Garden update for Friday, June 24:
1. We pulled out the green bean plants.  They were pretty much done, and according to the U of M Extension service, midsummer is when you should plant fall-harvest crops, so we decided to put in a couple rows of beets for this fall.  They seem to grow pretty quickly.  We might have to eat them a little bit small, but they’ll be tasty.  We should hopefully have a nice fall harvest of beets, kale, and of course parsnips.

2. Our corn is now dying.  Adam had staked it up and then we got more wind and it broke in more places, even though the stakes seem to still be holding it up.  I just hope it can stay upright until we harvest those pole beans, but that could be a while.

3. We should have tomatoes in just a couple weeks!  I am also going to try and order an extra several pounds of tomatoes from our CSA or from a farmer’s market and do some canning.  I’m really feeling a need to lay down some good eats for the long winter months.  Seriously, when did I become my grandma?

This is a picture of her when she was right around my age, vintage 1940s, holding her 6th child (my uncle Bob).  I wish I could go back in time and talk with her about gardening and preserving, among other things.  She died just a couple months ago at the age of 102, and is one of my inspirations.

We have a few very busy weekends coming up.  This weekend we are going camping, just Adam and me, while my friend (and Rowan & Anneke’s former nanny) Tracey stays here with the kids.  Have a great weekend; I’ll be back Sunday night.