Tuesday, August 16, 2016

a dilemma

A bit of a dilemma - what good is a blog post without pix?  All my pix are on the desktop at home where we're still waiting for an internet connection.  I couldn't figure out how to download pix from the camera to the laptop (which is online at the cabin) but an sos message to my son J quickly remedied that.

We were fortunate to have a pair of kingfishers visiting this year - other years we've only ever seen one at a time.  This is a table topper I made many years ago - it's machine appliqued.




We're used to hot summers but haven't had one this year - yeah, there have been a few days of heat here and there and lots of wicked storms ..... I can't ever remember so many tornado warnings/watches for our neck of the woods.  The garden is proof that the weather wasn't that good.  I have 6 tomato plants with 9 tomatoes .... how sad is that.  There is actually 1 zucchini and I had to do the pollinating; I've discovered that never is there a female and male flower open at the same time so it's no wonder the bees can't do their job .... must be some sort of zucchini birth control.   There are male flowers only on the cucumber - what the heck!  There were no beets nor chard.  Flowers have done well especially the nasturtiums - some of them were huge (but not the ones in this photo ^^).




  Some herbs grew vigorously whilst others didn't do much; there is lots of basil but very little parsley and dill.


 By the way, the potatoes in a bag did quite well producing a half dozen baby potatoes each before the tops died off.


The wild saskatoons (berries) were abundantly plentiful, big, and juicy - they were hanging like grapes.   I have several bags of them in the freezer to enjoy this winter.




Cabin neighbour E introduced us to frog legs, beef heart, and smoked sucker that tasted like smoked salmon this summer -all were delicious!   One evening he served up a smorg of meat - venison, moose, goose breasts; the goose breasts were purplish and quite tasty - I had to ask what they were.  The moose is excellent!  ^^ 


9 comments:

WoolenSails said...

We have too much heat but we have been getting more rain storms this week, so that has helped with my new plants.
They always do better with rain than hose water.
I have never heard of those berries, look a little like blueberries.
You are braver than me, I am not into dark meats, game animals or amphibians, lol.

Debbie

Jenny said...

Frogs legs - we tried some in Paris many years ago. At least I did, Robin wasn't brave enough!

Timi said...

I love kingfishers! They are so cute and quick! :o)
We had a warm summer...too warm sometimes... but the vegetables loved it, because there are lots of tomatos and paprikas in the garden!
I can't wait for cooler weather :o)
I have never seen wild saskatoons... but I am sure they are delicious! Frog legs? Never tried...:o)

Mii Stitch said...

You are much braver than I am food wise!! No way will I have eat such things ;)

Robin in Virginia said...

Oh Kate, sorry your plants haven't been doing the best. But your basil looks fabulous. Your little Kingfisher mat looks great.

Anonymous said...

I love ground moose. It makes beef taste like cardboard. Are saskatoons a kind of blueberry? Sounds like the summer I'd have liked to have. LOL We had all your heat, I think!

Anonymous said...

maybe you'll have better crops next year ^^

Needled Mom said...

Our summer has been exceptionally cool too. Our garden was not much to document this year either so I understand your statement. We used to eat frog legs when we lived in the midwest....."tastes like chicken", as they say. I loved seeing the rhubarb soda from your last post. I'll bet it was delicious.

Brigitte said...

Our summer here is just the same - cool and rainy and only very few heat days so far. Great for me, and also the flowers in the garden seem to like it. We don't have a vegetable garden but the farmers aren't so very enthusiastic about all the rain and I can understand that.
I have never tried any of the meat thingies that you mention. But I think I would at least try them if I came across them :)