Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Wednesday, August 10th, 2011

      Today was a bit crazy here in the garden. We started by harvesting squash, cucumbers, tomatoes and raspberries and while the numbers of squash and cucumbers has decreased, the tomatoes are ripening like crazy! We were visited today by Shay Inkpen who helped us to harvest three huge baskets of tomatoes. Tomatoes are great for soups and sauces so we slice them, roast them in the oven and then freeze them. If you put the roasted tomatoes in the blender, they make a wonderful sauce! Karen and I have one concern - what are we going to do when we run out of freezer space?! We are getting really excited about the amounts of vegetables we have been able to "put up' so far and the garden is still producing an abundance of many kinds of fruits, veggies and herbs.
      We also harvested some Holy Basil today and now have three dehydrators full. While we plucked the aromatic leaves from the stems, we sipped the Holy Basil, lemongrass and mint iced tea from yesterday's tea party. We also feasted on squash bread and cucumber sandwhiches-a suitable feast for gardeners - and it really kept us going. By the end of our work day we had only made it through half of the tomatoes, so we know what we'll be doing tomorrow.
      We put the honey we harvested a few weeks ago into jars today. Over 40 half pint jars!! Each person was allowed to take one home in appreciation for all the hard work. They really deserve that sweet reward. And thank you to Carly who remembered to collect the calendula flowers at the end of the day. We will be making a wonderful, healing cream from the blossoms.
      Today was Megan's last day with us. It was sad to see her go but we were all so glad to get to know her so well. What an inspiration she has been - smart, kind, generous and hard-working. Megan has a positive attitude that will serve her well in life. We all wish her the best of luck in her first year of college.   -Celia


Shay, Mitchell and Tamara have fun picking tomatoes

Megan plucking Holy Basil leaves

Mitchell and Shay have a great conversation while helping with the basil

Willie really concentrates on slicing the tomatoes

Karen is pleased by the amount of food we are preserving for the lunch program

Trinity holds her jar of honey
She designed the label herself!


There is no such thing as too many tomatoes!
(or is there?)


Celia enjoys the aroma while plucking leaves




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