The garden at the end of July.

If you read about my husband's accident, you know this month has been a bit wonky. Thankfully, though, he is literally back up on his feet. He's still awfully tired, his skull bones still hurt, his injured eye still hurts, and most of the time, he still sees double if he uses both eyes. But the ophthalmologist who did his surgery thinks it's possible he may not need additional surgeries. We are thankful for his progress.

On the homestead, July is a month when we start to see bountiful harvests, and while I have been harvesting plenty to eat fresh and have been able to preserve some, our yields are not as large as they typically are. The reason? Unusually cool weather. (We've seen this happen before, when much of the nation is experiencing an especially hot summer.) I am harvesting beets, turnips, green beans, and more, but the squash, for example, are off to a really slow start. I have a couple of baby yellow summer squash and patty pan squash, a few Winter Luxury Pumpkins and Delicata winter squash, and that's it so far. I also have lots of green tomatoes - I'm just waiting for it to get warm enough for them to ripen on the vine.

In the orchard, we thought we'd have no plums this year. It was cold while the trees were in bloom this spring, preventing good pollination. But this month, my husband pointed out that there are a few plums - they were just hiding well while they were still green. So that's a nice blessing. And while even our apple harvest won't be as large as in year's past, we definitely have some on the trees. We will take what God offers!

Apples!

 

Bell peppers, growing in buckets in the greenhouse.

The cabbage is starting to head.

Plums.

 

Yellow summer squash.

July Produce Totals:

To learn more about how and why I am keeping these totals, click here.

 

The first larger harvest of 2024.

Walla Walla onions: 1 lb. 4 oz.