Snow Peas Fresh From The Garden

The Oregon Giant peas are ready.  Ed plants them in two rows and then adds a chicken wire fence down the middle for the peas to cling to.  This year he mulched them with finely chopped and sifted leaves.  The results are spectacular and except for a little hand watering during dry periods we have not had to do any upkeep.  We have been having a lot of deer trouble this year, but the cage around the bed had kept the peas safe.  Now we get to enjoy the best part!

First thing this morning Ed went out to pick the snow peas and get them into the fridge.  It made us happy all day to know we would be having one of our absolute favorite summer dishes for dinner tonight!  Both pea beds are producing now.  Maybe I will actually make something different with snow peas this year too, but this dish is  fabulous!

 This recipe dates back to our vegetarian days.  Now I realize not everyone likes or even wants to try tofu, but this Sesame Baked Tofu With Snow Peas and Almonds would be a great place to start.  I have made this with chicken and it was delicious, but the original is still our favorite!  The recipe is from  The Moosewood Kitchen Garden Cookbook, pg. 235.  I love this book!  I might have scanned the page directly from my cookbook. I have used it so much that the pages are loose. However, I don't know what the current rules are for that sort of thing and I may have spilled soy sauce on this recipe once or twice.  I wouldn't want anyone to see that!   I'll be picking more peas on Tuesday morning.  I can hardly wait!

Garden Goodbyes

It's a fact of life that when you garden where we do, we have to say a fond farewell to the garden every fall.  Some years it is a quick ending with hard freezes or heavy snow.   Other years, like this one, it is more of a long lingering farewell.  These are, I believe, the last summer squash from this years garden. We ate them for dinner last night and I have to say they were fantastic.  Nothing can beat the flavor of just picked garden vegetables.  We also finished the last of our snow peas.  Ed's second planting  did not do well.  Heat stress and hungry insects limited our harvest to just fifteen snow peas.  That was not enough to make my favorite recipe, but I added them at the last minute to some garlic chicken and we really enjoyed their bright green color and crunchy texture.  

Tonight we will have the last BLTs of the season enjoying the remaining garden tomatoes and Ed's pretty leaf lettuce.  This may be the fourth planting this year.

I'm still making herb tea using fresh herbs from the garden.  Not all of the spearmint looks this good, but I can still find nice leaves to use.  We have of course saved some our garden bounty.  We have garlic, onions, potatoes, pumpkins and butternut squash in the basement.  I have dried some herbs and some tomatoes.  More garden treasure in packed away in the freezer.  It's all wonderful, but nothing is the same as fresh.   For a four season gardener, the time apart in winter, the anticipation of spring, the summer's rewards and autumn's farewell make the whole experience more special.

Every day there are fewer flowers blooming in the garden.  The bees are taking full advantage of  the time that remains.  We intend to do the same!