First Harvest

The windows are open. The air conditioners are off. The girls are actually playing outside during the day. The evenings are perfect. School starts next week. I can almost smell autumn in the air.

The last week has been about harvesting. Over the weekend I made a couple different pestos, one of which is here. With my first harvest of basil in July I made a traditional pesto with pine nuts. With the second harvest I used walnuts instead of pine nuts.

I harvested the first round of peppers from the garden - bananas.

And made me some pickled peppers!

I harvested all of the edamame this morning. And after doing so, I read that evening harvests are the best for flavor. However, considering that the six plants yielded a whopping 5.8 ounces, I don't think it's much of an issue!

Interestingly, all the pods are ready to harvest at the same time. Next year I know to do some successive planting -- and much more it!

I blanched the pods for one minute, followed by an ice water bath to stop the cooking. Once completely dry, I put them in a zippy bag and tossed them into the freezer.

Last week I also froze some chopped sweet red peppers for the winter.

Next up? More peppers to pickle, tomatoes to be put up and chutneys to be canned!