I'm cutting a lot of these and drinking a lot of this.

Summer rages on with days so hot, my solar oven is almost a sun-powered microwave. The heat shimmers and vibrates through the air til just walking to the mailbox feels like a slog through hot molasses. The gardener in me appreciates the fact that the cycle of life is dependent on the heat to get those big juicy red globes from the tomato vines and all the other veggie delights springing up from the soil.And, of course, the flowers, petals almost translucent under the relentless glare of that yellow ball of fire. But the blue-eyed, fair-skinned, use to be red haired me? Not so much. I totally wimp out when the temperature goes past 70 so these days of 100's have me in the house admiring my bouquets and sipping just slightly sweetened iced tea and daydreaming about Autumn.

Now They are Three

The youngest got married recently. We are adjusting to being empty nesters (again) and they are slowly getting their nest all feathered. They both love to nest, so I am sure they are enjoying it. Isabella is loving being a town kid, even though she still loves to come to the farm and check on the chickens. It is such a good feeling to realize that all your daughters have married men who are motivated to care for their families. Actually, it is a blessing.

It's been a group effort....

See these little brown ovals? Yep, they came from one of my birds. Seems I have an over-achiever in my little flock. Everything I've read says to expect your first eggs at around 20 weeks. At fifteen weeks, one of my girls hasn't been reading the literature because last week one of my grandaugters and I were making the rounds; feeding watering, when I happened to glance in the nesting boxes and lo and behold-an egg! I was so excited, I started yelling to anyone who would listen (that beeing the MOTH as he was the only other person around), "I got an egg! I got an egg! Somebody laid an egg!" I swear, you would have thought I had pushed out that little brown treasure myself, I was so proud.All these weeks of taking care of, worrying about, and just plain enjoying my birds had finally paid off.  Granted, it is small, but they will get bigger as the bird matures. I was caught totally off gaurd. But I did some reading and discovered that my red hens, which are Golden Comets generally lay earlier than most chickens. But fifteen weeks old? Wow! I am not sure which hen it is, but she is getting very regular with this egg business. Everyday when I check on my flock, there is that egg waiting for me. I have four more birds waiting in the wings (I know, bad pun) and I am mentally counting up how many eggs I should be getting each week. Probably shouldn't do that. There is a reason someone coined the addage, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket" and the other one, "Don't count your chicks before they hatch". I tell you, we sure owe a lot of our common sense expressions and wise words to live by to chickens and other farm related business.

Old Sol cooked my dinner tonight.

This is my new sun oven. I have wanted one for a while. There is nothing I like better than a new gadget or gizmo. I thought this would be good to have in case of an emergency, not to mention the fact that I don't heat the kitchen up on hot sunny days. You can do everything but fry in it. Around noon today I put together a chicken dish that had tomatoes, red wine, greek olvies and other good thing in my dutch oven. I had set the oven out about 30 minutes earlier. When I went to put the casserole in the interior had reached 350 degrees! Two hours later I had something delicious and piping hot. Next I put in garlic rolls and let them bake. Since I also made a jar of sun tea, with the exception of the pasta that I cooked on the stove, everything was cooked by passive solar energy. Isn't that just the coolest thing?You can even cook a turkey in it! And as long as the sun is shining, you can even cook in it in the winter. In fact, the Sun Oven has been used as base camp on Mt. Everest! I can't wait to try other things out now and with the temps we are supposed to have this week, I should have ample chances.

She's Crowing!

This is Blanca. Well it was Blanca. Turns out she's a he. My neighbor, who is much more informed regarding poultry than I am informed me a few weeks ago that four of my ten birds were male. Never mind that they came out of the pullet brooder, I got me some boys. She/he started with his adolescent crowing a few days ago. It was definitly croaky and uncontrolled. But in just a few short days it has changed. Now my bird puffs out his chest, ruffles his neck feathers and bursts out with operatic finesse that any baritone couldn't help but envy. Guess I will re-name ny beautiful white chicken, Blanco. If my daughter is correct that is the masculine form for the word white in Spanish. Whatever, I just like it.

See what I got today?

It's my birthday gift from a very dear friend. No, it's not my birthday. That was in April. Months ago my friend was visiting us at the farm and spied this old chair in what used to be a blacksmith shop on our property. She asked if she could have it because she had an idea for a birthday gift for me. Of course I said yes. I knew anything she made would be  beautiful and was more than willing to wait as long as it would take.

I worked out in the sun today and being a total wimp when it comes to Summer I got a headache and had come home to cool off and crawl between my icy cold sheets with the fan blowing on me hoping to nap that ache away. The phone rang and it was my friend saying she was on her way with my present. I jumped up and combed my hair and had the iced tea waiting when she arrived. And my oh my! Isn't my gift beautiful? I am going to put a solar tea light in that sweet little lantern. I have a thousand places I want to put it and will probably move around several times before deciding on a home. I love belated birthday gifts.!

Brittainy came over this evening with Hilary and Hudson to pick blackberries. Our little farm is covered in wild blackberries and raspberries. It was hot and within minutes we were all drenched in sweat. Hudson went at it full throttle. He plunged right into the brambles saying, "Ow! Ow! Ow!" picking berries and cramming them in his mouth as fast as he could. Within minutes his face and hands were berry-stained. See the bit of raspberry on his nose? He thought it was a booger and he is trying to get it off. Hilary, on the other hand, was a tad more careful, donning leather gloves and mostly just holding the bag and pointing out the plumpest fruit to us pickers. She really didn't want to get into the fray. She was not nearly as sweaty or sticky as the rest of us at the end of our picking session. I think it is going to be a good season. We have already picked several quarts and just last week tucked into a delicous cobbler. In case anyone else would like to enjoy a fruit studded pastry, I thought I would share my recipe. It is super easy and super good!

Blackberry Cobbler
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c plus 2T sugar
1 c water
1 1/2c self-rising flour (I like White Lily)
1/2 c butter
1/3 c milk
2 c blackberries

Place melted butter in a 9x9 baking dish. In a saucepan, heat sugar and water until sugar dissolves, set aside. In a separate bowl, cut flour and butter together until coarse c rumbs forms. This is much easier in a food processor. Add milk and stir until dough leaves sides of bowl. Roll out into a rectangle. Spread dough with berries, and roll up jelly-roll style. Cut into 1-1/2 inch slices. Place in pan on top of melted butter. Pour the sugar water over all. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining sugar. Return to oven for a few minutes. Serves 4 to 6.