The more involved I am in growing food, the deeper my appreciation for food. You realize that it’s not as simple as sticking a seed in the ground and coming back awhile later to harvest something.

Growing food, like so many things in life, is humbling. You work really hard. Sometimes the harvests are humble, and sometimes the harvests are abundant. They are all appreciated, they are all precious.

You never know what the weather will bring. You never know what animals will want to share in the harvest.

This year there were bunnies who thought our garden was pretty tasty. Jeff and B caught a few in live traps, and we took them down the road where the bunny family could live in the wild, without being near anyone’s garden.

Those blueberries in the picture above? We got a few handfuls of blueberries this summer and that felt like something to celebrate.

The moles here have been digging under the roots of the blueberry bushes for years, nearly killing all the blueberries. We finally dug them all up and put the blueberry plants in large pots last year.

Some of the bushes were bouncing back this year, and we were grateful. We were delighted to have a few berries to enjoy. Perhaps next year there will be enough berries to put some bird netting up?

This year we have had a colder, and rainier summer than we usually get here. (Though there were some heat waves thrown in there! Going from one extreme to another.) That’s been okay for growing some things, and not great for others.

The nights have been getting cold and we can feel fall in the air. We said to each other “fall is going to come early this year.” Some friends and other locals said the same thing, affirming our feeling.

The garden feels like it was late to get going this year, and just as the harvest was really amping up, some of the plants started slowing down. It might be a shorter season in the garden. For that reason, we are feeling like every harvest we bring in is especially precious.

So much time, energy, and care has gone into the garden this year, most of all by Jeff. When so much work goes into growing food, you don’t want any of it to go to waste. We have all been busy harvesting, fermenting, drying, blanching, freezing, cooking…

Have you been preserving food? What have you been preserving?

Growing food in our own garden has also deepened my appreciation for the food we buy from local farms, and the food we buy from the store. Someone worked hard to grow that food! It’s less of an abstract idea for me now, and something I have a deeper understanding of each year.

Today is rainy. The forecast shows more rainy days ahead this week, and weekend. Though there are many things I appreciate about the rain, Jeff and I don’t feel ready for the rainy season yet. The garden has more growing to do. There is more fencing to put up, and more building projects to complete. I want to feel all the sunshine summer has to offer. So much to do before fall is here!