The food is starting to come in here in my little Chicago backyard. Lots of tomatoes, green beans, jalapeños, yellow squash, and the second harvest of raspberries. I also have basil and mint for my herbs. And I've got some funny little cucumbers growing - this is my first year trying cucumbers - it says 'Sweet Marketmore' and on the package they look nice and big and long - but I'm not sure these will turn out like the picture.
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| my first ever cucumber, rather small still |
However, I am enjoying what has come in. I love to know that a little seed can create so much. Outside of the perennial food growing in my back yard, everything else has come from seed. The food has inspired some yummy meals and I really like cooking this time of year, when I can get my food fresh from my yard.
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| The 1st green bean of the season gets the thumbs up |
I also discovered that my kids would rather eat the green beans fresh and raw than eat them cooked - so on Friday (school started last week for us) they got raw, fresh picked green beans for a snack, they got them today (Monday) too. As long as they keep coming in, fresh green beans will be picked in the morning and put into their lunches.
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| cooked green beans/fresh guacamole |
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| harvest/jalapeno not shown |
Early last week I made fresh guacamole with three different kinds of tomatoes, and added some fresh jalapeños. This whole meal (pictured above) was inspired by the fresh guacamole.
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| Tomatoes and jalapenos added to Saturday's egg salad |
On Saturday my kids helped me cut up ingredients for egg salad - I didn't need anything from the yard for my regular recipe, but decided it would be fun to add tomatoes and jalapeños. Personally I liked it, but my kids didn't want the 'new' recipe. Luckily I separated the egg salad into two different bowls so they didn't suffer.
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| harvest that became Sunday's dinner |
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| Sunday's salad with cherrie tomatoes |
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| Pasta with tomatoes, yellow squash and fresh basil from the back yard |
Sunday night it was pasta with fresh basil, a variety of tomatoes, and yellow squash with a butter sauce. I added the cherry tomatoes to the salad. Two out of three kids ate it all up, even second helpings. My picky third child remained my picky third child. But the real success was that it ended up as lunch today for one of my children, by request.
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| Monday mornings harvest |
This morning I gathered the green beans, some mint, and the first few raspberries of the second harvest. The mint and raspberries went into my 40 ounce water bottle that I take to work, for a nice little fresh change to my regular plain old H2O.
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| clematis |
Finally, I did something I've never done before - planted seeds in August. I've been told you can keep growing/planting certain foods throughout the growing season. So I planted some lettuce on Saturday. I'm curious to see what happens. It would be great to have a few more salads that came directly from the backyard before the growing season is over.
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| grasshopper hiding behind raspberry stem |
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| grasshopper jumping onto fence while I watered |
Of course, as the flowers continue to bloom and the animals come, I will continue to take pictures of them too. Sunday I found several grasshoppers - they always seem to show up around this time of year. Fortunately I get to see lots of bees buzzing around the yard every day. They aren't just on the wildflowers, they are on the food too.
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| Bumble-bee pollenating my green beans |
What is your back yard inspiring your plate to look like this year?
Alexandra Gnoske is a Nature Lover, Writer, and Environmental Expert.
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