harvests, volunteers and mini vacations

 yesterday i spent about 5 hours weeding the garden and filled an entire garbage can with leafy detritus. while weeding i uncovered dozens of volunteer mystery tomatillo and tomato seedlings! i'm letting them all grow even though i have no clue what varieties they could be. i was disappointed that i never got tomatillos started this spring so this makes me happy.

 they even planted themselves in good places. i updated my 2012 growing list, adding in all the volunteers and subtracting some failures (major earwig problems over here--i lost tons of seedlings.)

 these sunflowers are another welcome group of volunteers. i never got around to planting any sunflower seeds this year, lameness, but these seem like they're going to be awesome. there's eight of them scattered around and they all have many many buds.

 first squash of the summer!

 and first ripe *red* tomatoes came in last week, including this doubleton.

 i'm still getting lots of golden sweet peas, but most of them don't make it in front of the camera.

 albino alpine strawberries are trickling in at about one wee mouthful per week.

 i planted my kales too close together but they're doing well anyway. in front you can see the bush beans coming up.

 asparagus berries? the asparagus patch is going gangbusters. once the seeds mature i'll plant them to try to help it expand.

 here's something i don't think i've ever posted about before. it's a weird little tomato relative called "naranjilla" ("little orange" in spanish; a.k.a. "lulo"). it's my first year growing this. the seeds take over a month to germinate, the plant likes heat but not direct sunlight, doesn't like wind, takes an extremely long season, and the thorns are absolutely EVIL. why even grow it?

 because look how cool!! and it's a fun challenge. i've never tasted naranjilla fruit before. i can't wait. they look a bit like fuzzy persimmons. here's a picture from jungle garden:

 i harvested a 4+ foot tall volunteer lamb's quarters yesterday. jason's been juicing the leaves for green smoothies lately. so we pulled up the whole plant and put it in a tub of water, then he drove off with it in the back of his truck--it looked like a christmas tree!

 cam and i went cherry picking at an organic cherry/plum/apple orchard in emmett saturday morning. between the two of us we picked about 10lbs of bing cherries, and at only $1/lb we probably should've done more. but it was a little weird for me, being so used to foraging. dozens of short little trees loaded with gobs of perfectly ripe fruit within easy reach--i told her i felt like a hunter shooting animals at the zoo. still fun though, and we had a lovely picnic under a cherry tree.

 i have one day of work left this week. i decided to take thursday and friday off to have a nice five-day vacation during which i hope to do as much nothing as possible. i might go up to mccall to watch the fireworks on the lake. other than that i intend to laze around in the garden, read, take pictures, and watch the entirety of netflix.

happy july!

teensie tiny harvest monday

 today i picked a small handful of white alpine strawberries from a plant my friend jeanne grew from seed and gave me as a housewarming gift. they're delicious! there were a couple dried up berries from last year so i picked off the seeds and started a few seedlings, too.

 my apple tree is full of tiny apples! and i found a tree in the back yard that i thought was pear but is actually cherry. it has some fruit, and so does one of the quince bushes in front. this is extra cool because i don't think i'll have as much time to go out foraging this year.

 bonsai tomato the second!

 the ladies look almost like grown chickens now, just about half size (maybe one third size? i'm not sure). one of these days i'll post more in depth about their personalities.

they're out in their coop full-time now, and i let them out to explore whenever i'm home. lately when they catch a glimpse of me inside they hop up on the windowsill and peck at the glass. beggars! they demand grape treats. (of all the tasty things they've tried, grapes are by far the favorite. they also love watermelon, squash, lettuce and broccoli.)

first harvest monday of autumn

this weekend jason and i went to our friend rifka’s house in king hill for a harvest/equinox celebration. we feasted, foraged, played music, wandered, relaxed, feasted some more...it was so lovely, i’ll put up photos once i finish them.

i’ve harvested a lot since last week. many of my plants are having their second (or third, or fourth) wind, like this monster zucchini plant:

if you can believe it this has been growing since april. outdoors, using a fishbowl for a cloche early on when frost was still an issue. it started squashing in june, and i wish i kept track of how many zukes it produced...at least 50. the stem split into two vines, and it keeps growing in both directions.

just in the last week it’s put out seven zucchini, with two more growing now. that’s more than most weeks, but not by much. and i'm still not tired of them.

all three of my eggplants are blooming and fruiting again.

so are the strawberries.

ground cherries are dropping more than ever.

future salsa verde: my first big harvest of green tomatillos.

and the very first ripe purple one. little late, but i’ll take it.

the citrus fruits show no sign of wanting to ripen anytime soon. it’s almost time to move the plants inside. they’ve grown so much from the tiny twigs that came in the mail six months ago.

happy autumn everyone!