Eating My Words

Throughout this summer I have been harboring some resentment. Not to anyone in particular, but to the garden in general. Nate has taken it on with a gusto, leaving me to make sure stuff in the house is take care of (like dinner). However, as the fruits of his labor are ripening, I find myself eating my words - a lot.

We didn't plant any zucchini this year. I find that squash of any sort tends to overwhelm me and we end up throwing most of it out. Plus, we have plenty of neighbors who are glad to get rid of zucchini at this time of year. I took some donated zucchini and made two loaves of zucchini bread last night. One loaf down, one to go ... not even 24 hours later! And the tomatoes. Oh, the tomatoes. The are simply divine this year. So far they're manageable, but pretty soon we're going to have to start freezing bags of them.

Other yummy creations from the garden this year include coleslaw, cucumber salad, roasted beets, green beans, radishes, lettuce, steamed Swiss chard, fresh basil AND tomatoes on pizza, fresh oregano in orzo, fresh chives in mashed sweet potatoes, carrots, snap peas, strawberries. We also have a volunteer pumpkin plant that has literally taken over a quarter of our yard. At last count, there were at least five enormous pumpkins on the plant, which will save us a trip to the pumpkin patch in a few weeks. Plus, we'll have a ready supply of seeds for roasting!

Coming up as we head into fall, we'll be eating lots of tomatoes, more lettuce, sweet corn, watermelon (hopefully!). Nate has also been drying our garlic bulbs, so we'll be inundated with garlic in the next few days. Just as soon as we're done with this year's harvest, Nate will be planning next year's planting season!