The heat wave broke gradually over the course of this week. Although we’re still having typical hot summer weather, at least the humidity is down slightly and it’s been getting cooler at night. An additional help were a series of overnight rains, easing the need to water in the garden despite the heat.
One thing that I have always loved about farming and gardening is the cyclical yet changing nature of the work. Just when you start to get really sick of a certain task, the seasons have begun to switch and it’s on to the next thing. I always am so excited for the first harvest of greens in the spring, but by the time we get to late May, I’m ready for some summer crops to start ripening to provide some variation to our diet! Similarly, at the beginning of summer I can’t wait to start the process of canning, but eventually it turns into work rather than fun. Fortunately, right as canning start to get old, the temperatures begin to drop, the summer harvest eases, and the fall work sets in.
Right now, we’re still on the near side of the summer-to-fall transition, with both heavy summer harvests and fall planting taking place at once. The rest of the fall cabbage (both green and red, shown above) went in the ground this past week, replacing the final round of summer squash. And Friday night tomato canning has officially become a “thing” in our house. In addition, I put up some pickled roasted red peppers and am looking forward to making another few jars of pickled beets this coming week!
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