Summer Treats

Berry Patch Farms - lots of flowers, not so many berries, yet!

Last week, we went to Berry Patch Farms as we did last year.  We should have waited another week or two, we were not allowed to pick berries to our heart's content, only two pints per...  We thought that was two per family but some people nearby apparently interpreted that as two per half person.  Anyway, we did not get enough to make a batch of jam.  We did get enough you-pick-it basil for some delicious pesto.  I don't know why I waited so long to make my own, I LOVE basil. 

So no berries, but luckily, my friend Judy had called me a month ago asking if I wanted in on some peaches.  Yesterday, our twenty pound box arrived.  The boys all wanted to eat them out of the box; not me, I don't like the whole fuzz thing.  Today, we are making our first batch of peach preserves for the year.  YUM.  Thank goodness for blogging: I could not find the recipe I used last year until I looked to see if I had posted a link.  Yes, I did!  (It's the last link in the text.)  It's so delicious, that's the only word for it.  That little zing of lemon makes the whole pot sing.  I have to keep getting another clean spoon for one more little taste.  One more.  Just one more.  Okay, one more. 

My father-in-law was in town this morning and stopped by with some eggplant, zucchini, and tomatoes from their garden - we haven't had many red tomatoes yet, but they live a couple hours south of us.  I don't know if I've ever eaten eggplant; we're going to have eggplant parmesan tomorrow for dinner. 

From our own garden, we've made a batch of pickles and eaten several cucumbers, onions, peppers, and lots of herbs.  I just picked an acorn squash today - and I didn't even plant any!  We had some volunteers hiding in the cucumbers and I didn't realize until this week that they were different.  I love eating out of the garden.  If you have one, you know exactly what I mean.  By the way, thank you Peggy, for suggesting it every year until I finally planted that first zucchini!