Stay-cation Part I

Happy summer vacation everyone!

We are enjoying our first ever stay-cation this year.  We had some plans to go away, but the timing fell through so we decided to make the most of it and enjoy the beautiful area we live in.  Seriously, I cannot describe how incredible summer is on the west coast.  If you don't like heat, you don't have to worry because the ocean keeps everything breezy and beautiful.  If you haven't been, you just have to check it out sometime.

July + Garden

Hello!  

It has been a while.  I just can't believe how the days are flying by.  Summer sure is a busy time in our neck of the woods.  As soon as the sun hits, people just can't wait to get outside and enjoy this beautiful land, without the rain!  The past month has been especially busy for us.  After my husband came back from Peru, I took off on a trip to Minnesota to visit my brother and nieces and nephews.  Since I've come back, we've been tending to our garden, working, weekend camping, getting ready to say farewell to our exchange students who leave back to Korea, and just keeping up with daily life.  We have an official holiday coming up soon and it will be so nice to slow things down a bit and really take part in the beauty this land has to offer.

Our summer has been interesting because we had a long hot spell earlier in May/June, and now July has cooled down quite a bit.  It's nice not to have so many long hot days when stuck at home with little ones, but I am hoping for some nice beach days soon.  I'm not sure if the weather has really affected our garden, but I have noticed that a lot of other plants are blooming much earlier than previous years (our apples are almost ready for picking and blackberries are ripening on the bush). 

We are harvesting from our garden, though this year has really taught me a lot about what to do differently next time.  I must learn to plant in succession next year.  Plants like our spinach came up fast and have already gone to seed.  I'm hoping to get a fall variety planted soon again.  

Anyways, while I was out there today I just snapped a few pics on my phone to show you the progress.  Enjoy! 

We have been enjoying lots of this delicious butter lettuce from the garden.  It makes the perfect summer salad!

The tomatoes are nearly ripened and the zuchinni squash is starting to form.  I underestimated the size of my tomatoes and didn't use cages... a mistake I plan to fix next year for sure.

The kale is out of control.  I think I let it get too big and the leaves are starting to taste bitter.  Any ideas on recipes to use it up?  

Our snap peas were doing so well and then we had a few days of wind and the trellis started to fall over.  It doesn't look very pretty anymore, but the harvest is still plentiful. 

 Yum!  My boys love to snack on these.

The potatoes are starting to flower.  Should only be a few weeks till we can harvest the first planting.

The pole beans are the only thing growing unusually slow this year.  I have no idea why, but they are starting to blossom so hopefully the growing process speeds up soon.

I couldn't resist testing a carrot, onion and beet to see where they are at.  

They made a great addition to tonight's garden salad.  Yum!

We are not the only ones enjoying the fruit of our harvest.  This young buck didn't want to leave the apple he was chomping on in my front yard, even when I was only a few feet away from him.  

So there you have it.  Hope you are enjoying your summer, especially the great abundance that local gardens have to offer.