First Harvest of 2011

Our first (real) harvest of 2011!

I'm not really counting the few strawberries or the onion we collected almost 3 weeks. In addition to the few berries we harvested early last week, we collected a whole pint of strawberries on Tuesday. The plants are in a raised bed and are doing really well, so much better than last year. The berries are small but sweet. Unfortunately we have no blueberries left. There's a mesh net over the bushes, but some birds or squirrels or other critter managed to get through the mesh and eat the rest of the fruit that were on the plant.  I hope you enjoyed the berries, you little jerks! I guess we'll try again next year.

We collected two small yellow squash and a handful of green beans.

We also decided to pick the small Golden Bell pepper that was on the plant, despite the fact that it wasn't ripe yet (i.e, yellow). We're hoping this stimulates the pepper plant into producing more fruit. 

Our first little broccoli! We have four broccoli plants. Two of them bolted at the end of May, but the other two plants are doing fine. We decided to harvest a little chunk of broccoli before the plants have a chance to bolt again, but we didn't cut all of it. This is what's left on the two plants:

I'm actually a little surprised that the broccoli plants seem to be doing fine. It has been so hot and humid over the last week, and I thought these plants didn't do well in the heat. We steamed up the beans and broccoli with our dinner last night. They were good!

And now I have something to really look forward to: Some of the tomatoes have started to turn red. This has got to be one of the most exciting things about gardening, especially because we have so many tomato plants.  There isn't much color in the garden until the tomato and squash plants start making fruit. We have bonnie grape and early girl tomatoes (above), and the plants look healthy. I hope they stay this way, and now that July is coming, I really hope I have lots of tomatoes to harvest.

Freaky Fruit

While trolling the internet recently I came across photographer Uli Westphal, whose work "deal[s] with the way humans perceive, depict and transform the natural world." My favorite photographs are the series dealing with food, specifically fruits and vegetables.

The first one that caught my eye is the "Mutatoes," or mutant food series.  In the artist's words,

"The complete absence of botanical anomalies in our supermarkets has caused us to regard the consistency of produce presented there as natural. Produce has become a highly designed, monotonous product. We have forgotten, and in many cases never experienced, the way fruits, roots, and vegetables can actually look (and taste)."

Because of my deep love of tomatoes, I really like the Lycopersicum series. These photographs show the many different varieties of tomatoes that exist. The artist writes that industrialization has led to a focus on high-yielding, uniform crops and livestock. This, in turn, has resulted in many varieties of fruit, vegetables, and even livestock becoming extinct or on the brink of extinction. He writes that the tomato pictures are the first in a series of photographs that will show different varieties and breeds of food and animals that we may not be aware of.

I like the photographs, but I'm also interested in the message. I recently read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and the author touched on the subject of endangered varieties of farm animals and vegetables. Until I got interested in gardening and growing my own food, the thought of a dark reddish-purple tomato, or a tomato with ridges and ripples, seemed too weird to me. This wasn't what I was used to seeing in the store, i.e. perfectly red, round tomatoes. Now I understand and appreciate the many different varieties of tomatoes I can get and grow. Nothing beats the taste of a freshly-picked tomato from your own backyard. I like experimenting with different varieties too. Three years ago I had not heard of Black Krim tomatoes, or chocolate peppers, and now I'm growing both!  One of my new favorites sites is Seed Savers Exchange, a non-profit dedicated to preserving heirloom seeds. I've spent time looking through the online catalog and wishing I had the space to grow more crops. While on the farm over the weekend, I drooled over the kitchen garden. Oh to have room to grow melons and potatoes!

p.s. I plan to put pictures up of my Oklahoma farm visit as soon as I organize them. Although they lied to me about the watermelon and getting to ride a combine, I did thoroughly enjoy our BBQ and loved spending time in the middle of nowhere. It was so peaceful out there.

Bird Watch

Awhile ago I wrote about the bird feeder my neighbors installed on their deck. I haven't seen too many cardinals since that day, but the feeder does get A LOT of bird visitors, and the occasional squirrel, and I'm so glad they installed it because it helps keep the birds away from my deck and my crops. Last week I watched my neighbors hosing all the bird poop off their deck, and that made me extra glad that they have the feeder, and I don't! 

I so admire the many close-up pictures of birds and bugs that I see on other garden blogs. My little point-and-shoot camera plus my own limited abilities make for some slightly blurry and not very exciting bird pictures. I have noticed that the birds are getting used to seeing people (and my cat) so maybe before the end of summer I'll be able to get some better shots.

Thanks to the magic of the Inter-tubes, this post is coming to you from the future! Right now we are en route to my husband's family's farm where I've been promised a BBQ feast and all the home-grown watermelon I can eat. I hope it's as delicious as I imagine.