Happy Canada Day, and White Rabbits, eh?

Happy Canada Day to our Canadian and Canada-adjacent blogistas.

White Rabbits, too.

I did dull but strenuous stuff this morning, cut back the foliage from the very feeble iris this year, brought the Thai basil out front so neighbors can pick. Note the qtips and read on 

Witnessed the almost frightening advance of the squash plant. It had set off across the gate so just yesterday I turned it back and tied it in a new direction. Whereupon it said Ho, that's how you want it? I'll show you. And proceeded to commandeer the top of the fence. All the growth you see at the top is since yesterday

The tomatoes really like their new watering system

And I did the annual Riddling of the AC Condenser pipe. This is below grade, for some "reason" and if you fail to riddle out the buildup of debris that drifts in over the winter, the AC will drain through the living room ceiling. I riddled out a bit of debris and water began to flow out very obligingly.

 That bit of screening covers the mouth of it and the tile behind keeps the screening in place. Simple, works a treat. The various other visible pipes and lines are not related. The actual condensation pipe is underground and not visible here. 

If I'd held off a couple of hours, my neighbor would have done it. I met him later, and  he said he was about to do his, did I want him to do mine, too. But I was done. In a hot humid place like this it's vital to remember to do it. Some people have elaborate hoses and pumps and things.

Then we got talking about the caterpillars that have eaten his kale and broccoli, and I looked and saw just sad little skeletons, where there were plants last week. I don't think he knew about putting collars to interrupt the caterpillars' climb. 

He also has squirrels digging merrily in the house plants he put out for the summer. There I could help, and I gave him some qtips soaked in peppermint essential oil to put in the pots. As you see above in the Thai basil. 

 I've had some success with it. It's not the stuff you get in the baking section, but the real thing, much more pungent.

The best deterrent for squirrels is a pair of nesting Carolina wrens with young. They take no prisoners. I've seen them run squirrels off, one tiny bird pecking furiously at his head, one likewise at his tail. 

We had a squirrel free season up to a couple of weeks ago, and then I knew the pair that nested near here must be done with child rearing when the squirrels came back, ransacking the feeder. 

Nature goes on anyway

Even when people are in crisis, nature steams ahead.

The Thai basil finally germinated and will soon need the netting removed from her pot.

Those tiny tomato seedlings are now ready for a new home

And this big jungly mass is the candy roaster squash you saw me plant as seeds in a pot with netting to protect against squirrels. I think she can defend herself just fine now. In fact the Thai basil needs to be protected from her at this rate.

Apple Jam, with the assistance of Dolliver Dreads and her little friend

Having a farmshare, only two more weeks to go, twenty six weeks of great produce, definitely pushes you to new levels of vegetable and fruit prep and eating.  The apple crop this year is amazing, at least three different varieties, all huge and perfect fruit, literally handpicked.  The farm family are proud of their new bit of equipment allowing their picker to get the fruit a bit faster, but it's still one individual working up in the trees.

So, all the squash being roasted, stirfried, made into soup, made into bread, baked, made into french fries, that was the squash scene.  And a ton of green vegetables, which will make great stir fries and soup and bread eventually. And the apples have been: applesauce, apple salad tossed with a bit of mayonnaise, no need to get all carried away,  various forms of crumble, and now I made apple jam. Not jelly, jam.

Caramel apple jam,to be exact, with the assistance of Dreads Dolliver and her little friend, who wouldn't tell me her name.  The pix are still firmly stuck in my camera, and you should have heard their screams of rage, after all their work, slaving over a hot jam pot, before they flounced off back to their shelf, but I hope to reveal the pix and their hard work when a new camera comes into my life soon...

Meanwhile, this week's apple share made exactly six cups of cubed apple, just what the recipe ordered, and we'll see how it goes. Very sweet, I'm guessing, judging from all the brown sugar. And it used up the last of this year's pectin supply.  So I hope it works.

Other experiments: I made yogurt cheese from my homemade yogurt and it's really good.  I got about a cup of whey off it, so that's in the freezer for next time I make a squash/sweet potato/pumpkin soup, whichever happens first.

I tried out the cheese, just a bit spread on, on top of a helping of crumble from the freezer.  I must say that time and freezing improved that anonymous crumble considerably.  The y. cheese was good on top, cut the sweetness.

So that's your low tech blogger sighing and sadly waving goodbye to my loyal old Coolpix cameras, faithful to the end, not their fault their software got old and unsupported.  Don't we all....