Bowl of Sunshine

We still had a few winter squash up in the attic, so on Saturday, I baked all of them and made them into a delicious soup. Also included were frozen corn and edamame from last summer, and fresh red and orange peppers we purchased. The squash were the last of the "fresh" produce from last year--still a lot of canned and frozen stuff to eat before the garden starts producing in a few months.

August in a Bag

Tonight for dinner I thawed out some grilled vegetables from August. Onions, snow peas, broccoli, turnip, beets, carrots. It was amazing. It did take me back to summer on the deck. You can't get that grilled taste when you cook indoors. This will have to be a new summer staple. Grill all the vegetables and freeze the extras.

Growing and Warmth

Here's our growing boy (with growing squash plants in the background). Kitties (black and blonde) warming up in the sun...

It was the black kitty's idea to come out here and lay in between the rows.

This also gives an idea of the size of the garden (not big!) Posts showing other growing areas to follow...

A Day of Mothering--plants.

Mother's Day, and I'm busily trying to get plants to produce offspring. We put in the entire garden today, planting:

• Leeks
• Summer squash
• Cucumbers
• popcorn
• sunflowers
• other flowers and herbs
• two avocado pits in pots (since we had guacamole for dinner)

transplanting:

• Fennel
• peppers
• herbs
• tomatoes (34 plants in the ground and in pots)

Also discovered the joy of stewed rhubarb this weekend. SO GOOD.

In comparing notes with other midwesterners, we are lucky to be close to the lake, and west of it. It has a moderating effect on the weather--it is supposed to get to 38 degrees tonight, but it is freezing elesewhere. We've been harvesting kale for two weeks. The Rhubarb is hearty and producing well. The tomatoes we transplanted earlier this week are thriving. Will be interesting to see what this does over the years, if it changes, etc.

At any rate, a good day of gardening.