he thought the trees might be 100 years old

At the winery where my husband works, two large cherry trees stand out front.  The fruit was ready that day so we took the opportunity to glean.  I threw my water bottle in my purse and we proceeded to fill a wine box with cherries.

I was up a tree, when I saw my husband's boss' boss' boss setting up a ladder.
"Be careful!" he shouted.  He knew I was pregnant.  He was overjoyed that we were out there to pick the fruit.  The man was best known for being very rich and I enjoyed the sight of him perched on that rickety old ladder.  He was also known for working really hard and he picked the same amount as the two of us in less time.  He was there for the same reason, to enjoy it at home later.

I thought it would make a great photo op for the blog so I went down the tree for my purse.  Unfortunately, while I was up a tree the purse had filled with water.  My camera and phone floated somewhere in the purse's watery depths.

The phone came back to life after three days in a bag of rice.  I'm still waiting to try the camera.
Here are the cherries, safe at home.

What do you see?

Is it the latest shade of green?

Every year new shoots reach for the sky.  In February I cut them down.  I make the cut past the second node to encourage the right amount of fruit to grow.  Okay, I don't really know what I'm doing, but I know this farmer family that has pear trees.  Guess who harvests their hair?  

In September I pick the pairs.  Our cellar isn't really built for long term storage and the pears seem to ripen all at once.  I usually dry them with the dehydrator.  They turn into delicious candy.  Processing is a lot more work than growing in this case.

Here are our pears today.

minimize

We popped out the extension from our big table...

...and made it small.

heirloom tomatoes

The heirloom tomatoes are coming along nicely.  The cultivars included are Black Krim, Green Zebra, and Gardener's Delight.  They've been trellised up on branches that grew on site.  Using what is already available around you is part of the theory of Permaculture.  We're attempting to reduce our inputs as much as possible.

Reducing inputs can be challenging.  It always seems to be easier to shop than it is to create.  My efforts to downsize were thwarted this week when we received a free air condition that someone was getting rid of.  Hopefully keeping cooler in the July heat will make us more productive on our mini farm.  Ahhh! More stuff!

big berries and ballon blasts

The first raspberries are ripe for picking.  One berry got ripped before the photo shoot and passed out on the floor twice before the session even began.

...

In front of our house I like to position the 'free' pile.  I'm not sure if the neighbours love it, but I sure do.  Countless people have gotten treasures (or junk) from our hand-me-down stash.  Today our summer umbrella was claimed.  It didn't tilt so it was really useless in the afternoon sun, and it's far too hot to sit out mid-day.  We made the decision for the umbrella to go after I broke the umbrella stand.

I think the umbrella stand was meant to be filled with sand but I had chosen water, which had since gone putrid.  I attempted to tip the water out of its container off the edge of the deck, but it slipped through my fingers, exploding like a water balloon into the yard below, blowing itself to smithereens.

I don't usually recommend purging by method of vandalism.  I suppose I have taken a hockey stick to a perfectly good alarm clock once but that was a long time ago.

cleansing

I deleted all my emails.  Even the important ones.  I couldn't decide if there were any important ones.  What a feeling of purity!

The midwife told me that in the third trimester I would feel an insatiable desire to clean.  She didn't mention that I'd have a desire to purge.  Since I only just entered the second trimester I'm not sure there will be anything left to clean when the baby is born.

made from scratch

Tomorrow we go back to work.  We sure needed this week off to catch up on gardening, preserving, and decluttering.  We managed to get rid of fifty things and I think we must have completed fifty chores as well!  Some of our labours of love:

Fermented Beets

We had a bumper crop of beets this week, which is great because it was part of my Naturopath's prescription.  We started some ferments in jars with the lids left on slightly loose.  We dissolve 2 tbsp of sea salt into 4 cups of water and then pour the mixture over the grated beats.  Check every few days and see if the beets are tasting pickled enough (like sauerkraut).  Then chill them down in the fridge to stop the ferment.

Dried Herbs

After growing all these herbs, if you them to last longer than the life of the plant, you have to preserve them in some way.  We used our dehydrator on our two types of oregano (Italian and ...the other kind), mint, peppermint, and sage.  We made cilantro pesto since cilantro doesn't dry as well as other herbs.

Home-made Granola

Good granola is expensive!  Ours contains spelt, kamut, raisins, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, molasses, cane sugar (not a lot), and coconut oil.  I forgot to add that dash of salt!  For breakfast I just add coconut milk and some fruit.

Dry Shampoo

To be honest I've never made this before and will be testing it in the morning.  I love dry shampoo since I have long hair and I find that washing it every day dries out the ends.  For in between days I pat a little hair powder into the roots and then brush it through.  It looks clean with a matte texture.  I mixed 5 mls of baking soda with 20 mls of cornstarch and two drops of lavender oil for this test batch.  The puff will be kept in this lovely lavender pouch in between powderings.