Strange weather

Rondo coming along nicely

It is to be windy and rainy all week. Everything has suddenly taken off, growing like mad even though almost everything is behind. The Rondo grapes are swelling, the Solaris are still tiny as are the Pinot Noir.

We have very little fruit in the orchard this year. All the pears and plums have disappeared. We have a few cooking apples and very few eating apples or even crabapples. At this rate, we'll never be self-sustaining. At least the donkeys seem happy. 

Solaris

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir

Pinot Noir vines looks unhappy

Donkeys at the top of the hill

A bucket of chanterelle mushrooms gifted to us by Dmytro

Much later than any other year, the mushrooms in the garden have started appearing. That means the land is healthy and the trees are being fed by the mycelium beneath them. Always happy to see fruiting bodies popping up in the garden. Dmytro brought us a bucket of chanterelle mushrooms picked by a Lithuanian friend. I gladly accepted half the bucketful and have been cooking with them for every meal. Chicken marsala, omelette with mushroom stuffing, sauteed mushrooms with seared tuna steak, mushrooms with steak and potatoes with eggs, mushroom soup, and sauteed mushroom packets in the freezer. Thank you, Dmytro. 

Lovely salad

Sauteed chanterelles