Homemade Sauerkraut & Leaving Town

So a couple months back my favorite magazine THE SUN ran an interview/article on Sandor Katz who is a wild fermentation guru. Check out his website HERE. His real passion is homemade sauerkraut - I was inspired & had to give it a try. The results: beautiful delicious yumminess. The best reubens I've ever eaten. And I've even taken to eating just sauerkraut sandwiches. I pull out the jar for most meals - using it as a condiment for any veggies or venison. Some pics of the process:

I hit the ground running on Monday morn & haven't stopped yet. I'm preparing to be away for most of the next 3 weeks. I'm one of those type-A folks who has to clean the fridge and vaccuum under the couch before I can leave for a long trip. I can't stand to leave (or come home) to a dirty house. Weeding the garden, scrubbing our vehicles, packing the sleeping bags....

Today

...we went to a park in downtown Savannah, where the water play area was turned on!

...the potimarron squash set another leaf - three of these beauties in the second wave of winter squash

...the one Russian tomato plant soaked in sunshine

...the crocosmia opened into full bloom - we got just a handful of these bulbs from Joe's now deceased Nana Mott - and they have multiplied!

...the last mouthful of our Father's Day cake was eaten for breakfast - mmmm cooked chocolate frosting

...we admired our one thriving cucumber vine

midsummer midnight

It's after midnight here & I really need to call it a night. The rest of the house sleeps. I've been busy posting things on ebay & craig's list. But for now I'm done = cross-eyed. And there's that fly that keeps buzzing past my head, and I've had enough.

At midsummer I'm look forward, looking around. Full sun. All exposed. We're having an unusual month here, in that we're not traveling any weekend in June. Recharging. Watching squash grow. We typically travel about every 3rd weekend - and it shows = we've put 25,000+ miles on the vehicle we purchased one year ago. Sometimes it's fun; sometimes it's weary.

July will bring on more trips. I'll be gone for 2 weeks - first to Athens then on to Wildwood. And in August, Joe & I will celebrate our 10-year anniversary by taking the roadtrip we love to make - west - this time to Colorado & New Mexico for 2 weeks.

Happy Solstice!

Now

This summer feels magical - the garden, the heat, the river. I'm loving the heat this year - thriving. The solstice is comin' up on Monday; Father's Day Sunday. We've got a day long paddle planned for Sunday - complete with a wine & cheese picnic. Monday will be outside, fire, spirits, homemade chocolate cake. Our home computer crashed this past week = all gone. So, a little less computer time these days as you might have noticed. My Grandma is back at her home today after days spent in the hospital - I'm so glad you're home! Pics from our week:

The first planting of winter squash is done. Vines cut now & these squash drying in the sun. Second planting coming up.

Levi picking his first zucchini!! Which we ate tonight on homemade pizza.

Big Mama kousha squash. 6 vines = 6 hefty squash.

Waiting on the ice cream man who never drove by - just teased us with his music. Next time...

Loofa vines headed for the barn/garage roof. I saved these seeds from one you grew on Nowhere Road Angie! They were still very viable = almost all germinated.

Levi is beginning to use the camera & actually get some good pics (as opposed to blurs) - here's my favorite one so far: Daddy Joe posing with Levi's new pink flamingo, who is now hanging out in the zucchinis.

Pretending to be Daddy Joe - complete with boonie hat & homemade binos, while eating his shredded wheat. I was sprouting wheat grass this week (for sandwiches) and they got away from me (fermented a bit), so I switched gears, stuck 'em in pots, and now have a few plantings of 'decorative wheatgrass' (insert laughing husband here) around the house.

Canoochee River trip

A few pics from an afternoon canoe trip down the Canoochee.....I love how the blackwater looks red (or maybe like tea) when flowing over the white sand. The little river man loves it.....

Keep my eye on the ball

Since summer's arrival our evenings after supper have been spent as a family walking around the neighborhood with a final stop at the baseball fields next door. We have batting practice & riveting games of 'you go hide & I will seek for you'.

Frog Symphony

We have had inches of rain in the last few days - and living in a neighborhood that is just feet above sea level and gridded with canals to drain water away makes it a great place if you're a frog/toad. After a drizzly evening Joe & I both stepped out to hear the absolute symphony surrounding us outside - it is quite impressive. And as if to punctuate the experience, a toad followed us back into the kitchen.

Our Garden Has Been Growing Up

...as Levi would say...

one of the first zinnias to bloom

our pumpkin vines making use of their arbor

our biggest pumpkin

kousha squash really making a show - getting some size on them - maybe a dozen or so total