As the days get shorter so does my time at work - eleven days until retirement. It seems surreal, I’ve spent decades preparing for this moment and at times I never thought it would come but I’m ready - for the next chapter.
Many of you know I’ve been working toward my Master Gardener certification and I’m just about there. Course work is done, 50 volunteer hours are done, continuing education is done - the last step is to turn in my 15 question responses.
So what’s next? I’ve been trying out several volunteer options and I’ve found a couple that I am going to pursue and then there are my own gardens. Our new neighbors have put in a 6-foot fence that now blocks the sun on 2 of my raised beds so there will be work to relocate them and reconfigure the fence. One of my perennial gardens will also need to change and what to do to cover up that large white fence - at this point I’m not sure.
I’ve been talking to my gardening friends and the drought has definitely had an impact on harvest and yields. The same applies to our gardens - spinach, radishes, and lettuce were a bust but garlic, zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes, and cucumbers - were plentiful. Potatoes were average, peppers, collard greens, swiss chard, kale, and eggplant on par with other years - our refrigerator and freezer are full and the neighbors are still happy to see us especially when we are bearing tomato and cucumber gifts.
Some nights there are no plans or recipes you slice a little of this, toss it with a little olive oil and spices, and roast - it’s fresh and delicious. We had movie night (we are cautiously moving back to that) and it was a success. The veggies were tossed with a little olive oil, some fajita seasoning from Penzys, salt, and pepper. The fingerling potatoes (I love the color of the Russian purple - a beautiful deep purple) just oil salt and pepper and the tomato/peach/mozzarella salad had a splash of balsamic vinegar and fresh basil.
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