Walking around the gardens this morning, I noticed that the beans that are so riddled with Japanese Beetle toothprints are producing green beans nonetheless. Amazing…a lot like some of us folks that go through the fire and just keep on keeping on…lol.

I have tomatoes to pick, loads of cherry tomatoes. I wish I had planted more Romas this year for saucing.  The Old German tomatoes are full of baseball sized green tomatoes, and the foliage is about 7 foot high and full. They are doing well, albeit a little slow, it seems to me. We have a lot of butternut squash, quite a few of the acorns, and several pumpkins growing out of the compost bin. The pumpkin patch itself isn’t looking so good- at least I’m seeing flowers that are dropping off and rotting and no fruit. Those seeds are the ones I bought from the heirloom seeds place in southern Missouri. Sadly, the majority of the seeds I got from them have not done well.  Oh well…live and learn. There are lots of farmers markets in this area and maybe I can make some connections this year and have a more local place  to get seeds from next year.  This is just a part of the gardeners dilemma…seeds, the weather, critters, insects…all part of the challenge. We’ll still surely have enough bounty to help us through the winter, and that’s the main thing.

We were supposed to have about a 40% chance of rain today…but now the sun is out and it’s 81 degrees already at 10AM…I’m guessing that window of opportunity has closed. lol

On a bright note:  Yesterday, in the early afternoon, there was a man lurking around the end of my driveway. The dogs were going crazy, so I went out to see what had them all in an uproar. It was a guy from the water company, measuring and hammering a little 1×2 stake in MY yard that said…..(drum roll, please)……..

WATER Mete 2040

Oh, My!!!! Can it be true ?????

Yes, it can be and it is. The top end of Detour Road now has a connecting trench dug from the next road over, where I told you earlier they were laying pipe. And I have a stake!!!  Water…blessed water….

As you can see, it doesn’t take much to make me happy.

I am home for the day, the DIL got picked up at the airport in a timely manner and then 1/4 mile from our exit off the Interstate back into Illinois, traffic came to a dead stop as there was a really bad wreck that happened within seconds of our arrival. 7 police cars, 2 firetrucks, 1 ambulance, and 2 highway trucks came zooming down the shoulder and we sat there for about 35 minutes. But it was close to a speedy homecoming! lol

Tonight we have the Sustainable Living Class, the topic of this session is FOOD, and I am the opener. That only means that I have to come with a 10 minute introduction somehow relating to the topic. I am thinking about an article I read somewhere called Cooking with intention. If I can find it.

I still have a couple of articles to read, I read several yesterday at the airport waiting for the plane to arrive. Today it’s just me, the critters and a little light housekeeping. Then I can do whatever I want. lol

Namaste.