Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Mill City Farmers' Market


At least once each summer I like to go the Mill City Farmers' Market and indulge in breakfast, sampling and a bit of shopping. The location of this market is stunning, the vendors pull out all of the stops for their booth displays and the goods are top notch.



The shaded section of the market is quite comfortable even on a hot and sunny morning.

Paul and his hash:

Peek-a-boo!


This year, beyond enjoying a delicious breakfast, I came away with a watermelon (for dehydrating), loose leaf tea (Mrs. Kelly's), shitake mushrooms (probably my favorite variety of mushroom), tiny grapes (so flavorful), peach focaccia sweet bread and I ordered a dress from Sassy Knitwear.  How I managed to leave that market without buying cheese is amazing to me.  Maybe I need to go back again before the season ends.

Monday, August 26, 2013

About Town

I am entering one of my busy phases at work, which means I use up all of my words during the day.  
In lieu of lots of words, I have a few sights from around town to share and a few words to go with them.

Post Softball BBQ Breakfast Locale

Lake Nokomis

Soaking up this hot weather with visits to the lake.  Last week included a  bike ride and a beach picnic with my mom.

Bella Lana, a beautiful yarn store in NE Minneapolis, will be closing in a few days.  We made a stop there over the weekend to check out the sale and visit the shop dogs one last time.


Kisses


Lean into it



Sunday (and today for that matter) was HOT.  We had high hopes for productivity around the house with dehydrating, beer brewing, laundry washing, etc...until the power went out.  My yarn and I headed out to enjoy an iced chai and some bonding time at Butter Bakery while the car boiled in the parking lot.


After working on the same sweater All. Summer. Long. I started a new project.  I needed some fresh yarn in my knitting world to get excited about it again.  I will still finish my Paulina but for now I have shifted focus to Madigan.


Then, I went home to find the power had come back on and gone out again.  Since neither of us felt like letting the cold out of the fridge, we decided to treat ourselves to momos.  I love momos.


Friday, August 23, 2013

Softball BBQ 2013

Picking Teams

Jessica at Bat



After a Tumble

Rosie



Cribbage Players

Hooping at Dusk


Past years here.

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Turtle Dive Haikus

A turtle spotted
Ladies shared their tomatoes
This is what happened







Not so graceful is
The turtle going over
The edge of the ledge

Sunday, August 18, 2013

August Garden Update






The colder than usual summer has led to a mellow pace in the garden this year and I am finding it to be just the right fit for me.  We are steadily harvesting produce, but not too much.  With a little farmers' market shopping and some gifts from my dad, we have all we need for eating and a manageable amount for putting by.



Our broccoli is one of our most ambitious crops this year.  It appears that it has become a tradition to document a side by side comparison of our broccoli crowns with my noggin.  We are again eating as much as we can and putting the rest in the freezer.


Now in its 3rd season, the front yard herb garden is largely a volunteer situation with a few annual herbs thrown in there.  This dill plant was growing up from a crack in the sidewalk.  It amused me to see it there so I left it for a long time...until I needed it for pickles!



The cool summer has been ideal for growing kale.  A bunny (see below) got into our garden and totally decimated our row of kale at the start of the season.  It has made a comeback!


I am really loving fresh mint tea as a nightcap.  Sometimes I add a little lemon, sometimes I add a little honey and when I am really feeling extravagant, I'll add both.


The raspberry crop is about to get its second wind.  The first round is always the lighter one, so I am hoping I'll get a good crop of berries before it gets too cold this fall.


We are growing a lot of new varieties of tomatoes this year, but the standby variety is still our favorite.  You just can't beat the sweetness of Sungolds.


This caterpillar and its friend ate a lot of my dill.  I didn't mind sharing.


I DO mind sharing with bunnies, though.  They are greedy!  This one and another one have been spending far too much time in our yard, if you ask me.  Our old dog isn't doing a great job of patrolling the place anymore, so this bunny has gotten pretty comfortable.


We think the garden is pretty well fenced, but there are still a few week spots we are hoping the bunny doesn't discover.


Purple pole beans!  I learned this year that I prefer pole beans over bush beans.  I think they are easier to pick, the plants are prettier to look at and they come in purple!  Unfortunately, the purple doesn't stick around when you cook them.


These blanched beans are also headed for the freezer.


Garlic dill refrigerator pickles made with my dad's cucumbers.


And, curried zucchini pickles made with dad's zucchini.

Our cucumber and zucchini plants are really not thriving this year, so I was grateful to get a bag of each from my dad.


 Soybean was our super volunteer crop this year.  For the story of how this crop planted itself, check out my first garden post of 2013.  A bunch of these made it into the freezer, too!


And, tomatoes.  Oh, tomatoes, how I love thee.  We have had no trouble eating these as fast as they ripen so far.  Although, I think that scale will soon by tipping as we are expecting some warm and sunny temperatures to be with us this week.



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