The blog is back!

Julie Ann at the beginning of the 2012 garden season.

Well, it's about time! I know, I know, the blog has been missing in action. But, we do have a pile of good excuses. I've been really busy working on a new story. Ari and David are crazy with their college schedules, and Alex and Ari are in the full swing of summer vacation. Now, that my first draft is nearly complete, (thank all and everywhere), the blog is back!

Today was a busy one in the 2012 garden. I harvested a whole bucket worth of herbs (thyme, rosemary, sage, tarragon, oregano, three varieties of mint, chives, Italian parsley, and summer savory) to hang and dry. We also processed a full gallon jar of sweet melissa (lemon balm) for evening tea. Then it was time to transplant, 100 basil seedlings and a dozen Canterbury bell plants. Finally, I sowed a planter box full of lettuce seeds and potted pumpkins, sunflowers, and beans. Phew!

The 2012 garden is a big one! We just keep on expanding it. This year, we've had a bumper crop of all of our berries: strawberries, black currants, jostaberries, raspberries, Marionberries, Loganberries, blueberries, and we still have blackberries are yet to turn. We also have 29 tomato plants of various types, lemon, Persian, and English cucumbers, leeks, onions, chives, 5 varieties of lettuce, 2 types of corn, radishes, 3 types of carrots, Russian kale, cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, pumpkins, mustard greens, lemon balm, 3 types of mint, 3 varieties of potato, rhubarb, garden and sugar peas, two types of thyme, rosemary, 3 types of sage, tarragon, Italian parsley, summer savory, tomatillos, lavender, 4 types of beans, two types of basil, eggplant, and a few I'm sure I've forgotten.

 This year, I decided to make the garden really beautiful by planting lots and lots of flowers throughout the garden. I added lots of our favorite varieties like snap dragons, lupines, pansies, calendula, nasturtium, daisies, and marigolds. As an added bonus, many of the flowers are either edible or protective or in some cases, both!

The chickens are still with us and casing lots of fun and shenanigans. They earn their keep with all the delicious brown eggs.  And also, by tracking down buglies in the garden patch. We love Henrietta and Claudette, except when they wake up early and cackle at 5 am.

In other news, we are all in a baking jag right now, largely to keep up with all the produce. Yesterday, I baked 3 dozen very, very berry muffins. Today, it was 4 loaves of apple pie bread and a dozen oregano rolls.

As a family, we trying to squeeze in 20 hikes over the summer. So far, we've done six. This past weekend,  we trekked around the Ballard Locks and botanical garden and also went out to Flaming Geyser State Parks. The geyser was more a flickering, than a flaming, but the scenery along the Green River Gorge was beautiful.

Until tomorrow, happy farming!