Attack of the Giant Green Spider

Green Lynx Spider (female?)

It’s hard to take pictures when your hands are shaking.  This might not look very impressive.  But, consider this, that leggy green spider is eating a very large carpenter bee.  On my scale, that makes this scary/beautiful spider huge.  And, it’s safe to say, I won’t [...]

Black Krim

Three Black Krim Plants = Three Tomatoes

One was claimed by the squirrels, the second (above) we picked early to save it from said squirrels, and the third is still on the vine.  Will the last one survive?  It’s a mystery.

After ripening for three days in [...]

Missing Cape Cod

…And, beach plum jam

I could buy some.  Nah, that’s too easy.  I think I’ll try to devise a convoluted recipe.

This is my current plan:

I Wanna Be Beach Plum Jam

1-2 large bunches of tart grapes, halved & seeded
2-4 tart purple plums
juice of one or [...]

Mr Stripey

Mr Stripey doesn’t like the heat.  Last year we had over 20 huge tomatoes.  This year?  We’ve seen about 10 tomatoes on the same number of plants.  And, several of those 10 weren’t pretty.

So, it would be a crime not to showcase the handful of gorgeous tomatoes we were [...]

Ginger Fig Jam

Fig + Ginger + Sugar = Yum

This isn’t really a recipe.  It’s a bit like recycled food.  After two weeks of fig preserve, we wanted something new to accompany our morning toast.  So, I took what was left over from my 5 cups of fig preserve, added [...]

Lemon Cukes, Baby Radishes & Beautiful Butterflies

Lemon Cucumbers

Baby Breakfast Radish

Peppermint & Chocolate Mint

More Tomatoes

Peppers, Oregano & Stripey Tomatoes

Yes, there will be a salad tonight.

Enough Oregano Seeds to turn our backyard into a salad

My First Brandywine Tomato

Brandywine Tomato

In other news, my newly planted teeny tiny two foot tall black mission fig tree had it’s first fig!  The other two black mission fig trees are growing nicely… but, no figs.  The newly planted 4-5 foot kadota fig tree has lost a few leaves, but, the fruit is still [...]

Confiture de Figue

Everything sounds better in French… (And Italian)  Slap a French name on fig preserve and the charm factor goes sky high.   And, that sweet little market on the corner won’t hesitate to add $10 to the price tag.

But, it’s still just fruit and sugar.

This [...]

An Embarrassment of Figs & Cherry Tomatoes

The first ripe figs are almost bursting after this weekend’s heavy rain.  Our brown turkey fig tree is littered with green figs that will ripen any day.  Today, we had about two overflowing handfuls of ripe figs.

Liquid sugar hinting of honey… yum

And, we [...]

Lemon Cucumber Blossoms & Orange Peppers

Lemon Cucumber Blossoms

And…

Orange Peppers

We’re watering the garden and the grass is dying of thirst.

A forest of lavender

And, more tomatoes than we can eat.

This week’s harvest:

One bucket of [...]