Time to Jam

This post is augmented by a song called Toe Jam by the Brighton Port Authority (featuring best of best David Byrne)... (open the link in a new window/tab to enjoy it while you read this fascinating update)

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Today was the first real harvest of raspberries. Dad's been out picking a few here and there when he gets the paper in the morning, but we took buckets out tonight and got loads. Now we will pick them every other day or so until they stop producing.

My mom picked about twice this many.

Guess who's making jam tomorrow?? Me!

While Mom and I picked raspberries, Dad and Keith drove T-posts for the beans. The beans have feelers going out already, looking for something to climb on. They should be plenty happy now that there's string down the whole row.

Keith: How far do we need to go?
Dad: Oh that's good. About nipple high.
Keith: I wish that was my high school--Nipple High.
Mom: That was Gary's high school!

tomato blossoms

Everything else is still growing like gangbusters. The greenhouse my parents ordered should be here this week or next and it's a good thing because we have things to fill it. Our heirloom tomato plants (not pictured above) are growing steadily and we need to thin them from the container and get them going in separate pots. We have some cousins up on the hill who have a greenhouse (and also live off the grid) so we're planning on making a field trip up there, maybe this weekend, so we can get schooled in Greenhouse Tricks 101, including pollination.

new glasses

At lunch today a baby robin flew onto the porch and landed on a chair. He sat there for quite a while, resting in the shade I guess, before he had the energy to fly away. He squawked a few times for his momma robin, made a big poop on my mom's chair, and took off! He made it about 10 feet in the first attempt, crashed into the side of the house, and then hopped his way over to the hay field. Hope he made it! The dogs were quite interested in it, but no baby robin snacks today. Luckily none of the cats saw it, either.

Click on the picture to see the LARGE version.

Hello, Mr. Robin.