A plate full of wild berries... YUM!

My poor hand....

Hummingbirds refueling in flight

Harvest Time

Here I am back in Stewart for a night or two. I just finished spending over six weeks in the woods without any human contact whatsoever! How enjoyable! Responsible only to myself, getting the cabins fixed up and livable. I now have running water coming to the kitchen at the Fritz place where I am living. The raspberries are producing like crazy this year, both wild ones and some domestic ones that have gone "wild". I must warn you though, the best raspberries share their spot with the stinging nettles and I picked one day for three hours, ignoring the stings. Now my hands look like raw meat and they will take some time to heal.

The summer has been incredibly hot and dry for this part of the world, yet my gardens are doing well and I am harvesting zucchini, potatoes, beets, carrots, peas, etc etc. Eating up some home canned salmon that was left in the old place years ago and it is still good. I also found a few jars full of moose meat that I had canned over 16 years ago and it, too was still good to eat!

I ran out of flour two weeks ago, then I ran out of rolled oats a week ago and I started thinking about hitch-hiking into town for supplies, but I didn't really get going until my mosquito repellant got down to the last few drops. Then I had to get to town! The mosquitoes have been really terrible this summer, all of June and July especially. Haven't seen many bears lately, and most of the moose are higher up the mountains right now, but there are a lot of birds and flowers to enjoy. Acres of wild delphiniums, geraniums, fireweed, and roses!

I stood by the roadside for six hours before I got a lift into town. Lots of tourist traffic, but they are all too paranoid to stop for a little old man out in the middle of nowhere, I guess. I finally got a ride from an old acquaintance that I hadn't seen in years! It was great to see Kenny again.

I'd like to post more now, but I may have to wait until winter when I have more time for this kind of stuff. There is so much to do before the fall rains set in.