Here is how I have spent my holiday thus far…blackberry picking with the boys while Josh had to work. Pickings were slim so I wasn’t able to do as much as I wanted. The boys were very disappointed there wasn’t enough to make cobbler!
We came home and I worked in the garden. I had to hunt things down for my harvest. We had another heavy rain yesterday so many plants were hanging over. The cucumber plants are hanging all over the pepper plants. The melons are all over.
Here is what I managed to pick this morning…
Today’s harvest includes tomatoes (golden nuggets, grape, yellow pear, zebra cherry, full size zebra), a MASSIVE zucchini, a cantaloupe, blackberries, cucumbers, tomatillos and a pepper.
What to do with it all? I canned two and a half jars of cantaloupe jam with vanilla (a first time and I must say it is SUPERB) and two jars of spiced blackberry jam.
I also made a pot of cherry tomato sauce. We had some earlier in the week with pasta and it was wonderful. It is cooling and waiting to be bagged and frozen.
Then after all that I was able to put the yellow pear tomatoes and cucumbers in bowls. Have you seen these before…they are Mexican Sour Gherkins. They are the best cucumbers ever!! They look like dollhouse sized watermelons but are really a bite sized cucumber. We MUST plant these every year now! I will pickle them at a later date, I’m exhausted!
If you want to know what boys do while their mom is harvesting in the garden, here is a clue….
Should you care to see more pics of these muddy boys swing on over to Dalrymple Clan Adventures.
Feeding My 3 Sons 
I love the tiny hello tomatoes. I have some growing in my greenhouse. Stunning photos. Your sons are very cute. Aren’t they alike? Thanks fir sharing. Emma xx
The yellow pear tomatoes are my favorite! I have heartburn so they are less acidic which helps quite a bit. Ah, someday I may have a greenhouse too. Thanks for stopping by.
Sorry typo – meant yellow of course.
Oh, what a beautiful bounty! 🙂
Thanks! Today was another busy day, peaches from the farmer’s market and picking blueberries.
Your garden is outstanding, Gretchen! WOW! ! ! ! ! The cherry sauce looks delicious!
Thanks Shanna! The cherry tomato sauce is incredible. I managed to get two quart bags frozen, hopefully I will make more soon and stock the freezer. Then we can appreciate the fresh tomato taste in the winter!
Completely delicious looking! I live vicariously through your photos of self-grown produce, my postage sized garden couldn’t come close to these beautiful veggies. And the Mexican Sour Gherkins look amazing! I must find out if we can get them in Australia. Thanks!
Thanks! We are lucky enough to have plenty of room for a large garden. Of course that also means a lot of work. In the end it is worth it and we certainly enjoy all of our fresh produce. The Mexican sour gherkins are great, I hope you can get them there.
I am so jealous of you 😀
Don’t be too jealous, it was a lot of work canning. I am at least finally getting a good system down and really loving my two new canning cookbooks. Today we use the peaches for cobbler. Someday soon I will have to tackle all the tomatoes….I don’t look forward to it! Enjoy your week.
Omg what a lovely array of tomatoes! The yellow pear tomatoes look so pretty. Is that the pot of cheery tomato sauce? I have never eaten Mexican Sour Gherkins. They look tiny and pretty. And you have red soil. I love red soil as long as it’s not sticking on shoes and clothes. I have enjoyed looking at your bounty of harvest. Thanks for sharing!
Yeah, the red soil is definitely not fun the clean, especially with three boys in it all the time! Luckily hubby just installed a shower outside over the weekend. My dream come true!! The yellow pear tomatoes are one of my favorites. That was a pot of cherry tomato sauce, using yellow pear and red cherry tomatoes. I just made more the other day. I have several bags in the freezer now! Enjoy the week!
What a lot of vegetables!! They look wonderful, especially the heirloom tomatoes and the blackberries. I love blackberries, what variety do you grow?
Those are actually wild blackberries we pick near our house. We have some at the back of the garden but I don’t recall what variety they are. I am overrun with tomatoes!
Nice, good size too. We have wild plants too and they are delicious and have always wanted to try my own plants.
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