Monday Musings

  The remnants of the garden require attention, as it continues to produce. More zucchini and summer squash have appeared, hidden beneath the voluminous leaves. One of the yellow squash will be seasoned and grilled to accompany tonight’s dinner. The others will be grated and frozen. This morning, I seeded and grated several large zucchinis (these were in addition to the above photo). The process produced six large cups, which I sealed in gallon Food Saver bags. (Please excuse my misspelling of zucchini in the photo lol). Each bag of 3 cups is sufficient to prepare my favorite Zucchini Blueberry bread featured in the July 21, 2025 story “National Blueberry Month.” The big, beautiful green zucchini above will render another 3 cups of grated vegetable. I’ve already frozen three 1-cup bags of blueberries shown in the 8/11/25 “Garden Preservation” story. Saturday, I picked an additional 6 cups of the luscious fruit. More sweet morsels to garnish granola and yogurt, or to bake into tea b...

  Mid-August: my garden has reached its peak. We have enjoyed the fruits of its abundance: crisp salads, tasty sauces, and grilled produce. Now, it is time to store up for the cool fall and cold winter months ahead. Over the last couple of weeks, I have blanched and frozen excess green beans and freezer-bagged beautiful blueberries. I cooked up a large pot of pasta sauce, its ingredients gleaned from my raised beds: four types of tomatoes, garlic, onions, basil, oregano, and parsley. We feasted on a portion, and I placed the remainder in the freezer. Last weekend, I tackled the start of the root vegetable harvest. I began by pulling up the four rows of carrots: two of Nantes carrots, the other two mixed color. Four large buckets of carrot greens topped off my rotating compost bins. I  packed the carrots, layered in fine pine sawdust, into wire bins lined with burlap . They will overwinter in our unheated basement. The red and white onions were prolific, yielding dozens of plum...