The flowers are getting gorgeous around here. I love this bouquet Lovana, my daughter, made for me. She added dill and put it in the bathroom, which helped the room smell wonderful.
This week I was able to pick enough cucumbers to make a batch of sweet pickles. It takes 4 days. You need to do something morning and night each day. It was so great to get a batch out of the way.
I was invited to judge food preservation at the 4H fair and had a great time doing that on Monday. It is such a great program and we participated for so many years that it is a super fun 1-day job for me.
I picked and froze several baggies of beans. (You can see the pickles in progress in the background.)
It was a little hard to get any garden work done last week, but I managed a couple of weeding sessions and a couple of harvesting sessions. We were involved at Vacation Bible School at church, which took quite a bit of time.
Rob has been “enrolled” in wound care for his leg and ended up with antibiotics in an I-V in his arm for 5 days in a row. Today was the day they assessed him again, and thankfully decided that was not needed anymore, so he got the I-V port out this afternoon. His leg needs on-going treatment, though for at least a month. Although I hate that he has to go through this–it’s very painful–I’m glad they finally got him the treatment he needs.
As always, the babies bring lots of joy into our lives. Today, we baby sat both of them, which made a full day. We took them for a nice long walk first thing this morning, before it got too hot. They had fun looking for kitties and chickens. There are kitties in many places, and one place that we can see a chicken once in a while on one of our routes.
It’s been a busy week, and there’s lots more fun to come this week. I’m looking forward to a little more time in the garden soon, but it’s supposed to be super hot for a couple of days, so I may have to wait. I guess time will tell:)
I am so sorry that Rob is having such a rough time with his leg. That must have been a bad wound infection. I’m so glad that the antibiotics are helping, and I hope that he continues to heal well.
The boys are so cute! The flowers are beautiful!
Hope you have a good week.
Thank you. I was getting very worried about that leg, to tell the truth, as I was the one changing the bandage before wound care took over. The oral antibiotics (2 sets) just weren’t enough. He saw 2 doctors, plus the urgent care one, until he finally got into this center where they can treat these things better. I’m hoping for a good report tomorrow when that doctor looks at it, and for him to not have so much pain after this visit.
My garden has not done well this summer. I had maybe 6 zucchini from 4 plants! 6 tiny green tomatoes and 1 ripe tomato, each about the size of a cherry tomato (it was not a cherry tomato plant!), 2 okra pods, 0 cucumbers. Everything got scorched for the sun and the watering restrictions didn’t help. Oh, well, there’s always next year, I suppose.
I wish I could send rain and zucchini.
Yesterday and today are hot for us — in the mid90s but feeling hotter with the humidity. My cherry tomatoes are finally coming on
I love seeing how productive your garden is. I’ve been reading your blog since before you moved into this house. What an inspiration to see what you’ve accomplished in the garden and the greenhouse. I’m moving next week and will be planning a new garden for my new place. Another small side yard to work with. I’m excited for new beginnings.
Where’d you get your sweet pickle recipe? Or do you mind posting it when you have a moment, LOL LOL…
I’m glad you get a new garden! How exciting for you. I know over the years, you have gardened here and there and everywhere. Hopefully, you can have a bigger plot to work in.
The sweet pickle recipe is from Oregon State University Extension, in a brochure. I’ll bet their website might have it, or the National Center for Home Food Preservation would likely have one. It’s for sweet gherkin pickles, but our family has always just cut cucumbers into chunks to make it. I also put in more cinnamon sticks than called for, and hope to have 1/2 or even a whole one in each jar. They are easy to break when they have soaked in brine for a day or two. Look for one that involves dumping boiling water over cukes morning and night for a day or two, adding salt at some point, then a vinegar/sugar/spice mixture, which is reboiled morning and night and added to each time. It’s not hard, you just have to be on it twice a day for 4 days, then can them.
If you can’t find it, let me know and I’ll try to post it.
Hoping all goes well with Rob’s recovery!
Thank you. We are grateful that he was finally able to get into wound care, but it took 3 weeks from the date of injury to get in:(. Now, they can hopefully do what needs doing to get it healed up.
The babies are so cute! Your garden vegetables look fantastic! Yum!
They do taste wonderful!
Becky, it’s so nice to see all the fresh flowers and garden produce! As I’ve mentioned grasshoppers did us in this year, but I plan to go to a U-pick farm in northern Colorado in a few weeks, and will hopefully get some goodies to preserve. VBS is a wonderful program; you and Rob put a lot into it. My kids are well past that age; i’ts been awhile since I volunteered–I want to do so next year.
Have a wonderful week! And good news on Rob’s leg. Is the injury from when he fell on the wood?
I’m glad you can find some produce somewhere to get! Those grasshoppers are a real problem.
Rob’s leg: Yes, it’s from that piece of firewood he tripped and was impaled by. He’s in wound care 3x per week. They clean it, rewrap it, and put this tight sock-like thing on it. On Tuesdays, the doctor works on it. It’s very painful when she does that. She will hopefully have something good to say tomorrow, in regards to how it’s doing. They did say it was starting to heal a bit, but was going to take at least a month. He’s being super, super careful not to bump it, and has to put it up for a while each day. He does what he can do, but some days feels like he wishes he could do more:)
I had my little ones looking for rabbits and cows. I am so very careful about any little wound since I have diabetes. Your husband had a huge wound. I hope it heals fast.
Thank you. I, also, have diabetes, and have to be so careful about a lot of things. He, on the other hand, does not, even though they ask, and ask, and test and test him for it:). I’m glad. He doesn’t need another thing. I hope to hear good things after his dr. visit tomorrow.