Monday, June 9, 2008

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?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The vegetables *do* look good. Except I hate onions.
Kristen

Anonymous said...

How exciting!! They look wonderful...and that is a lovely carrot! :) We've not had a lot of success with carrot's, but this year my dad planted over 1000 onions (I THINK thats right, and yes, we *do* have a big garden!) and we sold a lot a the farmers market last Saturday! Our potatoes and green beans are doing wonderfully, sold alot at the market too, we were so thankful! I guess I was just expecting us to be sitting out there in the hot sun not selling much...but the Lord had other plans! We sold so much! Aren't gardens such a blessing and lots of fun too?! :D I planted some pumpkins, I am so hoping they do well!
Oh, I remember I think you asked me if we prayed over our garden...YES! And the LORD has abundantly blessed it this year,I think I heard Mom say that this year has been the best year our garden has done...in all the 14 years we've lived out here! We are so thankful!
One more quick thing, do you use wheat flour in your pizza crust? I thought it looked kind of like it... :)

Blessings!
Anna

Amber said...

Aww, come on, Kristen - you miss out on so much if you dislike onions! Maybe you'll learn to like them someday - I did.:) Glad to see you found my blog. It's nice to "see" you. Hope you visit often!
And Anna....1,000 onions?!?!?!?! Whew! You must have some kind of garden space! I'm glad you did so well at the market. God is good. And yes, we use wheat flour in the pizza. Lately we've been using store-bought wheat, which doesn't taste as nice as the home-ground stuff, but it works. I think I actually like wholewheat better than white.

Chrysler said...

Hey...new book. Why don't you ever tell me these things?
When did you get it published...get me up to date...I'm kinda confused.

What day is the 28th...is that a Thursday?