June Garden and Other Outdoor Photos

Peas please! These grew beautifully for awhile, then hot weather hit and the vines turned brown almost overnight. Meg loved hunting for the little treasure pods and generally ate a portion of them before they made it inside. We didn't even harvest half a pound of these sweet snaps, but they were fun while they lasted! 

 The little larkspur patch bloomed lovingly all month long. These purple and white flowers added a nice cheery pop of color to the green vegetable plants.

 Blackberries blooming and fruiting.

Red raspberries grew very well but produced just a few handfuls.

 Dill in front, sunflowers behind.

 Spaghetti squash

 Crimson Sweet Watermelon

 The comfrey plant bushing out amongst the green beans.

 Evening rainbow and strange clouds

16 pounds of green beans were picked and eaten in June. We sautéed them alone, with potatoes, with squash, and with chard. A little garlic, salt, and coconut oil in a cast iron skillet made them scrumptious!

 Neighbor playmates came over for an afternoon swim and canoeing fun.

 More pretty sky pictures

 Another group over for canoe races and other games; teenagers this time.

 Success with my $1.00 lily bulb pack from Aldi!

June Garden Harvest: 40 pounds of green beans, mulberries, turnips & greens, Swiss chard, lettuce, snap peas, radish, dill, horseradish, and banana peppers.

Camping at Cheney Reservoir State Park

We had one weekend that seemed to work for a camp trip this spring, between graduation and wheat harvest and new baby arrival, and it was a weekend with rain! Since the wetness was just Friday night, we opted to go ahead and camp one short night anyway. We left first thing Saturday morning so we'd have all that day besides Sunday. It turned out to be beautiful weather! A little on the cool side, but just right for a campfire to warm up to.

 Back on the road again! On the way to our first camp trip of the year.

Riley and his buddies left earlier and got the fire good and hot for us. They had evening plans so they went home late afternoon to get back after plowing bikes through flooded parking lots and roasting hot dogs.

The rest of use enjoyed  a bike ride or two as well. Those giant puddles were so alluring!

Cooking over the fire and cousin time make for fun memories!

The Month of May's Homestead Harvest

1 of 3 patches of turnips. The tops are tasting yummy at this tender stage.

1 of 2 spinach patches. It came up really well this year, but has went to seed quickly.

Sugar snap peas

lettuce blend

green bean rows

Raspberry brambles. Maybe next year we will transplant to nice rows and trellis.

Easter Egg and French Breakfast radishes. The Easter Egg have outperformed this year. The seeds were both saved from last year's crops that went to seed.

cut lettuce and spinach

In May we harvested 9 1/4 pounds of produce, counting mulberries picked off the tree.
Radishes, spinach, lettuce, chard, turnip greens, and cilantro were our fresh goodies.

And Riley shot a couple turkeys that filled 10 quart jars of meat and 18 quarts of broth.

A Food Post

Because food is so pretty and good and delightful.

I took these photos over several months time and am not even sure what each is a picture of! But since I have them, I'd like to share them. Cooking and baking is rewarding, especially when it looks attractive and tastes good.

Broiled Southwest Turkey Sandwiches

Marigold Rolls

I clipped this recipe from a magazine many many years ago and now I have marigold plants springing up like weeds in the garden and even out by the pond with plenty of petals to spare.

Goodies from our family Christmas snack supper.

Our version of Huevo Rancheros. With garden fresh cilantro.

Annie's baking day before Farmer's Market season began.

She tried Porridge Bread, a recipe given by another market friend. The Raspberry Danish Braid and Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Sweet Bread recipes were from Pinterest. The Honey Oat Yeast Bread was from one of our cookbooks. So far the braids have been the best seller. She hasn't even taken the oat or chocolate chip breads, though everyone that has sampled them thinks they are tasty.

Formal Night

The local high school homeschoolers have a prom alternative where they can still get all dressed up, but instead of a dance, the seniors choose a different activity. This year the venues were Kobe's Japanese Steakhouse, the Wichita Escape Room, and Freddy's for ice cream. Since we had 2 children attending this year, Shannon and I went along. He ended up chauffeuring half the guys, so I rode with several moms. We did eat together! Though he got to be one of the 3 adults who assisted the teams in the escape room.

The girls met ahead of time and took pictures in the park. Here is Annie with the other girls close to her age. (the newbies)

This was a picture chosen by the color of their dresses.

And here is Annie with Mama dear.

Another pose, this time on the merry-go-round.

Oops! This dad couldn't resist shaking out a few squeals!

Since it was raining at the restaurant when we arrived, the full group pictures had to be taken inside.

The dashing young gentlemen...

Our two teen twinnies.

At the escape room, none of the 3 groups mastered all the clues to unlock the locks in an hour, hence the sad faces and negative comment signs.

I was enjoying my hot fudge ice cream sundae with pecans too much to take any pics at the next stop. That was a little taste of our first time Formal Night!