Tomatoes, Cucumbers, Herbs & Green Beans
A few quick photos of my harvest baskets from last Saturday and Sunday.
6 3/4 lbs of Dark & Light Green Zucchini and Yellow Crookneck Squash
6 3/4 lbs of Dark & Light Green Zucchini and Yellow Crookneck Squash
I picked almost 7lbs of summer squash in just one day's harvest. My little raised bed garden has produced over 30 lbs of zuke and crooknecks this season! We are eating zucchini cake, zucchini parmesan, steamed zucchini, fried zucchini, sauteed and stir fried zucchini, pureed zucchini soup, raw zucchini in salads and sliced very thinly on sandwiches. I may make some zucchini pickles or relish and can it. I have successfully given a few squashes away to my massage clients. ("if you take some of my homegrown zucchini I'll stop poking you with my sharp elbow...")
Peacevine Cherry Tomatoes, Romas & Small Burbank Red Slicing Tomatoes
The tomatoes have finally started to ripen to their beautiful red hue. Usually by late June the cherry tomatoes are ready to pick. Not this year. And the tomato "worms" have had their way with my tomato plants and even munched on a few of my Romas. When I find a tomato worm (really the catepillar of a big ugly moth) I pluck them off of the green plant and give them to my chickens to dispose of. This year however, my hens have decided that they are vegetarians. They peck at the worms and then lose interest before eating them. Go figure. Maybe the old girls have decided to watch their fat intake in their advanced age.
Peacevine Cherry Tomatoes all washed and ready to eat
Fresh in salads & as snacks, dried and vodka soaked appetizers have been ways I have enjoyed these sweet little red gems.
Bunches of Lavender, Oregano & Mint Drying on the "High Tech" Herb Line
I dry herbs for seasoning meals, making teas and for use in some homemade bath products I am thinking about concocting. Not sure exactly what I will make yet. I am waiting for the creativity muse to inspire me.
Enjoy the summer harvest!
© Copyright 2008 Mountain Harvest Basket
6 comments:
Beautiful pictures...love looking at all those ripe tomatoes, as I have none. Yup, all still green. Which is discouraging because the temps are starting to dip down into the 40's at night again. The 40's!! In August.
Your high-tech clothesline looks beautiful. I miss the 6 foot clothes pins, though. :-)
Very impressive veggie and herb harvest this year, and it was a lot of fun helping bundle the herbs for you.
My own tomato and herb production has far exceeded my gifting and consumption capabilities.
I enjoyed your creative list of zucchini usages, brought back old memories of Bubba (Forrest) Gump.
"You can barbecue it, boil it, broil it, bake it, saute it. Dey's uh, shrimp-kabobs, shrimp creole, shrimp gumbo, pan fried, deep fried, stir-fried, there's pineapple shrimp, lemon shrimp, coconut shrimp, pepper shrimp, shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad, shrimp and potatoes, shrimp burger, shrimp sandwich. Th-that's about it."
The hot dog days of summer here in the Sierra foothills will soon become cooler like Farmgirl is already experiencing up North. I can already see obvious signs of Fall arriving.
Hi Danni,
Thanks for the praise of my photos. My tomato crop has not been that good this year compared to years past. They are finally starting to turn red, but the quantity and also quality has not pleased me. Usually my main tomato crop is Roma paste tomatoes that I can use fresh but also like to make sauce with, but I doubt that will happen this year. Not enough Romas and the few I have tasted are not very sweet. Not sure why yet. Soil, sun, water? All these things contribute.
Yes, the big clothespins were fun! You crack me up!
Hi Bob,
You were very helpful in bundling the herbs for drying. Thank you! And yes, I have had to be creative this year in thinking of tasty ways to use my bountiful zucchini harvest.
While I can usually "sense" Fall coming well before it gets cool here, I haven't felt it yet. It has been so hot and humid this past week. My electric bill will be outrageous from me using the air conditioner so much.
Wow. You are always harvesting something beautiful, delicious and healthy, it seems. I would love to try my hand at herb growing. The lovely, and useful herbs drying on a line really appeals to me.
This year has been very odd in weather around here, too. We had a late freeze in May and a couple hail storms in June. We had a drought for most of June, followed by lots of rain and cold weather in July and August, with only a few days above 80 degrees.
I've only used our swamp cooler(the southwest's version of A/C) maybe 4 times all summer! And every night our temps drop down into the 40's and 50's. Brrrr!
So we had no success with gardening. And none of our peach, apple or apricot trees produced even one fruit.
We thought we'd be able to pick some apples from Dixon Apple Farm or one of the other local fruit orchards, but it seems everyone in New Mexico is having the same problems.
All the signs say out front say, "No apples available" and "No produce for sale this year".
I hope and pray next year will make up for the losses this year.
~Lisa
Love your high tech drying machine :) Looks like you are getting lots of goodies from your garden!!
Hi Lisa,
Growing herbs is fun. Most are easy to grow and are pest free. Many uses for herbs from tea to seasoning to poultices. Our fruit trees here produce well some years and not so well in others.
Hi Erica,
Thank you for visiting my blog and for leaving a comment. I love to hear from my readers. I went over to your One Busy Mama blog to check it out. Very nice!
Yes, my garden has given me much this season, but is slowing down now that the weather is getting cooler. Time for Fall garden clean up! Must plant my garlic soon.
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