Our First Harvest!

On Labor Day, we enjoyed the first fruit of our labors from this summer (well, Jon's labors--I've been too busy traveling for work, unfortunately). The photo you see is a tiny sample of what we've harvested since--after the first harvest, the plants go on overdrive!

Jon chose to grow gorgeous purple bell peppers, five other varieties of sweet peppers, seven varieties of tomatoes (my favorites are the tiny, concentrated yellow pears and cherries--delicious!), string beans, and a few varieties of dark, leafy greens.

He planted pretty late in the season (mid-June, then again in late July), so we're having the latest harvest in the neighborhood. It's kinda living on the edge around here as the season's first frost will come any day now, so we are picking everything we can and saving seeds for next season.

So far from our daily harvests, we've made amazing fresh salads, roasted stuffed peppers, salsa, and gazpacho. The difference is like night and day between store-bought processed versions of these foods, and what has come from our garden. Maybe it's the knowledge of what it takes to grow these beautiful vegetables--or maybe it's the absence of pesticides, fertilizers, preservatives, and eating them fresh picked from the plant. Regardless, it's been heavenly.

And all of this is just from the small, 10x20 experimental area of our backyard. Imagine what we'll be able to grow on that back acre...can't wait til next season to expand and possibly get some chickens to help with fertilizer!