Mind and Body

Bottle washing 

     I've been reading a blog called Becoming Minimalist written by Joshua Becker (becomingminimalist.com). He recently mentioned that he has decided to become a full time writer. Bravo for him...but...but...how!

2nd batch, ready to bottle

     His blog title tells us he lives minimally and his blogs are often an interesting and worthwhile read, and I know if we make up our minds, become truly determined, we can do many things we thought we had no time for - priorities and all that. Maybe he has money or needs very little or both, or maybe someone else is doing all the mundane things that tend to consume a major portion of our time, or maybe he doesn't need sleep... who knows. I know I nearly always steal time, with accompanying guilt, in order to write. I write continuously in my mind, but it seems like my body is always doing something else!

     "Something else" now is garden - it's production and preserving time - and one means I have chosen to preserve berries is to make wine.  This year I had a bumper crop of raspberries, and my friend who provides me with honeyberries did too, so I am embarking on double batches of each. I never put too much thought into the number of bottles I'd need, or for that matter that my wine rack holds a maximum of 50!

     Ahh well. Today I'm washing bottles for the second batch of honeyberry wine, ready to bottle today or tomorrow. I'm putting out an all important bulletin to all my close neighbors to save wine bottles (the kind that use corks) for the upcoming raspberry batches. And I just stole some time to write. Might have to crack a wee bottle of honeyberry to fortify myself...

     Well, maybe not, wouldn't get a thing done if I did that...

At Weather's Mercy

 One beautiful squash! Already produced 6 big ones...

 One wild hail storm!

 Poor squash, looks like it's been sprayed by a machine gun! But it will probably survive...

And On Into August

A friend of mine in BC wrote the perfect post on FaceBook to tell her friends why she'd posted so seldom during July.  She simply listed a vast array of vegetables that she's been harvesting, and anyone who gardens knows - Gardening is a time consumming joy! BC's gardens are quite a bit ahead of Northern Alberta's but I have nevertheless been busy, busy, busy as well. Mostly it's raspberries. Nine gallons (1.5 hours/gallon) so far and they're still coming. I have to admit that my husband has decided to lend a hand in this task, must be that he's recognized just how valuable a bottle of raspberry wine really is!

And peas! My heavens I love fresh peas! And if not fresh then home grown frozen peas still beat the taste of even organic peas out of the grocery store. So, hours of shelling them is worth every minute.  The best part of gardening, though, is the wonderful combinations of fresh garden goodies that arrive on our plates at dinner time. Last night we had guests, and every single item on the table was grown on the farm - lamb roast, new potatoes, zuchinni lightly fried with red onion, carrot, snow peas and a sprinkling of regular peas - and of course, raspberry wine. Ahhhh!

So the garden is my excuse for posting a bit less, but the garden will finish its season and a new season will bring different tasks, along with, hopefully, a little more time to connect with all of you.