We decided to attempt a garden this year.  We have done gardens in the past…last year we had a successful container garden.  Sometimes our gardens work and sometimes the gardens are “a lot of work”, without yielding too much harvest.  My husband built a raised garden bed in an area of the yard that would receive the most sun.

We bought a rain barrel to capture rain water that we used for our garden and flowers.  After we got everything planted, the hardest part of gardening…waiting.  The agony & anticipation of waiting for flowering buds, waiting for some progress, waiting to see if all the preparation ahead of time was going to yield anything.
                        

We started to get tomatoes & basil, since we enjoy Tomatoe Bread, this is one of the items we have made.  Basic, simple ingredients that taste delicious!

Italian Bread, Tomatoes, Basil, Mozarella Cheese, Olive Oil

Lay slices of bread on jelly roll pan.  Drizzle Olive Oil on bread, place basil on drizzled olive oil bread slices, next tomatoe slices, add mozzarella cheese.   Cook in a 425 degree oven for 10-15 mins., watching constantly as ovens vary.

                                                                                                                     

Next we made Fried Green Tomatoes.  The green tomatoes have a different tangy flavor from their red counterparts.  All that is needed is green tomatoes, some egg, a little milk to dip in, and bread crumbs.  It is a dish that gets fried on the stove.  We’ve made a meal with a generous plate of fried green tomatoes!

We harvested so many tomatoes, we are trying Homemade Tomatoe Sauce.
We needed 15 lbs. of tomatoes…here are some pics of our Tomatoe Sauce Experiment:

There is no recipe, as we “blanched”, crushed, and cooked them down to make a sauce.  I used our Basil, Oregano, & Italian Parsley from our garden in a cheesecloth bundle to make an aromatic flavor packet.  My daughter stopped by and together we accomplished this task of our “Experimental Tomatoe Sauce!”

                                
                           

Enjoying the harvest of our garden and the ideas that have come out of this project.  The creativity we are using with different recipes!  I am finding gardening is a “work in progress”, “leap of faith”, and has turned us into…

The Patient Gardeners!!!