Harvesting in the summertime

Here in South Bama, it is approaching the "dog days of summer" as they refer to it around here..which means, super hot, humid, and very long days for the next few months.

That being said, we have begun our final harvest steps from our spring planting this season. We've got to harvest any produce, or seed produce, then pull the plants up and move to the compost/worm bed, then we will break down any raised beds to reuse the wood to remake the beds once we are in Nevada. That all together doesn't sound like much work but when you add in taking care of the 2 pups, 1 cat, and multiple kids, it can be a real chore to complete but God always shows the way. So far the kids and even the pups have helped in the Harvesting and pulling of the plants we've gotten done.

We are only about halfway finished, but with the heat and humidity it's best to only work outside during the early morning or late evening hours with the kids and pups so they don't get too hot or dehydrated. But sometimes working during the cooler hours just isn't a possibility, life happens, right? So we try to have a small pool set up for the kids and pups to be able to cool off, or for us to but we rarely do (it's literally kid-sized), we also all (besides the dogs) have our own insulated cups that we keep filled with water or gatorade. What are your go-to methods for keeping cool or staying hydrated while working outside in the heat?

In addition to harvesting the produce/veggies, we will be prepping it for freezing or for canning. Some of the plants that we are harvesting have been left purposely so they could go to seed for future planting.

This year our successful crops included: Sweet Corn, Zipper Cream Peas, 5 different variations of Sunflowers, 2 different types of cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, red and purple; Yellow, Purple, Cajun, and Gypsy Bell Peppers; Yellow Crookneck Squash, and Carrots (which were teeny, tiny due to a small child putting about 6 seeds per hole); Our Herbs included Marigolds and Citronella (Mosquito Plant); We also have Watermelon and Cantaloupe, which we aren’t pulling just yet as they were planted during the beginning of Summer instead of springtime.