August

August is the month where things start to feel tired and crispy in the yard. The vivid bright greens of spring and early summer change to an dusty army green, and then pale brown. The smell in the air starts to change from a lush, wet dirt to a dry, sweet leaf.

Not that August is without it's own palate of colors...




I haven't posted much lately about the yard because, well, there isn't a whole lot going on.


The tomatoes are tapering off, the herbs are doing a nice job of drying on the plant for me, and the squash plant has one butternut squash that it's been able to offer up - we'll see if it actually makes it to full size. The exact opposite of last summer, this year has been HOT, HOT, and HOT, with a side of DRY and NO RAIN. Guess this is the hand that mother nature has dealt us this year.


I've been doing a lot of cooking and canning with my new job working from home. I have more energy for the things I love, which is, well, great. I put away more than our fair share of whole tomatoes, tomato juice, and marinara sauce. We're stocked to the hilts with jam. We've probably both put on a few pounds with the good food I've been cooking. Something I'll need to keep my eye on...


I did have one exciting new addition to the garden this past week. During these hot months, every time I would water the plants a small group of sparrows would hop around the perifery of the water, springing in every now and then to sneak a drink and a splish-splash. It got to the point where it seemed less FUN for them and more DESPERATE, like they were having a hard time finding drinkable water around here. So, this led me to investigate bird baths, and I ended up purchasing a small cast-stone one, very ye-olde-english-garden-ish. It's only about 14 inches high, so it doesn't stick out like a sore thumb in the front flower bed. Now I just need to let it sit and acclimate, and let the birds start investigating.