Tomatoes

Last night I picked a 10-lb basket of tomatoes. Some ripe, some not yet ripe, they all came into the house as I'm determined to get to them before the birds and mice poke holes in them. Then I bagged up the biggest unripe ones to protect from fruit flies. All systems go at tomato protection right now. Which is a little silly with what looks like it will be a gigantic yield this year, BUT with them just starting to ripen I've only eaten about 5 and they still seem precious. 

I went to my plant log to tell you what kind they are and there are no entries since March! Not cool. Especially because I don't like the little cherry plant and want to make sure I don't buy it again... It's growing everywhere (taking over the yard) and the fruits are so small (pea size) they don't even seem worth picking/eating. Well I can tell you the pink ones are a hybrid from my yard/compost that volunteered in the flower bed. They're very good when pink and firm, but if you let them get red and soft they're rotten. At the garden store, I bought 2 kinds of big reds in 4-inch pots, some are the variety "San Diego" and some are a Brandywine hybrid - there's 3 plants but I'm not sure which kind I doubled up on or where I planted them. One of them has grown very large and must have 100 fruits on it, some of which are very large and sexy.
I've also got some large tomato plants grown from seeds that are in pots - these seeds are either saved from the farmers market tomatoes a few years ago or seeds I saved from plants grown in my yard last year. Must get better with record keeping... These plants are younger and are fruiting but haven't grown big enough to show if they'll be red or yellow (fingers crossed some will be yellow). 

What's ripe this week?

Early last week a coworker asked about the garden and all I could report back on was peaches, small tomatoes, and some green onions. Well a lot has changed - all this other stuff has ripened since then.

• Tayeberries (eaten 3 of estimated yield 10 but that's better than last year!)
• Blackberries (eaten 5 of estimated yield 100 - they'll ripen gradually)
• Plums (eaten about 6 of estimated 40 between the Burgundy tree and 5-in-1 which is way more yield than last year. It's probably the Beauty ripening first on the multigraft)
• Large tomatoes (eaten 5 out of estimated 50+. I'm a little afraid they'll all ripen at once)
• Figs (only a few ripe now, the madness will start in about a month)
• Cucumbers (the first ones are coming in now, the majority ready in a month or two)
• Green beans (noticed the first this morning)
• Lemons (it's a Eureka tree that was planted about 9 months ago but is just now coming into stride with enough fruit ripening consistently that we can stop buying lemons at the store)

Mutant squash and dimpled peach

Was hoping this big yellow thing was a spaghetti squash (although I don't remember planting one) or a delicata squash (I definitely planted those seeds and hadn't seen fruit yet) but alas this must be a mutant.  Now that I've found an actual delicata squash (green with stripes), it's time to hack back the mutant and make more room for other things to grow (like the lemon tree you can see in the pic). I might cut it up eventually and see what it looks like inside, but expectations are low as the mutants from past years had thick skin and we unimpressive inside. Hmm... might be a better plan to just store it until halloween/fall and bring it out as a decoration.
Meanwhile, I picked these peaches with members a few weeks ago from the multigraft. The larger peach is the first from the mid pride tree that is moments away from having perfectly ripe fruit. It has dimples so I held it out to photograph and Max wandered up... you could call it a learning opportunity as I let him get really close to it before telling him NO! but it really felt more like entrapment. =)
The 4-in-1 peach tree was not thinned enough and gave us hundreds of tiny fruits. In May the first 3 varieties all ripened at about the same time: May pride, Flordaprince, and desert gold. There was enough harvest to make 2 pies and a peach buckle. The Mid-pride tree and the branches of Mid-Pride on the multigraft tree are on track to all ripen at the same time so I may consider jam or more baking (note to self, take inventory of jam supplies soon!). I love to eat them fresh but max out at 4 or 5 a day.

More in the "took this and made this" category

Not to disappoint as I know you've been eagerly awaiting a report on what went on around here on the 2nd and 3rd days of the long weekend.

• Peaches the farm boy picked became a peach buckle (in my iron skillet that I love). Recipe here (super yummy - what I call a grown up dessert as it's not super sweet)
• Spent mash from beer making became dog treats. 
• Winter crops were pulled to make way for newly sewn seeds.
• The Parsnips that were pulled became patties (adapted from Laurels Kitchen cookbook which was given to me in the way back days and I don't use much but should revisit it more often. There's some great finds in there like the veggie lasagna that is a ton of work but so, so yummy.) 
• Tiny red cherry tomatoes went in the guacamole - they are so small they almost don't seem worth picking (but they look pretty next to avocado). Not sure about this plant, so I hacked it back to half its size but might be gone before July to make space for something more yummy. Gotta make a note not to buy this type again... 

Today

Dug these up and made a wonky braid.

Took 2 sticks and a rock and made a tomato support, which I thought was cool but Max was like whatever... when's dinner?

Peeked into the potato bin, which apparently I should have done a few weeks ago as I found them growing above the surface, and added some compost to cover the goods.

Booyah

Two pies and a pillow (gift for an important friend) later, the night is a success.

Right???

Tell me your dining room table looks like this too...?  Hoping this plus some butter, sugar, etc. turns into a pair of peach pies in a few hours. Wish me luck.

Flag for Boston memorial weekend

As the flag deadline comes sooner than that of the quilt block project, I made a flag with doves (one on each side) to send to Boston for the memorial day display at a museum. Link to project info here and to pics of other people's flags here. The charter was to make something using uplifting colors (they suggested a palette) to share love and peace, and it is organized by a modern quilt guild in Vancouver. I have to admit being a little intimidated by the "modern" theme of the Boston quilt square project I posted about below... not quite sure what makes a "modern quilt". The guild I was part of in Washington state more than 10 years ago was most certainly not modern - I was the youngest member by a lot! But it gave me another reason to surf quilting sites, and I'm starting to get a sense of what they mean. We'll see how timing goes this week and next - sewing needs to fall second (or third or fourth) in line after dealing with the ripe peaches and some other projects. Was supposed to be making peach pies tonight but haven't started yet and it's after 10 so that doesn't bode well. Maybe jam this weekend.

Impetus found

After making a wallhanging gift in conjunction with my sister and listening to stories as she made her first quilt for a baby shower present, I've been thinking it's about time for me to start working on quilty projects again. And this project to make quilt squares for some folks in Boston has put me over the edge. It can be as big or small as I want it to be, and it's meaningful. And heaven knows I have more than enough fabric that's been waiting years and years to be put to use!
Info on the project can by found by clicking on the button above, in case you want to add in, and link to pics of squares people have already made here http://www.flickr.com/groups/quiltsforboston/. Very inspiring.