Garden Update: August

I can barely call this an August update, as August is now nearly over! I have been so busy with harvesting, processing and preserving the bounty coming out of our three gardens. Yes, you read it correctly — three gardens. A close friend and I have teamed up to garden both my garden, his garden and a third plot we built on a bartered piece of horse pasture. We’re putting our skills to the test and really learning a lot along the way. Growing food for our two families is such a satisfying feeling.

If you’ve been following me on IG, you’ll know that I’ve been harvesting a zillion tomatoes and summer squash (yes, a zillion, dear lord!). I pulled 4 of the 5 squash plants last week to make room for fall crops, which was additionally helpful because I simply couldn’t handle that much squash! Now it’s time to pull some cherry tomato plants… or perhaps I’ll just open a farm stand.

Here are a few of my harvest baskets recently:

Finally, the sweet and hot peppers are starting to rippen. I’m very much looking forward to having a stash of sweet peppers in my freezer come December for chili and stew making. This year, I can proudly say I have made a dent in my grocery bill. Doing that does require having the know-how to cook all this food into delicious dishes, but that’s what makes the abundance all the more fun. We’ve been having all kinds of interesting sandwiches for lunch. Our favorites are 1) cream cheese + tomato, 2) tomato, mayo + grilled summer squash with basil and 3) of course, there is the EBLT: eggplant, bacon, lettuce + tomato sandwich.

As August fades to September and the mornings grow cool while the sun travels lower through the sky each day, I’ll look back on this summer as my best gardening year to date. Of course, there have been mishaps like failed brussel sprouts and losing two kale plants to aphids, but overall it’s been wonderful.

Here’s a sneak peek at the third plot and me in full farmer mode. More on this plot, coming soon! Happy Harvesting everyone.