Well that was a hot one

Wow that was a super hot day today. I am imagining what summer would have been like here 150 years ago, with many layers of petticoats. It was hot from first thing this morning as the "summer kitchen" woodstove is not hooked up to a chimney yet, so the "inside kitchen" woodstove was pumping out heat like crazy.
Good day for gathering small wood pieces as the grounds have finally "mostly" dried up. And so has the fallen branches . So my mission this week is to gather as much small wood as possible. I need it to light the wood stove in the morning. Lights much faster and gets up to heat better if started with very small wood. I must admit I am still using newspaper to light the fire because I have not collected enough grass to use as a lighter source. We are using much of the cut grass to put around the vegetable plants that are up and growing. Will keep in the moisture and hopefully cut down on the weed growth. I have heard this will be a dry summer this year. So best be prepared. We had a look at the cherry trees and wow if we are lucky to get to them before the birds we will have a wonderful crop.Grape vines look to be full too...so I am excited about that. I will follow an age old irish tradition of canning the cherries in whiskey...for Christmas....Yeah!!! that's it ...for Christmas.
I will make pickled grapes and grape jelly and hopefully some cordial.
Gardens are doing wonderfully, we have growing to date, potatoes..lots and lots, spinich,corn,beets,cucumbers,watermelon,cantelope,radishes,an assortment of squash,including summer squash(zucchini) and pumpkins, brussel sprouts,spinich,peas,beans(green),a variety of onions,lettuce,egg plant,.

Ken here, I have been experimenting with hay making. Very small scale as yet but all raked and windrowed by hand. I shall have to get a sythe and stone in order to do a complete cycle of haymaking. We plan to use the hay we make to bed the chickens this winter. Hopefully we get enough to do the job. Like Margaret said, it was very hot today. I suspect that by August we'll look at this as being chilly, but for now it seems very hot and sticky.

Margaret here again..
I started this by commenting on what i imagine it would have been like 150 years ago in this heat. I have participated in many Civ war era re enactments ..dressed in the expected 7 layers , have strolled and shopped.Visited and sipped cool drinks. Worn lovely hats and carried parasols to keep me cool. And at the end of the day have driven home in an air conditioned car...
This may prove to be a very long hot summer for us ....I had better learn some period cool drink recipes ...fast
Talk to you soon...thanks for listening