A small break in the heat means a trip to pick!

The last 2 days of heat have been unbearable.Going outside was not going to happen & the kids were getting restless. As you can see from lil' man's face, letting them play later in the day may have kept them cool, but the mosquito's were horrible! Both of these 2 get welts from mosquito bites. They have been to see the doctor due to their eye's swelling almost shut from bites on their faces. I am talking about what you & I may see as a large pimple becomes a massive grape or small golf ball size on them. So far Frog seems to not carry the reaction trait- Thankfully! I do not understand why they get that way & wish I knew what is the cause for a bite to over react.

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So a 10 degree difference in the heat (down to 84 degrees today), meant we could get those raspberries picked before they are all gone. I of course brought along the trusty "utility" apron I made out of a funky much adored corduroy pants from Tommy Hilfilger. Little purple & red fingers all over my clothes was not going to happen this year! I even had a pocket with the flap lid (from a pair of lil' man's old cords that was also used for the neck & back straps/ties) just to hold my keys. I hate when you bend for that one berry only to get stabbed in the thigh with a key! I'm afraid I will not know if they fall out from my back pocket so never chance it with all that moving around. This is also used for hoof trimming the goats and my carpentry projects.





Since the heat was not that bad when we were through, We went over
to the bean patch. I realy did not want any green beans since we picked sugar snaps this year. I saw Yellow wax beans and had enough picked in 1/2 an hour to fill 6 family meal portion size freezer bags. I will need to go back without the children soon. They were complaining of the heat that seemed to creep up in that short timeframe.



Panda was the only helper. She managed to pick a tiny amount since she was too involved in her discovery of funny shaped beans. She found letter shapes and smiles which also amused her little brother who tried to imitate her "bean faces"(- see first picture-).
I will start my batch of blackberry/raspberry mead tonight. I am following the recipe from the mulberries- since mine was attacked by ants who took their opportunity thanks to nosey children who just had to see what it looked like but did not replace the cover...
~Tammie