Family Produce

The garden produced a good crop again this year, the most delicious tomatoes, yellow and red, big and small. 

It attracted visitors too.

We had salads on the menu with all the cherry tomatoes we grew, plus lettuce, cucumber and onion.

This year again, I made enough pizza sauce and preserved enough tomatoes for the next year. 

The herb garden grew really well this year too, with oregano, thyme, rosemary, basil, sage, and mint. I will dry most of these.

One discovery this year was fresh sage leaves placed under the skin of chicken done on the barbecue or roasted in the oven. It gave the chicken a subtle sage flavour which we all loved.

Salsa made the menu as well this year. Inspired by the peach salsa of the Island Preserve Company, New Glasgow, Prince Edward Island, we did our own recipe, using some garden ingredients.

We used yellow and red tomatoes, cilantro and hot peppers from the garden. To that we added a peeled peach, chopped onion, salt, pepper and juice from half a fresh squeezed lemon.

Peach-Tomato Salsa

4 tomatoes chopped, we used red and yellow

1/2 large onion, chopped

1 hot pepper, finely chopped

1 peach, peeled and chopped

Bunch cilantro, chopped

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon of freshly squeezed lemon juice 

Combine and refrigerate for at least an hour.

We served this salsa with tortilla chips. 

The garden is almost empty now, just a few herbs remain. However the promise of next year means we supplement the soil with sheep manure and seaweed this autumn, ready for another year.