The July Garden

 

Once again, I underestimated what a little garden can produce. Since returning from the beach we can't seem to keep on top of the tomatoes, green beans, basil, and zucchini. The Swiss chard and Serrano peppers are also giving us a run for our money. We are eating our summer annual favorite dishes like tomato pie, batter fried zucchini, beans and greens, and tomato salad. Stuffed Serrano peppers are a new addition to this summer's menu, since we have not grown them before. Steve accused me of buying the Serrano peppers and perhaps I did. He said they are not a pepper he would have chosen to grow. I do not remember if or why I bought them. But here they are and they will not go to waste. Even the green beans that are too big and tough have a use. I throw them in the field for the deer to enjoy. (Although the deer still came up to our yard and ate an entire potted impatiens right off the patio.) 

 

Rather than make and freeze pesto as I usually do with the basil,  I am dehydrating the leaves and storing them in jars. I will find more use for dried basil than I will for an abundance of pesto. When Violet was here this week I asked her to help me dry a batch of basil. She embraced the task. We gathered up a huge armful of the herb and clipped off all the flower heads. Then we immersed them in a cold water bath in the sink for washing. Next, Violet plucked off the nicest leaves and we laid them all out on dish towels to air dry. After this, we placed them individually onto the dehydrating racks and slid them into the dehydrator. Ten hours later, Viola! I was amused at how much in love Violet was with the basil. She was like a cat in catnip. She took deep breaths of the aroma, chewed on the leaves and gobbled up a tomato salad with mozzarella pearls and chopped basil for lunch. Her mom said she ate the same thing again for dinner. We spent a delightful day together, gathering vegetables from the garden and bagging up loads of stuff for her to take home.

Although the cherry tomatoes are healthy and prolific, they are not the tastiest we have had. I do not recall the name of these but they are not the Cherry 100's which are the best and always sweet. 

 

The yellow tomatoes are delicious. This heart-shaped tomato made my tomato sandwich (on white bread with loads of mayo, salt and pepper, of course)

Our all-time summer favorite, tomato pie.

 

The Italian plum tomatoes are used for canning salsa. Once we have enough salsa to last the year, I will can the rest as plain tomatoes. Those are another year round staple in the kitchen. In the background is sweet pickle relish. We do not grow the cucumbers for this but instead buy those and make a small batch of relish because we enjoy it on hot dogs and in tuna salad, etc.

 These chipmunk holes are right off our basement entry. We walk over them every time we go back and forth to the garden. This path has so much foot traffic, I am surprised this is their prime choice of entry. They started with one hole last summer and are now at three. The holes were smaller last week until we saw two huge black walnuts sitting beside them. Then the little rascals enlarged to holes in order to fit the walnuts down.

We are in a drought this year and the landscape looks tired. The vegetable garden is giving all it's got and is wearing out from producing. I suspect I will be wrapping up the canning and freezing very soon. I will begin pulling up tired tomato plants and doing a bit of garden clean up. I am tired as well and ready to put things to bed. The garden has given us all we need or want for the fall and winter ahead and for that we are thankful. 

Holden Beach, NC

The colors!

Our long awaited, family beach vacation finally came to pass. It was such an enjoyable time away that it has been difficult to transition back to home. The colors, the ever changing sky, the tides, the relaxation, being surrounded by my sixteen favorite humans, the laughter, the love, the total disconnect from reality, I will have the fondest memories of this time away.

Last Christmas we gifted our four daughters and their families a beach vacation. The July reservation date finally came to be! Every one of us truly looked forward to this week with great anticipation. We rarely gather as a complete family. With school and work schedules and some families living so far apart, it just cannot happen often enough. We approached the vacation with plans for many activities we would do together and we ended up doing only half of what we planned. The water and sand were so inviting that we were content to sit or swim at the shore every day. 

My favorite memories include bobbing in the waves together, parking our beach chairs at the water's edge and staying until the surf forced us to back up, the grandchildren digging in the sand... a lot, evening walks searching for treasures, gathering for meals at the big table, slow mornings, slow days, slow evenings, playing the spaghetti and marshmallow challenge, excitedly showing each other our found ocean treasures, having the children and grandchildren all together, morning coffee on the deck, watching the kids play freely, planning our day according tot he tides.

Being cooled by nature's air conditioner

There was lot of texting and sharing all week since we have been home. Photos and memories ping back and forth between the girls and Steve and I. I am glad they brought home so many fond memories. It is everyone's hope that we can do this again some day. 

A game of whiffle ball while we watch a storm in the distance.

 

Two of Mari's aunts braid her hair before heading down to the beach.

The tallest spaghetti structure that remained stable with a marshmallow on top. 

                           

Everyone in one place! 

(One SILwishes to remain unknown on the internet : )