summertime

It has been raining here every day for the past week or so. This is good for the garden but bad for leaky basements like ours. Luckily I have been able to put in some time weeding, picking and planting in between the rain showers.

Market day has been a lot of work these last three weeks.  I am finally working out a system to help the process of getting ready and setting up go more smoothly.  It is an early day (up at around 4:45am) but it is so worth it.  I get to meet interesting people who want to buy my food or flowers and this gives me such a kick!  Talking about recipes or where my garden is or what my customers are growing always makes market day interesting.

I have been putting in some sewing and baking time when the rain was falling or the baby was sleeping.

I made an orange cake and a fava bean/pasta dish that are traditionally from Sicily for a visit from my Mom and Dominico.  We also had bruschetta, cheese and wine...buon appetito.

I made Abby a summer dress using the Flower Girl Dress pattern from Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross.  The errata for this book should be read before attempting any of the patterns.  I have found reading people's flickr comments on their photos of the projects from this book to be helpful.  It was a headache getting this dress together but I think Abby makes any cute dress fade right into the background!  There is another dress in the works from the same book but it is not cooperating with me at the moment and is stuck in the closet until further notice.

The last photo is a new market apron for holding my change and phone while I am at my booth on market day.  I took the old, ugly apron I had and used it for the pattern.  Cute and functional is a good combination!

Hopefully I will get a chance to update at least once a week with the goings-on around here.  Right now in the garden we are watching: small green tomatoes grow, sunflowers wave on their 6 ft stems, blossoms on all the flowers ready to bloom and onions starting to bulb above the soil.  The garlic scapes have been cut and sold and the foliage is starting to turn brown, which means garlic is almost ready for harvest.  Last year I harvested the garlic too late and lost many heads to rot.  This year I aim to keep some for seed and for eating and sell the rest. Have a great rest of the week and see you at the market!