Perfume garden lilies

I purchased these lilies ( called perfumed garden oriental lily mix)earlier this year from White Flower Farm--they had a special on the bulbs--10 or 12 for $10.00--their things are usually quite a bit more! I bought 2 bags--the light pink ones bloomed 1st

Then the darker red, and yesterday the white one bloomed. there are still quite a few that haven't opened yet--they have a nice light scent and all average 6-7 inches across. Will have to take an overview photo to get as many of them in it as I can.

And more jammin'

We had one day last week that was perfect for making jam--dry & sunny & not too hot! So I decided to make a few more batches of jam since I already had picked & frozen the berries.This the start of red raspberry--my favorite. ( Also made black raspberry) All the berries have been crushed & are ready to add the sugar.

Mixing the sugar with the berries--then you start to cook it.

Bring it to a full boiling boil.......

And this is what you get. I'm up to 9 different kinds now!

More Flowers

A few new flowers are blooming in the yard & pasture--so nice to see some different colors--lots of new lilies--enough for another post! This is a new Echinacea; bought at White Flower Farm, but somehow the tag got separated from the plant.
The color ids a little different--pale pink, but it's very pretty ! Will have to try & find out the name......

A two-tone black eyed susan--would guess it's a mutation of some sort. There's a few of them mixed in with the regular ones. They all grow wild in what used to be one of our horse pastures.

Rays of Sunshine!

Last weekend I took my camera when I went to get the newspapers--was right place at the right time to capture the rays of early morning light! Enjoy!

My Vegetable Garden...

Now that it's finally started to grow I thought I'd put up some photos of my vegetable garden. I only planted 1/2 of it this year---because of the rain, the weeds kept growing in & I gave up trying to clear them out! Here's a view of the whole thing--it's a 20 ft. round raised bed. On the right side I have pole beans, green beans, green & yellow squash and cukes........
Tiny cukes.........

Zucchini just starting to grow

And green beans--great straight from the garden. The tomatoes are in pots by the house

Another batch of Jam...

Was made on Saturday! This time it was Plum--one of the easiest because you don't have to peel the plums.....
I use a steam canner instead of boiling water bath--much quicker--it seals by the steam of boiling water rather than covering the jars in water ( this pan does have a cover --I had just taken it off) . Then you get to listen to the lids pop!

On Monday I made 2 more--Strawberry -Banana and Strawberry-Pineapple--need 6 different kinds to enter a collection of jams at the fair ( 1 jar of 6 kinds)--I'm on my way to that......

So Happy July is over!

What a month it was! Connecticut got 3 times the normal rainfall for the month --approx 11 1/2 inches! In June we had to put one of our cats to sleep unexpectedly & last week we found out Rafe has Lyme disease...... Luckily it's treatable & he's great about taking pills--the course of treatment is very similar to humans--I had it about 5 years ago--just take antibiotics. But we also found out he's a little overweight--weighs 111 lbs! So he's now on different food & less of it! That's tough--he's a Lab & loves to eat!