A Tardy Warning?

It's that time of year again when farmers are trying to harvest their crops. (Well, this has been going on for a while now, which is why I say my warning is tardy.) This means that there will be huge slow-moving pieces of equipment and machinery sharing the highways and roads with you. And when I say slow, I mean anywhere from 10 to 25 miles per hour. When you're driving 70 mph, you can come up on that combine/grain cart/hay baler very quickly. If you see the flashing hazard lights ahead of you, you need to be prepared to rapidly slow down. If the flag person waves that flag vigorously at you, please pay attention: that flag person is trying to protect their loved one, and they also want you to survive the encounter. (Having my flag-waving blithely ignored as someone flies past me irritates the tar out of me. I'm scared for my husband!)

Another warning: semis are very long. They're carrying heavy loads and cannot stop on a dime. Please don't sail on by, pull in quickly, and then slam on your brakes for a bird, no matter how big that fowl might be. That truck bearing down on you will cause you a lot more damage than that bird will. (True story.) And if their turn signal is saying they're going to go right, even though they might be veering a bit left, be aware they need that extra space in order to complete that right turn. Do not attempt to pass on their right, unless you wish to be crunched! (Another true story.) This works the other way, too: they signal a left, but veer a bit right to make enough room to safely navigate that left turn. Do not think that space is safe for you to drive into! They probably can't see you in their mirror, either.

These same warnings will also be in effect in the spring when the farmers head out to seed their crops. Now, I'll get off my soap box and get back to gardening.

I am enjoying fresh peas, although not in great abundance, so my netting seems to be effective. The lack of abundance I'm blaming partly upon using an off-brand seed (not all the seeds germinated). Mainly I'm blaming the heat hitting at the wrong stage in their development. And that's mostly on me: I simply didn't plant them early enough. I hadn't really decided to put in a large garden, until I did just that. Anyway, I won't have to worry about blanching and freezing my pea crop.

The sun gold cherry tomatoes are delightful. I'm getting a handful every couple of days. I've had all of two cucumbers, but more are forming. My beans, also planted late, have only produced about 15 of a pickable size. One variety has large, lush plants, while the other variety has small, delicate plants, but those are loaded with blossoms. My row (both varieties count as one row) is only about twelve feet long, so again, I'm not going to have enough beans to bother with canning any. And that's fine with me.

My local daughter and I are enjoying true baby carrots as I thin the rows. I'll be checking on my beets this week. I expect to be thinning those as well. The onions have already been thinned (mostly). I'm laying over the green tops in hopes of them putting their growth into the bulb instead of the tops. A couple of them have tried to go to seed - they've blossomed. And that's not good as the onion gets hard and inedible. I should just pull those two.

I've enjoyed one hill of baby red potatoes. That's all I've dug so far. Usually I can scratch around the hill and unearth some for early eating without pulling the entire plant. I plan to try some from each of the other two spud rows. I planted Russian fingerlings and a yellow variety. I'm curious to see how they're doing. Many times I'll simply hose off the skins (new potatoes shed their skins easily) and eat them raw as is. Or I'll dip them in one of my pestos. I think the onion pesto will be great with raw potato. Boiled and chilled potatoes are also nice.

Here's my latest recipe find:

Greek Cucumber and

Tomato Salad

2 large cukes, thinly sliced

3 medium tomatoes, thinly sliced

1/2 a red onion, thinly sliced

1/4 C EVOO

2 Tbl red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp dried oregano

Salt & pepper to taste

1/4 C chopped fresh parsley

Optional: crumbled feta, olives

Put the veggies in a bowl. Whisk together the oil, vinegar, oregano, and seasonings. Drizzle over the veggies and toss gently, sprinkle parsley on top. If adding the optional ingredients, do that before adding the parsley.

When I made this, I cut the recipe in half as I'm the only one here eating it (plus I only had one cuke at the time). I used my cherry tomatoes, cut in half. My red onion was three smaller ones I'd thinned, and I separated them into small rings. I threw in my fresh peas (about 3/4 cup) and my handful of green beans , snapped into shall bits. I don't usually eat beans raw, but there weren't enough to cook! I did add Kalamata olives, halved, and feta, because how is this Greek without that??? Gwendolyne told me true Greek salads don't have lettuce, so this one must be true.