After the fair wrapped up, the kids felt, well, a little lost. In the weeks leading up to it, their days were packed with training, washing, and grooming animals, plus finishing up projects and all of the entry work. Then suddenly, the fair was over, and they felt so strange with all the free time they now had.
Thankfully, we had a very neglected garden that was more than ready to cut into that free time. Our garden hadn’t been weeded for several weeks, and it showed. It was going to take all of our efforts to get it under control. So, after a couple of days of trying to right the house from fair time and getting some much-needed rest, we entered the garden with ready-to-take-control attitudes. We weren’t too far into weeding when those attitudes changed with the growing heat. Not only were there a lot of weeds, but also a lot of produce to be picked. The tomato plants were loaded! All I cared about was getting the garden weeded and gone through, so I gave anyone who didn’t want to weed the job of picking tomatoes—and I tell you, that job was just as time-consuming as weeding. I can’t remember how many tomato plants we planted, but we had several rows that needed picking. The younger two filled bowl after bowl as the oldest and I weeded patch by patch. Making progress was easy with the kids’ help, and with the feeling that we finally had time on our hands, I didn’t get discouraged by all there was to do. We would get it done in the upcoming days, even weeks, if needed. Not only were the tomatoes plentiful, but they were positively the biggest, most flawless tomatoes I’ve had in years. We’ve been washing and coring them before throwing them into freezer bags and then into the freezer until we have some cooler days to can them. After you take them out of the freezer, you can run them under warm water, and the skins peel right off.
Besides spending a lot of time in the garden, we’ve set up once at the Edwards County Farmers Market. It’s been over 10 years since I last set up there, and that was a decent source of income for me as a stay-athome mom. Custom decorated cake orders, raising kids, and life took over, and my farmers market days came to an end. With the kids baking and crafting, they’ve been asking to set up there for the past couple of years. I’m so glad we made it happen and plan to make it happen again. Our table definitely looks a little different than it did when I was toting my oldest, as a baby, to the market so many years ago. I still bake the same types of goods, breads, cookies, cupcakes, and so on, but what I make now doesn’t even compare to what I used to bake. Fresh-milled flour and other quality ingredients have changed my baked goods into something worth eating, something good for your body, even if it is a cookie. Don’t get me wrong: with how I used to bake, I could definitely please a sweet tooth. But now it’s filling, nutritious, and just wholesomely yummy. I loved being able to introduce some of the public to goods made with fresh-milled flour at the market, and the kids were so pleased to sell some wood crafts and sewing items!
We are on baby watch with my Jersey, Pepper, and should have a calf on the ground within the next week. I say “should” because she could hold out on me. Besides being super excited for a cute Jersey calf, we’re ready for some easy-to-churn Jersey cream, as my Brown Swiss’s cream isn’t the easiest to turn into butter these days! She’ll bless us with a lot more than cream though—she’s a good milk producer.
Our meals have been pretty simple lately (sandwiches, tacos, grilled garden veggies, meatballs, hamburgers) and I just love being able to pull something from the garden and make a quick side dish. I threw this tomato dish in a cast iron pan on the grill instead of on the stove and it was a super easy, healthy, summer side dish.
PAN ROASTED CHERRY TOMATOES 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 2 cloves garlic, finely minced 2 pints cherry or grape tomatoes 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme 1 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper Instructions In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. (Be sure to select a sauté pan large enough that the tomatoes will be in a single layer as they cook.)
Add the garlic to the oil and cook for about 30 seconds – being careful not to let the garlic burn.
Add the tomatoes, basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper.
Reduce the heat to low and cook for 5 to 7 minutes, stirring frequently so that all sides of the tomatoes roast evenly, until the tomatoes start to soften and lose their firmness.
Remove from the heat and sprinkle with some additional basil and parsley.
Serve immediately
