Day is Done, Gone the Sun

It was a long day. Or more like a tiring weekend.  We are stuck in a heat wave and need rain desperately and I Just. Can't. Take. It. Any. More.

 Saturday morning I picked a few of the vegetables, the snap peas and purslane (which is actually a weed that just showed up here last year, all on it's own, and is very high in omega 3's).  Then I made five batches of jam, because it had been hot all week and who wants to make jam in a house with no air conditioning and now I couldn't put it off any longer, and had to do it.  Then back outside in the evening after the sun is off the garden to get more things picked.  When it is too dark to pick any more, then I bag and bundle what I can.  To bed at 12:30 am Saturday night although really I guess it's Sunday morning.  Up 4 1/2 hours later at 5am.  Market morning.  Meredith had offered to help when Larry had his surgery, so we decided that Larry wasn't going to the market today.  Finished picking and packaging the last of the veggies this morning, mostly herbs, arugula and salad greens.  Made up the 6 flower bouquets.  Larry filled the coolers with eggs, and I put them in the truck. Loaded everything into the truck, including the eight boxes of jam (which I would have forgotten, thank you Larry).  He had put together a breakfast/lunch for me, as there is never time to eat at home.  New for us this year is selling mushrooms at the market.  No we don't grow them, but as farmers we are allowed to bring in a certain percentage of the items we sell, from other farms.  It's a long story.  Anyway, Larry drove to pick up the mushrooms which are only a few miles away, which he usually does on his way to the market, but this time brought them back here and then I took them with me in the truck. I  had said I would try to walk the two collies at least before I left, so that Larry didn't have to worry about exercising them, since he isn't supposed to do a lot of walking.  By this time it is almost 7:30am.  I need a shower.  I decide to run around the block with the dogs.  Well I ran half of it maybe, it's a little over a mile.  Did it in 14 minutes, had my shower, gathered up the last of my stuff and headed off just after 8am. 

 Meredith met me at the market.  It was the usual rush to get set up, and then I had to explain to Meredith how it worked with the mushrooms, how to box them up.  We had a rather large lineup forming out front.  I had roped off the front of our booth, as people walk in and expect to buy things well before the 10 am start time.  Every interruption in our set up time slows us down, so we have to be firm about that. 10 am came and I still didn't have all the jam out, but we needed to open.  

Our booth is 10' wide by 20' deep.  This table with the jam and some sewing (the sewing selection is rather skimpy this year) is straight ahead, at the back, as you walk in.  There is a stand with aprons on it to the right, and usually I have another stand with shopping/book bags on it like those three on the shelf on the front of the table.  The table looks a bit bare.  Our trailer is parked behind with extra jam, and everything except the perishables pack into that trailer.

On the left as you walk in, is the vegetable table. These are photos from a couple of weeks ago.

On the right is the mushroom table. 

Meredith is great, she's helped enough over the years that she knows how it works, is quick and intelligent and makes things happen.  So I'm taking the money, as I know how the different vegetables are priced and Meredith is keeping the different mushrooms boxed up and out there and restocking jam. We had a constant stream of customers, and when we finally got a break to maybe eat some breakfast only an hour had passed, and it felt like it should be at least two.  It was a scorching hot day, hit 36 C at home here today (97F), although it was a bit cooler at White Rock.  There was a nice breeze thank goodness, without that it would have been unbearable.  A couple of times the breeze got a little strong and tents were bouncing around and a few things crashed over.  Business was steady and it was a good day sales wise.  At 2pm we started to pack up.  Not a fun job on a hot day.  Took us an hour and 10 minutes.  By that time I was just toast(ed).  Usually I visit my mother at her care home after the market, but today I phoned and cancelled.  Just couldn't do it.  I headed off and got home about 4pm.  Unloaded a few things (the rest can be done tomorrow).  I had traded some left over mushrooms for some soft organic apricots, so I needed to get those dealt with.  I cut them in half and pitted them and put them on a cookie sheet and into the freezer.  They will be a nice treat for us later.  And then I went into the basement where it is cooler, read for a little bit and fell asleep.  A nap was good!  Larry had made some potato salad with some potatoes that didn't make the cut, and cooked some sausages to go with it. Later this evening I wandered out to the north garden.  Thought I should check the zucchini, and already there were two more ready to be picked. 

 We have been dealing with smoke from forest fires blown out from the interior of the province, on and off all day.  The sun was looking pretty spectacular, a big fiery ball as it was going down. I don't know how to get the camera to pick it up like it looks to the eye, but you can get a sense of it.

  I love to just wander around in the vegetable garden.  Munch on a bit of this or that (raspberries and peas right now), pull a few weeds, get dirt in my shoes and make my feet dirty again.  No peas in the north garden, but lots of blackberries nearby, and they are ripening, so wandered around and picked and ate those.  I was hoping for a spectacular sunset, but it didn't happen.  

 I'm excited that we are going to have figs, maybe quite a few figs

There's always a border collie or two, ready and willing to play ball

I'll be awake early, and will go out and pick raspberries in the morning.  I'll search (again) for my glasses which have been missing since Friday night, and may or may not be buried in the mass of vegetation (is that a fancy way of saying knee high weeds?) under the raspberry plants.