First Green Beans

One of our favorite varieties - Jade Bush Bean. They're stringless, flavorful, and tender no matter how big they get. These could've stayed on the plant a bit longer, but I couldn't wait another day!

There are plenty more to come. In the meantime, these will be doled out in scanty portions. It'll feel like we're at a fancy restaurant 😁 Always leave 'em begging for more, right?

Harvesting Shallots

Instructions for harvesting shallots:
Harvest shallots when the leaves begin to turn brown and fall over, 90-120 days from planting. Dig bulbs gently. Wipe off dirt. Place them on tray or a wire rack in a shady, dry, and well-ventilated place for one - three weeks to "cure". Then, pull off the dried tops and store in a cool, dark place.

The shallots have been growing all winter and spring. Although it's typical for them to mature in mid/late-summer, I decided to pull most of them yesterday and have laid them out to dry in the shed. I guess I got tired of waiting for them to be "done", plus a little worried that I might let them go too long in the ground. These had bloomed, had started to turn brown, and were falling over. The plants of one variety are still looking pretty vigorous, though. I'll leave them to mature a bit longer.

Yuck Bucket Bonus

We have three squash vines growing in the compost pile. These are serendipitous bonus plants.

The first one looks like an acorn squash plant. Yay!

The second, appears to be a strange iteration of a crook neck yellow summer squash.

The third is yet TBD as it has not yet set fruit.

Scarlet Tanager in the Blueberries

Along with house finches and other birdie friends. They've been hitting 'em hard. This is the first year we've had an issue with birds eating our berries. I guess we've been lucky. Next year ... install bird netting?

On the positive side, the birds are a lovely sight!

Harvesting Dill Seed

Yesterday, we harvested a bunch of dill seeds from mature / dried seed heads. A lot of stems came off with the seeds when we removed them from the plant. This would be fine and dandy if we were saving seeds to plant next year, but I might want to use these seeds to flavor food to eat.

How to separate the stems from the seeds? I decided to try my screen-mesh strainer. Just dumped everything into the strainer. Wiggled and jiggled and shook it over a large bowl. Hey! It worked! There are still a few stems stuck to some of the seeds, but the majority of the stems did fall through the mesh, leaving the seeds behind.

Staying cool as a cucumber...

... in the air conditioning, as we make refrigerator pickles. It's cucumber time!

It just wouldn't be summer without a pickle jar or two in the refrigerator. My little patch of cukes yielded enough today to make sweet pickles AND dill pickles. These pickles are easy to prepare and ready to eat in a few days. We love the crisp, fresh taste. For recipes / instructions, refer back to the June 18, 2016 blog post, "When life gives you cucumbers... make pickles!"

I was able to use fresh dill as well as fresh garlic, recently harvested from the garden. Bonus, some of the dill plants had dried perfectly to allow seed collection today.

My mom is visiting, and what a good help she is in the kitchen. She mixed pickling concoction, sliced cucumbers, and separated the dill seeds from the dried plants. What did I do, you might ask? I supervised, of course :-) Seriously, we have a good time working together to make deliciousness happen.

Let the summer feast begin!

Modest beginnings ... 3 cucumbers, 3 cherry tomatoes, 1st zucchini, lush basil in today's harvest. Plus, garlic already cured. Basil pesto on the menu tonight!

Summer Crops Begin!

first pickling cucumbers

squash in Bloom

developing tomatillos look like paper lanterns on the vine.

first sun-gold cherry tomatoes