We had a couple of weeks of unseasonably cool weather earlier this month, but that passed and we had to turn the air conditioner back on.
The sudden windstorm last week brought down many small limbs, so we had more yard work waiting the first of the week when the temperatures cooled a bit again.
A fellow a few blocks away has given us some more goldfish for our pond, so another item on our "to do" list is to visit the garden center and buy a new pump to aerate the water.
The morning glories I recently planted are rapidly climbing the arch at the east end of the pond and will soon add some color to the area.
Country Living columnist Jo Northrop, in her "Simple Country Pleasures" column, wrote two decades ago that "July is a time when we enjoy all the good things of summer and the fullness of nature. What tastes better than that first vine-ripened tomato from the garden or from a roadside farm stand? And what is sweeter than the first tender ears of summer corn? Sometimes it is hard to make choices at the farmers' market in July."
Believe me, I know the feeling. The local farmers' market has such a variety of quality produce that it's hard to make a decision. We've enjoyed green onions, cucumbers and crisp radishes, green beans and new potatoes, squash and turnips.
On my last visit, I'd vowed not to purchase any veggies because I already had several at home I hadn't cooked. My resolve soon melted away when I saw the nice big green peppers Evelyn McGraw displayed in her booth. I bought a half dozen. When Jim saw them, he requested I fix stuffed peppers for supper that evening.
Stuffed peppers take a bit of working, parboiling the peppers, browning ground beef, chopping onion, cooking rice, mixing the stuffing, but it seems the end result is always worth it. It's a tasty meal all in one dish, and I usually make enough to have leftovers the next day. We love the aroma, love the taste. It's the ultimate comfort food, one of my favorite dishes.
Our tomatoes have recently started ripening, so we've enjoyed them sliced with cottage cheese on top; and on Saturday evening, we had BLTs for supper. Jim made his a BLOCT, adding some onion and slice of pepper jack cheese to his. The sandwiches made a quick and easy supper, accompanied by a tall glass of raspberry lemonade.
We've given a few tomatoes away, and friends in turn have helped add to our bounty. Our friends at Sulphur Springs have given us squash and new potatoes. Another fellow gave Jim squash and a tomato. And one day when he was working in Decatur, a neighbor even brought over some big blueberry pancakes.
Others are enjoying an abundance of tomatoes too. A friend I visited in Cherokee City Saturday was getting ready to can tomatoes when we dropped by. She sent a jar of strawberry jelly and some fresh eggs from her hens home with me. My sister Nancy came by one day and brought me a jar of honey to sweeten my tea and a jar of her beet pickles. So we're enjoying the results of others' canning efforts too.
Mama and Daddy usually grew a big garden and Mama often canned several jars of vegetables, lining them up in rows on the wooden shelves in the cellar to enjoy all winter long. Daddy would buy a bushel of apples in the fall for her to make apple pies, apple butter and applesauce.
I guess Nancy is carrying on the family tradition. She and her husband recently prepared two bushels of corn for the freezer. That's a good way to enjoy sun-ripened flavors all year. Turn your cucumbers into homemade pickles, tomatoes into tomato sauce and salsa, corn into corn relish and you can make summer last.
One of my books I picked up at a book sale is "The Decatur Road," a first novel by Joe Coomer, an SMU grad. The title caught my eye because of our neighboring town to the south.
It's a story of the Appalachian hill country and follows a tobacco farmer and his wife through 50 years of their lives. A prominent character is Plums, the woman who runs the fruit and vegetable stand. Along with her produce, she sells her own jelly and jam. Flavors include: Plum Cherry, Plum Grape, Plum Orange, Plum Peach and, as a joke, Plum Plum and Plum Crazy.
"It always tickles her to look at the Plum Crazy labels, and at the expressions of first-time customers when they spy the labels," Coomer writes.
"She almost always seems to be happy," he concludes. And, after all, isn't that the bottom line?
Susan Holland is longtime resident of Benton County and a reporter for the Westside Eagle Observer. She may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 07/30/2014