5th week of July 2008
This weekend my siblings and families descended upon the farm for our annual summmer gathering. A pile of cousins enjoyed romping around the farm, getting to watch the sheep be sheared and they even helped me with a few garden chores like pulling garlic and digging potatoes. Cooking for 19 people for the weekend involved lots of goodies from the garden. One meal included 3 roasted chickens, each with different herb flavorings, potatoes roasted with rosemary and garlic, sliced tomatoes with basil, shallots and olive oil with an apple cake made with fresh picked apples for dessert. Unfortunately, I didn't snap any photos before we devoured the meal. Other meals included cucumbers from my brother's garden, zucchini from my sister's garden transformed into brownies, lots of beans, homemade ice-cream topped with blueberries and sweet corn from an Amish neighbor. It's a delicious time of year to be eating!
Our little boys had a grand time digging the potatoes in their little gardens. From three plants, our youngest had quite a yield of red and blue potatoes. I may need to give him the job of growing more of my potatoes next year. The next night we were sure to eat a meal including potatoes from their gardens and they have been generous in sharing their special potatoes with friends who stop by. One is also keeping a daily watch on the progress of his watermelon plants that now have a few melons the size of golf balls. Another job that was good for little fingers this week was to help shell the peas from the Dwarf Gray Sugar plant that I let go to seed. Those will be thoroughly dried and put in the freezer along with the Carouby Snow peas I grew for seed.
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