Harvest Time!

Yesterday, I decided that it was time to harvest another head of lettuce. I was going to follow some of your advice—taking a few leaves of lettuce at a time, so that the head can continue to grow. The only problem is that we have more than six heads of lettuce that are still growing in the garden. Way too much lettuce to eat at once! So I'm going to wait to try the other method when I'm down to 2-3 lettuce heads.

Below: A nice, large head of lettuce ready for harvesting!


The lettuce heads are actually starting to form a head. Cam and I have been waiting all summer for his development! But for this particular lettuce head, I was afraid that if I continued to let it grow any larger, it would begin to seed and get very bitter.

Plus, I was in the mood of creating my signature salad: caramelized shrimp, bite-size oranges, almonds, and refreshing lettuce tossed with balsamic vinaigrette. I know it's not amazing or novel, but I love this salad. It combines all my favorite ingredients. Plus it's chocked full of vitamin C!

Below: A few pictures of the lettuce head after it was harvested. Delicious!

You can tell in the picture that a few bugs got a mini-bite of the lettuce before we could harvest it. I think I should have sprayed the organic insecticidal soap on it, but most of the greens are edible!

At my parent's house, the plums are beginning to ripen. Because of last year's unfavorable weather, their fruit trees didn't fruit. The frost killed all of the flowers. However, this year has been amazing in terms of the fruit production!

Below: A ripe plum ready to be picked.


Below: See how pretty it looks in my hand?

This plum was juicy and delicious! I cannot wait until more fruit ripens, and I can learn how to make jams, preserves and more! It'll be a summer adventure!

Finally, I thought I'd show a picture of some unripe plums on the tree . . . plus a bird nest! It's too high up for me to see into the nest, but I bet there are some eggs waiting for momma bird to come back!

When little visitors decide to make their home in your garden, that's when you know that you're a successful gardener! My parents planted this plum tree about 10 years ago, and it's been home to some adorable baby birds and one rabbit!