Garden Overload

Honestly, how many more pickles could I possibly make?? Luckily (???) for me, my cucumber plants have succumbed to the squash bugs and are dying at a rapid rate. I can't believe I'm happy about that.

Our chest freezer is just about full of frozen tomatoes. I'm going to have to buckle down and do some canning soon. Very soon.

This was Saturday's harvest. It's been this way, or more, every other day for the past week at least.

A closer look at basket #1. Just enough corn for dinner, a red onion to slice up on the burgers, and tomatoes. Of course there are tomatoes.

Basket #2 is mostly filled with cucumbers, with some cherry tomatoes here and there. There are also a ton of pineapple tomatillos on the bottom of the basket. And oh look! More tomatoes.

Here's a little advice for those of you who are still impatiently tapping your fingers waiting for your tomatoes to ripen: grow orange. I keep meticulous (read: anal) notes on my gardens, and for the past few years my orange and yellow tomatoes have consistently been the first to ripen, no matter how hot the weather. I would suggest these heirlooms: Orange Oxheart (great for sauce, mostly meat and big!), Kelloggs Breakfast (technically a yellow mater, but ripens to orange), and of course my favorite, the Pineapple tomato. For a pink tomato that ripens first in my garden I'd go with the Brandywine mater. Big, juicy, and some say the best tomato taste ever.

I could have also filled those baskets with chard and carrots. But I wasn't in the mood for canning and scrubbing. They'll hold till the weekend when I will hopefully feel more inclined to spend my day in a very hot kitchen scrubbing and cursing. Maybe.

You know how you almost always have trouble getting a group picture? Like at a family reunion, there's always an aunt Betty who wants group pictures of everyone and you spend an hour trying to make her happy?

First, someones eyes are closed.

Then someone is sticking out their tongue and making faces at the camera, while someone else is bored already and eyeing the buffet table.

Then the hungry buffet seeker is subdued, but the face maker has decided to go play horseshoes, the camera-shy kid is unknowingly walking through the picture, and someone else is, well, licking their butt.

I love family reunions.