Hi there, Rural Sprout readers, It’s the evening of the big 2-5-0, and all I can smell each time I go outside is black powder in the air. It seems like everyone and their brother bought a jumbo-sized package of fireworks to celebrate this year. Happy Valley puts on a pretty great
display each year, and they didn’t hold back. The grand finale finished moments ago, echoing across the valley. We decided to opt out of all the planned activities and the “excessive heat warning” and spend the afternoon floating in the creek. We hauled a cooler full of sliced watermelon, switchel, iced blueberry green tea, and a few other snacks down to the water’s edge. We powered up the Bluetooth speaker and floated in the cool water, laughing and having a great time. We took a leaf out
of our neighbor’s book upstream and followed their example. They took their pop-up sun canopy and set it up right in the creek. It turned out to be a stroke of genius as none of us got sunburn. With an impending thunderstorm heading our way, we vacated the creek, packed everything back up and slogged up the hill to the house. We were greeted by red and orange flashing lights and all manner of important-looking trucks in the road. It turns
out, during the thunderstorm we had last night, a tree snapped and fell, but got hung up among other tree branches. It finally came crashing down across the road sometime late in the afternoon and took the power lines down with it. We came back from the creek to a house with no power. Well, we powered up the speaker again and sat on the front porch in the rocking chairs and hammock swings. We chatted and sipped our drinks and watched the thunderstorm roll in from over the top of the valley. At last, cool air! I opened the windows of
the house and then went outside and grilled hotdogs in the rain. I set the dining table in the dark house with our Fourth of July cookout via a solar-powered camping lantern. I’m hoping I’m not without power for a week again, as I was last year when this happened. (This tree fell in roughly the same spot.) Luckily, now with my daughter and son-in-law living a few miles down the road, we just packed some essentials in our overnight bags, and the boys and I followed them back to their house to spend the night.
Here’s hoping you had as wonderful a 4th of July as we did. (And that the power is back on by the time you read this.)
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If you want a bushel or more of sweet, juicy cucumbers, take care of these give things when your plant starts flowering.
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When the forecast calls for extreme heat, there are some easy and quick ways to stay cool that don't involve the high electric bills of AC.
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When the weatherman calls for a heat wave, it's time to grab some lemon, honey, ginger, and apple cider vinegar and make switchel!
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These gems taste as wonderful as they look. For many of us, the first time we heard of a shrub outside of the garden center was on a cocktail menu. For me specifically, it was
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There are plenty of ways to increase yield from your edible garden. Often, the measures you can take are simple. They don't need to cost the earth, either literally or metaphorically. Increasing the yield you
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There's something uniquely special about trees. Trees give us cool shade in summertime and spectacular color in fall. They help take the dullness out of the winter landscape and are among the first plants to
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Hedgerows are an important historical landmark, and they're slowly disappearing. You can help bring them back by planting your own hedgerow.
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Get your tomatoes to ripen a little bit faster this summer by employing one or more of these handy tricks.
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What the heck is that? Tomatoes are dangerous. It seems that no other fruit in the home garden causes such fevered coddling, fussing, pride and competitiveness among gardeners. These bright red fruits can bring out
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Hmm, something seems to be missing. As gardeners, it's often necessary to wear different hats for all the various jobs that tending a garden entails. Depending on the day (and time of year), we're site
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Did you miss a newsletter or want to read a few for inspiration? Find past newsletters here. Don't forget to check out our Facebook page for daily updates. That's all for this week, Rural Sprout Readers. |
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