early to rise

Not sure I'm healthy, wealthy or wise, but if getting up early is of help in any of those, then I should be doing just fine. Up by 5 today, out and snipping lilies by 6, done by 8.

My first thought, after plucking the last spent day lily off a stem (yes, I'm tallying in the hundreds by now) is -- what now?? I have done the crucial work for the day! I turn my attention to I weeding and staking and soon it's 9 and Ed is coming out of the farmhouse, still half asleep and asking -- want to eat breakfast before you go to the market?

Of course, I also take photos. The beauty of the early morning, when the night's wet drops are still on the flower stems is just extraordinary. And of course, in mid July the garden is at her best.  Can we agree on maybe a  dozen pics from my morning hours among the blooms? That's reasonable, no? After all, you'll never see these images again in future posts. Each lily bud blossoms only for one day. Here's today's show!

We eat breakfast on the porch, with a view toward the courtyard, where the chickens are enjoying a grooming session on the picnic table. Dance joins us. She truly loves the morning meal rituals. 

And then I zip off to the market. I was hoping for carrots -- no luck there. But guess what! We have our first Wisconsin corn!

And of course, I visit my favorite flower grower.

And I pick up some Door County cherries (the sweet ones) and blueberries and both of these are so delicious that you just want to eat them all up immediately!

After the market, I proudly note that it is still so darn early! And I have done the bulk of my work for the day! Now is the time for us to head out for a longer walk, along another favorite but more distant path -- one that is part of the Ice Age Trail in the Brooklyn Wildlife Area. We're getting just a little of the Canadian smoke, so there is a bit of a haze at the horizon, but still, the walk is beautiful and I am feeling mighty happy, because it has some ups and downs and my knee is not protesting!

(the forest comes first...)

(then the prairie...)

There is enough of a breeze to flush away some of the heat and the bugs are modest (no mosquitoes yet!), so all in all it is a superb set of hours!

Back at the farmette...

... with time on my hands, I attack some of the less pleasant aspects of outdoor work. For example mowing. Typically we just mow down paths. I do the ones that humans use for strolling around farmette flower fields and the front yard, Ed does the paths around the trees we planted out back. But every few months, I mow down the most of the tall grasses on both sides of my paths. I'm convinced that this form of weed control works to keep invasives like wild parsnip and thistle out of those more visible areas and it allows other grasses to sprout. So I mow, even though I am not a fan of mowing and Ed chuckles as I always end with a complaint that the tractor-mower makes me sick. You are the only one in America who gets car sick mowing grasses! Indeed. Polish people don't mow. (Or at least they didn't when I was growing up.)

And before I know it, it's time for dinner. I make the corn. Of course I do! Along with some fish and a salad -- does anyone not love this time of the year for food preparation? There's so much bounty in the markets now! Fresh and honest, all of it!

Of course, "early to rise" should be the companion to "early to bed." We haven't mastered that one yet. Workin' on it.

with love...