The Kitchen is Ready for Strawberries

June 24th:  FINALLY!  The kitchen is done!  Only a few minor tasks remain. The "stone wall" isn't complete since more tile is on order to complete it to the ceiling above the window. The floor hasn't been refinished yet either. But I reclaimed the kitchen yesterday just in time to make my first two batches of strawberry jam.  Today I will bake some rhubarb pies. With the addition of a constant supply of asparagus, I am enjoying these first three crops from the gardens...in great abundance this year. I can start harvesting lettuce as well now but must wait a few weeks before anything additional.  I can cut of the garlic scapes now and the garlic plants really look great so I hope for a big harvest in July.

I have done a ton of planting this yer with three major beds of beans for drying: pinto, cannellini, Jacob's Cattle (soldier) beans and kidney beans. My first planting of sweet corn has emerged so it is now time to add some more rows for the succeeding crop. The potatoes and onions are doing fine.  Many cucumbers, winter squash, melons and summer squash seeds have been planted as well.  The tomato plants number about 70 and have much growing to do before and red fruit will appear.  I am very pleased that the tomatillos self-seeded as per usual and I will have an abundance of them again for my green salsa making.  The pole beans are starting to climb the trellis's and all other veggies are moving along on schedule. 

I expect  this to be a great year for fruit for the blueberries and black berries are prolific on there plants.  Many, many tiny grapes are forming on the vines for the first grape harvest on the grape arbor. The first picking of strawberries yielded nine quarts and more than that are ready for the next picking.  These are all from the Field Garden beds for the Raised Bed Garden berries are always a bit later to ripen.  The two asparagus beds yield a pound or two every other day so has been a regular item on the dinner table for a few weeks now.  My newest planting of a third asparagus bed should be ready for some picking next year to even make the yield greater.

But the biggest news this late June has to be the kitchen.  The huge island with its walnut butcher block top is the spectucular center piece of the room now.  What a treat it was to be able to SIT DOWN to prepare all the strawberries for the jam instead of endlessly standing at the old kitchen sink.  I am in the process of relocating all the dishes and equipment to the new cabinets with their easy to use sliding shelves.  I love the granite counter and stone wall too and the new oven and cook top have preformed their initial duties very well.   I am so happy with it all and look forward to playing host again to family and friends and sharing the bounty of the gardens.