Calling All Eggplant Lovers

We have never tried to grow eggplant before so this year we thought we would give it a try.  Thankfully eggplant loves heat because it has been 100 degrees around here lately.

We have about 6 plants altogether and they are pretty full of fruit.

The plants have gotten so heavy that our trellis is not strong enough to support them.

We have about 15 small to medium size eggplants.

I had never heard of white eggplant but, we definitely have mostly white ones.

I will definitely be on the lookout for some good recipes so feel free to share.

Making Laundry Detergent

I have been making our laundry detergent for over a year and cannot believe the savings.  I use this recipe (copied from the Duggar family website):

Homemade Liquid Laundry Soap- Front or top load machine

4  Cups – hot tap water
1  Fels-Naptha soap bar

1 Cup – Arm & Hammer Super Washing Soda*
½ Cup Borax

Homemade Pasta

A few months ago a friend gave me a pasta machine.  I put it in the cabinet and promptly forgot about it.  One day my sister-in-law and I had gotten together to make bread and I happened to remember the pasta machine so we set a date to try it out.

This pasta machine is electric and is really pretty neat.  It comes with the measuring cups necessary to insure a proper consistency of the dough, as well as about 10 discs for assorted pastas.

Neither of us had ever made pasta before so we were not sure how this would go but we gathered our supplies;

Tomato Sauce

Our garden produced quite a few tomatoes this summer but not enough to make tomato sauce for use later in the year.  We decided to visit a local Farmer’s Market and see if we could get a good deal on tomatoes.  We found enough tomatoes for a small batch of sauce.

So I pulled out the jars and got them all washed and ready to go.

The next step

Fresh Herbs

As the summer gets hotter the plants in our garden are struggling to survive, and that includes the herbs.  I don’t want to lose any of the herbs so as they start getting big I try to harvest them. 

This is just a few sprigs of oregano.  Once I have cut the herb I put them in a dark cool spot until they dry.

After the herbs have dried I separate the leaves from the stems.

The dried leaves are then put in the food processor which chops them up really well.

This oregano is now ready to be put in a jar and saved for use when the fresh herb is not available. 

Of course, I will use the fresh as long as I have some available.

Getting Ready for Fall

The heat index around here has been well over 100 most days so it is very hard to start thinking about Autumn and our Fall garden, but planning must start early!

As our summer garden dies off we are clearing up and cleaning out the beds getting ready for the next planting.  This was the first bed we got ready.

All the dead plants have been removed,

Sunflowers

We planted a few sunflowers to attract some bees to the general area of our garden but we never expected to see such phenomenal growth.

The sunflowers grew to over 8 feet tall and several inches in diameter.

We only got 2 flower heads but as they turned brown and started dying we cut the heads and put them in cheesecloth in the garage.  In a few weeks we hope to have sunflower seeds.  Now sure exactly how long this will take but we are eagerly awaiting our first seeds.

Hidden Treasure

Cucumbers have been fairly prolific in our garden for awhile now, so it has become our habit to search the vines every day.  We usually find a few cukes each day and have been enjoying them.

Imagine our surprise when we found this fellow in our cucumber patch.

This cucumber measured 7 inches long and the diameter is 8.5 inches.  We were sure surprised to find this big guy hiding in our garden. 

Tonight will be cucumber and tomato salad!  Hopefully it won’t be bitter, which sometimes happen when cucumbers get too big.

P.S. It was not at all bitter, just sweet and fantastic!!

Pasta Primavera From the Garden

This spring and early summer we had an abundance of yellow squash, zucchini, green peppers and a few tomatoes.  At one point I found myself with a bunch of these goodies all ripe at the same time.  I found a great recipe for Pasta Primavera and decided to try it.

Pasta Primavera

 

Critters

Our yard has been invaded and we are not sure exactly what has invaded us.  Our yard smells awful and something has been nibbling on our green pepper plants.  Then today I saw this:

Every single leaf was eaten.