Oh, the State of Things to Come

Posted on by Julia

July 12, 2026

This post is out of order. It is for today, as I haven’t caught up on posting about the garden.

I am going to be gone for two weeks. I dread what will happen to the gardens. My neighbor sounded happy to harvest produce from the garden. I hope he will pick enough tomatoes that we don’t come back to a rotted mess under the tomato plants.

I don’t like leaving Blackberry Homestead this time of year. Last year, we were gone for two weeks helping Bruce’s dad recover from surgery. We lost our tomatoes to the Leaf Footed Bug. We had an incredible population of them, comparable to a Japanese beetle infestation. This year, I’ve killed the early ones I’ve seen. So far, no infestation.

This year, we are leaving for a happy occasion. A good friend of mine is getting married and I want to be at there. When the envelope arrived, I just knew it was an invitation to my friend’s wedding. I said, “If it is an invitation to ***’s wedding, I am going!” Bruce feels if we are going to drive over 2,000 miles (”There and Back Again”), we should make the most of it. I agreed that we should make the most of it. I have tried to convince myself not to worry about the gardens.

Instead of making a two day drive to get there, we are making a three day drive, with plans to stop along the way to be tourists. For years, Bruce has wanted to take the loneliest highway, US 50, in the U.S. We are taking part of it this trip. We are leaving home earlier than originally planned. We want to stop in Colorado Springs to see Bruce’s nephew and great-nieces. We are just able to catch his nephew and family before they leave for a family event.

My lovely friend Jeanne, from “A Jeanne in the Kitchen”, offered to host us for a few days. We took her up on her kind offer. Bruce and I have a fun surprise for her!

From Pexels

18 thoughts on “Oh, the State of Things to Come”

  6. First let me say I am once again way behind on reading blog posts. My husband had left hip replacement surgery in the Twin Cities, so we were gone for a few days. He is recovering well, but I need to be helping him with many thing and on call, so my normal routine is out the window. I agree traveling during your garden produce time is not ideal, but it does sound like a great trip. Last year when we were gone for 2 weeks in August, I found some state fair size zucchini when we came back!

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    1. I hope your husband continues to recover well. You must be exhausted. It was the same for us when my father-in-law had a hip replacement. Fortunately, he had 5 kids who could help out. We rotated taking care of him.
      Take care of yourself also.

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    1. Thank you. I have a neighbor who is coming by to pick the tomatoes and other vegetables. I feel better about leaving the garden now. It really bothered me that the beautiful food I was growing wouldn’t be eaten, except by tomato hornworms and the few remaining Japanese beetles. 😢

      I am sure it will be fun!

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Published by Julia

I am a retired software solutions architect. I have been married to my husband, Bruce, for over forty years. We went full-time RVing for 3.5 years and saw much of the United States. After deciding to stop RVing, we bought a ranch house halfway up a hill on five acres. After Bruce and I talked about names for our five acres, we settled on Blackberry Homestead as a homage to the wild blackberries on the hill. We are working on creating our homestead. I love cooking and enjoy sharing recipes. I am also an artist, and I’ll share my current projects. Gardening and reading are my favorite hobbies.