beans and berries

The green beans continue to produce, overwhelmingly. Just yesterday I picked at least a couple pounds of them, and today a couple more. Not that I'm complaining, mind you. It takes a lot to feed this family.
The peas are finally coming on! I've wanted to grow peas all my life so I feel like a little kid in a candy store. It's fun to go out every morning and count how many tiny pods are growing.

Unfortunately, most of the squash crop is a bust. They just grow a few inches and then succumb to BER (blossom end rot). Stubborn determination has me in the garden yanking them off the vines while they are still minute. "Baby squash are all the rage!", I claim when serving these brutally premature veggies for dinner.

Today Max, Dante' and myself (the usual suspects) went to my sister's house to make blackberry jam. Her backyard is filled with vines. Four pounds of berries later we had a good five pints of preserves. It is so goooood.

I look forward to seeing the deeply purple jars of preserves on the pantry shelf next to the vibrantly green beans. If luck holds, canned tomatoes are in our future.
-EJ