker was put to work, sun-up to sun-down, so much that the rental guy couldn't believe the hours that were put on it during a single day.

Big surprise, the two boys leaning on their shovels (or in this case, pitchforks) again. Though for the majority of the time they were super helpful,especially given the smelliness of the situation

Shed all cleaned out and freshly strawed, though the line at the back shows how overdue we were. Now it is even more obvious how much it needs a fresh coat of paint.

Despite all our hard work, the grass is fresh and deep and green away from the shed, and never mind the rain. They'll stay right out here, thankyouverymuch.

blueberry cat

The blueberries are all cleaned and tucked safely away in the freezer.

The cat was a tremendous help.

a magic carpet

So so busy at the moment, with perhaps really big things afoot that I must keep close to the vest for the moment, but nevertheless, positive thoughts to The Powers That Be would be much appreciated.

In the meantime, don't miss this wonderful blog post by my mother about how she got started in the fiber arts, about her own magic carpet.

I have been steeped in it my whole life, and as with many things, which I appreciated and participated more when I was younger! Now you know where my passion comes from. That rug has been hanging in my parents' house for as long as I can remember. The spirit took a while, but finally moved in me.

blueberry run gastronomy

Our annual run down to deepest South Jersey for our beloved blueberries. I write this post annually so I have a place to note how many flats I buy.

Last year, it was 9.5 and we barely made it to the beginning of May with our frozen berry supply.

So this year, I upped it to 12 flats. (Those aren't all our flats. I am a blueberry mule; the wagon held a total of 31 flats for 11 families, including ours.)

I am already worried that it won't be enough.

Despite snarfing down a pint of blueberries each before we went five miles, they still insisted that we stop at a BBQ place that we have passed every year, but has never been open.

We found out that we have to go on a Thursday, Friday or Saturday to hit this one. (On Route 206 in Shamong, if you want to go.) We tried the ribs and pulled chicken and then brought home pulled pork for dinner. We highly recommend them all. 

But that wasn't enough. 

Tradition demanded a stop at the White Dotte less than a half hour later for root beer floats.

We rolled home, unloaded berries and have been entertaining a steady stream of customers for pick up ever since.

Guess what I'll be doing on my holiday? Luckily, freezing berries is so easy! No need to flash freeze. Just wash and lay out to dry (I run a fan to help this step along) then bag and freeze. Enjoy all summer, fall, winter, and hopefully spring, long!