Late July

After a day of smoke, tourists and work, it’s good to find a quiet backroad. The huckleberries may be scarce this year, but the stars are as plentiful as ever.

Been spending some time driving the backroads, looking for a little peace and checking the higher elevations to see how the huckleberries are doing.

It doesn’t look like they’ll be nearly as plentiful as they were last year. We just haven’t had the same amount of moisture. I’ll be lucky to gather enough for a few batches of jam.

The valley has settled into summer. There’s smoke in the air, plenty of tourists, and it seems there are more every year. A few fires are burning nearby. We’ve certainly seen much worse.

The garden, on the other hand, is thriving. Squash, peas, beans, lettuce, and potatoes are producing faster than we can keep up with. The tomatoes are just beginning to ripen, and the garlic is ready to come out of the ground. Time to construct a drying rack. Today I pickled a batch of beans, trying to find ways to preserve some of the bounty before it all disappears at once.

It’ll be a busy weekend. I’ll be working, right in the middle of it all.

10 thoughts on “Late July”

  3. mountaincoward's avatar

    mountaincoward

    Everyone here seems to have had a terrible year for berries this year – I just got a few blackcurrants – there weren’t many but, after my first pick, the birds wolfed them and any redcurrants. I got a couple of strawberries and even the small wild strawberries don’t seem to be producing this year (although the birds have been at those too and they don’t normally bother). I’ve had a few raspberries but they’re in a very overgrown patch so I suppose that won’t help productivity!

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      1. mountaincoward's avatar

        mountaincoward

        I did get some wild bilberries (I think they’re like your huckleberries) on the hills today on my walk – a pleasant surprise as I thought there wouldn’t be any this year.

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