It is becoming quite apparent that the season is changing, the days are getting shorter and the air is not as hot. I have been known to love winter, I suppose I do not so much love winter but I love the holidays, I love Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. I love curling up on the couch with a blanket and taking a nap. These are the things that I remember when this time of year comes around. Although I am starting to feel a sense of saddness. I am sad because my garden will be gone. I have truly enjoyed my first garden and the gifts that it has given to me and the gifts that I have given to people from it. "This was a bad year for gardens" is something that I have heard quite frequently, from numerous people. I have learned so much from my garden and I can not wait to apply what I have learned next year. I want to see if I can out do myself. Next year I want my garden to be visually appealing as well as provide food and joy to me. I can not believe how fast time has gone by and how things have changed.

Maybe this time next year I will have had an even more successful garden that will have provided me with plenty of gifts and opportunities. "Your love of gardening will take on a new meaning in your life" lets see where that takes me....

So on Monday we went to my father-in-law's house. He was back from the hospital and I asked him how his garden was doing. He said that he hadn't checked but he thought that he had a few things that were probably ready to be picked. I went out there with a bag in hand and I figured that I would pick anything that was ripe. I picked probably about 25-30 large tomatoes and probably about 40 Super Sweet 100 tomatoes, which were so good! My roommate and I ate most of those. I decided to take seeds from them and ferment them. The others I just had to photograph and then into canning jars they went and they were canned. One jar did not seal and actually spilled once I took it out of the water bath. That one I immediately put into the refrigerator and will be using tonight to make spanish rice.

On another note, I was home sick yesterday and watching tv. I saw a commercial for YTV (Youngstown Television) a new local channel that is coming soon. I have really been toying with the idea of trying to have my own show. I think that it would be so fun/scary/exciting. I am a rather shy person but I know that I could do it once I was more comfortable. I need to set asside time each night to write down my ideas/recipes/tips, anything that I think people would enjoy knowing. I also need to work on my image, I know that I would need to lose weight before I would be comfortable in front of the camera. Idea excites me, I feel like all of these are signs, the new YTV station, my fortune cookie fortune the other day, "your love of gardening will take on new meaning in your life". I need to make new beginnings happen for myself.

I did also harvest my first Crookneck Yellow Squash and make that delicious squash casserole. It tasted much better than the first one did (that had store bought squash) and it made me feel good to know that I grew what I was eating!

Cheesy Porno Music- this weekend and again this morning I really did feel like the matchmaker and that there should have been 70's porno music playing. I had been quite discouraged that I was not going to have sweet yellow crookneck squash. I read that sometimes you have to step in, and I guess that if you look at it your garden could be considered a little world and you are cast in the role of Mother Nature. I went in and saw the female flowers on the squash and I also saw that there was a beautiful male flower that had bloomed so I plucked it off the vine and got to work. I peeled the petals back and revealed the pistel, I went over to the female flowers with the baby squash behind them and wiped the pistel over their stamen. I deposited the pollen inside the flowers and hope that this will be successful. The squash that I did this to before have gotten almost ready to eat. I will make another squash casserole.

"Your love of gardening will take on new meaning in your life." I went to lunch today, we were celebrating one of our friends getting a new job. This quote is what my fortune cookie said, I may be reading in to this way to much but it made me happy. I do feel like sometimes I do not know what I would like to do as a career. I love to paint, I love to cook, I love to garden (just not in the heat), I love to do all of these things that I can not figure out how to turn into profits. I would love to learn more. Whenever I have a question about something in my garden I run inside and look the answer up on the internet. I have thought about documenting these questions and successes and unsuccessful attempts at everything I do. I have thought about writing a newsletter, I have thought about proposing a segment on the local news where I show people how to do things such as gardening, cooking, etc..., I have thought about a public access show, I have thought about selling tomatoes. I think that all of these things would be great, I just do not know where to begin. "Your love of gardening will take on a new meaning in your life." I suppose that statement can take me anywhere that I am willing to go and anywhere that I am willing to put the work into.

On another note, my yellow crookneck squash seem to be doing a bit better. I think that these ones are on another plant than the ones that did not look so good. Well they actually looked awful. I am hopeful that these will produce and I can make another squash casserole. Here is a picture of the what happened to my other squash.

Reading back over these blogs I have noticed that over a majority of the life of this blog I have written about my tomatoes. They really are a big part of my garden. I have been patiently waiting for them to ripen, I already have plans for them which include sandwiches and canning them. My roommate has requested fried green tomatoes, which I do not care for but at least I will get to make SOMETHING from my tomatoes that have been teasing me. I will not touch the first tomato that started to turn ripe some 15 days ago... . It is still not ripe, I know that a lot of other people are teased with green tomatoes also, but they have had some so far. I have only had some grape tomatoes and some cherry ones turn red. I remain to be patient but I feel like I should get some of the, pardon my pun, fruits of my labor.

I did housework all day yesterday, but the good thing was is that I did it at my own pace. I did get a great deal accomplished. I did not do any work in the garden as there was nothing that really needed to be done. I just did laundry an dishes. For dinner I wanted a burrito so I made some rice and black beans. I wrapped those in one of the flatbreads that I buy from Ghossain's in Youngstown. I also put in lettuce and a salsa that I made from the tomatoes that I was given as a gift the day before. I went to the garden and picked one of my under ripe jalapenos that I started from seed. I had always heard that chilis that are darker are hotter, this pepper that I used was so hot! It burned my mouth off, in the salsa I halved the tomatoes, put in corn, one jalapeno, pepper, and garlic salt. The final product was so delicious! I love eating vegetables that are fresh out of the garden. In the September issue of Martha Stewart Living one of their Good Things is a Golden Mary. I do not know if this would be good but sometimes I get craving for Bloody Marys so why not make them with all of these other tomatoes that are being described as more delicious than any other tomato found in the supermarket? Could you imagine green Bloody Marys or purple. That would be neat.

Our friends came over yesterday and we ate great food (not to toot my own horn) and had a great time. I made grilled chicken, oven roasted potatoes with chives and parsley, and black bean, corn, red onion salad with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt pepper, and a pinch of sugar. It is so good and the few people that I have made if for love it. I also made cherry mojitos which are just great!

Our friends brought me a gift from their friend's garden some cherry tomatoes but they actually look a bit smaller, maybe the really sweet small Super Sweet 100 type. I ate one yesterday and they are so good. I have been wondering what is the matter with my garden. Why are my Keepsake tomatoes still green? About 11 days ago I am still not sure, I read a little bit on the variety and and they are suppose to be a very good variety that lasts long, the website that I have been looking at says that once "vine ripe" the tomatoes will keep for 6 weeks! That is a long time! One thing that gardening has taught me is a bit of patience. I am sure the harvest will be rewarding and worth the wait.

I was very tired when I got home yesterday so I took a nap. After that I got up and weeded the garden. It is funny how you can stand or be in one spot and pick all the weeds and go to another spot in the garden and see every single weed that you missed. I don't know how I do it but I really did not catch all the weeds the first time around. We have friends coming over and they want to see the garden so I cleaned it up a bit. Everything is coming along quite well. Green tomatoes everywhere, I counted down one row that there are over 40 tomatoes, the other row is FULL of cherry tomatoes or Gardener's Delight. There are more baby yellow crookneck squash and I am really hoping that some of them make it. I did make that squash casserole and it was quite delicious. I made pesto the other night, I transplanted some mint that was a bit sneaky and attached itself to our Black Eyed Susans when we moved them last year. The mint was way bigger than the Susans were so I separated them last night and moved them over by the pond. I really can not wait for the garden to be ready. I know that everything will start to be ready at once and I am excited, I have a canner all ready to go to can up some of those delicious tomatoes. Last weekend I made strawberry raspberry jam and Amish Sweet Dill Pickles. Those are so good. I made 6 quarts of them.

Natural is better, I suppose that is my feeling today. If I could afford to I would eat only natural fresh products. Today I learned that the red dye used in Dannon and Yoplait yogurt is made out of crushed beetles. It is true... do a google search for Yogurt and Carmine... I would rather eat a bowl of natural yogurt with my own homemade jam or honey and granola rather than one that has crushed up bugs in it. That to me is wrong and I feel like this should be written on the packaging so the public can know exactly what they are eating. If you saw that you had crushed up beetles in your food would you eat it? Probably not.

So on my way home yesterday I was brainstorming on a way to start my own business. I know I want to do everything paint, garden, cook, everything! I was thinking about a website and a woman who grows and sells Heirloom Tomatoes in California, Love Apple Farms. She sells seeds, tomatoes, and seedlings. I thought that this would be a very fun business to run.

I know that if I knew of a local place in Youngstown that sold Heirloom Tomatoes I would go there and buy seeds, seedlings, and tomatoes. I imagined my dog's portrait on the label of anything I sold and the business could be called Tomato Charlie's (after our hounddog charlie). His face is surely appealing and I would buy anything with him on it!

Tomatoes- yesterday I got home sort of late so. I was sort of disappointed because it was so dark outside that I knew that I would not be able to see in the garden and see the tomatoes that just the day before were hours from being ripe. BUT, you know gardeners I grabbed the flashlight and headed out to the tomato plants. The tomatoes pictured are a mix some from my garden, some from my father in law's garden, and some from the farmer's market. I have a long list of heirlooms that I am going to be growing next year including, Hawaiian Purple, Hazel Mae, Cheroke Purple, Aunt Ruby's German Green, Red Cup, Dixie Golden Giant, Pink Accordion, Valena Pink, and Beauty Lottringa. I am so excited to just taste them because I never have. They have such an interesting look and the way people describe them they must just taste great.
For dinner last night I had a sandwich with sliced tomatoes, cream cheese, lettuce, salt, pepper, and red onion. I also made a tomato salad with tomatoes, basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper. It was so good. Tonight we are going to grill and have bruschetta!

This Saturday I had to work, I work an hour away from home so I decided to go to the West Side Market. It is quite the busy place, people and vendors are everywhere. I was on a mission to find cheap cucumbers to I could make the most delicious Amish Sweet Garlic Dill Pickles. We walked around for quite a while and on a whim I decided that I would also buy berries to make the delicious strawberry-raspberry jam that I made before. I bought 4 lbs of strawberries (actually 6 and gave two away to my friend). I bought french breads and baguettes and fontina cheese and asparagus. It all looked wonderful. BUT the next day when I went to make my berries EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM was rotten. I was so sad, I had to go to the supermarket and get some more. Needless to say cooked all day yesterday. I made Strawberry-Raspberry jam, Amish Sweet Garlic Dill Pickles, Squash Casserole, and Bruschetta with fontina and parmesan cheese topped with fresh asparagus and broiled in the oven. The last two (squash casserole and the Bruschetta) were my dinner and my lunch.

It was fun but hot in the kitchen with that huge canning pot boiling away. I would like to make more jam, I made 12 1/2 pint jars and those last a few days after we open them because we eat it so quickly. I need to make more so I have it in the winter.

Last night I staked up my peppers because they were flopping over. I have not seen the dreadful caterpillar that I sent on a flying trip over the neighbors fence back again. I found this recipe online for Chile Relleno Caserole that sounds so good! I am a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to cooking so I may also make some traditional Chile Rellenos but we will see. In my opinion Chile Rellenos are so delicious.
Venturing to the other side of the garden I see that some of my cherry tomatoes that survived the winter are starting to turn red! Before we bought our house our neighbor gave me about 4 tomato plants that she had and they were about 1 foot tall, I planted them and they grew and gave me about 7 tomatoes. When we bought our house I thought just for the heck of it I would take my tomato plants with me, it was in the end of August. I planted them and although they did not produce any more fruit they looked fine, I sort of neglected them in the fall and by mid winter they looked like little dried up twigs in the snow. I felt bad for them and they sort of looked unsightly so I plucked them out of the ground and into the trash they went. So it was sort of a surprise when one popped up this year and has a bunch of cherry tomatoes! This is exciting because I remember last year working on my pond and just plucking off these warm sweet tomatoes and how good they were!














CHILE RELLENO CASSEROLE
2 7-ounce cans whole green chilies, drained well *
8 ounces pepper-jack cheese, shredded
3 eggs 3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
Grease an 8x8" baking pan. Slice each chile along one long side and open flat. Arrange half the chiles in the bottom of the baking pan, skin side down, in a single layer. Top with pepper-jack cheese. Arrange the remaining chiles over the cheese, skin side up. Beat eggs, cream and salt well. Pour evenly over chiles. Top with cheddar cheese. Bake at 350º for 35 minutes, until golden brown. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.
Makes 6-9 servings Can be frozen
* You can also use your own home-roasted green chiles. Click here to find out how to roast them. You'll need about 8-10 Anaheim or New Mexico chiles depending on the size.

Peppers- This morning I took the dogs outside to use the restroom and I decided to check the garden. I was so excited to see about a 3 inch Relleno Chile Pepper growing. The last time I checked it it was only about 1/2 an inch. I have a recipe that I am going to try as soon as I have enough of them. The heat here yesterday just dried my herbs up, they looked awful. I panicked when I got home yesterday evening and watered the heck out of everything. this morning it all looked as gorgeous as ever. There was however a hornworm on my jalapenos and I just about threw up when I saw it, I love to garden but I do not do well with bugs and this worm was about 1/2 an inch wide and 2 inches long. I used the dog's pooper scooper and pulled the entire worm and leaf it was on off of the plant and flung it over the fence. I really do not like bugs, earthworms don't bother me any more but I do not like spiders or aphids or anything else. Oh yeah and I like ladybugs and lightning bugs.

Basil - Last night I made bruschetta and angel hair with pesto. It was so good, my roommate love bruschetta. I love going out into the garden and picking herbs to make a very delicious/healthy dinner. My basil has grown so well that I am starting to share, I LOVE THAT. I love to share what I have grown. I froze some of the pesto and brought it to my friend at work. Next year I want to grow purple basil and some other herbs. I have decided that I want to double the amount of herbs that I grew this year. I have also come to realize that I must trim the heck out of a tree we have growing because it casts too much shade on my garden. So what all this means is I have plenty of WORK to do!

Are my eyes fooling me? I went into the garden yesterday and I thought I saw was a hint of red on a tomato. This morning I broke out with the camera to confirm what I saw yesterday. Check out this picture, is there a hint of red there or am I just getting my hopes up? I already have a plan for this tomato, toasted bread, mayo, some basil leaves, olive oil, salt, pepper, and this lovely tomatoe. It makes my mouth water!