august - sweet, sweet august!

 

that's a pic of our feet while we were down at the river this afternoon!

august. it just sounds so nice to say. we love august!

april, may, june and july are all about getting seeds started, transplanting, planting, daily weeding, daily tending to the garden - it's a lot of work!!! september, october and november are about harvesting, starting cool weather crops, building cold-frames, harvesting some more, putting food up by canning, freezing and dehydrating. december, january, february and march are about reading, learning new skills, honing and practicing others, early to bed and early to rise.

august is our month to live and love, relax, suntan, spend every afternoon at the river, if possible...and to just enjoy. we love august!

it is the best summer month of the year! our temps during the day are in the mid-to-high 20's C, sometimes low 30's C, and the beautiful ocean air keeps you cool. in august, the rivers, lakes, streams and ocean have had a few months to warm up...and our river is absolutely delicious in august! if any of you are ever planning to visit cape breton island (MDR!), august is the month to do so if you want to see incredible blue water, blue skies and green that goes on forever. august is our month...it is our month to lay back a little and enjoy all of our hard work. and to enjoy flumping down at the river, suntanning, snacking and napping together. and plan all of our dreams and future endeavours!

here's another garlic that i pulled. omg - these babies are to die for!

i am not harvesting them yet...they can stay in the ground for another month at least to grow nice and big. but i do pull one every few days for use in our food. half of this garlic found itself in  last night's supper - 

that's a big-*ss shrimp salad with lime/chili dressing. it was delicous! we ate some for supper and then snacked on the rest of it all night - deelish!

jambaloney went fishing this morning - SCORE! 2 beautiful trout. this one is an ocean-fed trout - you can tell by the size and the colour. it was a female who was coming up the river to spawn. she was full of roe, which jambaloney ate raw. it is very good for you to eat the roe and i am working up my nerve. i looooove smelt roe...but i just haven't had any other kind. it is so good for your bones and cartillage tho.

that delicious trout had such red flesh - more red than a salmon. she was delicious and very healthy. served beside her was fresh kale, fresh swiss chard and lamb's quarters all from our garden. what a healthy way to start the day.

and start the day we did! jambaloney painted new doors for another cabinet, i did laundry by hand, jambaloney cleared out the basement and shed, gathered all of the garbage (it's garbage day tomorrow!), and i made some food to take down to the river. in august, on beautiful days, the rule is to down tools at noon!

here's our lunch.

and a funny little piece of info. i love heinz beans from the can! no really - they are a guilty pleasure for me! i make our own beans - many different kinds - but i love heinz from the can. it goes back to when i was a child and me and my brother and sister would head off every summer morning to go to the beach for the day. these were the days of no cell-phones and we would be gone from 7 in the morning until about 5 at night. my mother packed lunches for each of us. we would get a sandwich (with MW, Linda - omg! for everyone else that's an inside joke!), or some potatoe salad (yes, Linda - with MW!!!), or pasta salad (yes, Linda...groan, the jokes getting old i know. but the pasta salad had MW too...and we let all of that sit in the sun for 4 or 5 hrs before we ate it!). but, because i was the oldest of the kids (my older sister was 5yrs older so she was a teenager and not one of "the kids"), my lunchbag would contain the can opener, the salt and pepper, and the prized can of heinz beans. let me tell you, if you haven't had cold beans from the can with a ton of salt and pepper - you are missing out on a truly wonderful part of life - bahahahahah! i love taking cold beans down to the river. and jambaloney loves them too!

it was windy down at the river today - all of the grasses and trees were blowing. but it was so hot out! about 25C. just gorgeous weather.

i took 25 million pictures of everything. and yes, you are welcome that i am not sharing all of them - teehee! look at how blue the river and sky were - i was mesmerized! jambaloney was napping!

and when i lay on my blanket and watched the grasses blow - this is what i saw.

i love our river. so does jambaloney. i can't wait until we get to a point where he can go fishing for 3 hours twice a day. and i will go with him. but i am not j-stroking - i hate paddling!!! but he goes into a trance when he is paddling and fishing...and i go into a trance watching him. and watching the river. and watching the water...and the waves...and the sky.

i am soooo happy to be home. it's been a good day. steaks are going on the bbq soon, and we'll have sauteed home-grown green beans from the garden to go with them. life is good. i hope that you all have a beautiful sunday.