Falling Off High Summer

 

How things have changed. This is the view off the deck now. 

This was the view in July.

The temperatures have cooled. Nothing but '70's and a couple of low '80's in the forecast. Gone are the 90's and the humidity. It is always sad to see them go.

Note to selves: Be careful about planting different types of tomatoes together. We planted yellow pear tomatoes in the same beds with our Wisconsin Chief tomatoes and cherry tomatoes. I thought, "Hey, they're all tomatoes, right." 

Wrong. This may be common knowledge to some, but it was new information to me. Some tomatoes limit their own growth. Other tomatoes just keep on extending the vine. The yellow & cherry tomatoes are the latter kind. The practical upshot of this is that they choked out the mid-size Wisconsin Chief tomatoes & the Purple Krim tomatoes. They're tasty, but next year we'll be planting them in separate beds. We also want to plant a larger tomato. Time to experiment with a new variety.

We're nowhere near self-sufficiency. While production is lightyears ahead of last year, it's still not enough to justify canning. A few refrigerator pickles & banana peppers, and one batch of frozen marinara sauce (which takes a phenomenal number of tomatoes) are about all we've managed to keep. Otherwise, if we only give away a little bit, cook some zucchini bread occasionally, grind up a yellow squash into curry once in a while and make some pumpkin butter, we're consuming what the garden is producing as it produces it. 

That said, I don't think we've eaten as much fresh veg as this ever. In fact, it makes a person crave something deep fried and filthy. Too much healthy, but no time to stop.

And uncooked seems to be the way to go, too. Especially since we are between ranges. We're trading in our toxic gas stove and replacing it with an electric one. Currently the gas is capped and the electric one doesn't arrive until Monday afternoon. All gas stoves are toxic, and if you have one you should seriously consider replacing it. (See this article for more information.)

Eventually, the new electric one will be run from our solar panels, which should be coming any day now. The power company, Xcel, has been sandbagging us. All Energy Solar, our would-be solar builder, just doesn't bother to communicate. It has become a frustrating process.

But we'll get there in the end.