Harvest Monday

The summer garden is slowing down now. On Monday we harvested one more cantaloupe and throughout the week we harvested 3 watermelons, several pounds of tomatoes, jalapenos, raspberries, spaghetti squash, and yellow squash.

Today is Belle's big tomato canning day, and we'll both be doing some fall garden planting. We're putting cauliflower and cabbage out that we've been growing indoors under lights.

Harvest Totals

Cantaloupe 7 lb 3 oz
Jalapenos 1 lb
Kale 1 lb
Raspberries 1 lb. 8 oz
Pumpkin Squash 2 lb 8 oz
Spaghetti Squash 2 lb 12 oz
Yellow Squash 8 oz
Tomatoes 8 lb 9 oz
Watermelon 38 lb 7 oz

Weekly Total 63 lb 15 oz

Be sure to stop by Daphne's Dandelions Harvest Monday and see what other gardeners are harvesting from their gardens this time of year. Happy Labor Day!

This week C. James turned 5! Happy Birthday kiddo. We love you!

Pickling Jalapenos & bottling Wine

Our central Pennsylvania version of Mexican pickled jalapenos and carrots

Bel and I really miss southern California for all the hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurants. They were as ubiquitous as Italian restaurants are here or Teriyaki restaurants are in the Seattle area. And one thing we loved about them, was the pickled jalapeno and carrot bar. Don't misunderstand me when I say "bar". The jalapeno bar was less like a large salad bar and more like a condiment choice -right next to the ketchup and hot sauce. The jalapenos and carrots usually came in pre-measured sandwich baggies.

I share all that to say that Bel has brought SoCal in a jar to central PA. All I want to know is how long do we have to wait? As soon as they're ready, they'll be gone!

Our stash of 2010 apple and 2011 strawberry wine just before bottling the apple and racking the strawberry.

We bottled 10 gallons of 2010 apple wine and racked this summers crop of strawberry wine last week. We're very excited about the strawberry wine. It's our first ever batch. But we have to wait until Labor Day 2012. The apple wine will be ready around Christmas this year.

Finally, a special thanks to  HangKebon for becoming a follower! We hope you enjoy our blog.