A Few Things Still Coming Out of the Garden

It is July now.  The tomatoes have all but stopped producing.  Those few that ripen are so damaged with stink bug stings that they are only good for feeding to the chickens.  The yellow squash and the zucchini are still producing well.  This may be our best year.  The Boston Pickling Cucumbers are about done, but the Suyo Long Cucumbers continue to produce.  The green beans are finishing up.

The cowpeas (purple hulls, ozark razorback, and blackeyes) are putting pods on now, oblivious to the heat and dry conditions.  The sweet potatoes are vining all over the garden.  Finally, the okra are just starting to produce and will continue to do so until the first frost in December.

We are picking some eggplant.  They are the long green variety - Louisiana eggplant, I think they are.  Tricia has peeled the skin off of them and is dicing them up.

The vegetable dicer contraption is a big time-saver.  She made a batch of caponata to eat as an appetizer with some crackers.  Man, was it ever good!  Too bad I didn't get any photos.  We ate it too quickly.  We have more eggplant on the way, so I'll try to remember to capture the photos next time.

Ah, peppers.  Criolla Sella, Anaheim, Chocolate bell, Emerald Giant bell, Lilac bell, Horizon bell, jalapenos' lipstick peppers - just some of the varieties we're picking.  They will continue to come in until late fall.  We do cook a lot with them, but we're putting some up, too.  Here's how we do it.  We use the same vegetable dicer to cube them up.  Then we lay out on the food dehydrator:

They shrink in size, but we still get a lot off of every tray.

Then, once fully dehydrated, we bag them up.  Every time we cook, we'll take a handful out and add them to the dish while cooking.  They rehydrate in the broth/gravy/sauce and contribute great flavor to any dish.

In about another month, we'll be thinking about planting broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, etc. from seed.  Amazing how fast the year has passed.  Always harvesting - always planting.  A never ending cycle of good stuff from the garden.