Simply Practical: butterflies

I know the season is almost over, but remember: we live in Alabama! It isn't fall yet! True, we've had some rainy and cooler than nineties weather on some days lately. But, it's still hot and very humid! If the season carries on like last year, we'll be swimming through October! We will see! The country has such varied weather conditions! I'm very thankful for the rain we had! It helped to fill the pool a little. The only thing is, mosquitoes! They will "Eat you up!" As the sun sets, or in a shady place. I usually don't notice them as much, but they have been bothering me! Another thing with the rain is, more mowing! We can't seem to keep ahead of the weed-eating! There are so many weeds! Or tall grass, to be correct. There seems to be a lot a Southerner has to deal with that others may not. Like I said before, got to love the South!

I had Win again this week, for a few days. She is such a character! She keeps me on my toes! I got a few things done while she was here; but more after that. There will be many photos below, so you will see what we've been doing lately. Randy checked the beehive this week, but the honey isn't capped off yet. The frames are getting really heavy, so it shouldn't bee to much longer until we harvest our honey. I couldn't go out with him to take photos this time since Win was here. I'm really excited to see how much honey we get! I hope it will be enough that I'm reading how to use honey in recipes instead of sugar! We have been told that our hive is really strong! Most hives don't make enough to harvest honey the first year. I think it's because of the early Spring we had with all of the pollen. There are still bees getting pollen from our butterfly bushes! The honey will probably have an interesting flavor.

Skylar starts back to school on Monday! I can hardly believe it's time already! He's been working hard all summer without much of a break! I made up some biscuits and froze the dough. That way, he'll have a nice hot biscuit and sausage every day if he wants one! They are not the best biscuits, though. I've been living in the South all of my life and still have yet to master the art of making biscuits! I will get it, hopefully! I'm already looking for another recipe to try. I can't believe it's the weekend already, either! Hope ya'll have a good one! Blessings from Bama!

Two eggplants harvested from the garden. I made the Parmesan with one and sliced and froze the other.

Some tomatoes and fennel seed from the garden.

Granola in the making!

I almost forgot to take a picture! I ground a chuck roast with the meat grinder attachment.

The meat after grinding. I added some carrots and onions for meatloaf.

This is the 'squash' plant that came up on its own. It is humongous!

Voluntary basil plants.

These are monarch caterpillars. They feed on the fennel plant.

The pumpkin vine didn't make it. Only the voluntary squash plant has survived, from those type plants.

Pear vinegar in the making! I have since replaced the napkin with a coffee filter and rubber band. It has white, moldy stuff on top. I need to read about that.