Quinnifer Hughes is complete, consider this the first (or maybe second) “ homegrown tomato”. Which is the tag for all of my artsy and OG memes and stuff.
Because the gray squirrels jacked up this one. There are some things even duct tape can't fix:
I made tomato soup with the last of our 2023 tomatoes. We had enough left for about two servings:
Green:
Green:
Everywhere:
Including sprouts:
It is the end of an age. My queen & I spent Saturday taking down everything at Plot 420. We wanted to have our presence off the land so it would be available for someone else to takeover in 2024.
We decided to shut it down so we could focus on maximizing our backyard garden at home & free up some time for other interests. We brought home a lot of trellising hardware (cattle panels, posts, fencing, etc.) that we plan to incorporate into the backyard garden so there will eventually be photos of how we work it in. Part of the plan to maximize the backyard garden is to make more use of vertical space.
This is probably the last photo of Plot 420 that I'll take. Apologies for the graininess but it was dusk when we finally finished the tear down:
And I’m generally ambivalent towards tomatoes. They’re ok. I eat them. I actively add them to my salad. But they’re normally just shop bought tomatoes, and everyone knows that supermarket produce in the U.K. is pretty mediocre.
But this tomato. Oh man, *this* little fella… taste sensation. Popped it straight off the vine, into my mouth and tasted heaven, no hyperbole (Well. Maybe just a little)
I get where Suletta Mercury is coming from. If a girl gave me my first homegrown tomato in my life I would fall in love with her right away and never let her go
Late summer salads burst with color yet greens have likely bolted. That’s my excuse for tossing in chunks of homemade sourdough bread. Learn to make Panzanella (Tomato and Bread Salad).
If you grow your own vegetables, spring salads feature shades of green: various lettuces, herbs, asparagus, scallions, and peas. Late-summer salads burst with color, but most of my lettuces have bolted by the time tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and red onions are ready. At least that’s my excuse for replacing greens with chunks of homemade sourdough bread that can soak up the tomatoes’ juices and…
Day 186 of 365-Tuesday-River Banks, Fireflies and Sunshine Kisses
Day 186 of 365-Tuesday-River Banks, Fireflies and Sunshine Kisses
I wish for you a July filled with slamming screen doors, peach cobblers, and fireflies blinking through the evening. I wish for you letters handwritten posted through the mail with little Wish You Were Here images. I wish for you tire-swings, your favorite songs and river banks. I wish for you bowls of ice cream, bare-feet and “is it hot enough for you?” questions. I wish for you pop up showers…
Oven dried tomatoes made using this recipe. These are some of our Juliet tomatoes that we harvested right before the first freeze of 2023:
My queen was called up for jury duty this week but wasn't selected so she won't be called for at least another year. She got 11 dollars for the one day... parking near the court house cost 18. She'd still do it again:
A week's worth of seen while walking:
The best photo I could manage of a pileated woodpecker:
heard a woman on the train yesterday claim that the best tomatoes are from new jersey, which sounds patently insane to me but now i'm wondering if this is actually true. can anyone confirm or deny the quality of jersey tomatoes
Now that I work from home, I almost do zero chores on the weekends because I do them during the week, which is so nice. However, for some reason I woke up with the motivation to tackle my spare bedroom today, which I use as storage, so I can turn it into a bedroom for my niece. It’s actually not bad and I’ll finish it this afternoon BUT I’m still not dealing with Olivia’s stuff, which I threw in there after she died because i couldn’t look at it. I don’t see any good reason to get rid of her old toys or dog beds right now, or ever. I’ve washed everything dirty too, so today I put them in a corner of the bedroom, nicely, and that’s where they’ll stay until I either get another dog and they can use them or I may never get one and just keep them for memories. I’m a very indecisive Gemini 🤷🏽♀️
Also I planted a couple of tomato plants yesterday and my mom yelled at me because Albuquerque is known to get one more big storm/freeze in April and they’ll die. BUT I planted them in a big pot at the advice of my uncle, instead of the ground so I can bring them in if it snows or freezes again. They were cheap and I’m a terrible gardener so I won’t be too upset if they die but fingers crossed they give me some grape tomatoes this summer 🤞🏽🤞🏽