First Veggie Harvest

Yes, it's time now to reap what we sow...from our baby seeds that we planted on March 12th! What? That long ago? Boy, I was thinking that it took more like 70-90 days for most veggies, but 112 days? Geez! Well, this carrot was about to multiply itself and WAS ready long ago. It's supposed to be a short guy. That's the type we bought. The first pick of all the Roma tomotoes is also pretty small, but all the many others are coming along much bigger...but still green.
The kids thought the carrot was the most delicious carrot they've ever tasted. I'm sure some of this enthusiasm was for all the effort they've put into watering and some weeding.

I've been patiently waiting to see our bell peppers start to form, but no such luck yet. Oh yes, our prolific zucchini that showed so much promise--died a few of weeks ago. All of it! Within 2-3 days it went from such a promising summer veggie to...caput! Not sure what happened, but a neighbor had the same thing happen. Hmmm.

Our herbs have been going strong. Besides not watering them for a couple of 100+ degree days, you can hardly do wrong by them. I've harvested the basil 3 different times already (taking off about 1/3-1/2 the plant each time). I think our 6 basil plants only took about 2 months to grow enough for a good harvest for this pesto. NOTE: Plant MORE sweet basil next year. We (and our neighbors) like pesto a little too much!

I'm looking forward to all the tomatoes catching up with the basil so I can have home sewn 'n grown tomatoes with our pesto! (We cheated a bit and also bought a starter tomato plant from which we've already enjoyed some goodies.)

I'm thinkin' Chicken Saltimbocca to use the great sage we've grown...or I can always freeze it for our Thanksgiving wild rice stuffing (gluten free!).

I better get hoofin' it for now. I'm hungry for some reason!

Jimmer and Chimpy: A Sequel

As a continuation of Jimmer finding Chimpy's teachable moments, they go out of doors for today's adventure.

Jimmer was pretty excited after he figured out that he could just rub herb leaves to bring out their strong aroma. So, after we rubbed and sniffed them all (basil, thyme, sage, etc.), he ran in the house, retrieved his beloved Chimpy, and helped him experience the new discovery!
As a continuation of Jimmer's latest injuries, we present his wound du jour. Of COURSE it was dangerously close to an eye! A nice clean cut from a large framed mirror.

Our Seedlings Live On...

Less than 3 weeks ago, the kids and I went to the store and bought seeds and dirt. We planted a bunch of different kinds of veggies, herbs, and one type of flower. I just want to say that I'm not a natural gardener, and the only things I've planted and grown from seed are a few herbs and that funny watercress you put into a broken egg to make it look like hair and then cut and use it on one sandwich...then throw the egg away! So, imagine my surprise when our many seedlings actually sprouted! The most impressive plants so far are the zucchini since they are naturally large when they sprout and grow quickly. Less than a week after we planted the seeds we took off the cover and saw this. A few days later we transplanted the little pellets into real pots. Our zucchini was still growing well, and has held most of our children's attention. Here's the zucchini at 2 weeks.And at less than 3 weeks.

We hope to get these babes in a real garden that Gramma and Mikey, our new master gardener, have prepared on our side yard (not the same side as the giant sticker plant!).