Methley Plum Harvest and Jam. 7.16.2021

Methley plums are completely ripe. Those are the purple ones. The yellow ones are Shiro, almost ripe.

I picked two giant size bowls of plums. One bowl should be about one batch of jam.

To make a jam, I skinned them. The skin is loose, like a slipskin grape, very easy. The stones are clingstone, which is a lot more work to get off. I sliced the flesh off the stones, into a large measuring cup, until I had seven cups. Then I followed the directions on low sugar pectin to make jam. It should have been 8 half pints, but I over compensated for boiling loss and it was 9 pints. Still, it gelled and the flavor is incredible, like some kind of tropical candy. These will help me through the winter. It helps make growing fruit more worthwhile. These plums can't be bought in any store, and processing them in a factory doesnt seem like an easy thing. So home made is the only option.  This is one of my all time favorite jams.

Sweetcorn is Showing Silks and Tassels. 7.13.2021

This is the SE+ variety "Trinity". It is a bit shorter than main crop varieties, and the ears are a bit smaller, but it tolerates cool springs and produces an early crop. It's a delicious home grown sweet corn variety, somIm looking forward to a cropmin a few weeks.

Given the dry hot weather, I'm watering about every other day. The corn plants are big enough to shade the soil, so that helps.

Volunteer Flowers Blooming. 7.11.2021

I didn't plant any new flower seeds this year. However, if something came up, I let them grow in place. Now there are cosmos and nasturtiums blooming.

Another Dahlia Blooming. 7.11.2021

Each new dahlia is my favorite. They are loving this weather. What is a vegetable garden without a row of dahlias?

Squash Blossom Soup. 7.11.2021

Even though honeybees have been all over the squash blossoms, I wanted to try something different. This recipe is inspired by one in "The Classic Zucchini Cookbook" by Ralston , Jordan, and Chesman (2002). I liked that it uses a surprise vegetable (squash blossoms) as well as garlic and onion that I grew, and the garnish is finely chopped Garlic Chive that I grew from seeds this year. This is about 35 squash blossoms, a big garlic clove, a small onion.

I saute the onion and garlic in 3 tbsp olive oil for 5 min, add the chopped squash blossoms, saute 2 min. Then add 3 cup of water, 1 1/2 cubes veg boullion, bring to boil and simmer 10 min. Take off heat, blend by portions in food processor, return to sauce pan and heat, add about 1/2 cup coconut milk. Sprinkle with pepper and chinese chive garnish.

The zucchini "Costata Romanesca" has the largest blossoms but I also used blossoms from other varieties of squash. This was tasty. I used the coconut milk because yesterday I made a squash pie and substituted coconut milk for evap milk, and had this much left over. That turned out very good.