Harvest & Prep

 

Well I still get a basketful everytime I go into the garden. This morning this was my haul. There's more there to pick but I'll grab it tonight. I have so much this week to take care of. I think I counted 13 patty pan squash, 4 zucchini, a bunch of cucumbers and a few more cayenne peppers, my frist bigger tomatos for slicing BLT's this weekend for sure. Eggs of course are daily, some new flowers and these Asian yard long beans. OH, and two strawberries haha.

But that said I started today by blanching and flash freezing and cutting up all the beans and zucchini and squash. I ended up having 4 patty pan to do tommorrow I just didn't have the time to finish it all in one day. I still have peaches to can tomorrow as well. 

I think I'll just make sliced peaches this time, and then peach nectar and peach syrup for drinks. It will all can up easy. It took 45 minutes for my water to boil in my canner on my stove. I wish there was a faster way.

All in all i had a very productive day.  I did 3 loads of laundry, 2 loads of dishes, Canned 7 pints of dill pickles along with freezing 15 bags of zucchini and squash and 8 bags of cut beans. I still have 3 large cucumbers for refrigerator pickles and I'm going to make a mexican cucumber salad with my cherry tomatos and onions and some cilantro and spices with oil and vinegar. I'll do that tomorrow.

With the peaches and the last 4 patty pans. I think I'll grate up 2 of the patty pans for zucchini bread and muffins and the one i'll freeze and then i'll leave one to eat tomorrow. 

It's a lot of work. I took a break to swim for an hour, I love the pool. I love that I can exercise so well in the water and then after just float and watch the clouds float by... seriously I love summer. I love my garden. I hardly have time for anything else! 

The view never gets old for me. I think I'll make sweet pickles with the next batch of cucumbers. Oh my watermelons are looking great. I also found a few cantelope and an acorn squash today. My Moon & Stars heirloom watermelon is so cute! I think the inside is yellow, I'm not at all sure how to know when the best time is to pick a watermelon yet.

The flowers are struggling still, I really think it was so so hot this July and even June that the seeds just dried up, even with the rains and the watering. Next year I hope to have a greenhouse and I will just make starts for a lot of my flowers and vegetables. The plants in my two taller raised beds are taking over! My peanuts are spilling over along with everything else. 

Here are a few more photos from this morning. The bee's were everywhere, there are so many in the morning it's scary honestly but they just fly around me.