Movin right along

We are still moving right along with the gardens and picking peas. Tonight I canned up 10 quarts of sugar snap peas. Not sure what the next thing will be to can, probably blackberries. They are looking good so far and I am sure the rain we had last night has helped them along a lot. The raspberries are starting to ripen too. When we picked the peas last evening we drove around the field looking at all the other plants and noticed the raspberries starting to turn in places so it wont be long on those either. I am really looking forward to raspberries this year. They wild blackberries here on the farm produce like crazy every year with no need to do anything special to them. I may ask Rodger to mowed near the blackberries in the field so I can avoid a few chiggers and ticks. I love picking blackberries but I alas get bit by every bug known to mankind. I read somewhere if you increase your intake of zinc in summer it will deter skeeters and other biting bugs. I do have some zinc supplement here so maybe I will give that a try.
While I was in the summer kitchen canning peas I walked down to the strawberry bed that is out back and picked a bunch of strawberries to eat. Those things are still producing and blooming again. I did manage to find the energy to weed the old onion bed so maybe tomorrow I can weed the asparagus bed and get some mulch in there to keep the weeds at bay. I really don't have the gumption to go out there and weed like I have in the past and if I don't fix it now they might be a loss. I walked back to the grape arbor out back and noticed the young chickens chasing bugs near the grapes. I got to looking closer and they were catching Japanese beetles. So I caught all the jap beetles off the grape vines and toss em in the chicken house for the smaller chickens. Now if I could teach them where the bugs live and they could help themselves without eating grapes it would be a good day.
Our temps have cooled a great deal the past couple days. It is actually cool outside this evening. So maybe tomorrow I will feel like getting out in the herb bed and doing some more weeding and get the plants fertilized so they can get well rooted before it gets really hot weather here. Even tho the rain was wonderful for the gardens it was sure rough on my arthritis. Got up this morning with my knee swollen again. Don't know what its problem is. Probably just arthritis flaring up. Dang it sure makes life on the farm rough.
Not much else happening here, so till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

Stella