Daylilies Last Only One Day Unless You Take a Pic

Ever heard..."take a picture it will last longer" when you were a kid? Daylily flowers are so beautiful but they literally last only one day. So, I took a picture of several varieties I have blooming in the gardens this year.

Flowers (I Love Them)

Yarrow is in my flower garden; however, it is a native wildflower in Iowa. I like the colored yarrows but they always seen to revert to white after a few years.

Sweet William does smell sweet.

The daylilies don't even sem to last a day when it rains all the time.

Another daylily - oh, so wet.

Moss Roses - they also smell sweet.

Don't know what kind of roses. They are very fragrant and the blooms never stop.

Delphiniums - because I love blue.

Some Fruits and Veggies are Ready

I need to cut the broccoli.

Sugar snap peas are ready. I better pick before the deer notice.

Grandpa let the little ones pick mulberries while I was at work. When I got home their clothes, faces and feet were purple. Grandpa was picking them to make wine.

All the cherries this year are way up high. I think the birds will get them all before we do especially since rain has been forecast for every day. Again, grandpa uses them for wine.

We soak the cherries in a little salt water in order to draw out any little critters that may be inside. I think these are Montmorency cherries. I planted the tree so long ago that I don't remember for sure. And, even if I did, what difference would it make?

We are going to have a lot of pears again this year. I think I have tried every recipe I could find for making anything that contains pears. Grandpa even makes pear wine.

Biscuit Baking Babes

At age five they probably know their measurements better than some adults I know. They wanted to make biscuits for breakfast so they could try out grandpa's strawberry jam.

Two cups of flour. They each get to put a cup into the bowl.

And this is the way we cut the biscuits - with great, great grandma's biscuit cutter.  "Oh, grandma, it is so hard to stay close to the edge and close together. I want to cut right out of the middle. "

Don't pay any attention to the wine glass in the background. I wasn't drinking it for breakfast!

Yummmm! May I have more after this one?

Strawberry Jam

It was a stormy day yesterday - a perfect day for making jam except for the heat. (My house has no air conditioning). My husband and I picked strawberries the day before. We have had an excellent crop this year. Maybe that "vacation" I took last year to weed the strawberries and asparagus, etc. last year paid off.

After several hours of simmering and stirring, the jam is ready for canning. I usually make jam the old fashioned way - without adding pectin- and stirring and simmering until it is the consistency I want.

I filled all my jam jars for Christmas gift giving and also filled a couple of pint jars I will keep for myself. I was going to make fresh biscuits for breakfast this morning but decided to wait for next weekend when the granddaughters are here to help make and eat them with strawberry jam.

Oh Deer!

I saw a deer in the front yard when I looked out the kitchen window on Saturday and quickly grabbed the camera. The deer are destructive around here. I think this one stomped through the strawberries and probably ate a few.