The Year Without a Summer

I am beginning to think summer will never come. Today I was literally in layered clothing starting with a longsleeved t-shirt, then a thin wool sweater and topped with a fleece jacket. I was in the house and outside today, but the jacket stayed on regardless. I have yet to wear a pair of shorts here and it is mid June on my calendar. I keep telling the kids that it gets hot here. They don't believe me. I am getting afraid my tomatoes will fail to thrive in this weather. I can count on two hands the number of hours I have seen the sun since we arrived. My allergies are still going full tilt; you have to love the bonus of having lived the late winter in Arizona where the allergies crop up about mid January, and then moving to New Jersey so they can last through July. I have now spent 6+ months battling allergies.

We had a dry day late last week so we planted the corn in the garden--finally. It hasn't come up yet and with all of the rain (it has rained almost every day since we've arrived) it may rot right there in the soil. The good news, however, is that the peas and the green beans are coming up nicely. I was never so happy to see sprouts in all my live long days. Surprisingly though, we have seen neither hide nor hair of the lima beans, not a single sprout is up. We had no trouble growing these in Arizona, but with the climate being so different here, it is like learning to garden all over again. I have no idea actually, what sort of conditions they need. They grew like weeds in the garden back in Phoenix. I'll be sure to keep you posted. We also have a variety of bell peppers planted, celery, and basil. We have a lot left to plant, especially the pumpkins which need to go in very soon. I'll be praying for an Indian Summer this year, that is if we ever get the first summer.

We have livestock now: four laying hens (who are still too young to lay), 6 ducks (one with a malformed foot, but as cute as can be) and 9 guinea hens. It has been fascinating to watch the ducklings grow. Almost every morning I drink my coffee with the birds as I let them out for the day. This afternoon, however, we had a poultry crisis. A predator got one of our guinea hens. We have no idea what got it, but it left feathers and entrails all over the bird paddock and it sent the remaining 9 guinea hens into a panic and then into hiding for the remainder of the day. We searched the entire field for those hens and this is no small task as it is about 15 acres. While we out looking for the hens an interesting thing happened. I discovered that there are scores of fully ripe wild strawberries in our field. As I looked for the hens, I would bend down and scoop up the strawberries. My hands looked as though I got the guinea hen. It wasn't long before Claire came out and joined me and the two of us stuffed ourselves full of wild strawberries. They we tiny (about the size of a blueberry) but full of delicous sweet flavor. Tomorrow morning I am planning to wake up and go out in the field and collect a bunch for making wild strawberry pancakes. I'll let you know how it turns out.

After dinner tonight, Charlie finally corralled the guinea hens out of the bushes and back into the box stall. I was afraid when they finally did resurface we'd have less than 9, but the 9 were still in one piece.

I see a dog in our future.