It must be delicious, look at the claws digging in!
And he’d really appreciate me and the camera moving on so that he can finish his meal.
Just in case that isn’t your cup o’ tea for a delicious something how about…this…
Sunshine, a kabocha type winter squash, is one of our absolute favorites. Funny, there’s a connection between this picture and the header. Last year we only got to eat a couple of these because the mice hollowed out about ten of them!
It’s hard not to wish autumn would hurry up and get here so I can eat my lovely winter squashes, but summer took ever so long to get here that some of us here in the Puget Sound who usually love Autumn don’t really need it to come right away! Besides, I have lots of zucchini to eat.
Here’s another delicious shot… or at least it will be sometime this winter. We don’t preserve lots and lots of food here at the Farm, and we most likely won’t in the future, but there are some things that just need to be put up so that in the bleak dark days of winter we can feast upon the flavors of summer and return to warmer, brighter days at least for a moment. Vitamin D is great, and it gets me through many a dark day, but sometimes you just need the flavor of the season rolling over your tongue.
The reason we choose not to do a slew of preserving is that we like to keep our diet as seasonal as possible and the beauty of living here in the Puget Sound is that it is fairly easy to have a fresh local seasonal diet even in the dead of winter or the first break through of spring. But I have to admit, even if I could raise all of our diet all of the days of the calendar so that we never had to put a single food into a jar or plastic freezer bag… there are still a few foods that I would still have to put up so that I could feel normal. Green beans would be one, tomatoes, whole, cut or sauced would be another. And berries, lots of berries in the freezer makes me a happy girl in the winter, at the beginning of winter in pies, lovely, hot from the oven, beautiful pies, and then later in last part of winter and early spring in body fortifying smoothies or on top of my oatmeal.
Even when we accomplish all of our five year goal (on year two right now) particularly the part, “if we don’t grow it we don’t eat it,” for seventy-five percent of our diet and keeping it as seasonal as possible, there will still be those things we take care to preserve in the height of their season to enjoy when the memory of the seasons past are hard to recollect. Those preserved tastes savored in the off seasons are too delicious to not attend to.
Another thing to attend to that I forgot late last night while typing this… go see what the other challengers (on my side board) have for my pick of “Delicious” for the challenge this week.
We could take lots of photos like your header around here too, our cats are very accomplished micers too. It’s great that they do it for the protection of your crops just not so good when they bring them in to our house as “presents”.
I very much like the cat doing it’s job pic – well done kitty! Your crops look delicious and eating seasonally is great when there is something growing – here in Texas – extraordinary drought levels made even our normal joy of tomatoes a losing proposition this year – BUT there is always next year right?
Lanny: You are doing a wonderful job in growing what you need. The PNW certainly has weather that allows you to grow all year. Your mouser is so cute.
Busy little bees arent you on your Victory Farm, and your kitty Lanny, thats a real great shot.
I don’t think I care much for your cat’s idea of “delicious,” but your version sounds pretty good!
cute kitty! i’d like to make earrings out of those cute little orange things too! ha ha ha
smiles, bee
xoxoxoxooxxo
You cat looks a bit like Marmalade’s new friend, who we’ve called Oscar. He’s recently appeared on our doorstep too, and of course he has such a cute little face and lifts his left paw up when he want’s feeding.
It’s nice to see the fruit of your agricultural labors. This is an awesome post.
Hi Lanny, Delicious is all about your point of view! Your kitty thinks that mouse is better than those green beans! At first I thought your beans were the yellow ones and I was about to pack my bags..I love yellow green beans..my Grandma used to grow and can them. ( I miss her as much as the beans).
That winter squash looks great..I love the flavor of spaghetti squash and I cook them up and freeze them to enjoy in the winter.
I would love to grow more here..but the trees shade the gardens too much. We got one lousy little tomato before it froze here last week.
I do have raspberries, sweet corn and onion enough for the winter in the freezer..and most likely enough beef too. My hunting and gathering days are fading away as winter is not far away. Minnesota you betcha..where winter meets summer some years:)
Cute kitty : ) the beans look great. And I so admire your 5 year plan.