August always takes us by surprise. The glut of food is wonderful, but adds more time than we anticipate on top of our other tasks—we spend a couple of hours in the evening just keeping up with the ripening blackberries. It is not something we can exactly put off. Still, once outside, the act of gathering this fruit becomes its own meditation. That other hectic life at the office dissipates and is replaced by the cycles of the planet. This symbiosis, which is, at one level, indifferent and, at another, dependent, is a great performance we all part of. Click on the image for a larger view.
Tag Archives: Summer in Maine
Summer Wind
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Green
Naomi and I were collecting blackberries from our field last evening. This time of year there seems to be a richness to the variety in the greens in the landscape. The yellow greens of spring remain, but there is a shift to blue greens of the maturing foliage of the trees. The blackberry canes start their transition to the reds of fall. Click on the image for a larger view.
Dog Days of Summer
We have had a stretch of hot, humid weather. This is tough on Mainers as we don’t have air conditioning to escape the muggy days. Still, knowing what others south of us suffer, it is hard to complain (not that Mainers ever complain, least of all about the weather). Click on the image of Sea Wall Beach in Phippsburg, ME for a larger view.
Red Haven Peach
Our peaches are starting to ripen. Red Haven do not produce a large fruit, about 2″ or 5 cm in diameter, but it does produce a large crop. They have a smooth peach flavor with a hint of lemon. Except for Surround, a kaolin clay based spray, the white spots on the fruit, our peaches grow without protection. Click on the image for a larger view.
Black Rock
Looking across Jaquish Gut from Bailey Island. The rock and sea are in shadow with the sky filling in the the surface of the water. Click on the image for a larger view.
Land of Little Rain
This year has been very dry. Except for a few invasive species like bitter sweet, most of our plants has been struggling. The maddening thing is there have been many days forecast with thunderstorms, yet, while the thunder clouds have passed overhead, very few have let go of their reserves of water. Click on the image for a larger view.
Blackberries, 2016
It is blackberry season again. This is our largest fruit crop of the year—we are just finishing up the blackberries we picked last year. We will spend August gathering these berries. Click on the image for a larger view.
Grapes, 2016
Our grapes have done very well this year. If the birds do not get them, we should have a very good harvest. Still a little early for humans to consume, but here’s keeping our fingers crossed. Click on the image for a larger view.
Summer Sky, 2016
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