Wednesday, July 29, 2009

And speaking of my garden...


Although the big news around Oregon for the last week has been the scorching temperatures (it's supposed to break an all-time record today at 107 degrees), it has been pretty darn miserable and I'd much rather share some pictures of what's been growing here at Critter Farm.

Let's start with the berries, shall we?
Fruit-wise, it's been a really good year here. The raspberries are outdoing themselves:

Aren't they lovely? We actually have more than we know what to do with. Last year, they ripened in waves - this year, it seems, they've all become ripe at once. It's been crazy:

And, then, the blueberries. My personal favorites:

We're having an absolutely incredible blueberry season:

Sparrow has been helping me pick them. Or, rather, I pick them and she eats the ones I accidentally drop:

Dottie at least waits for me to offer them to her:

This full bowl came from just 1 1/2 bushes....3.8 pounds!:

I love making blueberry sundaes with frozen plain yogurt (available now at Trader Joe's) and blueberry sauce. The combination of sour and sweet is heavenly. P.S. I really love whipped cream:

In my vegetable garden, the lemon cucumbers are ripening:

The lilac peppers are still fairly small, but the color is turning:

Some green bush beans are ready to be picked:

As are the purple beans:

I got a handful yesterday:

My third batch of peas is almost ripe. These are Alderman shelling peas:

The edamame (soy beans) are taking longer than I thought they would. There's still not much in the way of flowering going on:

Have I mentioned lately how much I love having a strong son around the farm? I appreciate his help so much. (That top bag did ultimately fall off, by the way):

I'm getting a lot of beautiful crookneck squash:

I love to lightly saute' them with garlic. They are wonderfully sweet:

Look at this little guy, he looks like a caterpillar, doesn't he? Silly cuke:

What to do with this motley crew?...

Slice 'em up:

and make pickles!:

Despite the heat, I ventured out to the garden this afternoon to see if anything wanted to come back inside with me. Today's harvest: 1 "Round Light of Tuscany" squash, 3 yellow crookneck squash, and 3 Boston pickling cukes:

I've been watching this volunteer sunflower since it first sprouted. This is it yesterday morning:

Here's that same sunflower tonight. Gorgeous:

Now see? You could hardly tell we are all melting in Oregon right now, right?

30 comments:

  1. I hope your heatwave eases off soon. We've had a very hot June and July here, plus extra dry.

    Congratulations on your beautiful fruits and vegetables!! They all look wonderful.

    But... my favorite picture of course is that blueberry sundae.

    The strong son and the sunflower look great too!

    Stay cool.
    Pam

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  2. Cute Cukes!!!
    You are so smart Danni!! Way to go Farmgirl! I really need to get busy around here!
    Question...where are the birdhouse gourds???? Will you make another attempt???

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  3. I am so impressed and envious of your gardens. The raspberries and blueberries just gorgeous, will you be making jam? Along with dasies, sunflowers seem to put a smile on one's face.

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  4. I'm crazy jealous! Your haul looks amazing and it's still going strong. My garden has all but given up. We've had 42 days at or above 100* since May. No amount of water seems to make the plants feel any better.

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  5. Absolutely gorgeous harvests! Oh, how I miss gardening!
    Try to stay relatively cool,
    Pat

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  6. Berries did terrible here this year due to no rain. They all stayed small and unripe.

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  7. I love it when meals consist of whatever is coming out of the garden. I like eating cucumbers with just a little dressing added on 'em. Just love the crookneck squash sauteed with onions.

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  8. I have serious garden envy and esp berry envy. On all accounts, our gardening endeavors have sucked. Anyhow, congrats!

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  9. Beautiful garden pics and that blueberry sundae sounds and looks delicious!

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  10. Gosh I so envy you..your doing what I wanted to do at a younger age..and your growing things I've never seen before..those purple beans..are they close to the same taste?? and the lemon cukes,I wish I could be there to taste them all..I'm just now getting so I can eat blueberries again after so many years picking them in Mich as a kid..and that shake looks delicious! and its fat free too?? Beautiful garden Danni..I commend you fulfilling your dream!
    diane

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  11. Your garden is so beautiful the goatmother is crying...

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  12. Aaarrrgggghhhh!! I totally covet your blueberries and raspberries! I love them. I so wish I could grow them like you do. They are so beautiful, and you say you have more than you know what to do with? Bah! I want some! I've had to buy frozen from TJs to satsify my berry cravings.

    Your photos are wonderful. All of them. Your garden looks great Danni. Mine is going slowly this year. First the long cool intro to summer, and now for the past 3 weeks, we have had scorching unrelenting heat. My veggies seem to be in shock.

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  13. Yum, look at all those fruits and vegies. Now I'm hungry! Love lemon cukes.

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  14. Some of these things have been going on at mt house, too! Minus the great big fir trees, and strapping young man, of course. (Im glad he was pushing the wheelbarrow this time instead of me. It looks really heavy.)

    All those berries look delightful. I love seeing the girls helping you pick the berries. And that blueberry sundae? CMON. I know you have enough berries to make everyone one of those. May I have extra whipped cream on mine, please?

    Yummy pickles and thats such a pretty basket of squash. We have been eating lots of zucchini around here.

    LOVE the sunflower. They just make me smile.

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  15. Ohhh I am glad you are surviving the heat! I'm originally from Eastern Washington and should be just fine with this weather...but alas living on the Western side of the state has made me a pansy! I can't wait till this weekend when it will cool into the chilly 90's!!!

    Your garden looks just lovely...and yummy! Kim

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  16. What an incredibly beautiful garden, Daniella! It so shows the love and labor you have put into it. And to watch your joy of discovery of every big or small event on critter farm is truly a gift for me.
    Missed out on your new yoghurt creation this morning. Can I please have it NOW?

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  17. For one very brief moment, I imagined you standing in line at the post office with your bowls of raspberries and blueberries, waiting to use their scale. I may have left my brain at the beach.

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  18. Your pics are so beautiful. Sorry about your heat but the veggies seem to love it.
    We are having our second COOLEST July on record, I don't mind but our veggies are slow to ripe. I hope I dont get stuck with tons of green tomatoes.
    I want a sundae too!

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  19. wow..lucky you!!!! something ate my blueberries before they ripened. my bushes were loaded and i was having blueberry dreams and then bingo....they all were gone. i am still trying to figure out what happened. and i got about a handful of raspberries. where did i go wrong? those chooks sure are cute and i bet they love the berries. stay cool!!!

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  20. Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful. Every. Single. Solitary. One.

    Is that a bead of sweat running down that sunflower's face? I like your volunteer better than my volunteer. Your volunteer looks much more calm.

    That shake looks so yummy! Could I please have mine with raspberries? And just a little extra whipped cream.

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  21. Wow, I am IMPRESSED! Gardens look GREAT! Are you freezing any berries?

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  22. Beautiful, Danni! Your garden is just gorgeous - and the produce admirable! Job well done!

    Have you considered making syrup with your excess berries? It's a total breeze to make and extremely popular during the middle of winter when people want waffles with fruit syrup...

    I was so excited today to get out into the garden and see that things are indeed moving along! Having been in the hospital this past week I've missed a lot! I've got cucumbers ready! Woo Hoo!

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  23. You're having the summer we had last year. This year has been wet and a lot cooler so perhaps you will have that next year.

    The sunflower is beautiful.

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  24. What lovely looking produce. You've really got some great stuff growing there in the garden. Looks great!

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  25. Your garden is awesome ~ the pictures are very clear & beautiful. Thanks for the inspiration! I wish my garden was doing as well! ~Lynn

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  26. Gorgeous fruits of your labor :-) I can't wait until next spring when we can have a garden!

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  27. I'm inspired by your garden! Mine was burnt in a heatwave too but is coming back!

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  28. Wow, so much to discover here. Love that garlic...I stumbledon you through Lighthouse Sancuary. We have a farm in Yamhill - sheep, donks, horse, goats, chicekns- and a field of lavender. Love your animal rescue efforts. I donate art proceeds to senior animals. And take in one-on-one when I can. Would love to meet you - where are you? We do Donkey Dreams /Pie Days witht the donks- you'd enjoy.

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  29. Just found my way over here and love the photos and seeing the veg you are pulling from your garden!! I am impressed! I love edamame but never even thought that I could grow my own! The garlic pic is really cool too.

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  30. Sigh...it all looks amazing. Yeah...I wanna take a trip to Oregon now....I don't even care about the heat!!! lol

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