The rain continues. This summer has been much closer to average than the past few summers. Now that it is August, it is raining almost every day. This whole summer has been cloudy and rainy with sunshine showing up occasionally. The temperatures have pretty much stayed in the mid 50’s to the mid 60’s.

There were reports yesterday that there was “termination” dust spotted on some mountain tops. “Termination” as in summer is over, fall has arrived, and winter is around the corner. Once it snows on the mountaintops, it is usually about six weeks until the first snow. Snow doesn’t usually stay on the ground until the end of October.

Tonight’s dinner was so good. I fixed a nice meatloaf with lots of onions in it; fresh from the garden zucchini, steamed carrots, and a rice pilaf. Last night’s dinner included a fresh green salad from the garden, too. We had salad with lunch today instead of with dinner.

Because it has been so cool this summer, the tomato plants in my solarium have been slow in ripening those tomatoes. We’ve eaten some small tomatoes from the Tiny Tim and the Tumbler. Finally, now one of the large tomatoes is beginning to turn red. There are several tomatoes on the three big plants. Eventually they will ripen even if I have to turn on the heat. I closed the only open window this week because the daytime temperatures have begun dropping into the lower 50’s. That seemed to start the reddening of the first large tomato. My cucumbers are doing horribly because of the lower temperatures. I won’t get to pick any from them. Tomatoes and cucumbers can only be grown under cover whether in a greenhouse or solarium. There are some Russian tomato plants that do survive the weather outside, but the ones I planted this year died.

The broccoli is not doing much and the kohlrabi is just now beginning to show a slight bulge. If the cold holds off, I might get some kohlrabi. If we get a few nice days the broccoli might produce. The peas are still flowering and also have quite a few pods. The pods are still very thin, but should fatten up soon; hopefully the moose will not get to them first. All the root vegetables are doing fairly well; as are the Swiss chard and kale.

Well, this is about all for tonight. I must get into the kitchen and blanch the turnip greens and then put them in packages to go into the freezer. So, have a good night. Take care…