Had a busy week picking and canning. Yesterday I picked raspberries and I turned the all into jelly. I got 5 jelly jars full- these are one cup jars. I got just over 2 quarts. I will pick again on Thursday and should get another two quarts. I had to prune out some of the new growth because the aisles were so chocked with new growth I couldn’t get through to pick the ripe berries. After the berries are all gone I have to cut the old cane down to the ground and tie up the new growth, some had grown so much they were taller than the fence already so it is good to cut them back and then they will branch out and have more berries next year. 
Today I picked green beans again and canned 9 pints of green beans. These are for us, we have already done 10 quarts of green beans for the kids. I will pick beans again Friday and then next week I should be picking beans on the new beans that are in the corn. The beans in where the potatoes were are all coming up good. The beans in the kitchen garden are coming up slowly but should do alright. Today Norman tried two hills of pole beans. Most of the farmers around here plant only half runners. They are a pole bean also. I don’t care for pole beans as well as the bush beans but maybe the deer will leave the pole beans alone, we’ll see. 
Tomorrow I will give the garden a rest and go to McMinnville shopping. It has been too hot to work in the afternoon and it will be the same tomorrow. It should cool down some by Friday so I can get caught up then with the raspberries and beans. The corn is looking good and there should be some ready for dinner Sunday unless the raccoons are watching too and they pull the trigger before me.
This year I have some bee balm blooming. I brought some here from our place in GA back in 2006 when we sold that place and for the first three years I had bee balm but then it stopped coming back and I thought I had lost it all but this year some. 
There used to be lots of bees around these but this year there are not a lot of bees anywhere. 
It is really a very pretty flower. This year there are several things that have not done well in past years. There is a vine I put in on the back side of this garden to hold the soil on the hill and this year it is covering the hill and showing up on the front side. 
This is the vine. Aren’t the leaves pretty. The picture above this is the vinca minor. I thought that was all gone but this year it is back.
In the side garden I found this flower. 
I think this is a sweet william but I never planted any so it must be the birds that brought in the seeds. Maybe it is something else so if any one knows for sure what it is let me know. Also in the side garden the Coral Bells are in bloom. They are not very showy but the leaves are pretty. 
The hosts are in bloom in the side garden also and the black eyed susans are budding and will be blooming soon. They last a long time. Have great day .
Oumapetts's Blog 
I think that is sweet william – I have lots of it and it does look like that …. except my flowers are small and they grow in big clumps… but they could be just different varieties.
What do you do with your Bee Balm? It is a wonderful healling herb if you pick and dry it. I am growing it this year too. If you are interested, I will let you know it’s properties and how to harvest it.
Hot, hot, hot here. Over 100 everyday this week. But family is good and we are enjoying summer.
Love to you!
Hi Shanti, These flowers are small also but the picture makes them look larger. I have never done anything with the bee balm and I don’t have much of it this year so probably would not take the time to harvest it, we are so busy with the beans and we still have tomatoes to do. I am hoping we have enough corn so we can can some of that too but who knows we may sell the house before then. You should look up 138 Racoon Trail on google and see the new ad for the house. Note there is only one c in Racoon.
I guess we are lucky, we have not hit 90 yet. We have came close but not gotten there yet. But it is the humidity that makes it so unbearable here. We are getting a little break now with the humidity but we still do all our work in the morning.
Love you!
Our beans are not up yet but they are planted for about a week. We have been having rain every two days. The last storm gave us 3 inches. It is getting to be a dreary year here.
Your flowers and leaves are lovely!
We finally got some rain so we don’t have to water for a while but I am glad we don’t get too much. We have good drainage here but 3 inches all at once is too much anywhere. We are getting a little break in the heat and humidity right now and we enjoy that but we still try to do all our work in the morning so we can just enjoy the afternoons. If you have a minute try Googling 138 Racoon Trail, Spencer, TN and you should get the listing for our house. She shows a nice tour of the place.
I just checked it! I hope it sells fast. I would think that is a good price for selling.
Thank you, it is a good price. It is less than it cost us to build but we did build it at the peak of the market, just before the housing bust hit so could not expect to get back all we put into it. We had made money of all of our other home we sold so we have no complaints about this one. The only thing I hope is someone get it that will love it as much as we have.
Thank you for the auspicious writeup. It inn truith was a enjoyment account it.
Glance ccomplex to far delivered agreeable from you! By the way,
how could we keep in touch?
Hi, I found you comment in my spam filter and after reading it and going to your site decided to answer you and put your comment on my page. I get anywhere from 5 to 35 comments in my spam filter each day and most of them have nothing to do with my blog and of those that try to sound as if they read it are not ones with sites I would recommend to my family and friends so just delete them. I enjoyed your site and went then to your face book page and found a very nice page. My family all live in the USA so can not take advantage of your wonderful talent but they could enjoy seeing your work and if anyone from the UK sees your comment on my blog I would feel good about recommending your work. We can keep in touch by email. I am now going to be changing my life style completely. We are moving off the farm, going to Florida to retire and spend lots of time fishing and just enjoying what life we have left. We have found that at 85 years old is not the time to be working this hard – It is finally time to stop and smell the roses!! Do keep in touch. Ouma (Which means grand mother and now great grand mother)