This is what I picked out of the garden yesterday. I didn't think to take the picture until after I mailed Jon a box of anaheim peppers. They were in the top of the grocery bag. What is left in the grocery bag is a bunch of big, beautiful tomatoes. That zucchini is not a Photo-Shop trick; it is my honest mistake. It's a mistake that I've made over and over this summer. Some people never learn...
My neighbors are done. They have mostly finished their harvest, tidied up their gardening space, and called it a year. Not so at the Shockey household. I envy the neighbors.
Green Acres fantasies aside, this is an awful lot of work for just one woman. Miranda helps some when prodded or threatened. I don't know now that school has started. No homework yet, but she is studiously involved in the after-school activity of watching the first season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer on DVD. I'm lucky to get her to unload the dishwasher. Sam? Oh, come on. You know the answer to that one: "Oh Way!" She's not going to help me in the garden unless her class at school starts a garden project AND she actually takes to it. Likelihood of help from Sam? Unlikely. And Mick...well, he isn't here, is he? And he's the overseer via phone. Well, someone has to be the slave driver. I just wish it was me. When I get done here today I'm going to start his chores list for when he gets home (September 30).
Yes, I just want to be done and I'm far from it. Far, far. I kind of forgot that after tilling, planting, watering, and picking, a person just isn't done. We can't eat fast enough to take care of all this glorious food. And let me tell you, it's magnificent. I've no idea just how we managed it, ignorant novices that we are, but these tomatoes are spectacular. They are better than any tomatoes that I've ever bought at the store. The anaheim peppers are fun--and damned hot. Not compared to hot peppers but compared to other anaheims that I've eaten. Last night, out of Miranda I heard, "Mom! What did you put on the green beans to make them SO HOT!" That was not excited pleasure in her voice. Disgust and outrage would be more accurate. Well, I just chopped up a few anaheims to saute with the green beans. Sorry. The green beans were from the garden, too. I'm not a huge fan of green beans, but they looked healthy and they were good for green beans. I'd have loved to saute them with chopped up bacon, but if Miranda was outraged over anaheim peppers, I don't know a word to describe what my vegetarian would have said about bacon in the green beans.
That's not all. I'm just plain tired of cucumbers and now I have so many lemon cucumbers that they're just kind of rotting on the vine. I'll keep some, force myself to eat a few, and then I think I will feed the compost the rest if Mick's family doesn't show up to take some. Spaghetti squash is ready for me to make it a home somewhere ( I need a root cellar, but am going to make them a home in one of the sheds). It was quite a crop. Two watermellons are still growing. The two cantaloupe plants exploded into a production frenzy similar to the spaghetti squash. I'm not sure how many there are. I haven't counted yet, but we definitely have cantaloupe.
Zucchini. Ah, zucchini. My former favorite vegetable. Why, oh why, when I Iook at the plant and think "just a day or two more", why, oh why, don't I just pick it then? Look at the picture at the top of this post. That is MY stove top that the zucchini is on. It isn't some child-sized play stove. I need to weigh that thing. Ok, I just did. That zucchini is 6.8 pounds. I repeat, 6.8 pounds! Folks, you're not supposed to let your zucchini grow to 6.8 pounds. You're not. It's just not that appetizing anymore. What am I going to do with a 6.8 pound zucchini? Feed Cambodia? I'll tell you what I'm going to do. It's what I do with all my many zucchini mistakes. Shred, shred, shred and make zucchini bread. This body doesn't need zucchini bread, but I'm sure I'll eat some. The plant is still producing, too. There are two or three growing right now. They'll be ready to pick in a day or two...
So I've got zucchini, tomatoes, and anaheims I need to do something with. I'm flash freezing the zucchini and I'm going to blanch, peel, chop, and freeze the tomatoes. There are still lots, and I mean LOTS of tomatoes to come. So, I'll be doing fresh salsa and this winter we'll have lots of homade tomato soup, spaghetti sauce, and who knows what else?
It doesn't end here, though. I have starts. Yes, that's right. As weary as I am of the whole process, I have some Fall crops already started ( romaine lettuce, cabbage, carrots, and more green beans), and I have starts ready to go into the ground ( patty-pan squash, brussel sprouts, broccoli, and spinach).
Even though I'm burned out, mainly from doing most of this by myself while trying to do other projects, I'm going to be looking for ways to turn this tiny garden mecca into a cash crop. At the very least we are feeding ourselves into the winter and eating much healthier. But if we were making money, too, I might not be so weary. I also wouldn't have 6.8 pound zucchinis. Probably.
I just mailed good neighbor Jon a whole box of anaheim peppers yesterday. As the season turns into definite Fall in Pelican, in that lovely Southeast Alaska way ( cold side-ways rain, gail force winds, inches of rain a day), Jon will at least be able to warm up his insides.
Now I must finish writing and get the water boiling, the cutting board out, and the grater ready. It's harvest time.
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