Happy Yard Time

My sister came for a recent visit and really enjoyed the yard.  After we left for a camping trip and she stayed on to visit others in town, she has declared my yard "a lot of work, even without the weeding." She had watering for 3 days, and did some picking as well. While she is not wrong, it is also a lot of fun if you actually like picking, processing, watering and weeding, which I do. The weeding is a pretty minor job this time of year (minus the large thistle I found today), but the picking and processing is pretty time consuming.

The camping trip was great fun and I loved being out in nature 24 hours a day, but when we got home and I was out in my yard, I was so happy I was actually skipping a bit. Everything is much larger and there is so much to pick when you've been away a bit. In the last 2 days we picked 3 ice cream pails of cucumbers and 2 of raspberries alone. Those became pickles and raspberry muffins today, with the extra raspberries getting frozen down. This time of year we eat a lot of fresh fruits and veggies from the yard - salads, fresh salsas, etc. more than we freeze things down, but we've just started the big freezing season. Now that I use ongoing planting we tend to freeze less and eat a much greater variety fresh.

Currently eating:

• 6 types of greens
• kohlrabi
• beans (purple, green)
• zucchini (yellow, green)
• cucumbers (picklers and slicers)
• tomatoes
• peppers (chili, green and Hungarian wax)
• peas (snap and shell)
• herbs (basil, mint, parsley, oregano, sage,  and chives)
• chard
• strawberries (second picking)
• cherries (one tree is done, but another is ripening)
• raspberries
• apples (I think we should be eating them all, Mike thinks they need a few more days)
• baby beets and  carrots
• fresh garlic (thanks Mom)

We've only really frozen fruits so far (mostly saskatoons, raspberries and cherries), but I will start with zucchini and beans next week for sure.

I find time in the yard so peaceful and social.  Mike and I sit out in the morning while he drinks his coffee, kids play on the play equipment, we eat outside and we have friends over for a fire or a drink in the evening. I lay out in the hammock and read. Our yard makes our entertainment space so much larger. Tomorrow night we are having a couple of families over for a potluck, and everything I serve will be yard food.  Since I love to cook, be outside and grow things, it doesn't feel much like work. However, sometimes my girls agree with my sister, especially when it is raspberry picking time. Happy Yard Time is more a Wendy thing than a teenager thing.