A few things

Here are a few pictures of some of the things that are coming out of the garden right now, and what we are making with them!

In this bowl we have: arugula, swan wing gourd (which deserves a post entirely of its own), purple peppers, banana peppers, green peppers, little cutie peppers, broccoli, jalapenos, and a few herbs in the bottom. Not bad just grabbing a few things for lunch, right?!

As a person I like to try to be able to do a little bit of everything. I love learning, and I want to know how to do EVERYTHING! So in this season of learning how to garden, I decided to learn how to pickle.

Not that I like pickled things. But you know... that's just who I am!

My first attempt I am pickling some cucumbers in a classic sweet pickle concoction. And in the top jar are two types of jalapenos and some yellow banana peppers. I do, on occasion, like a pickled jalapeno in certain dishes. So in a few weeks time, we will see how they taste! I plan on doing more pickling as the season gets closer to the cold bursts.

These little cuties I am so proud of! They are Danver half long carrots and they are growing like crazy! The reason I am so proud of them, is that these are the second batch that I planted. The first batch of seeds didn't take! Only ONE SINGLE CARROT started to grow! It was VERY depressing. But with effort and working of the ground, I decided to try again and planted another bag of seeds. These took incredibly well! And because of this, we have been able to have carrots with a few of our dinners! We usually do a sweet sautéed carrot and the little one loves them! We also just snack on them fresh from the garden! They are sweet and a tiny bit peppery, and completely addictive!

The giant pepper in the picture above is called a Big Bertha, and it was so tasty! With the next few that are picked, they are going to be stuffed and fried. Because I can.

The nuts on the counter are pecans from the neighbors tree, and when I make pesto (quite often) I like to use these local pecans instead of pine nuts. The bowl is filled with arugula and basil also for the pesto. Also two little carrot cuties, and a little onion that I added to the pesto. Also a wing squash gourd, funny things that they are. ( I will talk more about that particular plant in another blog, but in the meantime know that it was not added into my pesto!!)

There is lots more coming out, but this is a just a brief glimpse into what we have been munching on!