Tomato People
Mom!
Mom! Are we there yet?
Son! We are five minutes closer to getting there from when you last asked!
Category: Garden
We live in the Great Inland Northwest outside growing a large majority of our food in a garden “made-from-scratch”.
Never a Dull Moment
Not Dull
It’s never a dull moment in our garden. As you go about weeding, watering, planting, trimming, and doing all the chores in the garden there is always humor to perk up your day. Just keep your eyes open and your imagination engaged and you will be surprised by all that you find.
Entertain Yourself
If you don’t believe me, then take a look at some of the garden people from the tomatoes today.
Have you ever seen a tomato critter like this? Does this tomato have a close relation to Bugs Bunny?
Check out those ears!
Looks like a much happier bunny with a body. Hmmm.
Tomato Joy
Tomato Joy is arriving. Mr. and Mrs. Cherry were expecting a little bundle of tomato joy. They had gone to the hospital that morning and had been there many hours. They were both tired and getting a little concerned. It just seemed as though this child was taking forever to be born.
All of a sudden, Mabel’s contractions got harder and faster and the room got noisy. Everyone in the room rushed around, preparing for the new arrival. The little one finally arrived. Everyone smiled, feeling relieved. The doctor lifted the baby up, so the parents could see and said, “This is a surprise,
Congratulations! It is Triplets?
Tomato Humor
Ready for some tomato humor?
What did the old tomato say to the young tomato?
Don’t you get saucy there with me youngster!
Why did Mrs. Tomato turn red? She saw Mr. Green Pea!
What did the young tomato say to the old tomato? You fill in the blanks!
Garden is Sanity
Blue Screen Sanctuary
Our garden is sanity for me. It is the place I go to do some weeding, watering, and picking. There are absolutely no screens to look at, and no phones to answer. I can hear the birds sing, play with dogs and kids, and get real dirty and never worry what people think of me. Anyone who knows me recognizes that is a really natural state for me.
Harvest Begins
At the end of the summer coming into fall, it becomes a lot more work as more and more produce needs harvesting and processing. My hands get blisters and dried out from all the washing, cleaning, cooking, and canning but the quality of the yummy food is well worth it throughout the following winter months. Here are some cucumbers getting ready to be pickled.
Buckets
Here are the buckets from this morning, tomatoes, dill herb, Dahlia’s, and tomatoes. Any kind of flower blossom brightens my day!
A normal-sized zucchini is what I am holding. Honestly, it is how big they get all the time.
Tomato Sorting
Back up at the house, the tomatoes are washed and sorted into ripeness groups. The group on the right is red and ready to eat or can. The group on the left will get to sit in my vegetable baskets by the window to finish ripening. I’ll process them probably the next time I pick.
Carrots in the Army
Airborne 82nd Carrots!
Here are the newest carrots in the Army. They are the world’s bravest recruits getting ready to jump out of a perfectly good airplane. Of course, they are not afraid.
Ready guys?
The Sargent finally pushes them out the door.
AHHHHHHHHHHH! They are Airborne now!
Meanwhile, the rest of the recruits still in the airplane bay decide to take matters into their own hands. They gather around their Sargent holding him right where he is. Making it virtually impossible for him to be able to push them out the door.
Really?
Will Larry, Mo, and Curly eventually have to jump anyhow? Tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to the “To be pushed or not to be pushed out?”, episode of the Carrot People in the Army
Extra Cabbage
Extra Cabbage in the garden. What does a local girl do with extra heads of cabbage? This is of course is after canning 12 quarts of sauerkraut enough to last into the next decade? Since leaving the islands to make my home here in Washington, some things have become hard to find, so you have to make it yourself right? Never make canning boring!
Once upon a time, there was a family of fresh cabbage heads. They had just been wrenched from their comfortable leafy homes in the garden and put into boxes.
It wasn’t all that bad but, honestly talk about close quarters. Packed like sardines, are we. Hmmm, what is this human up to? Crazy Haouli. Bath time AAARGH! Yummy! Salt, so is this what it is like to swim in the ocean? Are we in the ocean?
No. What is that stink smell? Whew! What is that hot stuff? Kim Chee
Gnome Repair is Finished
Here is what the Gnomes looked like, I finished painting after the repair of the older one. This is before clear coat spray which I should be able to apply tomorrow. FUN!!!
Sometimes people believe I should not get such a kick out of painting and recycling a broken item. I grew up in a generation that did not throw things away that were still useable. We took the time to fix them, and what is funny is that the ability to repair something often carries a real good feeling of accomplishment when you are done. Almost endearing the object to you more because it becomes a little bit part of you.
More than One Life?
More than One Life?
I love the cute little Gnomes in our garden, they do seem to have multiple lives if we are willing to keep repairing them. There are two Gnomes outside that have had a few rough winters. Both have broken parts that needed fixing, they were faded and badly in need of cleaning. They didn’t actually look so bad to me till after Pete had fixed the broken parts and they were standing next to the “new” hunter on the kitchen counter.
This new “hunter Gnome” is presented here especially for my brother and sister in Albuquerque. Rocky do you like him? He is at our front door. Should I send you guys one?
You can tell that the bigger one is really faded when you look at them together. He had to have his right foot glued back on and the rock underneath it glued too. See how extreme the fading is…
I wasn’t quite sure how to go about painting them but got out the acrylic paints and went to work and have thoroughly enjoyed doing it this afternoon. Now I need to rest my broken collarbone.
Harvest
The harvest doesn’t look real impressive sitting here on the kitchen countertop till you see the sizes of them compared to the size of my hand. These are oversized baking pans, so they look kind of normal but take a look at the third picture! Just slightly large aren’t they?
Potatoes
Zucchini, Yellow Crookneck Squash
Okay, the zucchini is the same way in deceit. They look small stacked there but average 3-5 lbs each. This is just 2 days from the last picking of both kinds. We are not planting this many squashes ever again.
Tomatoes
We love the sweetness of our own tomatoes. Sometimes I think there must be some sugar sprinkled on them but nope. We have a variety this year including, Early Girls, Glaciers, Beefsteak, and Large Cherry Tomatoes
Seeds
Set to dry for next year-green beans, lettuce, spinach, peaches, zucchini. We got ourselves a book about how to dry your own seeds. It has saved us a lot of money and now that we have done it a couple of years, it has become really easy. Definitely something worth looking into if you enjoy growing your own food.
