Not so Random Stuff

It's been just over two months since the last post. To make up for this long gap, there will be two posts today. Truth be told, the reason there are two posts is the site only allows 8 MB of pictures to be uploaded per post and there just happened to be more than 8 MB of pictures I wanted to comment on. I titled this post "Not so Random Stuff" for a reason. While these pictures and the accompanying comments are pretty random, overall it's not. Since two posts were made on the same day, as you can imagine, even in my ADHD world, there is a correlation. It is this; the fact that I'm sitting here commenting on pictures taken many months ago shows how the project became a focal point for bringing together many different aspects of 2010. It was fun to sort through the many pictures taken over the past several months and remember what was going on at the time they were taken. These particular ones stood out for various reasons, so I thought I would upload and comment on them.
Here is a picture of the crooked rows of corn from back in April. I had mentioned in a post in May that they were crooked and would bother me until the next planting hid my crooked rows. I thought I would post it despite how the middle two rows curve to the right. It stood out this morning because I was looking at other pictures where the corn planted a few weeks after this was over eight feet tall. In the next blog post, you'll see pictures of the corn and this crooked stuff is invisible.

The picture of the basil is here because we can't wait until next summer when garden fresh basil will be just a few steps from the kitchen. Although we spent an entire afternoon making pesto for the freezer, it is long gone now. This showed us we need to make at least twice as much next year to get all the way through the winter. In 2011, the pesto making will have a neat twist to it. In early December 2010, Kevin Jr, Jessica H and I spent a rainy afternoon picking olives out by the UCD airport. This was part of an event that resulted in the olives being pressed into oil. Some of this oil has been set aside to be used for pesto making next summer. This will be the foundation for some truly great meals.

The sunflower picture is here to highlight an idea that is not necessarily exclusive to having a garden, but having one helps. The idea is the act of taking pictures sets you up to see some incredible things. The sun behind the sunflower with foraging bees is a prime example. Originally, my goal was to get a shot of the sunflowers in a row. As I looked at them, the bees' activity seemed interesting and they were foraging so intently, an up close shot without disturbing them was easy. Taking the pictures involved moving around to try different angles and one of them was this one. I encourage everyone to keep a camera handy and look for great shots. They're out there, you just have to look for them. Having a garden helps because it gets you outside, where in my opinion, the best shots are at.

This bucket of tomatoes is here because I was just recently reminded about them. As part of my important mission to keep Lynda from having to buy regular old run of the mill food stuff, I sent her home with some tomato puree. This tomato puree came from these tomatoes pictured. They were the Roma variety and in addition to making nice thick puree, they are great for pico de gallo. Now that I'm writing about them, I think I'll use some to make spaghetti sauce for dinner tonight.
The pumpkin pictured here was a, in the words of my daughter, ginormous one. It took RJ and I some serious cussing to carry it from the garden to the front porch for Halloween. Not to deprive Kevin Jr of the opportunity to talk like a sailor, he and I carried it from the front porch to the back porch where I cut it up to cook. This is no exaggeration when I say I cooked less than half of it and filled the freezer up with pumpkin. It has made its way into numerous pies, batches of cookies, a pot of soup, and a casserole. I have also given a few vacuumed packed bags away and there is still a butt load in the freezer. It is amazing how much comes from just one pumpkin. The personalized inscription was done at no extra charge. This was the first pumpkin Lynda and I grew together in over thirty years and it looks like we still have the magic touch.