Picked carrots and squash today!

When I was watering my garden today, you know, to avoid crispy grass that may turn off a potential buyer (did I mention the contract to sell our house fell through?), I found a massive yellow straightneck squash that I'd somehow overlooked. I picked that one, and one just beside it and am so looking forward to munching them with my family this weekend.

This afternoon we finally got a bit of rain (17 drops, I think, followed 3 hours later by 9 minutes of massive downpour). Afterwards, I checked to make sure the wind hadn't knocked over anything. While I was checking, I picked two carrots. Little orange ones. They weren't supposed to be little, but I hate waiting until they're full grown. Each was about an inch long. But very tender and sweet and yummy.

Sigh.

And I forgot to take a pic before the kid and I munched them down. Sorry.

Green Tomatoes Harvest 2008

This pic was taken in October 2008. It's the big collander of green (unripe) tomatoes we picked the last week in October, after the first frost. They survived (barely) under two blankets and a big piece of plastic. It was too much work to try to save the plants. So we picked these, and I dehydrated them. We did that in the hopes that green (unripe) tomatoes are just as nutritious (or close enough) as the ripe tomatoes.

Green tomato powder has been added to our all-vegg powder (dehydrated vegetables crushed into a powder and added to a variety of dishes - to hide for picky eaters!). The dried green tomatoes aren't very tasty by themselves, but add a zing to dishes.

I didn't know how to make fried green tomatoes or green tomato relish yet. In 2009, probably in the Fall, I'll post recipes for those on http://www.survival-cooking.com/.

Radish and Melon Harvest 2008

Just a "taste" of what's to come ...

This is a picture I took on October 9 2008 - the inside of our fridge after a very busy day.

We heard that our first frost was on its way, so we quickly harvested the rest of our radishes (in the small tub towards the top), and our melons. We had a sugar baby watermelon, a few crenshaw muskmelons (cantaloupes), and a few golden watermelons. The 3 tam-dew honeydews are in a drawer, so not pictured.

I don't really care for radishes but Hubby does. We planted several kinds but the Pink Beauty won out. Here's something we didn't know... we forgot about a few radishes so they grew the whole summer. Wow! Super-hot! Possibly could be dehydrated and used as horseradish. We're planning to experiment this year (2009).

As to the melons ... absolutely wonderful! Cool and refreshing, sweet and very delicious. If you still haven't decided what to grow, give these a consideration. The vines didn't get too terribly long, and it took several attempts to figure out how to tell when a golden watermelon is ripe, but it was well worth the regularly watering, training the vines to go where I wanted them to, and the patience!