Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Can't Beet This

I spent a good portion of the morning in the garden, rooting out what has gone beyond its worth, due to my ignorance, and also due to the ebb and flow of the plants. This week, the zucchini is still producing. I baked six loaves of zucchini bread yesterday and more will be frozen, I'm sure. After picking out some ripening veggies (beets, parsnips, radishes, peppers ((both hot AND sweet)) zucchini, summer squash and celery) I decided to make some vegetable soup for dinner. We are being overrun by vegetables and so far, I'm loving it. Talk to me again in a few weeks, but right now, I feel incredibly productive and independent. We are preparing and storing as much as we can for the winter months when fresh veggies are not local. In this day and age, you can get whatever you want, whenever you want-in terms of vegetables that is. But it is being grown and shipped from the far corners of the earth, and this isn't good for the environment. So, we try to maintain a healthy diet by using what is local and in season whenever we can. This isn't to say that I won't buy a clementine in December (what's a Christmas stocking without clementines in it?" But I am conscious about what I am eating and where it came from. Most of the time. The August corn is just coming into season and I prefer to blanche and freeze the corn than can it. It tastes fresher that way. Jerry will be harvesting honey this week (hopefully, if the weather cooperates) and not a moment too soon. I just threw in the last cupful of raw honey into the soup and I will miss not having honey in the house. I use it in tea and when I am cooking. I will not buy commercial honey just on GP's., so hurry up Jerry! Rob those bees! As I was cleaning out the garden this morning, I noticed that the broccoli which is well beyond its "ready" date and has gone to flower was loaded with bees - primarily honey bees. They are enjoying the flowers of the broccoli so I left them in the ground. Jerry has planted Rutabaga where the lettuce was, and we are watching the seeds come up all over again. Our pumpkins are flowering and now that the root vegetables have been pulled and tossed in the compost bin, it will leave more room for the vine vegetables to spread out. We took a look at the garden today and decided on the changes that we will make next year. I'm thinking larger and more spread out. The tomatoes are absolutely beautiful, but still green. I don't know that they are getting enough sun, but then again, there is a beautiful Goliath tomato that has just turned red (a few more days on the vine and it will be perfect) so I guess the time is an issue too. We'll see. When the tomatoes ripen, it is going to hit the fan for sure. Salsa for Christmas Presents everyone -watch out! What else can you do with 9000 tomatoes of every variety? We're going to find out. Our new pellet stove upgrade was installed today. I'll let Jerry give you the details of that process, suffice it to say that the thing is beautiful! Daphne parked her little fat butt right next to it while it was being tested. Although the AC was on, she was looking for that heat. I was just happy to see that it is up and running. Now we're safe in case the weather turns, although that is a bit premature I'm sure. It is hazy, hot and humid here this week for the first time all summer! I hate to admit it, but the AC is kind of nice. It does keep the humidity level at normal and we have been very comfortable sleeping. So there, I am admitting that I was not as right as I could have been. That's as far as I will go.

No comments: