Garden of earthly delights

My mom-teacher-political-sign-poster-working-on-a-green-thumb-writer friend Paysha has a special feature on her gardening blog each Friday that's quite unique. It's called "Plant Porn Phriday." Worthwhile not only for the creative ways which nature shows ALL its colors, but for her great copy. People actually PAY her to write when she's not blogging or gardening or raising a wee lad, so it makes her blog a worthwhile read.

I submitted some ballsy tomatoes to her blog this week, which she was kind enough to post. Take a gander. Look, but don't touch.

http://plantkiller.wordpress.com/2011/08/26/plant-porn-phriday-ballsy/

Dragons in the Garden

I started to cut this black pepper (variation on a green pepper) from our garden when I noticed it had an eye. Look at this thing! But kind of sideways in case it feels threatened and attacks.

Mystery String

If you glance toward the ceiling in our kitchen you'll notice a string between the cupboards on one side of the room.

By mid-summer, there is usually a cluster of drying herbs hanging there.

By mid-winter, the dried herbs have long since been crushed into dark tins inside the cupboards, and we're enjoying garden basil and oregano in our pizza sauce.

So if you're ever in our kitchen, look up and see what season it is by what's hanging on the string. Dust means late winter or early spring.

Homemade Jam

One of the treats from our recent trip to my sister's house in Iowa was coming back with homemade raspberry jam.

Within 2 hours, my sister had picked the raspberries from their bushes, mixed them with cups of sugar and whatever else it is you put in to make jam, and canned them.

What a pleasure it was to sit around a sunny kitchen table having spoonfuls of fresh jam on bread. Delicious!

Friday Night Pesto Party

I had hoped to join my husband making pesto Friday night from our huge basil harvest, but instead he delivered a dish of pesto and crackers to my upstairs micro-office, hot off the food processor. Delish. It's now Saturday noon, and I can still taste the garlic. Fortunately my only meeting today is via telephone!

Garden Goodies

Tomatoes, zucchinis, basil, spinach and more are ready for picking from our backyard garden. Yum. I need to make some pesto as the basil is already flowering. Summer in full bloom!