mid-August

The nights are actually starting to stay cool and it is noticeably getting darker earlier. Seems like summer is drifting to a close. I've seen Halloween stuff for sale in the stores (and may have bought a few decorations). Even if I didn't keep an eye on the calendar, the stores would let me know what holiday was coming up. Everyone's gardens are finally coming in -- there's a lot of zucchini showing up lately! I finally figured out how to make those zucchini noodles that were so popular a few years ago. They're really good. Now is the time to enjoy the noodles.

garlic!

Here's my garlic crop for the summer, drying out. It's my first year trying garlic, so I'm sort of stumbling forward with this, but it seems easy enough. I'll be planting again in the late autumn, and cooking with some of it in the meantime. Garlic is delicious and quite healthy. Although perhaps not the best on your breath for romantic encounters.

bees love my orgeano

I have a little (well, maybe not so little) clump of oregano in one corner and I don't use it very often for cooking, but it is supremely popular with the local bees. This past week it was flowering and I noticed at least two types of bees -- lots of bees, it was like a bee convention with free pollen milkshakes -- one type looked like a honeybee and I think the others were probably sweat bees.

There are definitely some local beekeepers, so I'm not surprised about the honeybees. But I was so glad to see the sweat bees. These are smaller and native/local, so that means someone isn't actively keeping a hive of them like with honeybees. Seeing them means they're doing well in the local area. I know with all the lawns and such that there are probably a lot of pesticides and herbicides around, but I try my best not to use those unless absolutely necessary (a paper wasp nest last year did get dosed, but that was it) so that the good insects have a chance to do their thing.