{McCusker Journal} Our First Harvest

I love our garden this year! We put a lot of time and effort in it and are already reaping the benefits! This past week we had our very first harvest. It was so much fun to go out with our basket ready to bring in the fresh vegetables and herbs. Zoey couldn't wait to be a part of it either. She is learning the art of gardening at a very young age, it is priceless!

Stephen shows Zoey how to know when the vegetables are right for picking. Our cabbage, as you can see on the right of the top picture, is just now starting to head up. However, Zoey can already see how the plant is growing and forming. We have many tomatoes, but they are still green so will need a little longer before we pick them. We did get several onions and a couple jalapenos. It was perfect to make salsa. The only thing we had to add was tomatoes, garlic, salt and lemon juice, everything else was from our garden!

Our squash will be ready to pick any day now. We are waiting until we can eat it for dinner the day we pick it. It is going to be delicious. We picked on of the Cajun bell peppers, top left picture, to try minced and mix with our beef for tacos. It was really good, an almost sweet and spicy flavor. The majority of our harvest was herbs. The basil plants are doing spectacular. We come out to the garden anytime we are having Italian meals and pick fresh herbs to go right into the sauce. 

Zoey was so excited to bring in the first harvest. The vegetables are on the bottom and there are many herbs overflowing the basket. We had cilantro, basil, parsley, lavender and oregano as the bulk of the first harvest with several peppers and onions to go with it. 

We brought it all in and cleaned it up. Zoey loved helping with all of the prep work. We ended up eating the peppers, onions and cilantro immediately in a homemade pico de gallo salsa. Most of the herbs we dried in our dehydrator. The basil, parsley, oregano and even lavender did great and now we can use them in any meals and they will stay potent for a good long while.

Our garden is such a blessing. Zoey and I go outside and work in it a little almost everyday. I enjoy the upkeep and the peace that it brings. I also love reaping the benefits of all the hard work. 

Blessings,