I read somewhere recently an old farmer's advice to plant triple of whatever it is one wants to produce and thinks one ought to plant: one third for the weather, one third for the critters and one third for the grower. This seems like sound advice to me, although I only followed it with tomatoes and bush beans this year. Oh, and the hot peppers. Hm, and basil. I actually planted less squash (three zucchinis only) and I'm having a bit of an anxiety attack about it, despite knowing that I've never had a squash shortage in any year I'd planted at least one.

There remains a bit of planting to do. I want to get another eight or ten bean seeds in the ground, and perhaps a couple butternut squash (I've never grown them, but I'd like to experiment with storage veggies this year). The Boy Wonder would like to try carrots, which I've never done, and although I fear it's a bit late I'm willing to give it a shot. Once that's done, we're solidly into "we'll see" territory, with watching and waiting as the primary activities.

In the meantime, I've been doing a bit of canning (tomatilla salsa, mango jam and pickled okra) and experimenting with the dehydrator that a pal gave me after she unearthed it in her basement and had no recollection of how it got there. I dried the last of our apples (until this fall) - they were getting a bit soft - with great success and have also made some cherry "raisins", taking advantage of the season. I can't say as I'll ever be a jerky and fruit leather kind of girl (as we eat neither of those foods in the first place) but being able to dry our excess of what we *do* eat has been nice.

And so there we are, in this neither here-nor-there time food-wise. I'd like to make up a batch of marinated mushrooms and perhaps even a bit of strawberry jam if I can get enough berries next week at the market. Oh, and chocolate sauce. It's definitely a good time for chocolate sauce so it will be matured and ready for gift-giving come the winter holidays. (Yes, it's true, I'm one of those people who thinks about Christmas in June. But I also think about my garden in January, so this doesn't strike me as inconsistent with my general behavior.)