tomatoes, peppers and carrots!

it's a cloudy day here at the Manor, but no matter, it's still beautiful with all of the green stretching to the beautiful blue and white sky.

 

i just finished watering the plants and then filling up the pond a little. the pond is just a sink-hole, but with how much rain we get here, it usually stays pretty full year-round. however, because we have so many tadpoles living in it this year, we make sure that the water line stays the same and if needed, put the hose in the pond and fill it up a bit. did you know that tadpoles love lettuce??? those little babies love their lettuce treats!

jambaloney is out working on building me a cabinet thing for the kitchen. we have no counter space and no cabinet/cupboard space in this kitchen!!! one day we will gut the kitchen and put in regular-sized appliances and whatnot - but alas, other things must be taken care of first!

here's a good way to start a good work-day - an over-easy egg on a bed of sauteed spinach and a few cherries! that will keep you working until dinner, for sure!



the garden is doing really well. we had a few epic fails but such is gardening. here's my first napoli carrot - isn't she a beaut???



we ate that baby standing at the table and savouring the sweetness and freshness. we'll start harvesting soon and planting more for a fall harvest. then we'll try and keep ourselves in fresh carrots for most of the year by planting more in october in a cold-frame.

speaking of fresh carrots - we love to have a light dinner of a salad or a crudite plate. carrots, celery, green onion, pita and hummus. i like to add olive oil and additional spices when serving the hummus.



teehee. i think it's going to be a bumper year for tomatoes!!! i sure hope so! i want to get to a point where we are able to grow enough to never need tomatoes, paste or sauce ever again! and don't forget canning enough salsa for a year - we love fresh salsa! here's my first tomatoe starting to colour. i am sooo proud!

 

speaking of fresh salsa - that's something we eat a lot of around here. nothing like getting a movie and curling up on the couch with your baby and sharing a big, honking plate of nachos!!!

 

 these nachos are loaded with cheese, home-made salsa, home-made guacamole, banana peppers, hamburger and red pepper flakes - yummeh!

here's a nice steak with steamed broccoli, banana and fresh local plums. the local plums here are so sweet!

and now for the big hurrah! my peppers are going gang-busters out in the greenhouse - they are loving it out there. every year i start twice as many seeds as i think i can handle because most of the little plants just have such a hard time with our cooler nights. last year i had 20 pepper plants, ithink only 6 survived and i think we might have gotten a dozen peppers. it's just not worth all of the work. but the greenhouse is rocking those peppers - have a look!

i have never had that many plants with that many peppers!

look at the size of those babies!!! we'll be gorging on peppers real soon - we can't wait!

and check out all of those cayenne peppers! i use cayenne in just about everything! the idea that we can make our own powder and use it all year - oh man!

i also have a bunch of different hot peppers - jambaloney loves them. i'll be able to pickle those and he will have pickled hot peppers all winter.

i think we are finally hitting our stride in trying to grow as much of our own food as possible. finally! it has taken a few years as we are in a much different climate than the one we were used to growing food. but we are learning, and learning what works and how to do it. you just can't beat that kind of knowledge even though you must suffer through epic fails first.

now we're off to the river for our walk and a dip. have a great day everyone!