Fall Already?

The leaves on our young red oak tree turned bright red, then brown and then fell off - in August. And although we are expecting cooler temperatures this weekend, it's not fall yet. I think the tree died. How can I be sure? Do we wait until next spring to see? I don't see any buds. This poor tree, it fell over in a storm two years ago, and all the time we've had it, it's hardly grown.

Pumpkin Peeking Through

A "Cinderella" pumpkin peeking through the landscaping in front. Our pumpkins in the back didn't fare so well, squash bugs invaded this year. We won't be planting any squash back there next year. We need to starve those horrid bugs out. I'm not generally a bug-o-phobe, but squash bugs and cockroaches give me the heebie-jeebies.

Black-Eyed Susans in their Glory

A nice, big crop of black-eyed Susans in front this year. If you grow these, let them stand over the winter and into late spring. Precious pine siskins love the seeds.

The Zucchini that Got Away

I like to eat fresh zucchini, just lightly sauteed with fresh grated parm. I pick them when they're small and tender, unless they hide under the big leaves like the big one here that got away. Some people grate it and freeze it for muffins and breads. I don't do that. I don't think I've ever cooked up muffins or bread with zucchini. Maybe you have a recipe to share?

Sweet Mini Roses

They may be small, but they pack big aroma. These are some of the mini roses growing along the sidewalk up to my house. This is their second bloom of the season. They usually bloom three times, even in light frost.

50 mph Wind Gust

A beautiful, sunny day and then bam! And bam, and bam. Big winds knocked dozens of pears off my tree, with many crashing into the house and fence. When the danger of getting conked in the head passed, I went out and scooped them up - they'll ripen later. I don't know what kind of pears these are, but they never ripen on the tree. It always happens after they're picked.

Cherry Tomato Salsa

I grow around 10 cherry tomato plants each summer just for this moment - cherry tomato salsa. I made a big batch last night and we ate salsa and chips for dinner...then for lunch...then for dinner again and it's gone. We usually get a big tomato crop for this salsa in early July. Because of our weird growing season this year, we didn't get enough of a crop until this week, over a month late.

The recipe is below.

Warning: I don't measure for this recipe.

Ingredients:

as many cherry tomatoes as you can get, garden-fresh is key for this recipe

medium-sized sweet onion, peeled and quartered

4 cloves of minced garlic

sliced deli-style jalapenos - I used a half cup, but we like it hot

salt

cilantro

Put the onion, garlic, jalapenos, and a couple of handfuls of tomatoes in a food processor. Pulse until you have small chunks in a slurry of yumminess.

Scrape it into a large bowl. Then chop, by hand, cherry tomatoes. It's labor intensive, but a labor of love! Mix it all together and salt to taste. Add cilantro just before serving. Unless you hate cilantro, then, throw the cilantro away! Serve with salty tortilla chips - we like Santitas.