It's a mad scramble some days!
Life can be busy, and if you're not careful, important things will slip away. My time at home has been rather reduced lately, so I try to make the most of it when I'm back. Part of making sure that everything important gets done includes reaping the harvest, so Buddy-Pepper and Monster Truck the Pepper gave me a hand recently.
MORE HARVEST = MORE FOOD
The Malabar Spinach is one that we'll never really be able to keep up with. However, when you can pick all you want all the time, it's a great plant to have growing, especially when it reseeds itself. Check out the size of this giant leaf that Buddy-Pepper has! It's great raw or cooked, and kind of reminds us of a succulent because it is so thick and juicy!
This year will be the first year since 2016 that we are growing the Mosaic Long Bean. I wanted to keep my seed supply viable and freshen it, and also to do a test to see if the dried beans can be saved, stored, and eaten. They are cranking out a lot of beans, and the dried seed pods are easy to remove the beans from.
I haven't grown a decent crop of Sunglo Peppers in years either, so it's nice to have them back. A variety from the University of New Mexico, I first started growing it back in Wisconsin many years ago. These thin walled peppers dry easily and have an amazing flavor, followed by an impressive heat.
We are probably growing our most diverse crop of tomatoes this year, and many are still to come because I planted them later than usual. Here you can see a small handful of various kinds. We like them raw and dehydrated, and need to start canning more, but I'll probably have to be home more to help with that.
Ah yes, the Snake Gourds are not just being grown for size in an attempt to win the contest I'm running, we are also eating a lot of them. Really, I think yesterday we ate four smaller ones and had some both for lunch and dinner. We love this plant for sure, as it's impressive in the garden and tasty on the plate, and there's a reason why it's one of my top three garden plants.
Here you can see the dry Mosaic Long Bean pods on top of the dry Chinese Red Noodle Bean pods. We are saving a lot more seeds for the Noodle Beans this year as I plan to grow five to six times as many next year. Also, there seems to be quite an interest in purchasing them from our online store too, so that's been beneficial to our family (Thanks 
I took the cover photo before I added the Roma Tomatoes to the basket, LOL. Honestly, it's really nice to able to enjoy Roma tomatoes that do not have a layer of wax on them. I so love growing our own food, and that's one of the reasons. If you've never tried it, I'd highly recommend giving it a go. Get your grow on!
This one is rather special too. It's the first Bitter Melon that we've ever grown. It took a while for the plants to get established and to start setting fruit, but we've got our first one now, and we are very excited about it. I love trying new food and different varieties.
Here's a look at those Mosaic Long Beans when they are at the stage to use as a fresh or cook green bean substitute. Like the Red Noodle Beans, they are color coded so it makes harvesting easier. We enjoy them fresh too, but with so many Noodle Beans coming in, we're going to experiment with these dried this year, as I mentioned earlier.
And, of course, more peppers! These are a mini sweet pepper, though, because not all small children can fully appreciate the super hot peppers. We should have quite a harvest coming in, and it's just getting started now. What was your favorite garden crop that I mentioned? Which ones were new to you? Are there any of these that you'd like to try?