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moving out of summer

With the crazy humidity we've been having it certainly does NOT feel as if we're moving out of summer, but as back to school posts are showing up on Facebook news feeds and the tomatoes in the garden are fading and drying up, I have to accept the reality that it really and truly is August. This year seems to be disappearing before my very eyes.

And August means it's time to start transitioning from the garden to the fruit trees. The hard frost we had back in April/May (I can't remember which, just that it was bad and very late into spring) killed almost all the leaves and bud on our trees. Even our pecan trees took a horrible hit. So we weren't expecting much produce from our trees at all. Last week I started seeing squirrels running across the road with apples and pears in their mouth, so I had to admit to myself it is time. Yesterday I picked one bucket of both apples and pears (together), which is the lowest amount of fruit our trees have ever yielded. I've not checked the grape vines yet, though it should be time for the grapes to be ripening as well.


I decided to do apple jelly this year, which I've never made before. I didn't finish with all the apples yesterday and had planned to finish up today. Unfortunately, my sinuses/allergies triggered a bad headache that was nearing migraine status. So my day has mostly been a wash. It was almost five before I could get rid of the pain, and I am totally wiped. I've managed to get a little bit done (I actually stayed home from church tonight), but am mostly taking it easy. But hopefully before the weekend is out I'll actually have some completed apple jelly to show you.
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