It’s July! And it’s flying by! Let’s have an update on what’s happening around here, shall we?

Veggies and More

Most of our annual veggies (and fruits that we consider veggies – looking at you, squash and tomatoes) are doing well, despite the July heat so far.

Our Three Sisters are looking fabulous!

We’ve been getting a decent number of green beans and cucumbers so far this year, although the heat has stunted some of the cukes this month. Tomatoes are juuuuuust starting to ripen now, and we’ve enjoyed the first few ripe cherry tomatoes this week.

Fruits

Well, well, well, if it isn’t our blackberry bramble at it again.

We’re at peak picking season, and we’re getting between 1-2 gallons of blackberries per day. I’ve already made gallons of jam and jelly, and we’re working on a few ferments – vinegar, shrubs, wine, and the like. If you’re lucky enough to make it out to the East Asheville Tailgate Market in July, you may even be able to buy some of these beauties as is! Otherwise, you’ll see a lot of them in the baked goods.

Our aronia bush is even bigger this year, and we’ve (okay, Husband has) been experimenting with baking the berries instead of just throwing them into a jam. They give banana muffins a nice pop of tangy flavor, and the astringency disappears in dough, which makes us all happy. (Although, full disclosure – Preschool Homesteader eats them out of hand and in muffins, because she’s a baller.)

The peach tree is fruiting, but we won’t see ripe ones until later in the summer, thanks to the sheer size/sprawl of our tree and the type of peaches.

Our maypops are coming in quite nicely. We even worried a bit at the beginning of the season about whether or not they were coming back – if we squinted hard enough, we could find only one or two plants popping up at the end of May. Silly us – these danged things have taken over the front yard. Yay!

Pollinator Perennials

And speaking of taking over the front yard, our milkweed is spreading fabulously.

We’ve also planted a new perennial pollinator bed on the side of the property, with more native flowers and bee balm in the mix. We also planted more sochan at the bottom of the property (the wetter part of what used to be veggie beds), which will hopefully thrive.

Chickens

Unfortunately, we lost one of our pullets last month – Pepperoni, the Golden Comet. RIP, little one. Fortunately, the rest of the pullets are doing quite well, and all of the chickens are acclimating to each other, with only the normal amount of chicken pecking (see my post on introducing new chickens to an existing flock if you’re curious).

We’ll hopefully be seeing eggs from the new ones soon, if we haven’t already!

Life Otherwise

We’re keeping busy around here with gardening, preserving produce, teaching baking classes, selling baked goods and produce, and enjoying summer and a little time off with friends and family. Hopefully you are doing much of the same, and staying cool in the heat.

Stay tuned later in the month for announcements for baking classes and more. Until then, happy July!