Garden Harvest Being Enjoyed

Our garden is in the midst of production right now. I know I am always rambling on about tomato production, but there is so much more things that we are enjoying right now besides tomatoes and flowers. Yesterday I fried green tomatoes as a side dish to go with our Sunday meal. My children were getting ugly over having to share them with one another. To keep order, I jumped up from dinner and quickly fried another skillet full. By the time dinner was finished, all the kids had their fill of fried green tomatoes! (Who would think that kids would like fried green tomatoes enough to fight over them during Sunday dinner none the less)!!! Tonight's dinner will be Gumbo to finish off the neighbor's okra. I also use our garden tomatoes, fresh Cayenne peppers, and thyme from the herb garden. This is a great one pot dish that uses the garden bounty plus it is cheap to make. To feed my whole family I use 1 chicken breast, and a package of Smoke Sausage in the Gumbo. I could get away with half a package, but I usually splurge and use the whole thing. If anybody is interested let me know and I will post the recipe.

I also am finally picking cantaloupes. It has helped keeping the English Mastiff Coon away from them. Our watermelons are looking great. We have about 15 large watermelons that will be finished growing soon. Our okra is on the verge of being ready to pick too. I also have peppers coming out of my ears. I take my bell peppers and I freeze them in freezer bags. I usually cut them in half so I can remove the seeds and stem. These are great for use in the winter time. They also really save money because peppers are expensive at the store. This weekend I pulled up all of our onions. Michael hung them in the basement to dry for later use. I picked a few more cucumbers, but I am thinking that they are done now. Our eggplants have made little eggplants. I am not for sure what to do with these, but I am sure I can fry any vegetable!! That is the southern way when you don't know what else to do!!!

grace and peace,
julie