Do you ever have those weeks where time just zooms by and you’re not quite sure where it went? Yep, last week felt that way for me! It was the last week of the summer camp I manage and I’m not really sure where each of the days went! There were even evenings that I came home and didn’t walk around the garden and harvest?! Amazing! Oy…well…camp has passed now and I’m finishing up a long weekend before working for five days (yes, including Saturday and Sunday as the non-profit we work for holds a huge Arts & Crafts Show each summer) and then probably going on a little vacation. I say probably because Tool Lady sprained her ankle pretty bad on Friday which isn’t very conducive to travelling. So, we’ll see.
Regardless of our silly busy-ness and happenings, the garden just keeps trucking along and has given us a few wonderful harvests this week including an absolutely beautiful Cherokee Purple Tomato and a couple of lost (huge) zucchini.
We also harvested 57 eggs! I was asked last week what we do with that many eggs in a week. The honest answer is, we’re still figuring it out 😉 We eat lots, give some away and are trying to sell a couple dozen each week. We are also playing with preservation techniques since the winter months always find us a bit low on eggs (we give the Ladies the winter “off” by not adding artificial light to their coop). This week we whipped up and froze 30 eggs in ice cube trays. These eggs (plus the many others we’ll stash away in the coming months) will be used for baking throughout the winter.
- Basil = 4 oz
- Beets = 1 lb 11 oz
- Bell Pepper = 6 oz
- Bunching Onions = 4 oz
- Bush Beans = 11 oz
- Chamomile = not weighed
- Mint = 8 oz
- Oregano = 3 oz
- Pepper/Chile (Mystery) = 8 oz
- Pole Beans (Trail of Tears) = 7 oz
- Tomatoes = 4 lb 4 oz
- Zucchini = 7 lb
- Eggs = 57
Beautiful harvest. I usually make small jars of pickled eggs, with onion, hot chiles and such; nice sliced on the side, especially for BBQ
Thanks, Mary! Your pickled eggs sound wonderful! Do you have a recipe you’re willing to share???
That is a lot of eggs! I’m jealous. Maybe one day I can have chickens. I love the pictures of the beans! really beautiful!
It IS a lot of eggs! We knew they’d produce well, but it’s different in real life than it is in theory 🙂
Nice variety of produce. And the eggs! I’m jealous. Hubby won’t allow me to get chickens, but his thinking is spot-on: why spend the money for chickens when I can walk 1/2 mile in either direction to an amish farm and get eggs for $1.25 a dozen? He’s so smart.
The chickens would be my pets anyway.
Ha! It sounds as though your husband is a smart man! If I could take a troll down the road for farm fresh eggs at only $1.25 a dozen, I’d be more than happy to do so! Although, I do like the clucking and antics of our flock as well as their beautiful eggs 😉
Have you ever had pickled eggs? The English love them – they’re in every fish & chip shop, I have to say I’ve never acquired the taste for them myself. And what about the chinese 100 year old egg thing –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg – might be fun for you to try and me to read about….
We’ve pickled eggs only once, but didn’t like the recipe we used (too much onion). I would like to try again, using both a simple vinegar recipe and another that includes beets. Once we find a recipe that we can all agree on, we’ll probably stick with it 🙂
Holy cow, thanks for the link about Century Eggs…very interesting! The first photo grossed me out, but the subsequent photos were quite beautiful! Not sure we’ll be trying it any time soon, but that was fun to learn about!!!
Dang! That’s a lot of eggs. Me just started with chickens this spring, and our young hens are starting to lay. Nothing like your champions, though.
Dang! That’s a lot of eggs. Me just started with chickens this spring, and our young hens are starting to lay. Nothing like your champions, though.
Dang! That’s a lot of eggs. Me just started with chickens this spring, and our young hens are starting to lay. Nothing like your champions, though.
Yay for backyard chickens! How many hens do you have! I just love their little pullet eggs…so small and sweet!
Every thing looks really good this week. I especially like the photo of the peppers, they look great. We got our fist bell peppers this week!! 57 eggs!! Holy cow we are usually over whelmed when we get a full 3 dozen from our hens. We would be drowning with 57!!
Lol…we are kind of drowning in them! But I do hope that it will even out a bit and we’ll get the groove of selling several dozen a week 🙂 Congrats on your first pepper! I just love when the first of anything is ready!!!
Wonderful harvest – I am quite envious of your tomatoes!
Thanks, Susan! Home grown tomatoes really are priceless!
Beautiful harvests! I am jealous of the beans. Mine got pulled several weeks back and I miss them. I kind of want to have home grown eggs but I don’t know about having chickens in a small suburban back yard.
Beans are great, but eggs are the best! Have you checked your local laws about backyard chickens? Here in Santa Fe, we don’t have any 🙂 I’m on 1/8 acre and there aren’t even rules about how close the coop can be to other dwellings! It’s still kind of the Wild West in a lot of ways here. Our coop and run take up only about 160 square feet and are tucked into a corner where nothing would grow, so it’s a win win situation.
What a great use for your eggs in the winter. I did not know you could do that. Could you also use them in fried eggs after they are frozen?
I’m not sure if the texture would be the same in a previously frozen fried egg, but it’s worth a try! I’m kind of spoiled now, though, with fresh eggs…they fry up so beautifully! As for the whipped up and frozen eggs we’re doing…you can add a bit of sugar or salt to a batch before you freeze them (just make sure to label which is which) and then you can just pull them out and use then for sweet or savory recipes later 🙂 This is a new experiment for us, so we’re learning as we go.
Oh yeah, I have those weeks.
Beautiful harvest, jealous of those beans and tomatoes.
Thanks, Norma. I started my tomatoes super early inside and it has paid off completely!
Nice to find you! Lovely harvest, especially those tomatoes.
Thanks for popping over, Dave!
Sometimes my entire life feels like your week 🙂
57 eggs in a week! That’s our egg needs for about half a year – maybe 4 months since I’ve been on a hard boiled egg sandwich kick lately which means I make one about every 3 weeks 🙂
Beautiful veggies. The mystery chile peppers look particularly shiny.
Oh dear…I might go mad if my life always felt like last week!
Lol…we go through 2-3 dozen eggs each week, but it comes in waves. I just love them and they’re a good source of low calorie protein 🙂 We’re really hoping to get into the cycle of selling several dozen each week to generate a little income 🙂
Love your harvest. Sorry about the ankle. I can relate as it is almost 2 weeks and I still can’t do much in the garden.
Thanks! Ankle (joint) injuries are such a pain (literally and figuratively! I hope you recover quickly!
Am envious of the eggs, chickens will have to wait until life is more settled. Preserving them is always a challenge, maybe also pickled?
I think I will try to pickle a few…both on their own and with some beets and see which we prefer 🙂 Thanks for the suggestion!
I totally understand about the week that got away. Mine was like that last week too. Feeling a little overbooked at the moment, and the garden is at high season and food needs to be brought in and tended to.
Jealous of your tomatoes!
I hope you get in some good garden time, as well as some rest/self-care time! I’m trying to do both 😉
Beautiful harvest! Everything looks great and you are doing well even in the midst of a busy life!
Thanks! the beauty of the garden is that it just keeps going, regardless of what us humans are doing 😉