197 Tomatoes, 47 cucumbers, 8 more Zucchini, 2 Pumpkins, and buckets of Basil and Fennel.
That's my kitchen table.
See?
The kids have been helping so much in the garden this year. They have picked off the Tomato hornworms.....and fed them to the chickens. They have helped plant and harvest the vegetables for us. They have watered, weeded and pruned.
I used Roma and Japanese Black Tomatoes....which are my new favorite because they are so sweet and juicy. You have to cut the guts out and dry them a bit. Guts..that's what Tae calls the inside of the tomatoes.
The beefsteak tomatoes got put in the dehydrator then packed in olive oil for use in pasta and other recipes. Beefsteaks do not work well in the tart because of the water content. You need meaty tomatoes for this dish.
Some Mozzarella goes into a prebaked pie shell and then you like up the tomatoes all pretty like this. Then marvel at your talent.
Mix up some Mayonaise, lots of chopped basil, garlic and fresh parmesan. 
Slather the mayo mixture all over your creation of arranged tomatoes and cheese. 
Bake till it's all bubbly and gooey.
Lots of tomatoes on my window sill.
Ohhhh and we made Brushetta too.
This is part of the harvest from the garden. 
Homemade bread from my Breadmaker.
Larry bought me this new book.
It has simple directions for canning and preserving.
And this lovely recipe for a tomato cocktail
Garlic-Dilly beans. I want to make these.
My mother used to make these when I was a girl. We were never allowed to throw out Watermelon rind. I think hers were candied though and not pickled. 
Don't they look yummy?
Our first pumpkin ripened early this year. 
Three jars of homemade Ketchup.
Web worms have attacked my new Apple Tree. 
These are the sad remnants of my tomato plants.
All rotten, black tomatoes filled with blight.
Too much rain. Too little sun. It's a sad day. 
The fog has been rolling in every night. This is a view of the back of my house in the fog. 
However, the flowers seem to be doing well and loving the rain. Is there anything prettier than day lillies right after the rain?
My Echinacea is in full bloom and loaded with butterflys and bees. 
This is the side garden next to the pool.
The plants around our Koi pond are doing well. We haven't seen the pesky Heron in several weeks and my Koi are growing at an alarming rate. Can you see how large they are?
Look how fast the fog rolled in. This picture was taken just about two minutes later than the picture above it. I love the fog. Murder on the hair but good for my soul.
Some of the garden is doing very well. I've picked several cucumbers. They were delicious with just a little salt. 
From a distance, everything looks like it's doing well. The weeds especially.
I've picked lots of Zuchinni. Tomorrow I will make some breakfast muffins.
The herb garden is thriving.
Golden Oregano glows in the evening hours. 
The bars cut very easily once I figured out that there was a hard melamine board underneath it.
Aren't they pretty all lined up?
Stewie the wonder dog ran and ran all weekend. He's been jogging three miles every morning with my husband and comes back ready for play. He got some playtime in the kiddie pool too while we swam in the somewhat chilly 72 degree pool.
The husband had to put more fencing up on the inside of our fencing around our garden. We've had a huge amounts of rabbits this year and the baby bunnies have been destroying my garden. They ate what few peas I had and chewed off all my sunflowers leaving me some just beautiful stalks of nothing. The baby bunnies squeeze right thru the lattice work on the fence and helped themselves to the lettuce and a few ears of corn. Larry spent a couple hours yesterday stapling new chicken wire to the inside of the fencing to keep them out. 
Despite all of the rain we've had, the garden is doing surprisingly well. The corn has taken off, the cukes are doing well on the new teepee system I'm trying for the first time this year, and the marigolds are mostly working to keep the bugs away. I do have an organic pest spray that I use for the few stray bugs that come along.
The zucchini suffered quite a bit. The blossoms rotted and fell off and so did the few fruit we had. Now that the sun is out they are producing many more flowers and hopefully fruit.
The cherry tomatoes are loaded with fruit.
I made some homemade pita chips yesterday to have with some hummus.
And Rice Krispy treats that lasted a whole 30 seconds.
Sadly, we lost one of our Dominique chicks this weekend. She got very sick on Friday, rallied on Saturday but quickly deteriorated on Sunday. She spent the last 3 days living in our kitchen in a crate. We named her Hope and buried her outside under the pine tree. 
All of our other chicks are thriving. This is the White Rock that still isn't named.
The big girls enjoyed foraging out of the pen. I need to build some fenced area to keep them in our yard. They keep wandering over to the neighbors and the Rooster crows on their doorstep. They are also hiding in poison ivy and do not make it easy when I need to get them back in the coop. The new babies will be out foraging soon so trying to corral 15 chickens will be no picnic.
The mama sparrow continues to yell at us. She's had two broods of babies already this year.
Moonlight, our guard cat likes to sit on top of the chicken coop and take in the scenery. She doesn't bother with the chickens at all and only gets upset if the chickens take her favorite dirt spot under the tree. Mostly she takes a 23 hour nap each day and then manages to drag her behind to a food bowl. We keep her around because she is the best mouser ever. I just wish she didn't feel a need to share her discoveries with me. 
