September Garden

The cucumbers keep coming...

These are a little overgrown as Mike was out of town for over a week and I lost track of the garden. My mom was here while Mike was gone and I accomplished one million tasks (cleaning closets, dusting, doing laundry). However, picking cucumbers wasn't one of them! 

But it's a good thing that I have such a wonderful helper! 

Our sweet little gardener is also a great pumpkin inspector! 

Mike carved the babies' names into one of our pumpkins. It has become our tradition to make something special for the babies' birthday in December with pumpkins from the garden. Last year it was pumpkin pie, but this year it will be pumpkin cake - yum!

We picked the last of the green beans. 

Picking the red balls (tomatoes) from the garden is probably Graham's favorite thing to do. Here is his collection of tomato pickings - all of course have been thoroughly inspected. 

They are also tested for good roll ability.  Tomatoes are multi-faceted fruits and can also be harvested for use as toys. 

Unfortunately, tomatoes are not one of their favorite foods (unless in a sauce) so many of the tomatoes that the babies pick end up being dropped, rolled around and squished. 

We slice fresh tomatoes on just about everything. One of my favorite ways to eat a summer tomato is to have it in a sandwich with avocado and lettuce. I ate about a million of these when I was pregnant with the babies. 

Another favorite tomato dish is fresh made salsa. I don't follow a recipe per se. I tend to use the taste test method - a method that can alter the serving portions significantly. 

Salsa: 

Plump red tomatoes, diced (about four medium ones)

Fresh diced cilantro - about a 1/2 cup 

One jalapeno diced, without seeds - this typically results in medium spice

Red onion, diced - about 1/4 cup

Sea salt - to taste 

Add more or less of one thing or another. 

And again, lots of taste testing! 

xo