Hello, friends. Well, we ran out of rainwater in the big tanks on Tuesday, while I was doing laundry, so we're on well water for the foreseeable future. I made a nice batch of curry powder blend. This way, I can be sure there's no turmeric, which J is allergic to. All the sweet potatoes were brought in to storage. We had three nights with a frost advisory, so I picked the garden first... tomatoes, eggplant, beans, chard, roselle, and basil. I also harvested a little parsley for a dish, and lettuce. It turned out we had only the slightest frost. I only noticed one affected basil plant, but everything else is doing OK. I mentioned last year about gathering sweet potato leaves, to replace spinach in my smoothies. As the sweet potatoes were in the pond garden this year, so less convenient, that didn't happen. Many sweet potato vines will continue to grow, even after harvesting the potatoes, so last week, I harvested a bag of the leaves to use. It saved me from buying spinach for the week.
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| Early morning, with a full moon through the window |
The last cabbage in storage was used, half in two different dinners. A bouquet was gathered as well, the day I harvested the garden. I had an errand in a town I don't go to often. There's a branch of our library there. I requested books before going, so they'd be ready to pick up. I changed out the summer sheet sets to flannel ones. The woodstove was lit for the season. Batches of pesto were made with the basil. The pup's coats were brought out for the cold mornings. Seedlings of lettuce, chard and cilantro were planted in the ground. Little seasonal chores. Early in the week, I had small amounts of several things, all of which had the same processing time, so I canned a quart of tiny potatoes, a pint of fresh limas, and a pint and a half of peas in the same canner load. Vegetable soup was made, using almost entirely homegrown veggies, including tomatoes, summer squash, limas, carrots, onion, garlic, peas, and potato. I save small bits of leftovers in a "soup" container in the freezer, and this was added, which included jasmine rice and lentils. It was an especially flavorful soup this time. Tomatoes were canned over the weekend. The season ended a bit better than I thought it might in mid-summer, and I'm thankful for that. Take good care of yourselves, and have a lovely week.
9 comments:
The lack of rain is astounding! Not more than a sprinkle in almost a month. Glad you have your back up water.
It’s been nippy here, and I am enjoying it.
Hope your week is peaceful and productive.
Yes, and not a bit in the 15 day forecast, at the moment. This has been an interesting year in many ways. The seasonal changes are lovely. Enjoy!
Sounds like you had a very healthy and productive week with your veggies. I hope your well keeps producing. I've been through several droughts in the 1980's in northern Delaware so I'm not too worried. But you never know....! andrea
Such strange weather this year with too little rain in some areas and too much in others. That's so interesting about the sweet potato leaves. We make pesto from nettles in the spring and freeze it. My friend in Germany makes some from the tops of carrots. I guess if you throw enough garlic and parmesan cheese on it, anything will taste good. Ha!
Hugs
Jane
I've not tried using nettles in pesto. I usually make tea with it, or a medicinal glycerite. But I do add purslane to pesto, whenever it volunteers in the garden. I can't imagine carrot tops would be very good, but garlic and parmesan do make up for a lot!
It's always a joy when the gardening season ends on a better note than we think midway through the season!
Yes, it is! I guess that's what keeps us hopeful.
That's amazing that you were able to pick such a nice variety before the potential frost. And sweet potato leaves! Bummer about your water. Hoping you've had a lovely week.
The sweet potato leaves make a great substitute for the spinach, as they have no noticeable taste in the smoothie, unlike kale and other stronger tasting greens. I know some people saute them, but so far, I've only enjoyed them raw.
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