Happy, sunny, July! It was the quintessential summer day here at our house. The sun was shining, pleasant temperatures, a breeze and new mown hay! After I finished a four hour cleaning job this morning, I came home to many more tasks. I knew it was time to pick black raspberries. This is always quite a project. I decided this year to do it a bit differently by using the four-wheeler to get around the property instead of walking. Now, mind you, I needed the walk and would have enjoyed the walk, but thought it best to give my back the benefit of the doubt and drive the four wheeler between patches of berries. I was glad I did. I could feel the effort of standing on the uneven ground after a while. Picking the black raspberries is a tough job--not for the faint of heart! Usually, this year being the exception, they ripen in the hottest part of summer. Add to that the mosquitoes and all the extra clothes you ought to wear just to keep from being scraped to death by briars and thorns, not to mention poison ivy protection. Well, when all was said and done, I picked about three quarts of berries and still left enough on the bushes to feed an army. They are smaller than most other berries and therefore take more time to pick and to fill up a quart. I will definitely be picking again, probably two or three more times. That jelly will taste so good in the winter!
I was talking to an elderly friend today and she was reminiscing about when she was a girl. She told me she enjoyed visiting her elderly relatives on their farm. As she described the way they dressed, I thought of the title for this blog. She told me they wore long dresses with very long aprons. She could remember them going to their garden and picking their aprons full of vegetables and carrying them in the house or using the aprons to gather eggs. I got to thinking about how some things; humble things, like aprons, are vanishing from the American scene. I remember my mom saying her mother's apron served many useful purpoes. She would dry children's tears with it as well as using it to protect her clothing while working. I suppose protecting clothing is the original purpose of an apron. With the advent of automatic washers and the disappearance of hard, dirty farm work, we are losing the "art of apron wearing." They are not as necessary as they once were. I suppose that mothers in the past also used them to cradle a child while rocking them to sleep. I know I used to wear aprons faithfully when the kids were smaller and I did alot of work in the kitchen. It really saved on the clothing, but then I was baking alot more and doing alot of canning and such.
Several years ago in my apron wearing stage, I sewed myself an apron that I literally wore until it was in shreds. I designed it myself--no big task--and really liked it. It finally fell completley apart a few years ago. I still have an apron, but confess that I rarely get it out to use it. The season for using it is coming up though, canning season. I noticed today as I weeded two rows of beans, that the plants are forming little beans and will soon be ready to eat. Clint took mercy on me and tilled the front part of the garden so I'd not have to wrestle with the tiller.
I also got some much needed weeding done in the English Garden. I noticed a few stalks of larkspur coming up and that's great since I had planted alot of starts last year. I seem to have trouble growing that flower. As for the mystery flower, if I had to make a guess today, I'd say it's a nice variety of cultivated white yarrow--desperately hoping all the while that it's yellow yarrow!
I had to do more watering this evening. It is bone dry out there. Today was windy again and things are drying out in a hurry.
I love this particular time of year. I wanted to go for a ride this evening and let the summer air rush in the car windows carrying the scent of new mown hay. I love the full moon and the smell of fresh cut fields. Everyone was too tired to go and so maybe tomorrow night! Blessings, LORI
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