Garden Goodness

I promised pics of the Great Pickle Project, so here's the link:

The Pickle Series

Enjoy!

Coming soon: Zucchini pickles & smoked corn

No, not at the same time, 'cause that would be crazy. The Mama and I spent all day Sunday in a 4,000 degree kitchen canning pickles for the winter. It was a steamy, drippy and wonderful day. Until I forgot the salt and over half of the 30 quarts instantly became refrigerator pickles. So there are many many (MANY) friends and relatives with a quart of "Berto's Garden Dilly Sours" sitting in their fridge, anxiously awaiting the magic opening date of August 3rd.

And on the other front, the Papa in Law came up with the brilliant idea of putting corn on the cob in the smoker. It was fabulous, gorgeous, delicious and a host of other "ous"es. Except now that I've written that, it occurred to me that "hideous" and "anxious" both end in ous, and it wasn't either of those things. So, onward and upward, and waiting with bated breath for my return and the full details of our weekend escapades.

The Tall Guy is feeling much better, and thank you for your healing thoughts and warm wishes. It truly is wonderful to be remembered by friends.

We'll talk more soon!

Let the Berry-ing Begin!

Well, woohoo. Strawberry season has arrived in the Northeastern USA and I am ready to meet it head-on. Unlike other years, when I'm only dimly aware of these jewels when they're almost gone, I was one of the first in the fields this year. Friday saw me wading thru the slop (after a torrential downpour that morning) in my slinky black pants and sleeveless white sweater - I was on my way home from work when a Pick-Ur-Own sign caught my eye. Came home with four quarts, all I could handle for an unplanned stop. These are for eating fresh - about half of them are juicing in the fridge with raw cane sugar for shortcake tonight. Next week will be a minimum of 16 more quarts for freezing. We'll see how freezer space looks after that. We still have cherries, raspberries, wild black caps and blueberries to come. But strawberries are my favorite so they may get a little more than their share of room.

In other garden news...look at our lettuce!

We also have broccoli, tomatoes (Dr. Wyches Yellow, Reinhard's Goldkirsche and something The Father-in-law selected), cukes (English seedless, Lemon and Boston Pickling), beans (green string, McCaslin and Purple Poles), peppers (yellow banana, habanero, Corno di Toro Giallo and Sweet Chocolate), Walla Walla sweet onions and a ton of other stuff. The FIL has the greenest thumb of anyone I've ever known except for my mom. So it looks like a bountiful season ahead!

Here are some dumb clucks who share our yard space.



And the hummingbird feeder in our back cedar trees. It gets a lot of action, but I'm way too slow to get a shot of an actual hummingbird. Picture one here:

These were all taken last week, as you can see by the dates. Other than the lettuce, which has taken off like a house afire, it all pretty much looks the same :)

Wilting in the heat and wishing you all a Happy Saturday!