Summer 2014 in pictures

 Warning: This is a post looong in pictures.

I haven't been posting very regularly this summer, and we have quite a few random snapshots what went on around the yard (not so very much).

First of all, the produce has been bountiful! For one, this apple tree of the State Fair variety produced bushels of apples. I had already made most of our apple sauce by the time these were ready, but I did make some from these and it was the sweetest I have ever tasted (no sugar added, of course). And for just passing by and crunching on them, absolutely delicious.

As seems to be usual in this patch, my tomatoes looked awful again this year and again produced tons and tons of juicy goodness.

I've said it before and will say it again: our yard here is a park. We really enjoy having summer evening meals out here, particularly with Ramont making guiso over the fire.

Well, let's be honest. I thaw the meat, chop the vegetables, toss in the seasonings, bring out the pasta and hot water and tomato sauce and he does the hot, dirty work of cooking it.

Back to produce, I dipped deeper into canning this summer than I ever have before. Here are tomatoes, peppers and onions from our garden, for a sauce, as well as grapes (which produced very pathetically this year) for jam.

Apples we got from a friend, and I bought 10 dozen ears of corn to freeze. More than anything else (except tomato sauces), these are my favorite two staples for getting through the winter.

These look very ordinary to normal canners, but to me it was all a new experiment. Who knew pickled beets have cinnamon sticks and whole cloves in them?! Last count of pantry jars, we're well over 100.

Our kids became SO much more independent this summer. They play outside, alone, for hours. This let me garden and can quite easily compared to the previous two summers/falls.

 We do love our little bolivianos!

Out-of-order shot of fine dining outside :)

This was as close as we got to camping. Maybe next summer we'll be a bit more adventurous.

 I'm so happy that they're beginning to enjoy Legos.

For much of the summer we waited for rain. On the day that Ramont washed and began to wax the vehicles, it started to pour and has been wet ever since.

This is what I call prairie preschool.

This picture should really come after the next one, as it captures Anna's response to the shiny new semi-truck (or rather, to its air brakes).

Ramont was veeery excited when my dad bought this semi and trailer. Let's just say it's older than most around here, and it did not look that shiny when they bought it.

The Harder Schrock barber shop.

Another nice evening with friends from Paraguay.

Anna has not been sleeping much during nap time. We still all retire to our rooms for 1-2 hours after lunch, but sleeping is rare. On this day she put on her bathing suit, some striped socks, and a large floppy red hat. When she finally got to come downstairs she set to her artwork.

We took a mini-vacation to the Twin Cities one weekend in August. The main point was to speak in Faith Mennonite Church on Sunday morning, but we also spent a day going to Como Zoo, among other things.

One highlight was Sunday lunch with uncle Merin, aunt Kathleen, and cousin Sophia.

More visitors from Paraguay and Canada - aunts and uncles this time.

And then Ramont's (38th) and my (37th) birthdays kind of ended summer. Here we had a Sunday afternoon party for Ramont, together with uncle Charles, my grandparents and folks.

What a grand summer it has been!