Zibby counted ten green baby tomatoes last night, and 2 baby bell peppers. The two tomato earthboxes are doing great. Growing very tall. My neighbor tried to tell me not to water them so much. There is a language barrier, but she just doesnt understand how the earthboxes work. She is very much a traditional gardener. The two tomato plants I just put in regular old pot containers dont look good. One had aphids all over it. I sprayed it with some insecticide soap (organic). The one lettuce box is still going ok, and the cuke box I planted looks good.

I also planted a golden zuke box, but there were a bunch of flowers that are now gone, and it looks kind of… bleh. Dont know if it will recover. Im not sure if zukes are supposed to grow up stakes or spread out laterally. ?

At any rate, Im learning a lot and Zibby is enjoying the garden too. She cuts all the lettuce.

Equal parts sweet cherries, pitted and chopped, and grape tomatoes cut into similar size chunks as cherries
Add diced red onion and minced cilantro and a splash of lemon juice. (If you like heat, please, by all means, add hot peppers. I bet they would counter the sweetness of the cherries in a really great way. I dont do spicy, so I leave em out.)

Its great with corn chips, but I’ve been eating it on top of grilled chicken strips and butter lettuce in a tortilla.

My Earthboxes are producing lovely lettuces. Every week I harvest a really large bowl of red and green and mixed leaf lettuces and share them with some of my neighbors. They taste very tender and spicy and delicious.

However, I know they will “bolt” soon, so I need to have an idea of what to plant next in the boxes! Anyone have any ideas? I live in Chicago. What can one plant in July?

Fresh from the CSA garden came some golden zucchinis and tender aspargus. I decided to saute them with some of the summer butter I bought made with milk from grassfed cows. Wowza. Henry laid on the table and insisted I feed him bite after bite. He ate about half my plate!

I shredded the zucchini and de-stemmed the chard. Sauteed them together with some olive oil and then added chicken stock and simmered until everything looked very tender, about twenty minutes. Cooled it for a bit, then put it in the blender. Added salt, pepper and a smidge of nutmeg. It was really, really delicious. Mine was thicker than the restaurants, I could have thinned it out, but I liked it. It would even make a very interesting sauce for a pizza or even on noodles.

I think it tastes perfect when the amount of chopped mango equals the amount of all the other ingredients. This time I used 2 large mangos, which gave me around 2 cups diced fruit. Then you need about 1 1/4 cups diced cucumber and 3/4 cups diced red onion. Add a few squirts of lime juice and then as much jalapeno as you like. To be honest, sometimes I dont even put any jalapeno. But if I was making it for a party, I would. And, if you like cilantro you can put some in. Yum.

I found some really pretty drapery samples at the Ravenswood Manor garage sale. I used one of the panels to make my friend Hilde a set of market totes. I even made a small drawstring bag to put them all in. She could reused that to wrap another present or to carry something small.

I also made a tulle tutu for my mom to give to her step granddaughter. Zibby tried it on to see how long it was. I used this tutu-orial

This was my first attempt at making a baguette from the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day recipe. Ive since made several, and they all turned out delicious!

I like mine best with some Earth Balance soy and dairy free spread and some warm-from-the-crockpot roast. My roast came from our CSA, and is grass fed and pastured. I put the roast in the crockpot with some homemade chicken stock, some carrots and celery and 21 season salute from Trader Joes. One of my favorite meals to eat.

I made one for my friend’s husband and for their soon-to-be-born baby to eventually use with his dolls and toys. Ive made a few pouches before. Basically I use one that I already have that is really big and have the person try it on, pin it to fit, and then use that as the pattern for the new one. I cant wait to see little baby Anderson all snuggled up in his daddy’s sling