Harvest Monday - Late July and An Apology

Wednesday, July 23rd.  Eggplants could have grown larger but I was impatient to make eggplant parmesan.  It was good.

Friday, July 25th.  First large tomato, a Tasti Lee Hybrid from Burpee.  We ate it on BLC's.  C for cucumber, I didn't have lettuce.

Saturday, July 26th.  Harvest after weeding on Saturday morning.  Here are separate shots of what's in the basket.

Two types of peppers.

Found another type of pepper, the Jimmy Nardello in the basket, so took another photo.

I used the peppers for stuffed peppers.  Even stuffed Cubanelle halves.

Cucumber and 2 small zucchinis.  The first harvest of the latter.

A mess of green beans and tomatoes.  Green ones came off branches I had to trim.

Below some of the green ones became fried green tomatoes.  I have discovered how good these are just this year.  Cornmeal, salt, pepper and a dash of sugar when browned in oil.

Monday, July 28th.  More tomatoes.

Here's the apology to the heron who I though had eaten all the goldfish.  The goldfish are still there.  Dan discovered them in the pond two days after my post about them being missing/eaten.  I don't know where they were hiding but they are still there.

Other harvests at Daphne's Dandelions.

Now You See Them - Now You Don't

Remember these critters?  The goldfish in my pond?  They were there on Sunday.  I saw them from the deck when we had a campfire and made s'mores.

Here they are earlier this spring on a rainy day.

And here more recently as fuzzy gold shapes in the water.

As of Tuesday, they were gone.

No goldfish to be seen.

I think the heron I saw last week that landed in my backyard momentarily until I startled it, returned and had its fill. 

 I wonder what the absence of the goldfish will do to our lack of mosquitoes?  On the other hand I won't need to run the hose to fill up the pond when we have had no rain for an extended time.  I wonder how long it will be before the heron returns for the frogs?

Harvest Monday - Mid July

Here's what's come out of my vegetable garden this past week.

Lettuce and cucumbers on the 14th.

Basil, peppers, cucumbers and the first green beans on the 18th.

Cucumbers, green beans, and tomatoes on the 20th.

Now I don't usually pick green tomatoes and I didn't pick these.  I had one tomato plant fall over.  It didn't have its own cage and I thought the cages on either side would be support enough but that wasn't what it wanted.  These 4 green tomatoes came off when I propped it back up and provided support.

The orange tomato wasn't supposed to be picked either, but when I felt it off it came into my hand.  I think it's a Juliette. Hard to know for sure because I planted the Juliette between two paste variety tomatoes and they are looking the same as the Juliette. I don't think it's fully ripe.  There are others that color that I didn't make the mistake of touching.

Joining Daphne for Harvest Monday.

Cotswolds Walking Tour - Day 7

This is the last of seven posts on our walking tour through the English countryside of the Cotswolds. We took a self-guided tour arranged by English Lakeland Ramblers which meant they provided the B & B accommodations, the transport of our luggage and detailed instructions and maps. It went amazingly smoothly.

Day 7: Chipping Campden to Moreton-in-Marsh. 7 miles
Walk Description: "Pass through the charming villages of Broad Campden and Blockley and descend to Batsford where you may visit the arboretum and falconry centre.  Finally a pleasant stroll across meadows to Moreton-in-Marsh."

Our last morning of walking begins next to these potato fields.

Looking back at the tall steeple in Chipping Campden.

Another parish church.

A field of lavender!  Wow!

We stop at the Arboretum for lunch and then watch the falcon.

Final stretch to Moreton-in-Marsh.

It's market day again.

The parish church with work being done on its steeple.

We did it!  With all the extra walking we have done 50 miles!

Cotswolds Walking Tour - Day 6

This is the sixth of seven posts on our walking tour through the English countryside of the Cotswolds. We took a self-guided tour arranged by English Lakeland Ramblers which meant they provided the B & B accommodations, the transport of our luggage and detailed instructions and maps. It went amazingly smoothly.

Day 6: Broadway to Chipping Campden. 7 miles
Walk Description: "Walk up to Broadway Tower, the 18th century folly from where there are fine views across the vale before descending to Chipping Campden, the loveliest of all Cotswolds villages with its covered market place, beautiful 'wool' church, almshouses, and silversmith."

Hazy, a bit warmer today, especially since we had to climb right from the start.

Looking back down on Broadway.

Dan beats me to the top. See him there on the right?

Broadway tower.

From the top.  We were the only ones to climb up it.

Looking back as we continue on the trail.

Ripening grain field.  Nice of the farmer to keep the right of way clear.

We enter Chipping Campden through this field of Brussels sprouts.

Looking back.  It's a huge field that will be harvested in December.  I asked the farmer.

Chipping Campden Catholic Church. The first we see.

Pub for lunch.

The grand wool church.  It had the tallest steeple we had seen.

Farmers heading home right through the village.