With the sound of whispering trees

I feel blessed having a garden when it’s time for harvest. I spend a lot of time in the garden, in the forest and in the kitchen these days. There is so much to take care of. The green summer apples gives the best mashed apple jam, light in color and fresh in taste. The other red autumn apple tree gives the best apples for juice, amber, sweet and aromatic. The third apple tree isn’t quite finished it will ripe after first frost, which is I guess within a week.

I save seeds from almost all my vegetables, it is easier that you could think, and gives you free veggies. I grow some species that are very difficult to find, like the blue peas and the grey peas. The grey peas were grown by the Vikings and the people before them. A turnip from the village nearby that is impossible to find in commercial stores, the white mild tasting one.  I also have seeds from other side of the planet; a kidney bean bought at a market in Rajma, India, it grows well here. My newest gift are two sorts of bell pepper from Serbia, that a coworker got for me. My favorite tomatoes are the Russian ones, that gives a good harvest without a green house.

We took the car to a place where we can find lots of berries in the forest this Sunday. We only picked a few liters of each blueberries and lingonberries, the picnic was more important because we already have a lot of berries left from last year. A few of the family members, the oldest kids and I, stopped by a creek to explore a waterfall and a beautiful place in the forest. Unfortunately the creek was almost dry but I found water mint to pick and dry for tea. I have to return when the water is high to take photos of the waterfall. Even if it was little water we could spot some shy fishes  hiding away as we walked around.

Just a simple thing as picking apples lifts my mood to a higher level. I still suffer from depressive thoughts but doing my job in the garden make me feel real and useful.