Summer In Full Bloom

Sun Gold on the patio

I should begin by saying that we haven't tried the beer yet. We've actually had some calls from friends who want to know about the final product. Anyway, we've heard from very good authority that our beer experience will be much happier if we wait at least two, maybe three, weeks. So, when we do finally open it up, we'll let you-all know how it goes. All you Durham folks, come over next weekend and have a drink with us!

Summer has been in full bloom over the last week. Sarah and I are finding that our tomatoes on the patio have finally started to produce really well. We're also having a great time growing peppers. Next year, I think I'll be planting more peppers and fewer beans. The beans are good, but there just seems to be a lot more you can do with peppers.

Granny Cantrell on the patio

The honey patch garden is coming along in similar fashion. Although there's a lot more variety at the honey patch. Eventually there will be okra and watermelons there. Actually, the best recent development at the honey patch wasn't the result of anything we planted. We have discovered some wild blackberries growing not too far from the garden. On Sunday, we picked all that we could without getting stuck with thorns. We intended to make blackberry cobbler. I even found a recipe for "blackberry cobbler." However, the final product turned out to be something more like blackberry bun things. Nevertheless, the blackberry bun things were taaaaasty.

Sun gold on the patio

Wild blackberry bun things

Nasturtium at the honey patch

Watermelon at the honey patch

Sweet peppers on the patio

Wannabe Brewers?

Old bottles from Germany

On Sunday, Sarah and I finally tried our hand at beer brewing. Last year, Sarah's dad gave us his old supplies and these bottles he brought back from Germany over 25 years ago. It will be a few days before the beer is finished, but we'll let you know how it turns out. Or, you could just come over and have some with us!

If there are any other brewers out there, we'd love to start collecting tips from you. This being our first time, we have lots to learn about the process. Our focus was actually just on getting the sanitation process right. We want to make sure that we don't have any unwanted guests growing in our beer.

Cleaning out the bottles with a bleach solution

Cleaning our tools

The brewing

The fermenting

Just Photos

We've been taking lots of pictures for the last two weeks. I had individual posts in mind for some of them but due to lack of time and the fact that pictures are likely more fun than anything I could right, this post is just a photo dump from the last two weeks. Enjoy!

Lunch on East Campus

Lunch on East Campus.

Mortgage Lifter

Sun Gold

Afternoon at Eno

This is the Honey Patch. Sarah manages it for Duke Gardens.

Kora has started to think she's a water dog. She likes chasing sticks in the water at Eno.

Not Really Beating the Heat

Both of us and the plants are trying to make it through the heat. As I'm sure you're experiencing, it takes all of your energy and leaves you searching for a place to sit down for a while. I blame our lack of posting on the heat.

The heat also seems to have caused our plants production to happen with lightning speed. The beans and tomatoes are really looking like they've seen better days. I guess this is why we're wannabe farmers and not the real thing at this point.