In the Garden

I started preserving some of our bounty this weekend, it seems like finally we can eat from the garden and have some to spare - a relief because we were hoping to eat mainly from the garden for most of the winter, like we did last year. So I took the big leaves off the Swiss Chard- one of our most versatile favorites- we eat it on pretty much everything- and blanched and froze them, and then cut up some of the brighter Chard stems to freeze as well. We grow Bright lights swiss chard which is a mixture of lots fo different coloured chard- striped pink-yellow a beautiful orange stem with choclatey leaves, andf the standard white and red stem too. I like to put the stems is soups instead of celery- they're prettier and tasty too.

Then I did some Golden and red beets- which are so lovely- I peeled and sliced and steamed them, then froze them on trays so that I can just pull out what I need for one supper. Is there anything dirtier than beet processing? Man, my fingers are still a bit grungy looking. These beets are so sweet though, they're going to be such a treat in the winter, and there's still moree out there- I just picked the big beets and left the little ones out there to grow a tiny bit bigger before I do them (more Beet fingers to look forward to YAY!) I also froze the greens from the beets, so yummy.

Things are coming along out there in teh garden- the first Tomatoes were ripe this week- and I'm going to have to prune them back a bit ot make sure I can find the ripe ones, they\ve bushed out like crazy again- and I seem to have missed the window for keeping them compact. We also have an eggplant starting and the peppers are getting huge, can't wait for refd peppers- hope for a warm fall for me!