Rainy Sunday...

So last night was a disappointment.  I was loading my car when dark clouds started filling in.  I checked weather.com and saw that a storm was rolling in, so I made the decision not to risk ruining my stock for the outdoor event at 2nd Saturday in Collingswood.  I can say that everything is beautifully organized and ready to go for September's 2nd Saturday event.  I was still pumped to work last night, so I worked on organizing my craft room and planning out what I want to accomplish before the next crafting event.

This morning we woke up to several hours of thunderstorms and heavy rain that has lasted all day.  The garden will love this - it was such a parched July here in New Jersey!  I look forward to visiting the patch on Monday or Tuesday.  The patch is the community garden plot that I work with a dear friend.  We had a bumper crop of summer squash last month.  This month the tomatoes are yielding heavily.  We're praying that the lima beans and butternut squash start setting soon.  We have a short growing season at the patch, our time is up in two months - by October 16th.

Our Patch on June 18th

early stages of squash, sugar snap peas, tomatoes, poles for lima beans, sunflowers, peppers, celery, leeks

I'll post pictures of the patch this week in it's current lushness - the transformation is amazing to behold!  I made chocolate chip zucchini bread, blueberry zucchini bread, a squash casserole called calabacitas, chocolate zucchini cake, and sliced many summer squash down and froze them for winter soups.  The tomatoes have been glorious - so delicious just fresh in salad and grilled in a cheese sandwich.  I roast them with tomatoes, garlic, s&p, and olive oil and then put them through my squeez-o strainer to make what I call tomato goodness - a thick tomato broth.  I put fresh basil from my home garden in with the tomatoes through the squeez-o strainer to help perfume the broth.  It makes divine soup base for the winter when I'm tired of the dreary days!  3 quarts frozen from 5 trays of roasted tomatoes.  Hopefully a few more quarts of tomato goodness will be made before the plants give up!

My husband left this afternoon for a business trip and I'm home with our boys.  The little one is napping, giving me a chance to update some information on my etsy site and then I'll be playing games with my older son.  I love the opportunity for time alone with each boy.

Well, I need to get back to playing with this guy before the little guy wakes up!
Have a blessed day and thanks for reading!