For the past five years our children have set aside a week's vacation time to spend at our farm.
The next to last week of August is a picture perfect time to have them visit.
There is so much going on. We usually start the week off by going to the Chenango County Blues Festival. The remainder of the time we spend relaxing, eating, a little bit of drinking, playing tooooo many games, swimming, fishing, and making up for lost time.
One of my greatest pleasures while there're here is to take a stroll to the garden. If you want to see a little kid's face light up with excitement, determination, and curiousness, let them pluck, cut and unearth what has been growing in your garden.
Their attention span goes from a few minutes to the point where I just can't answer anymore questions. What a joy it is to interact with them while they are spellbound by the colors, fragrances, taste, and feel of what surrounds them.
While reading 
(Mom started me along my path of growing stuff when I was a kid.)
Now that's what I'm talking about!
Our first stop was by the tomato plants. I think the bright red caught their attention.
We checked out the carrots next. Being that the carrots are grown in raised planters, a boost was needed.
We harvested for almost an hour,
ending up with loads of cucumbers, tomatoes, and few carrots and beets.
By the time we were done they seemed to be on top of the world,
filled with pride and a sense of accomplishment.
As far as what else we have going on in the garden, the cabbage continues to thrive and welcomes the cooler temps.
The potatoes proved to be disappointing as we ended up with a mere 15 pounds.
As disappointing as last year's carrots were, this year was a different story.
32 pounds is by far the best we have ever done.
With the cucumber vines still spitting out their goods, our goal of 25 quarts of pickles shouldn't be a problem.
The few hop vines we have left are loaded with hops. This will be another year that brewing beer will not make the cut, but at least they provide me with a flashback of yesteryear when #homebrewing was at the top of my hobbitational list
.
