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Sarah snacked moodily on heirloom tomatoes before we departed from the farm this evening.

We have a new — and vibrant — beehive in one of the maples in front of the cottage.  You can hear it buzzing from some distance away.  We consulted Ray Tousey, who sells honey at the Rhinebeck Farmers’ Market.  He said that the bees won’t hurt the tree; everyone needs a home; and we should leave the hive alone.  That’s what we’ve done so far.

In other pollinator news, our many Monarchs have been enjoying the milkweed.

We had a very relaxing summer vacation at the farm.  We had beautiful sunsets …

… and beautiful moonsets.

Jen made blackberry jam and other delicious things.

We spent plenty of time with our resident hawks, who for some reason have nested very close to our bedroom window, rise early, and are quite agitated.

Jen puttered in the garden …

… while Sarah puttered nearby.

Sarah spent a week at horse camp at Southlands, and a week at arts camp at Mill Street Loft in Red Hook, where she played the drums …

… and was an attack swan.

Chuck, looking like he just walked out of the WPA, is putting a new roof on the pump house. He also put a new seat in Sarah’s swing.

It was the peak weekend for the Rose of Sharon, here shown in full bloom.

Sarah’s babysitter Lauren visited for the weekend.  It was bittersweet, as she leaves us next Friday to begin a PhD program at the University of Virginia.

It was nice to have an extra pair of hands for berry picking!  The black raspberries are all but gone, but there are plenty of ripening blackberries (pictured).  We have a bumper crop of Japanese wineberries this year.  They are invasive and seedy …

… but I nevertheless made them into a tasty wineberry/lemon sorbet.

We had a hot and happy Independence Day at the farm.  Here, Jen goes off to gather lettuce for a July 4 salad.  Later we climbed Burger Hill to watch fireworks from the towns near the Hudson River.

Sarah read about a book a day.

It’s berry season.  We do not appear to have a great crop of black raspberries, but there will be lots of blackberries and we even found a few red raspberries — which possibly we’d previously overlooked, believing them to be unripe black raspberries.  One way or another, there will be jam.

Sarah sat with her friend Lucy (she calls all chipmunks Lucy).

We had a scorcher of a weekend, but at least it was sunny so we could get the hay in.

On Friday night we had a beautiful sunset as Sarah caught fireflies in a jelly jar.

On Saturday, Sarah had a sleepover at her friend Michaela’s house.  Jen and I stayed up late and showed a movie on the side of the barn.

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Here’s the view through the window screen, which is all the view of the farm we have.  We’ll be back next weekend.

Jen put in a heroic effort in the garden this weekend.  Everything is ship-shape, and we should have a splendid summer, veggie-wise.  To the right of Jen (her left) you can see Sarah’s little rose bush in full bloom.

Grandpa and B.J. visited the farm and indulged Sarah in a game of the aptly named Aggravation.

I planted some Foxlove — Digitalis — which is not merely deer resistant but is in fact poisonous.  Deer: stay away, or else!

Jen and Sarah made good progress planting the garden today.  If the produce gods cooperate, we will have tomatoes (Brandywine (red and black), Paul Robeson (a brandywine variant with a very deep voice), Pineapple Hawaiian, Green Zebra and Aunt Ruby’s German Green, plus Sungold and Sweet 100 cherries), peppers (poblano and red), broccoli, brussel sprouts, cantaloupe, strawberries, cucumbers, pumpkins, lettuce (oak leaf, red sail and baby bibb crunch), rainbow Swiss chard, basil (Italian and opal), parsley, rosemary and lemon verbena.  Next week we hope to put in some soybeans, kale, cilantro, and maybe a few more tomatoes.

By virtue of her membership in the Rhinebeck Soccer League, Sarah marched today in the Memorial Day parade.  She spent most of the time collecting candy thrown from parade floats and fire engines.

At the parade, Jen took this picture of William Sanchez, the town judge, who married us in 2000.

Everyone enjoyed the long weekend.  Here is Sarah at soccer practice with her friend Sophie.

On Sunday we installed the two peach trees that were Jen’s Mother’s Day present.  Jen’s dad inspected our handiwork.

Before we left we cut lots of peonies.

On Saturday, Sarah and her friend Sophie debunked the myth that you can’t use your hands in Soccer.

Here is our first peony of the season — a pink one.  By Sunday, a dozen of them had opened.