Up North Summer Adventures

Cabin in the woods

Eric and I along with the whole crew of Maryland Sled Dog Adventures' sled dogs, just returned from a little over three weeks of up north adventures at our cabin in Maine.

Okemo chewing on his nylabone.

Wheel dog, Okemo, shows off his playful side--88 lbs of playing (and pulling) power

Wheel dog and occassional lead dog, Sobo, clearly suffers from "Siberian Sleeping Sickness."

Chloe: These dogs are so undignified!

While in Maine we had a blast white water river rafting at the Forks, picking blackberries, hiking, making blackberry jam, visiting the Wilton Blueberry Festival, near daily swims at Clearwater Pond, camp fires, hosting several of our musher friends at a backyard BBQ, watching the stars, enjoying the silence, and, in general, just relaxing "up to camp." We saw several moose including a mama and two babies, a porcupine, several deer, tons of dragonflies, and many butterflies. We also heard the yips of coyotes in the distance. We also visited several swimming holes including Smalls Falls and Coos Canyon. Of course, we also did quite a bit of work while up at the cabin including work on the trails surrounding the cabin (we built a pallet bridge over a low spot on the trail that ties us into the main trail), split and stacked wood, and cut down several trees.

Fireweed

Fire pit awaiting an evening camp fire

The view down our tie trail

The view from the ridge

Eric working on the chainsaw

Cutting wood

Team mascot, T-Bone, romps on the trail

Veteran lead dog, Zoe, bounds down the trail.

I've found something

Fruits of our Labor

Garden Harvest

Things are well under way in the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures' garden. So far this season, we've harvested Yellow Pearl shallots, Husky Cherry Red tomatoes, cucumbers, and Early Girl tomatoes, and a Giant Marconi (sweet) pepper. We've also been harvesting lots of herbs.

This year was the first year for shallots and I've been impressed. They were so easy to grow and grew very well in my part sun/part shade raised bed. The cucumbers, on the other hand, have been a bit disappointing. Last year, the cucumber variety we grew produced 15-20 cucumbers on the one plant. This year, we've only gotten two. Some of the reduction in production might be the variety (a compact growing variety) and some might be the extremely hot weather we had early in April and May. I was hoping to make pickles like last year but I'm not sure that is going to happen given our reduced cucumber harvest.

Earlier this week, I canned home made spaghetti sauce to use up some of the tomatoes. Along with the tomatoes, we also included home grown basil and oregano in the sauce. It was easier to make than I expected and I'm hoping to do a few additional batches (or maybe even double batches) with our home grown tomatoes as the season progresses. Last weekend, we picked 8 lbs of blueberries at a nearby blueberry farm and on Monday I put up six jars of blueberry jam. Earlier in the season, I canned my first batch of blueberry jam and a batch of peach jam. Both are delish!

Early Girl Tomatoes

Yellow Pearl shallots, cucumber, and Early Girl tomatoes

Summer Vegetable Harvest

Bowl full of heirloom yellow pear tomatoes

While Eric and I and the Maryland Sled Dog Adventures' sled dogs were away at our cabin in Maine for over a month, the veggies in the vegetable garden back home received lots of rain and have been producing one of the most bountiful harvests we've had since we began growing vegetables several years ago. The vines on the tomato and tomatillo plants were so lush and overgrown that Eric and I spent yesterday pruning back the plants to let more light into the peppers growing below. And it's not just the vegetables that have benefited from all of the rain. The flowers in the garden have flourished as well with all of the recent moisture resulting in lush and thick window boxes, gigantic hydrangeas, and pretty pots full of flowers.

A sampling of tomatillos, Italian frying peppers, Early Girl tomatoes, and a Purple Beauty bell pepper

A window box full of impatiens and petunias

The vegetable garden after pruning

Super chili peppers after picking all of the ripe peppers

Bowl full of ripe Super Chilis

While we did lose a few of the veggies that were a bit too ripe when we returned, we did manage to harvest tons of tomatoes (yellow pear and early girl), several giant cucumbers, a bowl full of tomatillos, one perfect large purple beauty pepper, several Italian frying peppers (sometimes called banana peppers), and another bowl full of chili peppers. We also have Trinidad peppers that are ready for harvesting. Just keeping up with the picking has been a chore.

Purple Beauty pepper ripening in the garden

Early Girl tomato ripening on the vine

To use up some of the abundance of cucumbers, we decided to try our hand at making pickles: one batch of curry ginger pickles and one batch of spicy dill pickles. In addition to the cucumbers in the spicy dill pickles, we also grew the chili peppers and Trinidad peppers used in that recipe.

Curry Ginger Peppers and Spicy Dill Peppers

Looks like Eric and I will be eating the fruits of our harvest for quite some time this season and enjoying our canned goods (crab apple jelly, crab apple butter, pickles and Maine blackberry jam) throughout cold winter months. We also picked and froze many containers of Maine blueberries and Maine blackberries while "up ta camp" that we've brought home with us to use in making blueberry pancakes, muffins, waffles, and blackberry syrup, sauces, cheesecake, and a variety of other goodies.

While we gone, our cat, Chloe, flourished at the "D.G. Cat Spa" (our friend Dorothy's house). As you can see, it was clearly an exhausting trip to the Spa.