This day in history...

or This Day Last Year *shrugs*

I was flipping through old entries, checking to see how the garden is doing compared to previous years.  Blogs are great for that; I can just go to the year and month and scroll through, or search for words like "garden"...which would be overload since I think I mention my garden in almost every post.  I can't help it; I'm a sick, sick person.

Last year, and in previous years, I was picking berries about this time.  No luck with that this year.  We have a few here and there, but the dry weather has pretty much shriveled up any hope of a decent berry harvest.

This date last year I had just found my first ripe tomato and was looking forward to enough to make fresh salsa.  (ha...I was really pacing maniacally in the garden, willing tomatoes to ripen, and possibly licking the cilantro out of sheer desperation. )  This year, I've already had plenty of ripe tomatoes and already  made that first huge bowl of fresh salsa...which was eaten entirely on the same day.  For future reference:  the Tiny Tims were the first to ripen, possibly because they'd been in the greenhouse the entire season.  I've also picked a few Striped Cavern (from the greenhouse), Black Prince (in the garden), and Japanese Black Trifele (in market containers).

I'd forgotten about marinated peppers, so it's a good thing I read that post.  I am now drooling just thinking about them, and I think that's what I'll do with the huge bag of peppers in my  kitchen.  Did I ever post that recipe? I 'll have to look, and, if not, I'll get it posted ASAP, in case I'm not the only one with a tooth for basil marinated goodness.

No beans, since I didn't plant any.  No zucchini yet, either, since I put them out wayyyy late.  No rush, though, since the market is flooded with summer squash and I can easily trade some cherry tomatoes for a few zukes.

I'm lovin' the dehydrator.  Everything I bring home from market gets processed that way.  I have basil in there now, and my house smells like an herb shop.  Which, let me tell you, is a nice change from the icky smell it has lately.  I confess: my house is GROSS.  I've dedicated today to cleaning, and am currently taking a short break from the attack of itchy dust mites.

By the way, does anyone use an air purifier, and if so, does it really help with keeping the dust and allergens to a minimum?  Maybe if I just vacuumed my room more often...yeah..that could happen.  **rolls eyes**

And now, back to work.  If I am devoured by dust mites, well, at least it's a cool way to go.