There is a pleasing satisfaction to eating what you have grown. While driving here and there around town I listened to Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver. Memories of my parents amazing garden coupled with ideas from the book made me wish for plot of land to grow anything and everything in--as well as the strength, courage, and energy to do so. I realized my limitations though---so we started small. Last spring we planted tomatoes, cucumbers, basil and flowers. Remember this post? 2 of the 3 grew (I think we'll skip the cucumbers next year and try something else). 1 of the 3 were continually eaten by bugs? rats? we're still figuring out who the devil is.....but we came to the rescue to save most of the deliciousness of the 15 or so tomatoes harvested thus far. A few more are still growing. I check on them everyday. As you can see, they aren't perfect---but who needs perfect? We have basil coming out our ears. Live near by? Come and get some. The flowers, although past their prime now, have been a joy to me daily as I look out my kitchen window. They've brought visitors too: bees, humming birds, & creepy crawly bugs, but mostly, they've brought delight.
Last night we celebrated our harvest by eating home made salsa--using 9 of our tomatoes. We also enjoyed Black Bean Taco Salad with Lime Vinaigrette, again using our tomatoes. It was good. Actually, it was much better than good. It was pleasing, satisfying, & deliciousness all at the same time.
Last night we celebrated our harvest by eating home made salsa--using 9 of our tomatoes. We also enjoyed Black Bean Taco Salad with Lime Vinaigrette, again using our tomatoes. It was good. Actually, it was much better than good. It was pleasing, satisfying, & deliciousness all at the same time.
5 comments:
The flowers look beautiful. And nice job on the tomatoes and basil. I have to agree that it's completely satisfying to eat something you grew yourself. We had a little container garden with tomatoes, green peppers, mint, and a mystery plant that turned out to be eggplant. The pepper plant has turned out to be the best producer, so I've got a lot of green pepper in my freezer for later.
I love that feeling! We have a row in a community garden this year. We tried tomatoes, peppers, and cucumbers. The tomatoes have been great. The peppers didn't work out so well, which is a shame because I planted annaheim so I could make some of your mom's salsa to enjoy in the winter! We only got 2 cucumbers, but they were delicous! I can't wait for next year. And I can't wait to read that book. Good idea to listen to it in the car. I'll have to try that.
Rach-you should try making pesto. It uses a ton of basil, and then we just freeze it in ice-cube trays, throw the blocks in a a freezer bag, and presto....pesto pasta in minutes any time you want. And it lasts.
Congrats on a great garden.
there really are few things as good as home grown fruits & veggies. yum yum yum!
Way to go! I think those tomatoes look awesome! nothing like a home grown tomato. We planted tomatoes to and they look amazing now...but my neighbor told us that the soil in our neighborhood is contaminated by...some armory factory that used to be here so now we are too afraid to eat our tomatoes...what a bummer! So enjoy an extra bite for me!
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