September 24, 2012

The garden, like the seasons have turned a corner. Now, I consider stripping the remaining tomatoes from the leggy, nearly leafless plants. Some zucchini leaves whiten with mildew and the plants encroach on the center path. Lucy has lost her runway for chasing birds from the garden. I will probably pick the rest of the  zucchini today then dispatch the plants to decay. I begin to plan for the winter garden–what will take the place of this summer remnant.

But now in September the garden has cooled, and with it my possessiveness.
The sun warms my back instead of beating on my head…
The harvest has dwindled, and I have grown apart from the intense midsummer relationship that brought it on.

Robert Finch

This week it is more of the same: corn, green beans, tomatoes, zucchini, peppers  cucumbers, rhubarb and strawberry guavas. I filled the yellow garden basket half full again with tomatoes this past weekend and many more ripen in the warm September weather. The green beans above were a day’s harvest–more than we can eat so we’ve shared with neighbors. 

There’s been ‘Blue Jade’ for dinner every other night. A few more ears remain for this week’s dinners.  

Seven pounds of strawberry guavas gathered in the last few days.

I used my grandmother’s sturdy chinois instead of the Squeezo Strainer. Admittedly, I only learned the word chinois this weekend on an internet search. I doubt Grandma used that word. Her chinois was made by WearEver and I found them listed on ebay this morning. I have many items of her WearEver cookware. Most have been used by family members for at least eighty years.

Seven pounds yielded seven cups of thick, intensely flavored strawberry guava puree. If you look closely, you can see the somewhat distorted reflection of the guava tree in the puree–a serendipitous occurrence. 

And then there’s the week’s flower harvest: roses, zinnias, Persian lilacs, daylilies, cuphea, gomphrena. Since I’m home today, I’ll gather more flowers for bouquets around the house that will cheer me as the work week begins.

Harvest Monday is hosted by Daphne’s Dandelions. It’s a time to share what you’re harvesting in your garden or how you’re using it.