Iowa in July....

Humid. That's Iowa in July. Flat out humid. I'm one of those that likes heat. I like a good 85 degrees. Just get rid of the humidity. I can't deal with it. I had a heat stroke in a field similar to the one about when I was about 15. Ever since then....the humidity just kills me.

The corn loves humidity. Remember the other day I said there were probably times when you can actually watch the corn grow. I bet in the next few days, you'd be able to see it if you really wanted to. But who wants to do that. It will be growing fast here in the next few days, and pretty soon their little tassles will be sticking out, turning the fields into a new color. That's one of the great things about Iowa. The color is always changing. We are really green right now, and soon the corn field will turn to a beige color - only across the tops. If you were to fly above, you'd see a neat patchwork effect created by the yellow-beige tassles on the cornfields, the deep green soybean fields, yellow-green pasture ground. It's an awesome sight.

My garden is coming right along. I love fresh garden goodies. My all time fave - beets. Ya - I'm an odd one. And so is my hubby and all three of my kids. We all like them - a lot. This year we planted 3 rows of beets -which is quite a bit. I noticed the other day that they are starting to push up out of the ground. That means very shortly we'll be having some yummy goodness. I'm hoping to freeze some of the beet crop this year. We'll see. Typically I just boil them, skin them and slice them up, and throw on a slab of butter - real of course. This year I planted a new variety that claims we won't need the butter. Time will tell.

I also planted green beans which have little baby beans on right now. Beans are kind of a pain in my - you know where! They come on SO fast - it's hard to keep up with them. We've also got peas, zucchini, watermelon, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, peppers, and sweet corn. Oh, and my strawberry and rhubarb patches. We've also got a blueberry bush to get in the ground. That's another story there that has to do with our lovely dog. I've got some raspberry bushes too. I noticed tonight that there are quite a few berries on - we planted them about 3 years ago and this might be the first year we get to pick berries. They are in a mess of a spot - along a fence that has become overgrown with grass that we don't weed eat often enough and would be remedied easily enough by some cows back on the farm. Again - another story. Back to my garden. Things are looking the best they've looked in years. I think part of that has to do with the fact that we've put a little more effort into it now that the kids are a bit more manageable. Also, Preen has been a tremendous lifesaver. I don't usually like to use chemicals in the garden, but we didn't use Preen last year, and the garden became and overgrown jungle. We ended up giving up on the gardening thing last year. The Preen made a huge difference this year. We could see where we used it and where we didn't. I'm pretty sure they make organic Preen too. I've also got some black hornet looking things eating my rhubarb leaves. I used Seven on those. It seemed to help until Mother Nature decided to downpour and wash it off. Are you getting the jist that I'm kind of a lazy gardener? Well, I kinda am. I like to garden. I just don't like to weed. And I suppose, if you are going to garden, veggies, flowers, any of it, weeding is part of the territory. It's just not fun when it's 95 and so humid that you can see the dampness in the air. Or you walk outside and instantly bead up. UGH!

Okay - that's all I've got for you today folks....hope it's cooler where you are!