Winding Down the Spring Garden Season

The spring garden is just about done for the season. I picked the last cucumbers last night save for a couple gourds left for seed saving and for dinner sauteed the last few pieces of squash and zucchini  that we'll get from this planting. That went nicely with our braised pot roast, creamed potatoes (grown by us of course), gravy, homebaked bread (by my daughter), creamy cucumber salad and even potato salad simply because we have a million potatoes and Farmer Chris LOVES my potato salad.

The pantry is packed with row upon row of jars of canned dill pickles, cucumber lime pickles, spicy squash pickles, squash relish, tomatoes, salsa and even potatoes. I have tentatively put the pressure canner in the box, but not yet asked the tall people of my house to put it back in its spot at the top corner of the pantry.

We have onions and potatoes curing in the mud room for fall / winter storage. The freezer is full of garden peas, green beans, and even strawberries we picked elsewhere last spring and in the fridge are multiple jars of refrigerator pickles. I'm hiding the last few jars of that delicious sweet necter of strawberry jams so I can taste spring in the cold, bare winter.

There are tomatoes ripening on my kitchen counter next to the dried marigold flower heads for seed harvesting, basil leaves drying on paper, zucchini seeds drying out, and a newspaper full of dill seeds recently harvested and drying for storage for next year's garden and a parcel of dry sandandy peas for shelling. I can see the red droplets of roma tomatoes dripping off the vines from my office window as I write this post, so today I'll pick more tomatoes and make tomato sauce to use later this fall or winter and save some for our taco dinner tonight.

But dear garden and fresh veggies, this is not goodbye. for here in the deep south, land of honey and cotton we get a second chance! We get a summer garden do-over, another opportunity to plant and gather more veggies for preserving and eating tons of yummy fresh produce! Farmer Chris is anxiously finishing up the coop portion of the chicken's huge Chicken Condo so that he can get back to focusing on the farm. It's mid-July so time again to plant green beans and soon beets, carrots, cucumbers and even a short window of time for summer squash and tomatoes before we look to our fall garden. And we wait and watch for eggs! The chickens are 15 weeks old today so it can happen at any time! (EXCITED!)

Other posts you may enjoy: Slow Pace = Hard Work & Canning. Check out the garden photos on the Facebook page as well as pics of our sweet chickens.

Do more of what makes you feel happy and content. Rid your life of the negative and toxic. Breathe deeply of gratitude, love, and freedom. Pray, laugh loudly, and enjoy this day! (Philippians 4:6-7, 4:11-13.)

Cheers,
Ramsey