Gardening

I started cleaning out the garden today. I know that I always am bad about letting it go once school has started again, so I started pulling things that I'm done with. Like the pumpkin plants that flowered, but never turned into pumpkins. And the green beans that are becoming prolific, but are gross, in my opinion. They are not the same deliciously sleek beans that I planted last year. I did can some of them, but they aren't worth my time any more. So, they are gone. Now I can get to some other things that were getting overrun. The cayenne peppers are turning red and we've started drying them to make crushed red pepper. I did can some tomatoes and dry some of the cherry tomatoes and make tomato sauce. Actually the sauce was for a zucchini-eggplant lasagna that was REALLY good. There were no pasta noodles in it. The eggplant and zucchini get sliced lengthwise and act as the noodles layered with a tomato sauce and then ricotta cheese mixture. It was fun to make something that was almost totally from the garden (tomatoes, onions, garlic, zucchini) and eggplant (from a couple of friends' gardens).

As soon as it cools off a little bit I'd like to get some lettuce and spinach going in the blank spaces. They are pretty maintenance free.

We've been making the transition back to work, and it does seem to be going a bit smoother this year than in year's past. I think it's because I have an extra week off. Brian and the kids start on Tuesday, so we're starting the final descent. School supplies are purchased, clothes are ready and we've started stocking up lunch box food and teaching the kids their new household jobs for when school starts. We're trying to give them with some more responsibilities around the house so that we can try to stay a little more sane this year. : )

I'm off to make some more zucchini bread!