Thursday Thirteen Harvesting and Happenings

Thirteen Things about the happenings at the Beach 1. Our deck is made of Ironwood and is about 4 years old. Well, it's time again to bleach up the green stuff and then oild the deck so it's well-preserved and PRETTY! The bleaching that we're doing now is a time-consuming task, but once the Ironwood is oiled, it is absolutely gorgeous!! 2. We have begun picking the wild mountain blackberries for our famous pies. Tom got one fresh pie a couple weeks ago. Chris, Denise and Erin helped pick so we knew they would smell the pie from miles away and show up automatically when the pie came out of the oven, but I guess their noses weren't working. I actually got a couple slices and it was wonderful!! (a la mode.) We have two pies-worth frozen now and will pick more tonight and every night. 3. Tom has been crabbing every week and we are enjoying the fruits of his labors. MJ and Chelsea went last week. Brock, Chris and Bob went with Tom this week. Some of the crabs are enormous and very tasty!! Crabbing is Wednesday thru Saturday, open since July 2nd. We hope to take Artie, Lynn and Colin out with us! Anyone else want to go? Bring lunch, drinks, gas money and a strong back!! 4. We have been watering the garden every evening since it has been so hot this past week. We will have to water more this coming week because it is supposed to be hotter. 5. Tom keeps at his garden for weeds. Once he gets all the patches of weeds out of the way, it's time to start over again at the other end! 6. The tastiest thing in the garden is the corn! By the end of August we should have fresh salmon and corn, a wonderful time of year!! Think of all the butter on the corn-on-the-cob fresh from the garden!! 7. The tomatoes are coming right along, too. The pots on the deck once filled with saltwater from the bay during a storm so Tom has replaced those. The others out in the garden seem to be doing well. Tom attempted to rescue them from the saltwater before transplanting them to the garden. Don't fresh homegrown beefsteak tomatoes sound great??!! There's nothing better on a turkey sandwich!! 8. Marilyn has grown some fabulous strawberries this year and shared some on the Fourth. And for the Fourth, I bought a 15 pound bucket of sliced, sugared berries; took the lid off the chilled bucket, poured over biscuits, angelfood cake or dessert cups, loaded with ice cream, more berries, and whipped cream from the can! Plenty for a houseful of 50+ partiers!! 9. Sockeye salmon is the best in the world. Some of our neighbors sell them fresh for $2 per pound on the hoof; Costco and QFC had them for $3.99 a pound cleaned. Wonderful when stockpiled in the freezer for the year, and instant dinner as the fillets thaw in minutes!! Soooo good!! 10. Well, maybe not to eat, but when you burn a lot of wood during the winter like we do, cedar, fir and alder firewood is wonderful stuff to gather, too. Tom and I consider our woodpiles as gold. They're money in the bank!! Usually we're splitting wood all summer but will have to buy some this fall. 11. On Labor Day we'll go dove hunting in Eastern Washington, outside of Malott, near Okanogan. Cleaning the doves is a mess, but Tom won't kill doves unless it's to be eaten. That goes for deer and elk. Chris likes to saute the dove breasts (basically the only edible part) in a skillet; Tom dices them up (sometimes) into a red pasta sauce. 12. We're looking forward to razor clam digging this fall, too. The WDFW usually schedules digs in October. Tom makes clam chowder at hunting camp, usually the second week in October. 13. Then there's good old hard Italian salami and cheese with red wine! Might be "nature's" finest produce!!

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