Sunday, June 29, 2008

The Farm



What a beautiful day today! The sun is shining and it's 78 degrees, but was much cooler this morning. I spent the morning weeding the garden- I can't believe how fast the creeping charlie and succulents spread!

I've been fighting off some aphids on a tomato plant and squash bugs on my cucumbers this last week. I think I've squashed the squash bugs, but I've got to keep up the soapy water spray for the aphids. I'd hate to have to pull the affected plant, but I don't want them to spread to the other tomato plants! I'll give it another week of treatment and see how it goes.

I'm so excited that our tomatillo plant has its first tomatillos!

Last week our strawberry harvest went from about a quart every other day to just a couple of pints in the week. It seemed like strawberry time was just about over. Yesterday the kids found about a pint, so I was thrilled to find another pint of berries today. Maybe they're not quite done yet! I promptly made the strawberries into a small batch of strawberry pancakes for myself and some strawberry Popsicles for the whole family.
The mulberries are starting to ripen now, too. Most are still white, but we got about a pint yesterday and it looks like more ripened today. We really have to harvest and process these every day when they start ripening. It's a lot of work, but we love mulberry jam, mulberry soda, and mulberry pie!Here's the harvest from today:
Tons of radishes that really needed to be picked, a head of lettuce, a bag full of green beans and snap peas, and a pint of strawberries.


What the heck am I going to do with all those radishes? These are radish and jalapeƱo quick pickles. I think they'll be a great condiment for salads, tacos, or just about anything.

3 comments:

Sarah said...

So much good food! I'll have to come back just to raid your garden. The pancakes look like the best thing in the world to wake up for.

jessy said...

wow! everything looks so hardy and green and healthy! i hope the aphids stay away, too - those little buggers are pretty pesky...ugh! i really love the pickled radishes and jalapeƱos. they look beautiful & yummy! and the tomatillos are so cute!! :)

Anonymous said...

Your garden looks gorgeous! And wasn't the weather perfect yesterday?! It was lovely! I only wish I had a garden I could have been in too :o)

I got snap peas at the Minneapolis farmers market over the weekend--they are so sweet and good! I hope you enjoy yours!

Courtney