Gimme a B-L-T!

We wait all year for homegrown tomatoes so we can make a simple BLT sandwich.  To me, that's a piece of heaven.  I usually throw caution to the wind and buy white bread for this, but today I was trying to use what I had in-house so we went with the standard whole-grain.  With locally produced thick-sliced bacon, tomatoes from our yard, and local Bibb lettuce it was fine, but I jazzed it up some homemade cilantro mayo made with local eggs, and some avocado slices--obviously not locally grown, but a current staple in our house as they're good brain-food for Vera.  Add a side of fresh, juicy seasonal canteloupe and that's a meal for me.

Onions hanging to cure in the greenhouse

Today I fought the mosquitoes--already thick at 7:30 AM--to plant some new garden seeds.  One of the challenges of growing throughout the season--my rural farmer friends nod in agreement--is succession planting.  Once something is picked or completely pulled, one plants the next crop in its place so there is always something to harvest.  This is especially important if you're trying to utilize a small plot of land such as our urban lot.  In this case, I'd harvested my onions and hung them to cure in the greenhouse so I tilled the soil (with Vera's help, as you can see) and in their place I planted fall beets and rutabaga.  And in the raised bed that was late to be installed I replanted napa cabbage, turnips, and cilantro.  My cabbages were sizing up nicely before our trip, but when I got back they'd been eaten to shreds by bugs.  I'll have to protect these better.