i forgot to include this photo a few posts ago…

i’ve been looking at the basil plants for a few weeks now, wondering when i would get around to picking it.  i decided to ‘go for it’ this evening, knowing full well i would then be making pesto.  i don’t think it’s just me…but basil starts to smell like licorice about half way into harvesting.  

plant of left has been trimmed and one one right is next (and if you look to the bottom left, there’s delenn the hen, below hoping i’ll toss a tomato down to her)

after i have washed and dried the basil leaves

i took a picture of the pesto just before i put it into the freezer…but it looked horribly unappetizing.  maybe it will look better after it freezes.

i also canned the tomatoes from the other day.  orange icicles, violet jasper, and rio grande roma’s.

busy busy.  there is always something to pick…and then process, or eat, or give away.

first, let me make myself a note that we will not grow black beans next year.  a lot of work for a little product.  fun, but not worth the real estate.

butternut squash – a volunteer from the compost

violet jaspers just keep coming

oh, the zinnias

yellow, orange, oink and red heirlooms

delenn = bad chicken

I have finally managed to grow enough lima beans so the boys can snack on them  (right of the vine), and, actually have enough to make it inside for dinner.  this year i grew the heirloom variety ‘christmas.’  the bean is red and white marbled, and apparently, hold some of their color when steamed…which ends up being kinda gross (grayish color with a hint of pink…my first though was ‘brains’).  i think next year i may skip the lima’s, or at the least go back to the ‘king of the garden’.  by the way, i switched a few years back from the bush type to the pole type ( and there are not a lot of choices for the pole type) because the bush kind attracted slugs…lots of slugs.

i have two tee pee’s set up for the lima beans.  the one below, i was trying to make look like a person.  he’s sort of gotten away from me.

an interesting ‘duh’ moment the other day.  i was trying to take a picture of the morning glory ‘grandpa ott’s”, but by the time i would get home, all the flowers were closed.  i happen to look up at the front flower bed as i was taking the boys to school (in the morning), and the morning glory vining across the fence was awesome and in full bloom.  so, maybe that’s why they are called morning glories, because they bloom ( everybody now…) in the morning.  duh.

and just a follow up… all that talk about okra, made me hungry.  so i baked me some. yum.

even though my tomatoes are just now producing, i feel like summer is gone and i’m already behind on fall plantings. it seems like i’m never caught up (of course, all the emails from the seed companies reminding you of that, doesn’t help). i know i should be thinking about planting garlic for next year…but didn’t i just harvest this years? moving on… i already cleared an area of the upper garden of its summer bounty. the black beans and green beans have been picked, and their beds have just been planted with soy beans and rat’s tail radish.

the poblano peppers are doing fantastic. they are so green and shiny. they seem to really kick it in gear as we move into fall. i’ll be picking and roasting some of them next week.

the christmas limas beans are coming along, although, by the time the beans have turn their red and white color, they are a bit tough. fun to snack on while in the garden, which explains why we usually do not have enough to cook and serve with dinner. the boys prefer them raw anyway.

the marconi peppers are also coming along. we’ve picked some red ones, but have yet to get any of the orange ones. i think they will also produce well as we head toward the fall.

zinnas

found a volunteer cucumber plant in the front yard. if you look to the bottom right, you will see one.

while visiting family last week, we also made it home with a big bag of grapes…(whether i wanted them or not).  these are grapes from my grandparents grape vines that have been there as long as i can remember.  these are the kind of grapes that,  as a kid you think, ” whoa, look how many there are…i’m going to eat the crap out of them,” and then you realized that they are full of seeds and a bit tart.  so, you bite into them anyway, swallow the juice, and spit out everything else.  so, what to do with what we brought home…and hell no, i’m not making jam/jelly.  instead, i remember grandma rufener making grape juice.  the coveted quart jars of sweet sugary grape juice with the funky looking grapes floating in them.  the ‘if you timed it right’, you could take home a jar after a visit to the farm.  

so, thats what i decided to make.  a cup of grapes in the bottom of quart jars, sugar and water.  threw them in the canner, and crossed my fingers.  and when i finally opened up one of the processed cans, i  said “holy s**t”!  the smell was unmistakably familiar.  however…after drinking it, it was light on sugar/sweetness ( even by our low sugar standards). not too bad, but just not the ‘my teeth hurt’ amount of sugar i’m sure was used in previous batches.

we brought home a bag full of peaches after visiting “the farm,” and after a couple of days eating them as is, i was finally done.  the remainder of the peaches were divided up as follows…sliced up for a pie, smashed up for jam, and lastly, chucked down the hill for the chickens.  everyone was happy.