HOW THE GARDEN DOES GROW

I cannot believe how much our garden has grown this summer. In this picture you see the 6+ foot tall pole beans, red cabbages, oregano in the front left corner of the picture and the tomatoes in the back. The white pvc structure is something we built 2 weeks ago after the storms broke and bent the bamboo poles we had used to stake the tomato plants. The heavy vines were just laying across the ground they were so heavy with tomatoes. It was a sorry site to say the least. The vines were so heavy Matt was having problems lifting them all up so I could get the poles in underneath to support them. It wasn't a perfect solution but it appears to have worked and it is supporting the plants and keeping them upright. The huge plant you see on the right bed is the tomatillos. The fruit is really uniquely intriguing, they look like miniature paper Chinese lanterns. The fruit grows inside and fills up the paper like cover. The parsley is in front of the tomatillos, growing over the edge of the bed.

Here's another picture showing the other bed with Roma tomatoes in it. We harvested those sweet red tomatoes after I took the picture. The broccoli plants are next to it and we're waiting the next batch of broccoli after the wonderful first cutting. There are actually jalapeno peppers between the tomato plants and broccoli, but they're hard to see.

Tonight's supper:

Brisket in the crockpot

with fresh cabbage from the garden

quartered red potatoes

and quartered onions

I'm a bit behind on the cleaning chores but not horribly so since I lost a day yesterday due to judging at the St. Clair County 4H Fair. I judge 4H dog agility. Its extremely enjoyable to work with the kids; although, sometimes frustrating. Yesterday was one of those days were it was very frustrating as they kids and dogs were just not ready and I only had 2 that had qualifying scores. The rest I had to disqualify for a variety of reasons; i.e. fouling in the ring, not completing the course, refusing to do obstacles, etc... I have never had to disqualify that many kids since I started judging and it really bothers me. We were able to have a good laugh as a dog jumped on top of the tunnel and tried to walk down the top of the tunnel instead of going through it. I've seen dogs jump on top and then off the tunnel or jump over the tunnel but never walk it - it was a good laugh that we were able to have in the sheer joy the dog was having despite being disqualified.

Chores completed today:

4 loads of laundry (so far)

living room: decluttered, dusted, swept, mopped and de-furred

bedroom: decluttered, dusted, swept, and mopped