Reaping the Harvest...

I hope y'all will forgive me if I "brag" a little bit on this post.

Actually, I don't really feel like bragging, just showing you these pictures and saying "Look, aren't these tender little vegetables beautiful? Can you believe these came from our back yard? Aren't their colors vibrant? Doesn't their Creator have a master touch? Isn't He good to supply food from the earth? Isn't He powerful, and kind?..." I could go on and on.

Because we were out of town on Friday, we had our pizza night on Saturday this week. Dad mixed up the dough, and asked me to put it on the pizza pans and top it.

As I was getting everything ready, I remembered that my basil plants needed to be picked (helps keep the production up), and I asked Dad if he would mind going out to pick basil and oregano while I put the dough on the pizza pans.

He kindly agreed to that, and asked if I would like to put some onion and garlic on the pizza too.

When he came back inside, Dad not only had a handful of herbs, an onion and garlic, but also a tiny squash and zucchini! That's our first harvest from our squash and zucchini plants, which have been growing rapidly ever since the temperature began to climb.

The veggies only stretched to cover two pizzas, which was okay because only half the family likes vegetables on their pizza.

Oh, were the slices of pizza good that night!!!!

It's best to pick squash and zucchini while they are still small and tender (Though we really could have let our gets a bit bigger! *smile*). They taste best when they are only a few (5 or 6)inches long, and the plant will produce more if you are continually removing what they are bearing.

By the way, I have been keeping an eye open for zucchini recipes all winter and spring, because I know from experience that we always get too much zucchini, and not enough ideas for what to do with it! If we like any of the new recipes, I'll post them here for the rest of you gardeners who get overloaded with the plant.

I know the focus is blurry in this last picture, but I couldn't resist showing you another thing we are beginning to harvest; carrots! This is the best that carrots have ever turned out for us. I wonder if the loose soil in our raised beds is the cause?

No, we don't eat carrots on our pizza. Have any of you ever tried that one?