Saucy

The hubs has many talents in the kitchen, and while I am not a terrible cook, I tend to be pretty basic-- I don't think I would participate or observe as many fun kitchen projects without him. I just wouldn't think to brandy fruits or make pickles on my own, but with the hubs, these kinds of activities have become more common in my life.

When we started growing tomatoes last year in our beloved vegetable garden, we had to incorporate them into our meals fairly regularly. Our plants thrived that summer, as they are doing this summer, and we had more tomatoes than we knew what to do with. Salads, bruschetta, and gazpacho made frequent appearances in our kitchen, but we were ready to expand to something new yet simple. Then the answer came: tomato sauce!

Our tomato sauces were delicious, but we did not freeze any to have later in the year-- a silly oversight on our end. This year, though, just as our backyard tomatoes are starting to become plentiful, and our market-bought tomatoes are in need of some eating, we decided to make things right with tomato sauce. While we will go through the first batch of sauce pretty quickly, we will do so with the intention of preserving a few jars of homemade tomato sauce, made with our own backyard tomatoes. 

I'm looking forward to visiting on a cold wintery weekend, making dinner with the hubs, and being reminded of these warm summer nights. As I am finding with each project we undertake with our backyard veggies and farmers market favorites, there is such a simple joy in creating treats that we can enjoy months later or pass on to friends and family. It is as though we are capturing tiny moments from our lives and our home and preserving them for a while longer, just enough for them to change and shift as the weeks and months pass yet still retain that first sliver in time. 

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Backyard Pickles

When the hubs and I first moved into our house, we were excited to do some digging and start a backyard garden. Last summer was a time of learning which plants thrived in the DC humidity, which were more delicate, and which we wanted to try out in the future. This summer, with more knowledge and savviness, we expanded our vegetable garden to a second bed and resumed the backyard experimentation.

Our cucumber plants have to be one of our biggest successes this summer. Every day, it seems as though a dozen new cucumbers are ready to be picked, and as we gather them and swat away mosquitos, we discover a dozen more hidden amongst the leaves. These little green cukes have gone into salads, gazpachos, and, now, pickling jars!

Last weekend, we chopped up a batch and divided them into various mason jars. This first batch was a vinegar-based brine, enhanced with pickling spices, salt, garlic, dill, a pinch of sugar, and serrano peppers, also from the garden. 

We have already opened up a jar, and I think that they turned out really well! When we repeat this recipe, we might decrease or nix the sugar, but overall, these are delicious spicy pickles. Our next batch will be a small round of salt-brine with backyard jalapeños, pickling spices, and garlic. We like our spice. :)

My mother has already requested a jar for Christmas, and since we have so many cucumbers to use, we will likely store a few jars to give as gifts over the next few months. It is very special to us to be able to grow these treasures in our backyard and share these treats with our friends and family. As if there weren't already a million reasons to love having a garden, the ability to share fresh (and pickled!) vegetables with those we love makes it even better.

Are there any other good cucumber recipes that we should try out? We would like to try a simple cucumber salad and would love other ideas!

Harvest

There is nothing quite like biting into a juicy tomato from your backyard. It's sweet, flavorful, and fresh in ways that the supermarket variety could never recreate. The peppers are crisp, and they look precious as you hold them in your palm. Each taste is the product of hot afternoons in the sun, mosquito bites, rainfalls, and dirt-covered knees. It's the satisfaction of saying, "I helped create this" and knowing that even so, it's a bit of a miracle that such things can spring to life and flourish in the city. 

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Growth

When the hubs and I moved into our house, it was an exciting change, but by far the best part was the chance to grow a garden. We both grew up in homes with great gardens, and I was eager to finally have the chance to create my own. I had images of climbing green vines, colorful blooms, and lush growth everywhere. In my imagination, we would create a wild English cottage garden in Northeast DC.

Yeah...

As it turns out, it's actually a bit labor-intensive to start a garden. There's consideration about what will grow well in the region, when certain plants should go in the ground, where they will thrive best in the yard... not to mention those squirmy worms that live in the ground. Oh boy, those worms. In all of my fantasizing, I had forgotten about the creepy-crawlies that live in the dirt and make themselves known as you start digging around. Those were a delightful surprise.

Are our gardens magazine-worthy? Maybe not. But they are ours, and though they are young, they reflect the joy and hard work we put into our first house in our first year of marriage. We will add to them over time, even if this house is only ours until next fall. Sometimes it's not about creating a magnificent space. Sometimes it's about creating a special space, digging in the dirt, feeling the sun on your shoulders, and knowing that you are so very alive.

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