Fall Harvest, Tomatoes Upon Tomatos

With the new chill in the air everything is slowing down and going into hibernation, this is the time that you will want to harvest your garden.  Harvest time is usually right before the first frost, on October 1st I moved to a new home and had to do my fall harvest a little early.  I was worried because I had tons of green tomatoes that hadn't turned red yet.  I was talking to my neighbor and she said "you can pick them green and they will turn on their own."  I thought why not try I'm going to lose them anyway.

The Great Turning Tomato Trick

All these tomatoes were green when I put them in the box

At the end of the season harvest all of your tomatoes Red, Green, yellowish... just pick them all.

You can either put them in a box with just the unripe tomatoes or with a banana (bananas release a chemical that speeds the ripening process).  Put the box in a dark place aka pantry, closet and after a few days they will start to ripen. 

Here are some of my tomatoes that were all green when I picked them on October 1st, by October 14th most of them had turned red.  Some tomatoes took a few days while others have taken a couple weeks but it works!

My little tomato sorter, and the tomatoes that ripened after two weeks of storage

P.S. I had to move my raspberry and strawberry plants.  It would have been ideal if I had moved them once it had frosted so the plants would have been hibernating.  Wish me luck on the transfer and I guess we will only know how it worked in April/May when the garden starts growing again.

Garden Update

Tomatoes upon Tomatoes:  Tomatoes have got to be the best thing I have grown this year! They have been producing fruit since June and have never stopped.  I have gone on two vacations and they have not only survived but didn't skip a beat.  Everyday I come home to a happy harvest of at least 10 red tomatoe babies ready for the picking. 

Raspberry Surprises:  I was told that Raspberries do not produce for the first couple of years.  I was prepared to be patient and just wait.  So when my first year little baby plants started to produce lovely red berries, you can imagine my shock and pure happiness.  Like the tomatoes I get to pick these lovely berries everyday, when I get home from work... Pure Bliss!

Strawberry Kisses:  What hardy and wonderful Strawberries I have had this year!  They started producing mid May and have never stopped.  The only problem to be had was the birds but for some reason they stopped mid summer... leaving one happy little gardener to enjoy the fruits of her labor.

Bountiful Basil:  My basil been wonderful this year!  The best basil was the sweet basil I planted in the ground.  It truly has been such a great herb to grow.

Wonderful Watermelon:  Isn't it fun to think you can put a few tiny little seeds in the ground and before you know it you have a beautiful watermelon.  I have already eaten two good sized watermelons out of my garden.  This little baby is the next one to be harvested.

 

 

 

Came home to this the other day... Happy little Harvest.

It's been fun having my first garden, the best thing I did was to weed everyday I watered (which was everyday).  It seemed like a burden in the beginning, that it was a never ending chore but as the summer went by the weeding got lighter and lighter till it it became almost non existant. 

I hope you found something you enjoyed as much as I have enjoyed my little garden.

Summer Food Love

I love summer food, everything is so fresh and delish!

Here are some of my latest and greatest dishes.

BBQ Chicken Salad, Photo by Ashlee B.

BBQ Chicken Salad
Lettuce Head of Green Leaf Lettuce
1/2 Rotisserie Chicken
Corn 1 cup
2 Tomatoes
1 Avocado
1/2 cup Cheese
Tortilla Strips
BBQ Sauce
Ranch

BBQ Chicken Salad, Photo by Ashlee B.

Wash and cut up your lettuce, add diced tomatoes, avocado, corn and shredding chicken.  Sprinkle Cheese & tortilla strips on top and then dress with BBQ Sauce & Ranch Dressing.

So Fresh and Yummy.

Below is a dish my good friend Shannon made, it was so good... I had to share!

Cilantro Lime, Photo by Ashlee B.

 

 

Cilantro Lime Chicken

Ingredients ½ cup fresh lime juice
 2 teaspoons kosher salt ½ teaspoon fine pepper
 2 teaspoons minced garlic
  ½ cup chopped cilantro
½ cup olive oil
6 (6-ounce) boneless skinless chicken breasts

 

 

I hope you are making the most of your summer, making food you love and going on adventures.

 

 

                  XOXO,



Fruit of My Labor, Garden Update

 

Here I am two months invested in my garden and up to my elbows in little baby tomatoes.  I couldn't be happier!

My Cherry Tomatoes, they seem to be doing the best.

 Everyday after work, I check up on my plants see what needs watering, what needs weeding, see what is producing/ripening.  I'm amazed when I see little blossoms on my tomatoes, strawberries or on my blood orange tree.  It's like the blossoms are little specks of hope or happiness, they have so much potential to produce great things.

Everything is growing and beautiful, my tomatoes are turning red and producing tons of little green babies.  I'm so excited for them to ripen so I can eat fresh caprice salad from my yard.

Here is the first big beautiful red tomato, I'm going to pick it today and am so excited to eat my own produce.

 Lesson learned about buying tomatoes:  Since I was a beginner, I thought I will spend a little more money and buy a few big plants and a couple small tomato plants.  In my mind the big ones would be the ones that were going to produce a ton, so I put them in the best spot and with the biggest cages... two months later it is the little inexpensive plants that have took off and done the best. 


My tomato and basil garden, ripening for yummy Italian cooking.

I was at the nursery and one of the workers laughed when I told him this, he then told me "The big plants never do as well because they have a advanced root system in their pot, the little plants do great because they have room to spread their roots once they get in the ground."  With planting, bigger isn't always better, you don't need to spend a ton on big plants, just buy the small baby plants and they will  produce better in the long run. 

Rhubarb - I have two Rhubarb plants; an older one which was in the side yard before I moved in and a new one which I planted in April.  The older one has the yummiest stocks, the new one is finally getting bigger and I harvested a few stocks last night.  Hooray for Rhubarb the whole summer long!!!

My Baby Rubarb Plant flanked by my Baby Watermelon Plants.

Watermelon - I planted a bunch of seeds and waited, nothing came.  The thought of having fresh watermelon was so overpowering, I went out and bought a little watermelon plant.  A month later my little watermelon seeds started to come up.  Now I have a thriving Watermelon plant from my seedlings and little plants from my impatient buy.  Lets see what happens.
 


Watermelon from seeds planted.

 


Watermelon from plants bought


Strawberries - My Strawberries are finally recovering from the constant attacks from the birds.  I was so happy to see more little flowers blossoming.  I will have to make little cages to keep the birds away, wish me luck this time around!

Zucchini

Squash

Newest additions:  Lemon Grass, Cilantro and Pumpkin

In these last two months I've gained more than a few ripe tomatoes, I've learned to slow down and care for something.  We live in a world of instant gratification, (gardening is anything but instant gratification), plants grow slowly, that being said the rewards are worth it in the end.  I feel that I understand some of my favorite literature more now that I have had a garden.  "The Little Prince", the "Bible" and "The Book of Mormon" all have growing analogies that I didn't really ponder or fully understand till I had my own garden.  How important it is to pull the weeds out of our lives before they take over, how seeds are sown and how good seeds take root & bad seeds wither. 

This has been such a great opportunity and I truly feel that my life has become more beautiful because of it.

The Key to Beauty is... Happiness!!!

Audrey Hepburn said, "Happy Girls are the Prettiest" so what makes you happy?

For me it's little things that make my life more beautiful; running/yoga, gardening, reading a good book, good friends, lounging in a hammock, scooter rides, cooking and spending time with my family.

Family is important to me, very important.  I feel that once I have my own children that I could live anywhere and do anything as long as I'm with the people I love the most. 


My three year old nephew, my little shark boy.

At this point, I don't have my own children, so I look forward to the time I have with my sisters, brothers and their children.  Family is such a big deal to me that it is a major factor in my dating. I look at how a man interacts with his family and what his family values are. 

I was talking with my brother the other day, he was saying that he loves being a father, that it is his happiness.  I wish more people (guys and girls) would have that same perspective, it would solve a lot of hurt in our society. 

I was lucky enough to have my sister and her children come visit me, here are some of the fun adventures we had this last week.

Swimming, My family is a bunch of guppies we love water and sunshine.



Trying to comfort my niece pool side.

I had so much fun playing with the kids at the pool, whole days spent with out a cell phone or other things we sometimes let take presidence over our relationships with the people right in front of us.



My sassy and sweet 7 year old nephew.

 

Birthday Parties

Living in a different State from my family means I miss every Birthday Party. So when the kids were in town we had a birthday party for all of the Birthdays I missed.

The kids loved it, even the little 1year old had a blast!

These were our treats at the party.

What is a party with out balloons...

And Italian Sodas!

Eating as a Family

As fun as it might be to do your own thing there is something magical about sitting down and eating with your family.  When I was a child our family always at dinner together and it was great to come together at the end of the day.

This is one of the things I will miss most when they are gone.

I actually loved sharing my food with the baby.  She was so smiley and happy.

 Eating breakfast in the back yard and going out for Gelato... Pure Bliss!

Gelato with the kids

Adventures
I love being outside and in nature and the kids loved going on a little hike and exploring.

5 year old niece and I exploring a waterfall.

Silliness & Gardening
For those of you who have read my earlier posts, this year is my first year with a garden.

The kids were so cute, they loved watering the plants and looking for strawberries.

It's important to know what you love and what motivates you.  For me it's family, children, sunshine, and laughter. 

For you it could be animals, or a good book.  Make time for what you love and start living the life you love right now.

Everyday when we go out into the world, we have to deal with the crapiness of life but when we return to our homes it should be a place of peace, happiness and joy... a safe place.

First Garden 2013

This year Im really into gardening. 

Maybe it's because I've never had a garden before, maybe it's because I love being outside in the spring/summer, maybe it's the thought of all those fresh fruits and veggies... I don't know.  What I do know is that I'm really enjoying it. 

Cell Phone picture of my little helper and I at home depot April 26th, 2012

This fall I moved into a little place that had a few spots where I could grow things, as spring approached I thought "why wait, I've always wanted to do this."  It was a little overwhelming in the beginning (I've never done this before),  all I could do was take a deep breath rolled up my sleeves and jump into the weeds.



Cell phone picture of us weeding the little raised box in my back yard.

There was a little raised box in the back yard that my house shares with the neighbors and it was full of weeds. I bought gloves, a hand shovel, a hand rake, grabbed my best friends daughter and went to town on our side of the box.

Showing off our new gloves and tools

It took us hours to weed, remove all the big rocks and glass out of the box but we did it.

In my half of the box we planted:
7 Tomatoes (Planted April 26th)
1 Habenero Pepper (Planted April 26th)
1 Basil Plant (Planted April 26th)
and a few succulent plants for decoration.

One of my tomato plants, with tomato cage

Note:   The tomatoes have been planted for almost a month and they are hanging in.  The week after they were planted, it snowed and I had to cover them with a sheet at night.  Honestly, I'm just happy I haven't lost any of them yet!  One plant seems to have a little tomato growing it is tiny but makes me so happy (grow little baby tomato, grow).



Next we had some old pots at the house. 
The old tenants left them and even though they were ugly we made those old pots into a potted herb garden:

1 Rosemary Plant (Planted April 26th)
1 Mint Plant (Planted April 26th)
2 Basil Plants (Planted April 26th)

For fresh mint lime and mint lemon aid

There was a old sandbox in the yard which we converted into a garden. 
I was worried that plants wouldn't grow in a sand box but my older sister told me to add soil and mulch.  That's just what I did, after 4 bags of soil and 1 bag of mulch, we planted:

4 Strawberry plants (Planted April 26th)
3 Raspberry bushes (Planted April 26th)
1 Rhubarb plant (Planted April 26th)
1 Package, Watermelon seeds (Planted May 13th)
1 package, Lettuce seeds (Planted May 13th)

I also added a little red rock path between the first row of Strawberries and the Raspberries.

my little red rock path in my sandbox garden

Note:  Birds have been a big problem for my poor strawberries, they are eating all my berries and have trampled my plants.

Space in front of the house.
This area has partial light so I planted:
Lavender in the flower boxes (Planted April 26th)
Squash (Planted April 26th)
Zucchini (Planted April 26th)

It sounds like a lot but they brighten my life and make me happy.

Other Plants:

I also have a little Succulent/Cactus pot

Succulent/cactus pot
 

A Orange Tree which I am leaving outside for the summer and then bringing inside as soon as it gets cold.

My cute aunt and I with my Blood Orange tree.

A Orchid I bought myself for my Birthday.

Wish me luck on my new little adventure!!!!

 

Special Note:  I was visiting my aunt and uncle over the easter holiday; my uncle and I were talking by the pool about his citrus trees, I told him I had always wanted a citrus tree.  I didn't think anything about the conversation and took a nap by the pool, when I woke up he and my cute aunt had run to the store and bought me one... I was overcome by the sweetness and love they have always showed me.  I am so blessed to have these two in my life. 

 

 

Amazing Examples of Unselfish Love and Kindness, My Aunt and Uncle.