Here is a sampling of what we are enjoying. To God be the glory, our Provider and Keeper!

My boys and I enjoyed harvesting the onions! And, wow, let me say… this is the best harvest we have ever had. 101 onions! They are still curing in the basement and I will use them in my favorite fermented salsa.

Our broccoli did ok this year, but I want to be a bit pickier with variety next time- I want to have a good ole ‘one bunch’ versus off shoots. We did get some into the freezer as well as eating fresh. I am definitely hoping to continue growing more broccoli each season.

Late July meant a fun, short trip to Indiana Dunes National Park! We have never been and thoroughly enjoyed it. Sweet Husband’s aunt has a family cottage we were blessed to stay in. It was unseasonably hot- but Lake Michigan’s water was cold and refreshing.

Since we cook about one chicken per week, we usually have a lot of bone broth/meat stock. When I cook other types of broth, I often need to freeze some. These ‘souper cubes‘ are perfect and I can take a one-cup cube out when needed. Keep eating/drinking your bone broth!!

Our blackberry patch is producing a lovely amount this year. I have already canned one batch of jelly (my teeth don’t like seeds, so I strain them out). We collect the berries, wash, and store them in a quart sized jar until we have enough for canning or baking.

This was the first year that our brussel sprouts actually made sprouts. We have only ever gotten leaves. How exciting! My sons harvested the plants (approx. 6 plants) and brought them inside to cut the sprouts off of the stalks. Unfortunately this year, we didn’t get even one cauliflower. Bummer…

This is one days’ harvest, displayed on my sweet table on the deck. Our sunflower packet was assorted…. so we ended up with some mammoth heads. I am saving as many as I can for the hens this winter. I continue to harvest herbs every couple of days, drying them on trays or in the dehydrator. I have some oils infusing even now!

I continue to try bagels… this recipe is from the booklet that came with my flour mill. They turned out good! I might even halve them next time and make smaller bagels. Though, I will try another topping in future.

Full disclosure: our raised bed potatoes were nasty. This was a trial and I was disgusted at the amount of grubs we found. My head is itching just typing about it! Yuck! We did salvage as much as we could and got about 7 bags/3 cup measurements each of diced potatoes for hashbrowns etc. and froze them. I am anxious to dig up our in ground garden potatoes and see how they performed.

Our larger peach tree produced about 60 peaches this year! Whoop! Our little tree, planted this spring, was actually planted to help pollinate the larger tree and even the smaller tree produced 13 tiny, but edible, peaches. I have made a crisp, we’ve eaten a ton fresh, and I made both vanilla peach butter and strawberry peach jam.

These bouquets bring me so many smiles as I make them for our table and give them away.

Our 125 baby Cornish Cross chicks arrived last week. We have already lost some, unfortunately, but that does happen. We have had a bit cooler temps at night as well as in the day, so that made a difference. But, it’s warming up now. They seem to be thriving and definitely growing fast.

Strawberry peach jam- not our own strawberries (yet!), but a good price on organic I found and got to preserve and eat fresh.

A counter full of jams and jellies. I don’t generally can a lot of sweeties…. but my family likes to eat them. So… I need to make them if I want to know what is in them. Wink…Wink… We were able to taste test 2/3 of these and they were pretty good.

What are you doing this summer season? It is wrapping up! Fall will be here before we know it.