The Last of...

Last week I finished the final fresh green pepper from the garden. This week I made the last cabbage into slaw. There is always a last of everything. I try to make my lasts go as far into the winter season as possible. I still have plenty of onions, carrots and potatoes. The root vegetables keep quite well. And the garlic. Hopefully I will still be eating Orange Treasure tomatoes in January. They kept for a long time last year and the longevity of this tomato variety is looking good for this year as well.

Of course different preservation methods will make the "last of" last even longer. Canning salsa, freezing tomato sauce and drying tomatoes and peppers means that I will be eating from the garden all winter long. Food will still taste good, be healthy for me and cost nothing in the way of energy since only my steps from the garden to the house were involved in the transportation of this food. Since I try to walk 10,000 steps a day I consider this a very good thing indeed. 

Red Lentil Salad

I bought some orange lentils at Hampshire Farms not too long ago, just because they looked so pretty. So then it was necessary to find a recipe for them. Here is a recipe for Red Lentil Salad where I substituted the orange lentils for the red.

Cook 1 cup lentils in 1 quart water ( I found that it took about 15 minutes to cook, not long at all). While still warm add the dressing: 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, 2 tablespoons olive oil and 2 gloves garlic minced. Let the lentils cool to room temperature.

Add the following vegetables:

3/4 cup cherry tomatoes (I substituted home grown orange treasure tomatoes) chopped

3/4 cup chopped cucumber

3/4 cup chopped orange bell pepper

3/4 cup chopped green onion

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil

salt and pepper to taste

Toss together.

A quick recipe that sounds really good to me!

My orange treasure tomatoes are still plentiful and tasting like summer. I fully expect them to last into January like they did last year. What a great tomato this one is!

Fall Clean-up

It is inevitable here in Michigan that come November it is time to put the garden to bed and think about a long winter's rest. I actually don't mind the rest since the garden keeps me busy from spring to fall. And I have more time to read. Of course some of those books I read happen to be about gardening! I guess I can never fully leave it behind.

The nice thing about fall is that there is still a lot of color to be had. The burning bush comes into its own at this time of year. And although I have thought about digging it out at times, I never quite manage to do so because of the vibrant red color it displays.

There was a bit of color this morning in the yarrow (variety Paprika). Maybe I shouldn't have been surprised to see this. Yarrow was the one wildflower that was still in bloom on my trip to Alaska this past September. Michigan is a bit further south than Alaska so maybe I should have expected this nice surprise in November here.

Well, the leaves in the front are raked and everything I intend to cut back for now is cut back. Time to clean the tools I guess. But I think I will save that for another day. A gardener's work is never really done.