Still Harvesting

There aren't as many, and they are not as pretty, but they still taste good! However, we are getting a lot more rain this week and it looks like my plants are starting to give out. I send my gratitude to the tomato fairies!

The Tomatoes are here!

I wish Bill could be here to taste this...our first tomatoes from our own garden plants.

We have had so much rain here this Summer, and so little sunshine, it is amazing to me that these plants are doing so well.

As a matter of fact, they are monster plants. Taller and wider than me! And full of unripened tomato goodness

Here is our very first ripe tomato. I took these pictures to bring to Bill so he could see the fruit of our labor. I thought i would share them with you too.

And as soon as he can start eating solid foods, i'm gonna make him some great meals with our own tomatoes and basil.

Until then i will eat some of them, freeze some for sauce and share the wealth. I hope your gardens are doing well also!

The Ice Storm...Thawing out...

I will never ever again take heat and electricity for granted...

Our power went out sometime during the night on Thursday. It was finally back up and running sometime late yesterday (Sunday) afternoon. I knew this storm was going to be a whopper , and thought i was prepared, but i was mistaken. Sometime during the night on Thursday i woke to that awful sound of electrical wires down. There was a loud POP and some humming and sizzling sounds, accompanied by bright flashes of light, and the power was gone. We've had plenty of power outages, and they have lasted for a day or so. Mildly annoying. I can't use the computer...no television...no cooking....But this was different. Once we got up on Friday morning we realized how isolated this storm made us feel. EVERYTHING was coated with ice. ALL power was out. Slowly i began to realize what that meant. No stove to cook on(electric), no clocks to tell time...no music or news....no phone except for the cell i had thankfully just charged the night before...no heat except for the little gas stove that we had cranking the whole entire time. ( i love that little stove) Thankfully that kept the house a little warmer than those who had no extra heat source, but by Saturday night our indoor temps were in the low 40's. We managed to stay warm by wearing layers (thank goodness for sweaters!) and at night we piled extra blankets on the bed and in came the three dogs with us. We slept in an amazingly warm pack. The two scariest things for me...No hotels available anywhere around us and the garage door was powered by a backup battery that would only last 2 days and then Bill would not be able to get out of our main exit. (We do have another exit, but with all the ice and branches down, it would have been an ordeal to use that exit.) For those of you who don't know us well, my husband was hit by a car while out running almost 20 years ago and is a quadriplegic. His wheelchair is much like a little tractor, but that too runs on battery powered electricity....And tho he is fairly comfortable in our little home, he is adversely affected by extreme temperatures. So keeping the house warm, and him warm enough was going to be a challenge. I found a battery in my cabinet that would fit the old radio we keep for this reason and were able to listen to NPR and get the news...But after the first day with no heat and lights, this got really old fast. On Friday I was able to run to the market to get cold cuts and bread, cookies and a few things that we could eat without cooking them. I took all the real good stuff out of the freezer and put it into a cooler and put it out on the deck to freeze...and then we waited... The trip to the market was scary. So much devastation all around me. It really pains me to see all of those lovely trees down in the road. It was frightening to come across the live wires down and familiar roads closed down...Because the power outage was so severe, i had to drive further out and found that only 1 grocery store was (thankfully) still open. The cashier was clearly agitated and when i started talking to her (i talk to everyone) she told me she was worried about her Mom as she was living in the middle of nowhere and was on oxygen and had only 1 tank in reserve. That put it all in perspective for me. I told her i would pray for her Mom and we both got a little weepy. Things like this make you realize what is really important, you know? Anyway, strangely enough, the thing i was worried about while out driving and seeing all the trees down was my big pine trees. I have several of them standing guard around my house. They are huge. And i love these old trees...The tree in the front of the house was so overburdened by the ice that it's boughs were bent all the way to the ground. I was worried i would loose some major branches. But after a night of warmer temps last night, the branches are back up where they belong. I didn't loose one branch on any of my trees. When i could get away from the hardship this storm imposed on everyone, i did see the beauty it brought to us too. It was a s if we lived in a different universe. Ice coated everything, and when the sun shone, it was just beautiful. So i am sitting here, catching up on my blogging and email and so grateful for the little things like light, and warmth, and security. It was a good lesson for me to remember to be grateful for all of my Blessings....

Early Morning in the Kitchen

Last night I stopped at the little produce cart the man down the street from me sets up every Summer. I go by his cart almost every day and if he has tomatoes or cut flowers, i stop and buy them from him. There is something so satisfying about buying from this man who takes so much pride in his produce and flowers. And i like eating food that has been raised in the soil very much like my own. This may be the last time i get tomatoes from him as we had temperatures close to freezing last night. These tomatoes show the ravages of late Summer/early Fall weather on their mottled skins. But they are still delicious!

I have been buying up all the local tomatoes i see around me and bring them home to make a simple sauce, and then i spoon the cooled tomato sauce into zip lock bags and freeze it. I never did learn how to can, so this is the next best thing for me. I just clean and chop the tomatoes and put them in my favorite pot to stew a bit. Sometimes i add my own fresh basil leaves, with a bit of sugar, salt and pepper. Then when i am so tired of ice and snow, and am dreaming of warm weather, i pull the frozen mixture out of the freezer and make up a pot of fresh sauce that tastes like Summer on a plate in the middle of Winter. Delicious! Oh! The zinnias are from my friend's stand too. I bought them for Kate for her shop. She loves zinnias....