Summer Fun

Gardening, Canning, and Country Pursuits

by
Dirt soil, gardening tools, text, "Gardening, Canning, and Country Pursuits. Petticoats & Pistols"

It’s that time of year–time to watch things grow! Winters linger where I live. I wait until the end of May or early June to plant flowers, and I’ve been planting herbs in pots on our deck for several years, too.

 

Pink and white petunias in planter outside
Our petunias and one little basil plant popping up in the pot next to it!

 

We used to have a garden. I’m lazy about keeping up with it after the first month, so we decided to let it go. Since we’re blessed with numerous local farmstands and U-pick farms nearby, I don’t miss my garden much. When I do, I browse online sites like Fine Gardening and soak in the pretty flowers of A Wyoming Garden to get my fix!

Next week I plan on spending a few hours in the strawberry patch a few miles away. My goal? Bring home a flat of bright red berries. I make lower-sugar freezer jam each year with pectin specifically made for low or no-sugar recipes. You can find the Sure-Jell brand at Walmart or other grocery stores. I also make blueberry jam. It’s delicious!

Last year I bought a few dozen ears of corn. Blanching them didn’t take long. Quart-sized freezer bags stack nicely in our chest freezer. I wished I’d frozen more. This year I will.

Canning or freezing produce doesn’t require a huge time commitment if I focus on one thing at a time. And it certainly makes my family happy in November when we’re still enjoying peak flavor from the food I’ve preserved.

Other country pursuits I enjoy (even though I’m in the suburbs!) during the summer:

  • Filling a glass pitcher with water and letting tea bags steep in it all day on my deck for sun tea
  • The farmers market! Local honey has so much flavor.
  • Sitting out back, watching the birds fly from tree to tree and the clouds drift through the sky
  • Baking summer treats, like peach cobbler or blueberry breakfast cake (recipe is linked)
  • Walking around ponds at rural parks
  • Reading a book on our back deck

I could go on and on. Each season brings its own joys!

I’d love to hear your thoughts on gardening, canning, and other country pursuits. What do you enjoy about the summer?

 

SUMMER FUN!

by
Summer Fun

 

Four Seasons

Welcome to our Filly Fun Week!

SUMMER FUN = ROAD TRIP!

It was long ago summers that cemented my life-long love of the West and horses and cowboys.  Every summer vacation, my father would gather up the family and take us on a road trip to see this gorgeous country (and visit strategically placed relatives.)

Some years, we would go north to the beautiful mountains of Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks. I remember driving through the famous tunnel tree before it fell down! (Those redwoods don’t have a very strong root system!) The river was a favorite place—and the water from the melted snow was much colder than the ocean near my house.

Sumertime fun
I’m the one with my hand raised, floating along with my brother and sister.

Other summers, we would head east. I soon became disenchanted with the long drive through the southwesetern desert. Just too hot and too big! How did our pioneers survive that trip with a horse and buggy?

 

Desert landscape

But when we headed a bit northeast—to Utah and Bryce Canyon or to Colorado and the Anasis Cave dwellings, or to Aspen, or Ouray, what a difference!

My parents and younger sister. This is the only time I ever saw my dad wear a cowboy hat!

All these trips were done without a radio. My father was all about “no bells and whistles” and so it was truly family time. We talked. We told jokes. We reminisced. We made up songs and sang. Usually, we camped with a tent. Sometimes we would haul a small trailer. Most of all, we had fun and learned to appreciate and respect nature (especially that time a skunk wandered into our campsite.)

Road Trip

It is on these family trips that my imagination would take flight and I would envision stories of the pioneers fording a river with their prairie schooner, or living in one of the soddies we passed along the road. I still get a kick from the names throughout the United States – Buzzards Bay, Hangman’s Gulch, and Salt-lick. Surely there are interesting stories in all those places.

My next adventure will be when I head to SEATTLE.My son recently relocated there. Do you remember the song on television’s Here Come the Brides? I just couldn’t resist sending him this…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OcMD3LWUwD8

What about you? What is a favorite memory that you have of summer?

Comment for a chance to win an autographed copy of my latest release! (See giveaway guidelines on this page)

Mail Order Brides of Oak Grove

 

Kathryn’s latest book ~ ~ is about two spunky sisters who take their own road trip from the east all the way to western Kansas.

Twins Mary and Maggie, agree to become mail-order brides to avoid jail, believing that once they get to Kansas they can avoid marriage. Things don’t work out quite as they hoped…

Available:  Amazon Button