The house is progressing, but the garden is toast

This summer has been absolutely brutal. We set records for the number of consecutive days over 100F as well as for the total number of days over 100F. In addition to that, we're also experiencing a severe drought.  I started losing most of the annual garden plants in July and now even some of the long-term plants have died off, including my beloved raspberries.  We're most likely going to lose some trees, too.  I really hope we break this drought soon.

But, despite all that, the house has come along nicely.  The outside is finished, aside from painting the doors and pouring the driveway, and we're currently getting ready to paint the interior.  The things we are currently lacking are the counter tops, the plumbing and electrical fixtures, the propane tank and the septic system.  But other than those minor issues, it's a house!  ;-) 

And we're FINALLY building our house!

We moved to the shed almost five years ago with the intention of building a house once we were settled.  Besides the fact that we tend to take our own sweet time in making decisions, life also threw a few roadblocks in our path along the way.  Add to that the fact that the shed is just comfortable enough that we didn't feel panicky about getting something built and it was four years before we even had a set of plans finished.    "Procrastination" is our word for the day, boys and girls.  :)

Here's the goal:

And our current progress:

Those leftover lumber bits are going to make great raised beds!

In an effort to marry our dreams to our finances, we're doing standard 2x4 construction and making it as energy efficient as possible, with foam insulation and low E windows.  We're also putting in a wood burning stove for supplemental heat, since we have an almost endless supply of dropped branches from the woods around here.  We'll also be doing a lot of the interior finish work ourselves, to save some labor costs.  In theory, the builder will be finished sometime in October, but we'll still have some work to do after that.

Neither of us have ever been involved in new construction before, so this is very exciting stuff!  

Solar baked blackberry cobbler

After being disappointed with my previous solar cooker, which didn't get hot enough for baking, I pounced when I found a good deal on a Sun Oven.  The Sun Oven is capable of temperatures up to 400F, allowing my baking addiction to live on through the summer months.  In theory, at least.

I did a few practice runs with meals with good results, so yesterday was going to be the big test for baking: a blackberry cobbler for the hubby.  I set the oven out to heat up, prepared my cobbler, placed it in the oven and... clouds.  It had been a bright, sunny day up until that point, so I was just sure it would be a good day for baking.  Alas, the clouds were here to stay, so the cobbler steamed along at about 250F. 

Pale and un-puffed shortcake crust

Since we're in drought conditions right now, I guess I should have tried to make those clouds rain by washing my car or hanging out some clothes. I did water the garden thoroughly beginning at 6:00 AM.  That really should have done it!

Ah well, the steamed blackberry cobbler wasn't exactly what I was trying to create, but it wasn't too bad.  I mean really, how bad could blackberry cobbler really be?

More on May gardening

We finally had some rain last night!  About 3/4", which made everything in the garden all cheerful and perky this morning.

I have one Mortgage Lifter tomato growing in a container.  It was languishing in the pot ghetto until I noticed that it was setting fruit, so I plopped it into a large pot I had been given.  The plant hasn't grown much and is now randomly turning yellow and dropping branches (which is exactly what happened to last year's ML), but it is loaded down with smallish tomatoes and they are beginning to ripen.  I have another ML planted in the ground and it is the tallest plant in the tomato patch.  I'll save seeds from that one, but in the meantime I'm going to enjoy munching on these:

Mortgage Lifter - first ripe 'maters!

This year's volunteer tomato crop has been pitiful, but I finally found one trying to move into the tomato patch.  It's from the area that had Sungold last year, so I'm curious to see what it turns into.  Now I just have to find a spot for it...

Volunteer #1

The squash plants are all growing nicely and beginning to bloom.  So far I have gray zucchini, yellow scallop, yellow straight neck (which I don't really like, so I'm not sure why I plant it every year) and Delicata growing and I planted some seeds for spaghetti squash and pie pumpkins in amongst the corn.  They are taking their own sweet time germinating, so we'll see if any of them come up.

Gray zucchini

Yellow scallop squash

Oh and the sneaky tomato plant (Blondkopfchen, aka "Little blonde girl") that forced itself into a pot by the door is now blooming.  According to what I've read, they are yellow cherries with a point on the bottom, similar to Riesentraube, but very sweet.  I bought the seeds just because I liked the name.  Just don't ask me to pronounce it.  :)

Blondkopfchen blooms