The summer has passed quickly, as summer always does. The trees across the pond are beginning to shift from green to yellow, orange and red. It happens quickly up here. From my perch I think it’s been a good summer, perhaps because for the first time in 47 years all of the time was my own. Well, mine and Wife’s, but she’s been good about letting me do pretty much as I pleased these past few months. 

The landscaping and garden consume a fair portion of my time during the summers, and this is by choice. I don’t mind (too much) resuscitating the various plants and bushes surrounding our house each spring, and cutting them all down each October. The same is true for the guaranteed once-per-week mowing of the grass and weed-whacking of the edges and weird places the mower can’t reach. I actually like the work, which is a change from my earlier years when I absolutely hated yard work.

This summer featured a lot of water and more heat than usual, especially in July. I cannot recall very many consecutive dry days from mid-June until recently. There was midsummer flooding here in the Northeast, something normally reserved for springtime, and all of the usual places were flooded and damaged as they usually are, just at a different time of year. 

When these places flood, there is usually significant damage to the same places damaged by the previous high water. Why aren’t these flooding issues addressed? The ruling elite in Montpelier spare no expense implementing their many laws and regulations to save the planet, but do little to protect their constituents property and state infrastructure. Isn’t that their primary responsibility? 

The Pondside garden this year was affected by all the rain. Early on it was hard to discern the impact, as the first two weeks of June were fabulous, and all of the plants did well after initial planting. 

But once the rains commenced, the nightshade plants stayed green, but were stunted. Our tomato plants never got as large as they normally do, and while the fruits that grew were good, volume was low. The same story for the bell peppers- stunted plants and low yields. Except for jalapenos. We’ve got more than our fair share of those.

Other crops didn’t mind the water as much. The three beds of onions produced good harvests, particularly the white onions. We got some red ones, too, but they were smaller than last year. I think that may be due to the change in seed forced upon us this year, as the Rossa di Milano variety wasn’t available and we had to substitute Red Weathersfield seed.

The brassica- cauliflower, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts- started out well. The July heat forced the early cauliflower and broccoli crops to mature very quickly, so the heads weren’t as large as they might have been. The cabbages were excellent, and the jury is still out on the early planting of the sprouts. I have great hopes for the late planting of these veggies- so far everything looks good!

The incessant wet had a very positive effect upon the squash and pumpkin patch. We’re going to have a very nice harvest of Butternut squash in a few weeks. And boy, do we have some pumpkins this year. Biggest I’ve ever grown.

With the garden winding down now, it’s time to start planning fall trips and activities. Fall truly is my favorite season, and I’m hoping to continue hiking the trails and mountains at an increased pace. Wife and I want to get in a road trip or two before winter arrives. Discussions and negotiations regarding destinations are ongoing- more on this later, I’m sure.

I’ve now posted several videos of recent trail experiences to Youtube. In my opinion, each one is better than the one before. I am getting the hang of video editing, but there’s still much to learn. Here’s the link to the latest:

At this stage of the game I’m unsure where the video work is going to end up. In addition to nature walks, the plan is to create some videos highlighting some of the small towns and their history here in the North Country, as well as scenic drive travelogues. Some of that should happen this fall. 

That’s it for now. I hope your summer has been a good one, and fall is even better. Thanks for stopping by!