Farewell to July

The view from our window of the hailstorm that devastated parts of our community.

Really, I love July!

Last month I talked about my love hate relationship with July and as always, I ended up loving it. It is the same every year. July is why we worked so hard planning, planting, weeding etc. all the way to harvest.

We have picked our tart cherries, gooseberries and currants. We have been picking raspberries and hope to continue until frost; we have planted several varieties that should produce from early July till it frosts. I say till it frosts, but making it that long isn’t a guarantee, the weather doesn’t always cooperate. This time of year, hail is a possibility.

There was a devastating hail storm earlier in July that devastated Shepherd, Huntley and areas around these communities. There was so much hail that the hills south of our place were white for two days till the hail finally melted, that’s a lot of hail!

That storm just missed us by a mile or so. We had a lot of wind and a little rain. This past Monday, the 28th of July, we did get an inch of hail. Thankfully it was small and fell straight down with no wind. We also got am inch and a half of rain from that storm. While it was nothing compared to the earlier storm, it did cause some damage our fruit and vegetables. The apples, grapes and sand cherries were either damaged or knocked to the ground. This was the first year we had enough grapes to warrant the effort of netting them. I looked to be a good harvest but not now. In the garden we had zucchini set on the vine, we ended up either feeding them to the chickens or selling at a discount. The cucumber plants were beaten to the ground. We only had one cucumber set so far and it was mush. The beans fared better. I believe it is because we grow pole beans and there just wasn’t the area to take a beating. I do think that a week or so we will have a gap in beans due to injuries from the storm.

Enough of depressing news. On the 25th, we had our 5th annual field day/open house. We open this up to everybody, it’s a chance to come out see what we are doing, the things that are going well and the things that aren’t. This year there were a lot of new faces and it was exciting to visit with them all. For the first time we left fruit on most of the plants, so that people could see and taste we grow. As most people know most of the fruit we grow is not in the store or even common. An example we grow 13 varieties of currants and each of them has a different flavor profile, from the classic peppery to hints of pine apple or tropical fruits. Our pink currants was the hands down favorite with the white currants and red currants next; these currants are fruity and sweet not the currant you might have tasted at gramma’s house. We have 10 different raspberries: traditional reds to yellows, blacks and even a violet variety.

As has been our tradition for the past several years, Christie made ice cream featuring the fruit that we grow here. It gives people a chance to taste most all of the fruit even if it’s out of season, such as haskaps/honey berry. We finished harvesting those back in June. I believe everyone had a good time.

It has been a busy week. On Wednesday the 30, we hosted Montana Farmer’s Union Women Who Ag. The program topic was raising berries in Montana. It was a success, we had a good turnout, with women traveling an hour or more to attend. There were representatives from Montana State University as well as our local County Extension representatives. These people are great resources and want to help everyone whether it be your back yard garden, berry orchard, or farm or ranch.

Over all it was a wonderful July, just as all July’s tend to be, we won’t let the threat of severe storms ruin our summer. Severe weather may put damper on season, but there is always tomorrow and next year.

Fair and school are just around the corner, that means fall and winter are coming. We need to enjoy the time we have left this season, being out where we love.

Recipe:

For this month’s recipe I’m highlighting the seaberries (sea buckthorn) we are harvesting. This recipe is from Sheryl Normandeau’s “Sea Buckthorn Bounty: Recipes” cookbook.

Sea Buckthorn Mango Salsa:

1 mango, peeled, diced

1/2 cup (125 ml) sea buckthorn juice

1 green onion, minced

2 tbsp (28 ml) lime juice, freshly squeezed

1/2 jalapeno, seeded, minced

1 small tomato, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 tbsp (14 ml) fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. For best flavour, refrigerate, covered, for 2 hours before serving.

Substitutions: Replace the mango with a nectarine