thankful thursday

The rain we've been having.

Whew.

So.Much.Rain.

Some of the vegetables in the garden are struggling with all the moisture. Of course the not-vegetable-plants are having a grand time, as demonstrated by this between-rows photograph:

Despite the weather, and the jungle growing up around them, the pole beans are producing abundantly. And the beans themselves are beautiful - almost all completely flawless, rarely a nibble or a spot, which is not always the case with organic gardening. I am amazed and very grateful.

More bean salad, coming up!

~~~~~

salad days

Bean flowers:

Bean fruit:

Bean salad!

I picked the first French filet beans a few days ago,

immediately made a huge bowl of three-bean salad,

and have been eating it twice daily ever since.

You'd think I'd be getting tired of it by now, but no.

I'm just trying not to run out before I can make the next batch.

Last night I had intended to go down to the garden after chores

and fill another basket with beans:

one bean for each goat, all the rest for me.

But just as I was collecting empty grain pans and distributing peanuts,

thunder began to roll and lightening flashed quite nearby.

So I hastened to cover the hay and get Piper, Moxie and Della into the house.

No bean-picking last night.

Maybe tonight though.

Oh I think so.

Yes.

Three-bean salad: breakfast of champions!

~~~~~

stormy monday

After three days of cool weather - COOL weather! - there's quite a bit of rain in the forecast. I did barn chores early this morning, so the goats would have access to hay inside shelters, instead of the paddock picnics they've been enjoying recently.

AZALEA and MALLOW

 The sky was overcast so I got right down to the garden to harvest vegetables - beans and kale for myself, and a little chard and okra to share with the goats as I walked back up through the herd. I was back in the house at about the time I usually begin chores, and still dry, which made me feel all smug and efficient.

Another batch of green and yellow beans went into the freezer, and I steamed a bowl of snapped beans to add to the Pyrex cornucopia (a cornucopia is a food container that's never empty, right?) of bean salad in the fridge.

My pole beans began to struggle during recent days of heat, before I noticed and began to water them - something that had not been necessary even once earlier in this Summer of Continuous Deluge. They are still flowering and producing. I should write an entire post about these pole beans. They are wonderful.

While in the garden, I selected a few zinnias to provide color and cheer in the house should there be the predicted series of murky days ahead. 

They are also likely to become models for more of my Daily Markmaking efforts. Zinnias have turned out to be fantastic subjects for sketching. There is a great deal of variation from one flower to another, and they are a lot of fun as well as a challenge to draw and paint. Or maybe the challenge is part of why they are fun?

Here is one of the green zinnias, growing in the second raised bed:

And here, the very next day, is the same zinnia from a slightly different viewpoint.

With a special guest!

According to the Internet of Dragonfly Identification,

this one is a male flame skimmer - Libellula saturata.

My plan for today - after the chores and the garden and the photographing and so on - was to do a lot of housecleaning. Planning, it turns out, is different from doing. The rain started while I was downloading photographs, and both Moxie and Della anchored me solidly in place. So I decided to write this blog post before disturbing the cats in my rigorous pursuit of a tidy kitchen.

I may be doing that housecleaning stuff at about suppertime.

Meanwhile, I hope these zinnias help get your week off to a cheerful start.

If you sketch them, let me know!

~~~~~

going out for breakfast

One of the finest things about gardening is being able to step outside,

gratefully harvest something you have planted and nurtured and watched grow,

and have an organic meal on your plate an hour later.

This morning, it was more like 15 minutes.

The French pole beans are producing so well this year,

there are already a couple of pounds in the freezer.

Imagine how delicious they may be, when the garden is covered with snow.

I also pick a meals-worth of beans for non-gardening friends

who will be able to prepare and eat them right away, at their very best.

That is another of the finest things about gardening - 

being able to share something special with special people.

Come on by.

~~~~~