Thursday, August 6, 2009

Oh, Brrrrr!

I know, not the normal thing you say in August, is it? But we've got a cold front moving through today and into the evening. Attention weekend campers: they're even forecasting SNOW above 8,000 feet tonight. We live right about 5,000, so no snow here (I hope). But we have had bits of rain off and on this afternoon and our temps here are expected to be in the low 40's by sunrise tomorrow.

Saturday, August 8th, is Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbors' Porch Day, so that's what I wrote about for my turn on the Simple Green Frugal Co-op Blog, including a couple of my favorite zucchini recipes. I just picked my first zucchini last week, but might have enough by Saturday to hang a bag on a couple of doorknobs nearby.

No tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, corn or beans yet. I pulled the shallots a couple of days ago, and set them out to cure. I had to scurry out quick to get them out of the rain and into the shed earlier. We're feasting on the early cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli here lately.

And one more little item - new mouths to feed: When I went out, dodging raindrops, to collect eggs this afternoon (an even dozen!), I noticed all three guineas were over under the fruit trees. Since Missus has been missing-in-action for a few weeks (figured she had a nest hidden somewhere), it was nice to see she's still around. And then, when they all came over to beg for birdseed, I saw she had three little day-old keets (one grey and two black) toddling behind. We use the dog run as a brood pen, so I quickly set up a little waterer and some chick starter in a low pan inside. Shaking the birdseed scoop, I enticed all three adults into the pen, babies following along. At dusk, Missus had settled down inside the doghouse lean-to. I opened the gate to let Tweedit and Grey out, and they headed down to the chicken coop for the night. It's nice to see that Missus knows enough to get those babies out of the wind and rain.

7 comments:

Annodear said...

Awww... Congrats on the new "babies" :-)

We've had an unseasonably cool summer... but at my elevation (25') that just means *not* having to run the air conditioner! Still, looking forward to seeing you later this month!! Guess I'd better bring my 'winter' camping gear...

Doyu Shonin said...

I haven't taken off my extra layer all day. But we are supposed to get some 90s later in the month -- much better for the summer crops than the 108F that came through here a week ago ...

Meadowlark said...

Hey "neighbor".
I say this because we have the same forecast and quite honestly, I've enjoyed being able to cook without turning on the portable A/C.

Besides, anytime we don't get down to freezing after early June is a banner year. My tomatoes ROCK this year!

Nancy M. said...

Wow! It is hard to believe it's gonna be that cold in August! I wish I lived near you where you could give me some zucchini, ours died off weeks ago. Congratulations on the keets!

Anonymous said...

Oh my! I had no idea that it got cold so early where you are - oof. Does it "stay" cold, or are you in for some swings in temps? If the latter, I'd be interested to hear how the garden tolerates all the shifts....

Melynda@Scratch Made Food! said...

Wonderful looking zucchini! I have yet to master grown zucchini and tomatoes. Oh well, I will just keep trying, until I get the garden I want.

Anonymous said...

Wow, snow!!

Wonderful pictures!