A good friend and frequent guest at Big Mill Bed & Breakfast emailed me the other day to let me know how much she missed my blog articles. I was chagrined when I realized how long it had been since I posted something!

Rest assured, these hands have not been idle! In fact, I don’t remember a spring and summer season at the B&B that have been this non-stop. Lots of returning guests and even more new ones just discovering the joys of a farmstead respite. It’s kept me hopping, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

The flower and vegetable gardens are in rare form this year. The tomatoes are particularly noteworthy and even took center stage in this Farmhouse Tomato Sandwich recipe I posted over at InnCuisine.com.

Sandie, the webmistress for InnCuisine.com, asked me to be a contributing author to the Local Sustainable Foods column called Share the Bounty. I admit that writing for Inn Cuisine has stolen away a chunk of my time for updating my own blog, but what a wonderful site Sandie has developed for lovers of good food, gorgeous photographs and "secret" recipes from innkeepers all over the country.

I hope you’ll visit and subscribe to Inn Cuisine and receive updates via email. Eventually the recipes I post on that site will make it onto Chloe’s Blog, but you can get them hot off the press when you subscribe to Inn Cuisine’s updates. Click here to subscribe. It takes all of 20 seconds and is well worth it! Sandie has just returned from the BlogHer convention in Chicago where she met and talked to Paula Deen! She is the best!

And, definitely check out the Farmhouse Tomato Sandwich recipe. It’s getting rave reviews and even got a special mention on FoodGawker.com. Big Mill B&B hits the big time!

There are many things to do on a farm in summer. Moses makes her rounds…she has retired from hunting but her presence deters the rabbits. That is good.

Meanwhile, I have four Chloe’s blog articles in the works. There’s one about Big Mill’s resident hummingbirds. They are spectacular!

Another is on the disappearance of the country store and there’s one about the Great American Sunflower project that we are doing.

Also, I took a video of the opening of an evening primrose that’s amazing. I just can’t quite figure out how to get it onto the blog!

The photographs to go with each article are so gorgeous, I’m struggling to make my words measure up. Instead of fretting, I think it would be smarter to take a piece of good Eastern NC countryfolk advice to heart — "progress, not perfection."

So, stay tuned. And, I’m curious. How have you been spending your summer? How does your garden grow? Share in the comments section, below.

PS:

My recipe and step-by-step instructions for Fresh Strawberry Jam is on the InnCuisine.com site too.

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