Mid-summer in Vermont

It always seems the summer starts to get away from me around this time.  I did manage to go out and take some photos today after all the family left.  We had a full house over the 4th and got to eat some great local meat, including my cured sausage and bacon, eggs and produce from the backyard and homebrew.  I finally smoked some local pastured pork shoulder into some delicious pulled pork in the barrel smoker.  It was in there about 5 hours and to be honest it probably could’ve gone another hour or two as it wasn’t quite as “falling apart” as I hoped.  Still very good though, with a great smoke ring and nice bark.

The summer so far has been a strange one weather-wise in Vermont.  After a mild sunny May, it seemed like it rained all of June.  I think we’ve had rain almost every day for the last 3 weeks.  That means we still have a bit of lettuce and other greens holding on in July!  But also means the tomatoes and peppers aren’t as happy as they could be.  However, most things are holding up well.  The potatoes look great and all the brassicas are enjoying the cooling effects of the rain.  We’re even still getting some radishes.

Anyway, I just added a bunch of new photos to Flickr if you want to see the latest progress.  I did want to show one before and after photo that I think it’s interesting.  This is a row of kale and beets.  The first photo is from June 16th and the second photo is from today.

beetsmidjune

beetsearlyjuly

See more photos at Garden 2013 on Flickr