The Good Life

We're easing into Summer.  We've already had a few days in the high nineties and then gotten a little rain with impressive lightning and thunder which took us back to lower temperatures and less humidity.  It seems we're in for more hot days this coming week.

This is all fine for the continuing haying.  High temps bake the grass dry and little rain doesn't really affect the process of raking and baling.

I'm in my normal Summer mode -- getting out early to do chores and whatever gardening I can manage and then retreating to the house until evening.  I got my own battery powered chainsaw, so can cut small trees to neaten up the landscape.  I cut up much dead pussywillow and wild grapevine this morning.

During the day yesterday and today, I bottled the 2010 wines which were stored in carboys in the basement.  I taste a small bit of each one before bottling so as not to waste time if the wine isn't up to par. 

Not a single wine was spoiled.  Some are very good, others just good.  Those of you who might be wondering about the yellow tomato wine:  It has a slightly tomato-y taste with lemon and ginger supporting.  It's what you'd call an "interesting" wine and one that may improve with age.  It's a lovely golden color.  'Not something you'd normally expect in a wine.  It does pack a punch, however! 

The tomato wine made me think of the potent peapod wine made by the Goods in the PBS series, "The Good Neighbors."  It was a 1975 series about what we now call Urban Homesteaders.  They lived in a middle class neighborhood and when Tom Good lost his job, they decided to become self-sufficient by raising fruit and vegetables and even acquiring chickens, a pig and a milk goat named Geraldine.  Tom managed to figure out how to generate power using the methane from animal manure.

Everything old is new again.

Migrations

Early this morning, I watched several large flocks of birds against a pale pink sky. They were traveling toward the NW. I am not sure where they are going. I noticed the first large group yesterday morning.

The pale pink sky is "bluing up" but there is a thick cloud cover. My eyes are hurting, so I think it is going to rain. None of the forecasts are calling for rain and we haven't had any in the past two weeks, despite predictions for rain over the weekend.

There should be a special forecast run by old people with arthritis and dry eye syndrome. We could keep statistics on accuracy and challenge the meteorologists on TV.

I've used up all the wine making vessels available to me for the present. There are standard wines from Concord and Merlot grapes; experimental wines, like peach and white peach champagne; and crazy wines, like yellow tomato with ginger and lemon.

I've made yellow tomato jam, hot and sweet and there are still tons of yellow pear tomatoes needing to be picked. I was going to label the jars "Toe-Jam" but then I reconsidered. The purple Cherokee are also coming on strong enough that I've been dicing and freezing them. -- Don't make me pull out the quart canning jars!