As with the rest of the Midwest we have been pounded with rain everyday. Although normally this is great for crops I was worried that ours were going to rot from lack of sunshine and the ground hasn't dried out in over 2 weeks. Luckily, the things we have planted loved the rain and have flourished!
Tonight was the first "picking" and it was very exciting! Rory wasn't too sure at first but he got the hang of it quickly--and he was allowed to walk around in the mud. Not sure which he thought was more fun-the mud or picking from the garden!
In all, we picked 2 zucchini (there are lots more that are just days away from being ready) and about 16 ounces of green beans! One thing we learned already that we should not have done is stagger our beans. I thought we would be overwhelmed with beans so we spaced each planting about 2 weeks apart but since I'm planning on canning them it would make more sense to have a bunch of beans ready at the same time.
Josh said we could get probably 3 pickings off of each bean plant so hopefully I can refrigerate what I have and time things so I can can a full batch at once. I don't really want to drag out my canner for 1 or 2 jars. Next time we will plant all our seeds at the same time, at least for things I want to preserve.
Before we put a fence around the yard, a deer came and munched our strawberry plants to the ground. I thought there was no recovering from that. I've heard strawberry plants are fairly hardy so I let them be to see what would happen. They came back--and with more blooms that they originally had! There were 2 berries ready. I think Rory was most excited to pick those! The birds had done a number on one so really only one little berry was ready for eating.
He wanted to eat one right away. In the spirit of eating fresh from our garden we all gathered in the kitchen and I sliced up our one little berry. We counted to 3 and popped our teeny tiny bite in our mouth....it was one of the SOUREST berries I've ever had. Rory was a trooper though--he made a pucker face and eeked out, "yum..." I had to laugh because he was being such a good sport. In the fall, we are going to clear a larger portion of the yard and move the berry plants. Maybe next year we will have more than one berry to eat!
This is the first year Josh and I have purchased fresh beef....as in, fresh from the farm--can't get any fresher. Josh's sister and brother-in-law are dairy farmers but also raise cows for meat. It is the BEST meat I've ever had. No joke--will never buy red meat from the grocery again. In comparison-the grocery store tastes like rubber.
This is also the first time I've ever called the processing place to order what I want. Bless the woman's heart for helping this city girl out. She was asking me all sorts of questions about what I wanted and I had no clue what she was talking about. I do have a few cuts of meat, like short ribs, that I've never used before so this will expand my cooking horizons! She did throw me a bit when she asked if I knew what cow I was getting...I paused and said that if she had the name I would prefer not to know. I still don't know and I don't want to. That lead me though to ask her about the whole process. I know that Becca and Dan are nice to their cows and treat them humanely. The barns are clean and the cows look as happy as the ones in the commercial on tv. :) I'm happy to report that the whole process is as humane as it can be--and quick. No suffering on our part. I'm not a part of PETA or anything but it does make me feel better knowing exactly where my food came from and that no cow was treated wrongly.
I thought one cooler would fit most of our meat...luckily, Josh thought to take laundry baskets and that is how our meat rode home! Our freezer is now chock full and I'm just itching to get the grill out! Our next menu plan should be quite exciting!
I've been trying to purchase local and organic because it's better for our bodies, the animals and the environment so I'm really pumped that the majority of what we will be eating over the next few months is about as local as we can get!
