Monday, June 11, 2018

BEAUTIFUL VEGGIES HOT AND WET WEEKEND

Look!


We might not have purposely planted color but we do have nature made color in various spots around the property.  Beauty is where you find it!


It was a good day Saturday as I got to spend time on the Zen Machine (this GIF cracks me up).  I mowed everything.  Last weekend I edged so the result is a neat yard...at least for a week or two!  

Honestly I could have skipped mowing since we didn't have much rain over the last couple of weeks, but I figured it was better to go ahead and do that just in case we did get rain and it suddenly started growing again.

And speaking of...


....just after I finished mowing and was relaxing on the porch, I heard thunder.  I had to run around and close up the barn and shed and put stuff in the car just in case it was a monsoon.

It wasn't a monsoon but a steady rain for about 30 minutes or so.  Then it was cooler for a bit.


I was able to check the garlic and it's drying nicely, right on schedule.  I picked one and went ahead and peeled off some of the outer dried dirt layers to see what was going on underneath.  It looks like garlic from the store!  We're excited for this part of our journey in learning how to do things at the farm.

And speaking of...


...check this out!
Our harvest for the weekend!  

2 Asian eggplant
3 cucumbers
1 yellow squash
8 banana peppers
16 tomatoes (!)

OK, so it's not huge but it's not bad either, especially for once a week "remote gardening", ha.  The most tomatoes we've ever been able to get from the garden.  Still quite a few nice size green ones as well.  We're trying to pull a few just as they start to turn so we can ripen them here.  Now we need to figure out a use for these before they get TOO ripe.  Maybe a small batch of tomato sauce canning?  Oven roasted and saved in olive oil?  Suggestions?   

We're chopping up most of the banana peppers and freezing them, holding them until we have enough for a batch of banana pepper mustard.  

Cukes haven't started producing in numbers needed for pickles so these we're just slicing and eating as we get them.

The squash will end up in a stir fry this week and the eggplant will end up in a pasta sauce.

Then we'll see what we get next weekend!



10 comments:

  1. It must be so much fun to come across those little surprises of beauty around your property. The Black-eyed Susan, Indian Blanket, and thistle with the wispy grasses - so pretty.

    Your garlic experience is turning into quite a successful venture! Some good cooking is in store for your house.

    What a haul from your garden! From your tomatoes, you could can them for sauces and soups, make picante sauce or salsa, even tomato jam.

    Perfect timing with your mowing. And what a treat to sit on the porch, smelling the rain and the freshly mowed grass, and listening to the pitter-patter on the roof.

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    1. I always love finding color like that. No matter how hard we try, Nature always does it best, ha. Tomato jam sounds good I need to find a recipe for that. Small batch, ha.

      And nothing beats the smell of rain in the wind.

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  2. Beautiful veggies! Well done. What I'd do with those tomatoes is a fresh tomato pasta dish. Just chop and saute 2-3 cloves of that garlic, cook your pasta, then chop the tomatoes in bite size chunks and add to the garlic and saute just until warm. Add the pasta and stir it a bit, heat a little more until the flavors fall in love and serve with torn up basil and some fresh grated parmesan, and oh, boy! Best dinner ever. That's my favorite thing to do with the first tomatoes that come out of the garden.

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    1. Oh yeah, that sounds wonderful. I'll tell 2nd Man. thanks!!! "First Tomato Pasta", ha.

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  3. You got a very nice haul of veggies there. Always makes a garden proud to see and be able to pick their own produce.
    I see your garlic is doing very well also.
    Gardening we learn by trial and error and always learning something new each and every time.

    Left-over tomatoes; you can always freeze them and save to make into sauce for later use, use in chili, make some homemade pizza sauce, have stuffed tomatoes, make some tomato soup, or just whatever.

    Freezing tomatoes: https://www.hgtv.com/outdoors/gardens/garden-to-table/freezing-tomatoes

    Or use them left-over tomatoes and make you up some salsa and put in the freezer.
    There are many recipes on making freezer salsa but this is the one that I have used in the past.
    Freezer salsa; http://www.gettystewart.com/how-to-make-freezer-salsa-tomatoes/

    My favorite way; Making BLT's. I think I could eat them morning, noon and night. :}
    You could also with them green tomatoes; Fry them babies up.
    Fried Green Tomatoes
    How to fry green tomatoes:
    Start with slices of green tomato and dip them in an egg bath.
    Coat with batter of choice. Being dairy and gluten free, I use a mixture of cornmeal and another gluten free flour.
    You could also add buttermilk to the egg mixture for an added level of taste.
    Fry the tomatoes in your choice of oil (at roughly 375 degrees) until golden and crispy.

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    1. Yep it's all working out well so far. If I was there daily I can't imagine how much we might have. I like that freezer salsa, might try that with a batch too. Do you know we've never made our own fried green tomatoes? I've had them of course but it's always been elsewhere. Just might have to grab some green ones when they look like they are fading and try it out. Thank you!

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  4. I say the tomatoes to make a nice bruschetta. Yummy! That's a nice haul and I love that gif too!

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    1. Hi!! Thanks, that GIF just makes me laugh for some reason because I kinda feel like that when I'm mowing, ha. Mmmm bruschetta, thanks for that suggestion.

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  5. Now that's alot of tomatoes already! My plants are stills small as our weather has been weird. I need to plant them in a better spot soon. GIF is fun! We had rain over the weekend. Cold enough on Sunday that we had to turn the heat on even in the late afternoon! I'm enjoying the flowers I planted this year. Makes me get outside more or I'd just stay inside even after work all day indoors. I enjoy reading your blog. Take care!

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    1. Hello! And thanks for commenting. Isn't that GIF fun? Ha. You are still in a cold area. Hey when you are having nice perfect weather, we'll be suffering in 100+ temps, ha.

      Stay warm! And then cool! Thanks for stopping by and again for commenting, we appreciate it!

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