It is all about the Fruit

As any good James Girl knows, summer is all about the fruit. James girls love virtually all forms of fresh food, but nothing beats summer fruit for the flavour, colour and sheer amount of natural sugar. It has been very hot and dry here all summer, and there are a record 601 forest fires burning as of yesterday. This means the fruit is ripening quickly in desperation to get consumed - James Girls are happy oblige.

When Leo was little, she used to sneak outside and eat all the strawberries before anyone else got any. Strawberries are always our first fruit beyond rhubarb, and we are usually eating them from mid-June to early July. Our strawberries finished last week, and this time Leo ate only her share.

Saskatoons are the next fruit that ripens, and I can't say she was as well behaved about them. We've been eating them for about the last 9 days, and Leo has had a few cups each day. She is an awesome help with the picking, though.

Anwyn has reluctantly helped picking raspberries, the picking of which is the bane of my girls' existence. There is always heavy negotiation about who will have to pick next. We have to pick every second day in the height of the season, and today it was 37 degrees celsius, so lots more fruit has ripened. We'll definitely need to pick tomorrow, and we just picked six cups yesterday.

Our next fruit to ripen is cherries. We have two trees, and the back one ripens first. The cherries on it are already ripe, but still getting sweeter. Mike is the arbiter of when we can pick cherries, as they are his favourite. I have threatened to dig out the front tree, which kept suckering (growing baby trees in the lawn off of its roots) but not producing fruit. This year, in agreed upon year of its death, it has finally produced to save its own life.

Our final fruit (I don't count tomatoes) is apples, which we'll eat in August, so now is the prime fruit time. I have been eating berries, making trifle and pie, canning stewed rhubarb (okay that was Mike) and freezing down lots of the new crop. We've also been enjoying omnipresent fruit salad and smoothies. You'd think with all the fruit, I wouldn't buy any at the store, but James girls like lots of variety....

Even as it is all about the fruit, it is also about the flowers and veggies. We are currently harvesting early tomatoes, cucumber, sugar snap peas and more lettuce and herbs than one family can eat. Mike has made pesto twice. For those of you who like the flower pictures, there are a few new favourites.

Mike coloured Iris.

Variegated tea rose, bought with Jodi
 

One of 22 bee picture this month. Thanks Mike