Harvest Girl

Oh dear. Insert your own melon joke here.

We're in full harvest mode here on Flat Top. This year we only had a few experimental crops in the ground; the veggie garden still isn't finished being properly fenced against our neighborly deer. But at just half-capacity, we're not complaining. Even Mason, who'd take a hamburger over an heirloom tomato any day, has been enchanted by the rewards of growing stuff he can eat, especially the jalapenos.

That's our first watermelon, above. I know, sorry about the juxtaposition. We'll crack her open tomorrow. We've had so much rain here, I'm not sure she's going to be super sweet. But if she isn't quite ripe, I'm still eating her -- maybe with the help of the blender, a little honey and some rum. We've got four more melons on the vine; we just need a little break from the damn rain. (Sorry, rain-starved California readers ...)

The tomatoes are in full production, though I don't think it will last too much longer. Damn blight. Yesterday, I had three meals featuring my 'maters. It's impossible to decide which was tastier: the breakfast taco with microgreens and cherry tomatoes, the BLT or the panzanella salad.

Refrigerator pickles; the cucumbers were picked fresh today!

And tonight, I made my first batch of refrigerator pickles! We'll get back to you on whether they were a success.