Nanna & Pappy's Posts

Fresh Vegetables on Our Menu...

 Spring always gets our attention... waiting for the first vegetables from our garden.  Wayne pours over seed catalogues for weeks/months planning and getting psyched up for the work ahead.  He has outdone himself this year, after a pretty poor season last year with the drought conditions.  We have plots planted in several places around our yard and a field for several varieties of peas.

 A raised bed holds squash plants which are beautiful, and FULL of blooms and squash.  We've already eaten squash from these plants this season.

 We are fortunate to have a well that we can use to water our veggies. Here the tomatoes and cantelope are getting a shower.  The water was turned on at dark and left on all night; we turned the water off early this morning. 

 Next to the tomatoes are pinto beans... look at the tiny white blooms and the beans under the plants.  You can see one row of pintos beside the smaller butter beans plants in the picture below.  We haven't had those in a long time.  We're hoping they do well!

 Below are cantelope and tomatoes.  The cantelope are blooming and making little melons, but the tomatoes are outstanding.  They have huge tomatoes on all plants.

We have started getting ripe tomatoes, and ripe ones will soon be so plentiful we will be sharing with friends.  Family are the only ones who get to taste these juicy delights now! 

 The plant above was so heavy with tomatoes it pulled the stake out of the ground and fell over.  It looks pretty poor, but it is just LOADED with fruit.  

 We could really use a rain~the dirt is soaking up the water as soon as it hits the ground.  We'll keep watering as often as we need to though. They are too good to waste!

 The pea patch is looking good.  These are purple hulls, and we also have zipper cream peas, and black eyes for New Year's Day.  I can't help but notice the dead trees in the background.  They are a reminder of last year and the terrible drought and hot weather we had.

 Our corn crop leaves something to be desired, but we should have a little taste of corn on the cob if the squirrels, coons, and deer don't get our little dab first!

 Last but not least, our cucumbers are putting on a show.  They are really good just peeled and sliced, or in oil and vinegar dressing with onions and cherry tomatoes.  This year we put up a fence panel and the cukes are climbing on the panel like a vine on a trellis.  It's easier to find them (and pick them without bending over) than it is with the vines running on the ground.

We truly enjoy the bounty from the garden in summer.  Wayne stays busy keeping it fertilized and cultivated early in the season, and I have to step up when harvest time comes.  We have people calling already to be sure that we have their names on the list to get peas when they are ready.  We enjoy having people pick peas and shell them with our pea sheller in the shade by the pond.  It makes me think of all the times my mother, and grandmother and I shelled peas by hand.  The pea sheller is a vast improvement over the 'hand shelling' method, but I love thinking about how fast Mama Hughes (my grandmother) could shell those peas, leaving her thumbs purple with stain from the hulls.  Good memories!