summertime tomato goodness

I'm so glad tomatoes are in season.  Easy dinner tonight - Ciabatta from Happy Vegan Baker, picked up at the SFC Farmers' Market East on Tuesday, a little olive oil and seasonings, fresh basil from my backyard, beautiful tomatoes from Tecolote, and some goat cheese (sorry Happy Vegan) to top it off.  A few minutes under the broiler.  Delicious summer dinner.  Maybe some peaches for dessert...

watermelon radishes

3 months...where has the time gone.  I will start playing catch up soon.  But for today, simple food photos.  Watermelon radishes, courtesy of Tecolote Farm's CSA

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in the garden, early June

one of the first sunflowers

cosmos and verbena

beets, chard and basil

fall colors

technical difficulties resolved

The last couple of weeks I've been battling trying to get my computer to remember how to "talk" to my camera. Today they seem to finally be on speaking terms again.

In the meantime, the long-awaited rain has made the zinnias in the backyard very happy, which makes me very happy as well!

eating local

I have yet to get a garden going in our new home. It's been over two years since we moved, so I guess it's not so new. I've got herbs mixed in a flower bed, and this summer I did get some tomato plants going in pots, but the one tomato every two weeks certainly isn't going to sustain us. I got some help this week clearing out grass, and I've got a vision of a couple of beautiful raised beds tucked away in a corner of our small backyard.

But in the meantime, we are lucky enough to have an amazing CSA farm not 1/4 mile from our house. That's right, we live in a brand-new suburban subdivision and there's an organic farm a 1/4 mile from my house. If I walk up to higher ground in our neighborhood I can even see it. And on top of it all, the farmers are great people! http://greengatefarms.net/

And so even without my own garden, I get to have beautiful summer meals like this:

tomatoes, corn, & chard courtesy of Green Gate; basil from my backyard

Happy summer dining, local style...

Backyard Funk

It is hard sometimes not to mourn our old home in the country. We were spoiled, surrounded by trees with no neighbors in sight. And I think we only had two covenants, one of which involved pigs. (And even this was broken by some of our neighbors.)

Our move to the "big city" and to the constraints of suburbia has brought many blessings, but I don't count the small backyard and strict neighborhood rules among them. We have (I think) been dutifully following the rules, and our front yard looks very proper and much like our neighbors. I'm feeling the need to bust out in the backyard a little, though. While the front landscaping pretty much fits with the traditional brick style of our house, in the back it has been time to throw in some color.




For now, the most impact we've made has involved paint, in small doses.

I'm hoping we continue, and that riotous color of the plant variety comes along also. I hope our neighbors won't mind!