Today's Harvest

Four Lemon Drop Tomatoes and a Tigerella

Pesto... Not made for a jar!

Ahhhhh. As I type up this entry I am licking my chops in satisfaction.

I have just eaten a lunch of homemade pesto and pasta. Frankly, I intend to never eat bottled pesto again.

With a food processor or stick blender (with appropriate attachments) you can pick and chooses your own flavors and have a scrumptious pesto in literally minutes. I love the way my pestos are more chunky and much less oily than store bought ones too.

Usually, if I'm doing a Q&D pesto, I grab basil from the garden, cashews from the pantry, grated cheese from the fridge and drizzle olive oil before whizzing the lot together.

Today I added some sun dried tomatoes and sunflower seeds and was certainly not disappointed with the results!! I think in the future I may try adding in some of my fresh oregano with the sundried tomato to see how that works. Yeah!

Ode to the First Homegrown Tomato

g r o w i n g ..... impatience
g r o w i n g ..... anticipation

little golden globe
mouth-smoooosh
delectable tang on the tongue

love at first bite.

But the Produce is More Lovely!

Though I am appreciating the wild beauty of weeds in my yard, I am loving the fruit and vegetables in it much more!


This little capsicum was only just bigger than my fist, and the only one grown on the plant. But it was my first time to grow a capsicum fully until it was red on the plant. I harvested this little guy earlier this week and put him on a homemade pizza, with scone base, baked sweet potato, basil, onion and bacon.


I bought three basil plants for $4 at the bayside markets, a real bargain! I planted them amongst two of my tomato plants to try to tempt the bugs away, sacrificial basil. I've used some on the abovementioned pizza but also made homemade fresh pesto twice now. A handful of basil leaves, a handful of cashews, a sprinkling of parmesan (or pizza cheese if you run out of parmesan as I did today!) and a dash of olive oil. Process the lot for 20 seconds on low then 10 seconds on high and you have a pesto that beats any store bought one hands down.



Last year my mulberry tree went OFF and, again, this year, it hasn't disappointed! Every 2nd morning I duck out before work to pluck down those ripe berries that I can reach. I then spend a few moments staring at the ones near the top of the tree and regret that I have to leave them for the birds! At first I ate them like there was no tommorrow- with yogurt and by themselves at lunch times. Then I decided I should freeze them and try to make a jam or conserve (and a cordial if I have enough leftover). So I have a substantial harvest set aside and frozen for this....

Of all the things I've harvested from my garden recently the peas were the most unexpected. The seeds had germinated almost overnight in a seedling tray and mini greenhouse. Then the plants shot up in a way that gave a new appreciation for the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk!

I replanted them outside only to later read that peas should be planted where they are to grow. I watched as they struggled and slowly turned a sickly yellow green. By the time they had reached a mostly yellow tinge I had completely given up on them.

But one morning, while watering the tomatoes and basil beside them I noticed something green amongst the faded leaves of a plant. A pod! My heart thrilled, I realised there were pods on most of the small dwarf plants. A week later I harvested the small number of pods (about 12 in total), realising that the plants had done as much as they could given my poor care. Each pod only had one or two seeds but they were so sweet, fresh and lovely! It was a delight.