The Garden Chronicles August 28, 2011 - The BIG Harvests of 2011

The improved weather of the last few weeks accounted for HUGE yields this week.  These photos show just some of the incredible harvests of fruit and veggies, all from our backyard.  

Yellow and green beans, yellow squash, three kinds of tomatoes, Swiss chard.

The garden bunnies didn't get any of the kale, chard, mint or basil.

Ready for the freezer: three gallons of kale, two gallons of chard, and one quart each of basil and mint.

A sampling of the pears this week.We did a better job of getting to them before the birds did.

One of the best grape harvests ever, and sweeter than last year's.

No shortage of zucchini.  More than 30 lbs, and at least 20 of it went to Dorothy Day Center (homeless shelter and soup kitchen in downtown St. Paul) where they love receiving donations of fresh produce.

One day spent canning resulted in six pints of grape jelly, three half-pints champagne currant jelly, six half-pints red currant jelly, and four half-pints black currant jelly.  The pears went into eight pints of pear-pineapple preserves, a packed one-gallon bag dehydrated pear slices, and a few quarts of pear sauce.

Lake Superior's North Shore

This week we escaped city heat and humidity for a few days on the north shore of Lake Superior, staying in Lutsen/Tofte area and driving as far as Grand Marais, MN.  We hiked the trails of Superior National Forest, enjoying views of the Great Lake from above.  Our lodging was right at the shore, and we were able to walk along the rocky coast and look across the sea-like lake where water meets the sky along the horizon.  We also visited some MN State Parks and hiked more trails there.  David and I took the following photos.

Here is sunset on Lake Superior.

Views from the top of Pincushion Mountain, along the Gun Flint trail through Superior National Forest.

Kettle River and rapids at Banning State Park.

Bead Lily, a common wildflower of the forest floor, with blue berries in August.

A butterfly landed on David's arm while we were hiking the trail.

Cascade River State Park.

David climbing Eagle Mountain (highest peak in MN at 2,000 feet).

Dwarf dogwood, another wildflower of the forest floor, with red berries in August.

Lake Superior coastline.

 Mountain Laurel.

Views along the trail to Oberg Mountain in Lutsen, my favorite hike of the vacation.

While hiking Oberg trail, we met the family of a beautiful Golden Retriever named Cedar, celebrating her eleventh birthday by leading them along the trail she has been hiking with them since she was a puppy.

Thimbleberries were ripe along the trails - We tried a few (very sweet), and also sampled some wild raspberries.

View of Lake Superior from the patio.

View from Eagle Mountain.

The Garden Chronicles August 6, 2011 - Zucchini Plus!

We thought there were no more zucchini, but look what we found this morning.Whoppers all, and they are mostly now in the freezer for this winter's zucchini breads, as well as soups and stews.  Our raspberries produced well this summer, despite an infestation of Japanese beetles that has attacked them.  Many trees, shrubs, and rose bushes throughout the Twin Cities are affected by these beetles.

Our cherry tomatoes are a light orange variety and very tasty.  We seem to be getting one or two cucumbers a week - just enough for salads.