The gorgeous weather continues here in Iowa. There were a couple of days that I had to turn on the air in preparation for David coming home last week, but nothing so severe that the girls and I needed a/c during the day. David just has to work in it all day, so if it's hot and muggy, he needs some a/c to chill out at the end of the day. But all in all, just one heck of a beautiful, not hot, not humid summer.

The lack of strong summer heat has been good for my broccoli - I am actually getting a nice head of broccoli growing even though I started my seeds way late. The garden is growing nicely this year. We have oodles of acorn and spaghetti squash, which I am going to keep on the vine til the end of the season. I have read that if you leave 2 inches of stem on them when you cut them off, they will last up to 6 months in storage. So that will be our winter veggies, along with our red onions and carrots. Meanwhile, I harvest yellow squash, zucchini, green beans and cucumbers daily now. Watermelon, cantaloupe and lima beans are all fruiting now and the tomatoes, which have turned out to be cherry tomatoes, are starting to ripen.

I guess the balloon festival started last week. A couple of them floated by our neck of the woods this past week. You'd think I would have plans to take the girls to see the balloons, but my plans are to go visit a farm and meet a couple of other unschooling country moms tomorrow, and Saturday I will be dragging the girls with me to a town hall meeting in Des Moines where I too can be a part of the angry mob being orchestrated by the GOP. *wink*

I can't remember what amazing thing the girls did to earn this, but we let them have a campout in the living room one night. They were thrilled! I want to camp out in the backyard with them too, but I can't seem to find our tent. If it ever turns up, that will be a grand adventure!

Posted in: Garden Lane, Slow Lane on Thursday, August 6, 2009 at at 9:31 PM