sort of a vacation

Yes, a little stitching.  Continuing to consider SUNflower and trying to put together a little something...

sunrise

But really, the garden, picking food is the highlight of my day.

I smile.

The 3.  Mixed.  Chard. Mustard greens. Malabar.  And that is a little red onion,  somehow they are not doing that well,  but they tasted great.

I pick a huge bouquet, a little of each. wash and chop, olive oil, garlic and onion minced, quick sauté,  salt and pepper, a smidge of vegetable broth.  Cook till broth is gone. Over rice, a handful of cashews.  This is joy.  This was breakfast.

Yesterday the squirrels ate 22 tomatoes,  some ripe, some still green.  My brother said his neighbor said, oh just plant extra.  I did.  We have plenty really.   This year on advice of a neighbor here, I am washing them and freezing them whole.  In large yoghurt containers. If you take them out of the freezer and run them under hot water, the skins slide right off. Oh ha, this is too easy.

I just planted kale, radishes and beets (for the greens mostly). There is time. But it sure would be nice to get some rain.

44 comments

  1. Joyce L

    I learned something new this year about radishes – some of mine were going to seed so I looked up how to save the seeds and found out that the seed pods are edible! They taste like a weaker radish! They are grown as a crop in India – forget the name. You can put them in salad for a radish flavor – kind of like a snow pea pod. But I haven’t trying sautéing the radish greens – I will try that!

  2. Judy

    My favourite food prepared just as you describe. We must enjoy the home grown greens while we can. And…congratulations on the baby!

  3. Laurie

    Are you sure it was squirrels? Seems like a lot for squirrels, and I used to blame our squirrels. Now I know that groundhogs decimated my tomatoes every year until I gave up. They can also climb fences. I’ve seen it. GRRRRRRRR

  4. Judith

    Just canned 7 pints of pickled beets; love eating the greens. I started peeling tomatoes for canning by freezing to remove skins after pouring a jar of boiling water over my had. So much easier and safer.

    Vacate means to leave; therefore the currently popular staycation is an oxymoron.

  5. sharon

    in the top pic, your basket sunflower looks like it’s pieced with felted wool ‘n the dried sunflower petals seem to be made of hand-dyed silk with a pompom center… down another bunny trail, i go… hi ho, hi ho…

  6. That’s what I do with a lot of my tomatoes, just freeze whole. I usually put them in a bowl of hot water and let them soak for a few minutes for the peel part though. Still not many tomatoes here and no red peppers. I am longing for red peppers…

    • jude

      I don’t have that much experience with saving/preserving/ freezing food really. This is a much bigger garden and I seem to be more focused on it. My peppers kind of failed but I trimmed them and nurtured them and they just started to look good.

  7. Just washing and freezing?!? Flashbacks of the scalding hot water with mom and grandma while canning them. Yesterday, distracted, ran out to pick a handful of basil. Went to chop it up for dinner I noticed there wasn’t any smell. Had grabbed the indigo in the pot next to it by accident. Wonder if it would’ve turned the pasta blue?

  8. Greta wells

    Especially delish in winter as your remember the soil in your hands looking out your window at snow and ice. Chubby chipmunks at your house😋

  9. Jana

    Fresh simple food and “fresh” simple stitching? Sounds pretty close to heaven to me. Beautiful sun with the sun shining through!!! I agree – good book cover.

  10. kirsten

    try sautéing the radish greens. i learned that from a DC chef –quite delicious.

    i miss having a garden maybe next year. i have to laugh about squirrels and tomatoes — could always count on them to take a bite out of the most perfect tomato!

  11. Right remember the early years of preserving, big pots of boiling water steaming up the house, sink full of cold water bath, then peeling and cutting up and freezing in bags. What a joy it was to discover washing and freezing worked great. When we grew peas we didn’t even wash anymore keep ‘em dry so you can just pour out what you need. And I do love dehydration except uses a lot of electricity.

  12. Picking from the garden, yes. There’s so much. Tonight’s dinner: sautéed zucchini, patty pan squash, tomatoes, with onion, garlic and mushrooms. And some chickpeas. Over rice. Easy enough.

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