July In The Garden (In Which It Isn't Singed and Dry!)

The gardens have a new ally this year. Corey has been dutifully watering most nights. So things are thriving. We have a cutting garden! I had planted a new-to-me variety of zinnias, 'Giant Cactus,' (photos second from bottom and second from top) and I love how they look like fireworks, among the more standard zinnia varieties, the roses, the fig leaves, the butterfly bushes and the rose coreopsis.

The rains of this past spring and summer have also given us an over-the-top blackberry season. They are EVERYWHERE. And huge. And sweet. Some nights, my dessert is just blackberries drizzled with cream and a little sugar. Then, I made some blackberry-lime-rum sorbet (pictured above).

The vegetable garden has swiss chard, beets, tomatoes, okra, green beans and collards. 'Sugar Baby' watermelons are ripening in the front beds, under the walnut. There are also two volunteer plants of some sort of squash. We have been eating like kings.

And:

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I am canning my first batch of pickles tonight.

S and I made peppermint lip balm yesterday, during one of our herbal get-togethers. It is better than anything I have gotten from the store. I put a little bit of Burt's Bee's lipstick in the mixture, to give ours a pink tint. And I upped the jojoba oil for more sheen and less wax.

I am reading Mrs. Whaley Entertains: Advice, Opinions, and 100 Recipes from a Charleston Kitchen - for some deep South entertainment. I adore her stories, her voice and her recipes. I am suddenly craving hominy at all hours.