Yummy-ness

So this morning I went out to the garden and picked the last of the ready-to-eat pole beans. Then we had them for dinner!! I just don't know if it gets much better than that. I had about 1/2 a lb, maybe more maybe less. It was enough for us and even enough for Shinerman to have seconds.

For dinner you say? We had some lamb stew meat from Burgundy Pasture Beef, marinated with olive oil, rosemary, thyme, and mint (from the herb garden). I seasoned the green beans with the leftover herbs. All this was roasted at 500deg. It took about 30mins, prep included. I rounded it out with pita bread, hummus, lettuce and red onion.

Speaking of the garden, we have several plants in there growing some sort of vegetable that we can't identify. They look sort of like tomatoes, but we didn't plant any. I'll have to do some research and figure it out - although it might come to light when they're ripe.

Our Garden

We finally got our garden planted for the late summer plantings (I say we, but it was really just Shinerman). We planted pole beans, lettuce, carrots, chives, cilantro, okra, broccoli, broccoli raab, and beets. I bought certified organic seed packets at Central Market.

I tried to talk Shinerman into planting the lettuce just a few seeds at a time so we could have successive harvesting, but he doesn't think that they'll grow very well at all. So we'll see, we might have a plethora of lettuce to share with friends and neighbors.

I think that's a big part of having a garden, sharing your bounty. I think the very nature of gardening and harvesting really requires you to share. Because you don't want all that okra or lettuce to go to waste, right? Sorry about the little tangent - I'm taking hydrocodone after getting my wisdom teeth reomoved and I'm feeling a little out of it.

Anyway, we already have some okra and pole bean sprouts! woohoo! Unfortunatly, the only way I know of cooking okra is to fry it. I'll have to do some research...

Hear are some pics of our garden.

Rogue Basil

Back several months ago I bought one basil plant in a pot. It grew and Shinerman split it in two and planted in new pots. Now every once in a while I'll see rogue basil plants in the yard. There is no rhyme or reason behind their locations.

I've seen them in the middle of the yard close to nothing...hiding under the deck...

and there is now a giant one in the middle of an ant bed.
Also, when we went on vacation last month we did not get anyone to water the plants. Of course, when we got back the basil was dead - or was it? NOPE! It's back, growing right on top of the 'dead' branches. I'm telling ya - if you want to grow herbs do not hesitate! Get 'em in the ground or a pot and you won't be disappointed. We also have two 5 yr old rosemary plants that have survived our neglect and a 3 year old jumping on them. I highly recommend adding rosemary to your herb garden.