Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Mid Summer Images

As July draws to a close the heat of the sun can be felt the moment it rises above the horizon.  High humidity and hot temperatures dominate the weather now forcing most daytime wildlife movement to occur either early mornings or late evening.

I visited the site of the former Meadow Grounds Lake shortly after sunrise today.  Watching it for an hour the only wildlife I noted were a number of sparrows and a group of killdeer.  Even with the best of luck it will be some years yet before we see construction begin.

After a drier than normal spring we more than made up for it with an extremely wet June.  While the wet weather was great for the corn crop it played havoc with the local farmers attempting to make hay.

Soon the cool winds of autumn will begin to blow but for now I am relishing these lazy hazy days of Summer! 









Saturday, July 11, 2015

Nature's Bounty

July, a month known for its hot days and high humidity, is a time for harvesting nature's bounty.  In our area the wild red raspberries are beginning to ripen.  Back in the 70's black raspberries and high black berries were very common.  Our family would pick and preserve them by the gallons.  Today the Japanese Wineberry has succeeded in becoming the predominate wild berry and can be found along roadside and in forest openings.  One does not need to be a land owner to enjoy the bounty of wild berries; picking berries on Pennsylvania State Game Lands is lawful. 




Veggie gardens are also producing at this time of year.

Home canning is a simple way to preserve some produce for future use.