Independence Days Update- A new month

Oh My, how the year is flying by. I can hardly believe that it is June. The year is almost half over already. It's been a long busy week here. Stressful in some ways, rewarding in others.

Mmm... broccoli

Here is my usual Independence Days challenge update- the early June edition.

1. Plant something. Hmm, some basil plants I picked up at the farmer's market on Saturday morning. Something ate off every single seedling that I had planted. I did replant but I'm impatient and I wanted some fresh basil to go with the first local tomatoes and cheese curds I also purchased at the farmer's market. Mmm, heaven! Other than that, I mostly did weeding this weekend rather than any more planting. We did rig taller fences around the apples after a deer was browsing on one. Grrrr... of course it is hard to be too mad at her. We have seen her every morning this week- she has been hanging out in the meadow and we think we have seen a fawn with her on occasion. But, she could leave the apple trees alone!

2. Harvest something- broccoli (2+ meals of it!) greens and some fresh herbs. There are little peas on the plants but not quite ready yet- but soon.... Oh, and we had the first few red currants for a snack. Yum! And one other thing- not that has been harvested but that is exciting news! I found the first tiny tomatoes set on in the garden!!! And at least one pepper! Woot!!

3. Preserve something- once again, only my sanity. I need to clip some catnip to dry for the kitties over the winter.

4. Waste not- used saved newspapers and grass clippings to mulch the garden paths to keep down weeds. The grass was so long when it was finally mowed it's kind of like hay! And the usual waste reduction/recycling.

5. Want not- stocked up on pasta for summer salads when they had a good sale last week. I'm starting to think of quick, easy meals for the future, maybe that I can make ahead of time, depending on what we find out this week.

6. Build Community- Not that I am in any way an expert, but I was giving gardening advice to a woman at church on Sunday morning (yes, she asked for it- I didn't offer). She is has a daughter that just graduated high school and one in 8th grade but is a rather new gardener and was asking about mulch to keep down weeds.

7. Eat the food- I did have a chance to go to the farmer's market on Saturday morning. So, on Sunday evening- we had grilled steaks (local, grass fed, from the freezer) a salad of local cherry tomatoes, fresh basil and local cheese curds (Acoustic Farms, just north of here), broccoli from the garden and a bottle of local wine (Wide River from Clinton). Heaven!

I don't know if I'll have time to post on Tuesday but I'll be sure to let you all know what we find out on Wednesday morning. It will definitely be an interesting week. I just hope I get some sleep. For some odd reason, my sleep hasn't been very good recently.