Well, helllllo Summer

I had tears in my eyes when we planted the peppers and tomatoes so very late in the season due to the vast amounts of water in the gardens.  I never believed we would get even a pound of ripe tomatoes or peppers for all of our hard work starting the plants from seeds in January and February.  A few weeks ago I was in panic mode and picked every red tomato visible in the tomato garden just before a few really, really cold nights.  I was hoping with all hopes we would have a warm fall and not lose these hundreds of plants to an early Frost.

Silly me, this is absolutely the best year of tomatoes ever grown on this property.  We have more beautiful colourful ripe red, yellow, orange, burgundy, rust, green striped, pink and black tomatoes than one could ever imagine.  And now even the peppers are turning red.  That I totally doubted would happen this year.  The basil plants I picked drastically a couple of weeks ago have come back to life wonderfully so there’s plenty for all.

Aside from these two very special items in our inventory of nutritional goodness, all of the garlic, onions, beets, carrots, greens, beans and cukes have turned out far better than expected.  The potatoes are even showing their strength these days as we hill them up from week to week.  I credit this to raised beds – it’s the best way to go – and our wonderful garden helpers who diligently weeded, laid plastic mulch in the right places, sowed and transplanted and sowed again from daybreak to early afternoon sometimes in downpours and hail and sometimes in extreme sweat breaking heat.  We even prepped rows and sowed more arugula yesterday after emptying rows of onions, hilling leeks and potatoes and picking boxes of tomatoes, cucumbers and beans. 

Today we weeded and tidied up the pepper garden, fertilized and weeded in the greenhouses, started pea shoots, sunnys and basil plants and made fresh salsa for your orders this week.

I just did my walk-about and found we have Potatoes.  Yes, we have potatoes!  That is so exciting.  I only checked the reds and they look pretty darn good. 

Oh ya, needed to pick just a "few" more tomatoes for more sauce, for caning, for freezing, for dehydrating - oh and for eating too.  

Newly picked fresh tomatoes, 'cuz what would we do if
we didn't have hundreds of tomatoes in the dining room?

mmmmm, sauce-to-be

these little darlings, Amethyst Cream cherry tomatoes
don't last long once picked so into the dehydrator they go

perfect little pears, it's the dehydrator for you too

Here’s the list of edibles for your palates this week:

Arugula  $3 bag

Beans  $3/pound   you can order ½ pound if you like

Beets, red and golden  $3/pound

Beet Greens  $3 bunch

Calendula flowers – to make your calendula healing salve - $2 lunch size paper bag

Calendula Seeds – free for lots

Carrot TOPS  free with your order if you need them for your little bunnies or horses, etc.

Celery  $2 bunch

Chard  $3 bag

Cucumbers  $2 each  sadly this is the last week for the cukes L

Edible Flowers  $3 bag

Garlic  $3, $2, or $1 each

Garlic  $12 / pound

Granola, with fruit  $8 /500mL jar  

Granola, with nuts and fruit  $10 /500mL jar

Herbs, fresh:   basil, bay leaf, citrus thyme, dill, mint, oregano, rosemary, sage, savory, thyme  $2 each  

Kale  $3 bunch

Leeks  $3 / bunch

Mustard Greens  $3 / bag
Onions, yellow  $2.50 / pound

Onions, large sweet Ailsa Craig  $2.50 pound

Onions, red multiplier  $2.50 pound

Onions, sweet Spanish  $2.50 / pound

Pea SHOOTS  $2/ bag

PESTO, basil (made fresh) $4.50 125mL jar 

Potatoes NEW! $2 pound

Radicchio  $2 each

Radishes  $2 bunch

Salsa, fresh  $4 250mL jar

SHOOTS, Pea  $2 / bag

SHOOTS, Sunflower  $2 / bag

SPROUTS, Sandwich Booster (clover, alfalfa, radish & mustard)  $3 / bag

SPROUTS, Spring Salad Mix  (broccoli, radish, red clover & alfalfa)  $3 / bag

Tomatoes, cherry  $3 / pound

Tomatoes, heirloom $3 / pound  please let me know if you’d like all large or a mix

Zucchini  $4 each  I only have large ones right now, good for baking

Call or email if you'd like to place an order for pick up or delivery. within our delivery range  joanne.daybrighteners@gmail.com or 613-258-7970

Until next post, have a great every day.

Jo