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Sunday, July 02, 2006

Garden at the End of June....


The very fragrant lavender roses are blooming profusely. I continue to harvest lavender and yarrow. More poppies bloom daily.


My new dwarf sour cherry tree is laden with fruit. They are sour, but still yummy when eaten right off the tree. More blueberries ripen every day. Josta berries are actually fairly tasty - kind of like a tart concord grape.


There are now some veggies - beyond salad ingredients. The peas are *finally* getting ripe (at the *end* of June?!?) after a long, and problematic spring of planting and replanting... These are sweet and mild, and are yummy - pod and all. The broccoli is ready to begin harvesting. As well as some chard...


I can't believe how many raspberries there are this year! A large bowl full every day from my little raspberry bed. I'm freezing what I can't eat - but my current fav thing to do with them:


They are a bit tart this year (why does that sweetness vary from year to year? Temperatures? Rainfall?) but when mashed, with a bit of sugar - they are amazing! With pudding or on icecream or cake or even cereal!

I love summer, fresh-from-the-yard-food! :-)

On the illustration front, I am working many-MANY hours... and making some progress. I have 2/3s of book #1 drawn (Yay!) and hope to get mostly finished with comps for that book finished tomorrow. So that I don't atrophy away completely, I'm still trying to spend 30 minutes out in the yard a day, and take the dog for a nice walk. Then I can more comfortably spend the 12+ hours at my desk...

Anybody else got a book-on-tape recommendation?

8 comments:

Unknown said...

You have got abundance in both plant and illustration work going on over there!
There are lots of books on tape available from King County Library-- sometimes I just go and see what's on the shelf to try something different.

Chris.P said...

Strewth Tara! is there no limit to your talents. Illustrator, teacher, jeweller, green fingered genius. All you have to do now is crack nuclear fission and you will be the complete woman! ;¬)

Chris

Joanna said...

Your gardens looking lovely, and those rasberries rather yummy. Thanks for the blue berry tips. They are new to me really and I could only think to put them in muffins, can't remember trying them off the bush last year. A few more weeks and they might be ripe. Thats a huge amount of chocolate!

tlchang said...

Rebecca - that has been my strategy thus far - but I'm kindof running out of books that look interesting just off the shelves. (The selection is not rotating currently.) Thought I would place some 'on hold' if I had some specifics in mind.

Thanks Chris - who seems to be quite the Renaissance man himself...

Oh - and Joanna! I forgot my favorite blueberry application (for when I have several cups worth). I have a fab blueberry-creamcheese pie recipe that I love. I'll send along the recipe when I get a minute.

Jonathan said...

If you've plenty of raspberries, the best thing in the world to do with them is to serve them iced with a hot white chocolate sauce, as they do at The Ivy in London. Here's the recipe! ...
http://www.the-ivy.co.uk/index.asp?area=49&id=51

Gina said...

Those are absolutely amazing photos! They all look so very good!
I think it's a wonderful idea to take the breaks with the puppy and your garden to rejuvenate. Hooray for your hard work!

weirdbunny said...

Look at your cherries, I love cherries!!

Miss Erica said...

Cooor look at your fruit! that's something I don't have on my plot :0(
I'll have to save my pennies and buy some bushes!