Dark vegetables, high in anthocyanin (antioxidants) were the theme this year.
Merlot lettuce - definitely a keeper. Slow to bolt and very delicious, not to mention beautiful.
Black Beauty tomatoes. Not sure I'll plant them again - beautiful but really hard to tell when they are ripe. My old standby Cherokee Purple are still my favorite but these did bear heavily.
Purple podded pole beans. Say that ten times fast. Also grew Borlotto Nano and Dragon's tongue beans. All beautiful and delicious.
Not a heavy crop of blackberries this year but oh my, what beauties!
I love seeing the bees in the garden. The sunflowers were volunteers from spilled birdseed and popped up in random places. I let them grow where they wished. Every garden needs a little chaos. And they just make me happy.
Not a great apple year but enough to make 9 gallons of cider and lots of applesauce.
A friend shared her bumper crop of Concord grapes. 50+ quarts of grape juice - yikes!
A good crop of crabapples from the Dolgo crabapple tree. Harvesting the little apples is no joke. We had help. And it makes the best jelly in the WORLD!
Pete had his expert helper for pressing cider. Becca and I chopped the apples, they pressed the cider.
One new hive of bees this year so not a huge crop - 3 gallons but lovely honey.
Along about August and September when there is endless harvesting, canning, jelly making, cider pressing, honey extracting, applesauce making (and on and on) I always ask myself, "WHY do I do this?" I don't think there's a good answer to that. It's just who I am and what I love to do here. On the farm. Every summer. Good for the soul as well as the body. And somehow an act of faith...plant the seed, reap the harvest, share the bounty.
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