Sunflowers, seeds and squirrels at Summer's end -

 

Some days back, in heat, but not too hot, in sunshine shaded by clouds in the Carolina Blue sky, we gathered our garden tools, put on gloves and hats, and went on a mission in the garden. Taking down the last sunflower was quite a job. Even with the last couple of feet bent and bowing to the earth, this fading beauty was still quite a monster, the huge head of seeds very heavy. The stem required the big loppers, no basic pruners could make a gash in it let alone cut through it.  Bob is almost 6 feet so I'm guessing the sunflower was around ten feet.  Why I never thought to stretch it out on the ground to measure it before cutting it up I don't know. Blame it on two older gardeners' just wanting to get the job done and the mess cleaned up! After all, there were other things waiting, the fried hydrangeas to clip, potted plants to toss, bird baths to clean and replenish, feeders to fill, and watering to do.

I've saved some of the seeds from this huge sunflower.  I made sure the seeds were clean and dry and have stored them in a glass jar.  There's no way I desire to plant an entire field of sunflowers next Spring. . . . . . . so I will be sharing these seeds with neighbors and friends who might enjoy them.

The sunflower head I left tucked into the garden bench - as I did with the former ones we cut down - and of course it didn't take long for the squirrels and birds to discover a feast!

We are currently under a severe flood watch here in central North Carolina.  Early this morning Hurricane Ophelia made landfall at the coast. Winds have been gusty bringing power outages and fallen trees - fortunately neither here at our home - but fingers are still crossed! However, the rain has been torrential and will continue another 2-3 hours.  Yesterday Bob mowed the brown dried out grass, and blew the newly fallen leaves and acorns. Today brilliant green grass has returned and he'll be out there again tomorrow with the leaf blower once things have dried out.

Autumn has arrived - I'm happy - but hurricane activity is always worrisome.

Stay safe if you are being impacted by bad weather.

Home again -

Have to say going away in summertime is not the best idea when it

 comes to maintaining a garden.  

Granddaughter did what she could with some visits to check the house

 and drag the hose around in close to 100F. Not easy when we have

 such a vast amount of shrubbery and plants all calling out for a

 much-needed drink as the sun beats down day after day from that

 'Carolina Blue' sky. . . . . . . .and hardly a raindrop fell in the ten

days we were gone.

 

More stories from New England visit to come, meanwhile I'm off to turn on

 those hoses and do some serious watering this morning before it gets too

 hot. As you can see, the jolly golden sunflowers have passed their prime,

now look baked and dry. One can say that there's still a kind of beauty 

in the shriveled petals and leaves, aging brings patina and wrinkles to

 everything. . . . . . one has to accept this and know there's always

 next spring and early summer when at least the garden

will be renewed!

It's good to be home.

Wicked hot weekend!

 

The weekend was another one of dealing with overpowering heat and not a drop of rain. Other than grabbing some needed grocery items on Friday afternoon, which was a scorcher, meeting up with daughter and her partner on Saturday at a wine bar to celebrate his birthday over a chilled glass of Portuguese Rosé - which was great - we stayed close to home. 

Watering is tiring at the best of times, dragging heavy hoses while batting off mosquitoes and bees (I've yet to find a bug repellent that truly works!) in triple digit temperatures is stupid. . . . . . .but sometimes has to be done for the greater good.

Neighbor is away, the vegetable patch is mine for a while, and I'm not going to allow these gorgeous tomatoes to suffer - he told me to pick them and use them which of course I'm doing. 

The weekend harvest!

These 'Beefmaster' tomatoes are excellent - and we actually made old

 fashioned sandwiches with sourdough bread, mayo, salt and

 pepper - delicious! The flour was out as I also plan to bake some

 whole wheat cheese scones this week - on a cooler day of 

course - as they go well with tomato dishes.

Early Sunday morning prior to another hot day, Bob fired up the grill. 

We cooked corn and red peppers for future recipes and grilled thick

 slices of leftover bread to use in Panzanella (below).  

With a bowl of 'green soup' (spinach, potato and zucchini), also made 

early morning, we had supper ready without having to heat up the kitchen.

Sunflowers are on their last legs. Picked a few smaller heads for indoors

 but they too are going over now.  Two of the really huge heads, still

 on their sky-high stems, I've enclosed in net bags and hope to gather

 seeds for planting/eating - must save them prior to nibbling visitors

 such as this. . . . .

. . . . who showed up Saturday evening to enjoy a dessert of ripe figs! 

A murder of crows visit the top of the fig tree daily now, noisy but fun

 to watch. Robins really love the figs and come non-stop all day long, 

along with many other birds, and of course the bothersome squirrels.

What's happening in your garden?

Today it's a wee bit cooler so I plan to slow-roast some tomatoes for 

sauce and soups - always a tasty treat on a cold winter's day. . . . . .which

 can't come soon enough for me!

Wellbeing - Fennel and Sunflowers. . . . . . .

via - UK Country Living

I've noticed lately that there are many more articles being published in reading materials such as magazines, newspapers, books etc., and of course online, regarding digestive issues. If you, like so many of us, struggle with any of the many 'tummy troubles' brought on by illness, and especially aging, you will find everything covered, discussion is more open, and treatment offered from every area of the medical field and more. 

I found this little jewel of a herbal treatment, a natural 'digestif' to aid in stomach spasms and bloating - fennel seeds. I purchased a small bag of organic seeds and have been chewing them after breakfast and supper - we usually don't eat lunch. The licorice taste is pleasant and I chew for a while prior to swallowing as they are a bit weedy in the mouth! If you look up fennel seeds you will be amazed at the health benefits. Of course as with anything you ingest always check on the negatives too, and maybe discuss with your doctor. 

. . . . . . . while on the subject of healthy seeds, how about the sunflowers' offerings?

Have to admit they are delicious natural and roasted as a handy, healthy snack, and make such a difference to the taste and texture of many baked items, especially breads. I probably won't be eating mine from the garden as usually the squirrels and birds get there first, but that's fine with me. Growing a few of this awesome, now 10 foot tall, 'wow factor' variety has been beautiful to view. They have brightened the garden and welcomed people coming along the street. 

Soon I may be known not just as "the lady with the huge fig tree" but also "the crazy gardening woman with the gigantic sunflowers".

- Sunflowers today -

A favorite spot in the summer garden right now - under the Japanese maple.

Very hot and humid here.

July came fast and furious!

Saturday morning Breakfast Smoothie - Banana, Mango, Kiwifruit, Almond Milk, and a slice of walnut bread toasted.

It has been such a busy week here with the Independence Day celebration on the 4th, Bob's birthday on the 5th - which seems to have gone on for several days due to restaurants being closed over the holiday - along with five other birthdays among friends near and far. Yesterday we drove out of town to meet friends for lunch and went back to their lovely home for an afternoon cuppa. They were formerly our across the street neighbors who moved away 19 years ago - still great friends and enjoyable company.

The July weather pattern continues with its usual oppressive daytime heat reaching close to 100F, nights not much cooler. Thank goodness for air conditioning. Rain here around us has been nothing more than a 5 minute late afternoon shower now and then, not much help in keeping the gardens going and green. We took a drive to the local 5-acre 'sunflower field' where the city plants 200,000 seeds annually, but it was still just a huge swathe of tall green leaves, no golden blooms yet, whereas my little garden patch is lovely with the tallest sunflower now around 71/2 feet high, it's flowerhead still in bud! 

Hang on ---------- I'll run out and take a photo with my phone!

So, just took these pix, so humid and overcast outside - not the best weather. The tiny yellow flowers are my neighbor's cucumbers and he has already gifted me with a large one which I plan to use for a green gazpacho tomorrow. . . . a perfect chilled soup for this weather. 

While out snapping the sunflowers I caught these guys having fun on our white oak.

One of Bob's birthday (83) get togethers was at our favorite pub/restaurant where a few family members joined us and granddaughter Jasmin brought along a carrot cake - Bob's favorite!  How quickly the years are passing. How grateful for family who continue to care about us. Sad that some apparently don't!

Sunflowers - Wildlife - Independence Day -

I know I've been missing from here!  I really have been busy, mostly working in the garden, cooking/eating outdoors, and taking time to stop and smell not only the roses but all the other lovelies blooming around the garden now that summertime is really here. 

Travel planning, birthday celebrations, organizing 'stuff' for the always rather scary future - won't dwell too much on that - and meeting up with friends for a glass of very cold rosé now and then, has filled in the blanks. 

Now we have visitors - several of the four legged variety! 

A feral tuxedo cat who has been hanging around for many months is now a momma and introduced us to her two cute, already large, kittens on Saturday.

Yesterday, a momma grey fox brought three large healthy looking kits to our back garden just prior to dusk and they played for about 20 minutes. They seem to be living under my neighbor's shed. We've had foxes before but it has been a few years so seeing this new family is lovely.

Wildlife entertainment is always wonderful to view.  Photos through the window are not great - all these animals move so quickly - but you can see that all the babies are quite large already. Hoping of course there is no negative interaction of cats and foxes, and that all can live here harmoniously for the coming weeks until they move on!

Do you have big plans for celebrating tomorrow . . . . . if you live here in the USA?  

Whatever you spend your day doing I hope it's fun and the sun shines on you,

your families and friends. Very hot here, close to 100F all week.

On July 5 we'll still be celebrating as Bob will have another birthday!

Sunflower field story -

It was our second visit to the local sunflower field this summer. The first was a little early as the blooms were only just opening. This time, Monday in the late afternoon, the heavy heads were bowing low, petals shriveling, as we walked the rows with Jasmin taking some photos of us. . . . . .while I took photos of creatures!  

Along the outer edge of the 4-5 acre field it was obvious the deer had been busy stuffing their tummies with ripe seeds from the flower heads. Bees were everywhere, grasshoppers were busy also.  We saw a very special bird - another post on that later.

Since returning from New England life has been really busy. I need to re-organize my time, my life, to fit everything in. Please know I'm reading your posts every day, and enjoying them as always, just haven't had time to do much commenting. I will share more from the trip north once I have time to work with hundreds of photos I took. It was such a wonderful time away after the months of lockdown. . . . . and those daily kitchen chores!!!

Have a fabulous week everyone.