It’s August and the heat has arrived!! Our patio was at 132 degrees over the weekend !!! Of course that is in the direct sun but still my animals and plants are feeling the heat.

Here in California our electric company announced a Flex Alert, meaning they will be doing rolling blackouts throughout the state through this Thursday.

Our HOA requested us to cut back on our water use due to equipment issues, higher water usage as many of us are staying at home from work, school, shopping , travel due to the pandemic and the high heat forecasted; 3 to 4 weeks.

The thing about high heat for a longer duration of time; it starts drying things out. I had to move my avocado baby starts back in the house because it was sucking the moisture out of the baby leaves. My plants in the garden even under the shade screens are getting fried and they need additional watering. We’re also leaving water out by the horses for other animals that seem to travel between the horses and the camera. So far the camera has captured a young buck, several does and fawns. coyotes and baby coyotes, raccoons of course my cats, birds and actually children from somewhere it’s like a little highway between the horses and the camera.

I’ve been keeping busy between working my other job and all the projects at home I don’t get everything done in time. Haha need better management! I started some lemoncello back in March and it was ready to bottle up this weekend which I had to use Mason jars instead of the pretty bottles I wanted to buy ☹️

I also need to can tomatoes but it’s just so hot. I did roast some beets which turned out delicious!!! I froze the some to use later. I boiled them first (it took forever) using a camp stove setup outside. I froze the beet water ice cubes trays to flavor soups, stews and gravy’s going forward. I wanted to make some jam this year but I don’t know when it will happen, if at all-always next year!

I feel pretty good with freezing; fruits vegetables, liquids, leftovers instead of canning them. I’m also stocking up a little for phase 2 of the pandemic, just in case.

Feel really blessed for everything we have. All the love and precious moments ❤️

God Bless

Nancy

Sutherlin Acres

#SutherlinAcres #Blessed #Lemons #Chickens #Beets #canning