The garden has gone crazy, so we spent much of August picking & preserving our garden bounty.

THE MAIN GARDEN

Everything is growing like crazy, weeds and vegetables both.

Many recently hatched birds have been hanging out in the garden.

LEFT TOP & BOTTOM: A variety of squash and pumpkins are growing in the garden.
RIGHT: A first for us: Grapes! The same couple grape plants have been struggling to grow. Deer, elk, and our own dog have stunted their growth year after year. But this year they are growing safely inside the garden fence and they are thriving.

LEFT: Eggplant and its fabulous purple flowers.
RIGHT: I love the marigolds in my herb row! Must plant them again next year.

LEFT: Green Peppers.
RIGHT: Farmer John used the green peppers, as well as other garden goodies to make salsa. Yum!

LEFT: So much mint!
RIGHT: I turned a lot of the mint into simple syrup.

LEFT: Cabbage growing in the garden.
TOP RIGHT: Once picked, some of the cabbage was turned into coleslaw.
BOTTOM RIGHT: I baked rolls and put the coleslaw on a pulled pork sandwich. So good!

OUTSIDE THE GARDEN FENCE

LEFT: Corn. The shortest corn I’ve ever seen. It’s not even as tall as I am.
RIGHT: Short or not, they’re still producing ears of corn. They are just growing very close to the ground and they are quite tasty.

LEFT: Speckled Swan Gourd.
RIGHT: Birdhouse Gourd.

LEFT: Sunlight Pumpkins.
TOP & BOTTOM RIGHT: The chickens love the Sunlight Pumpkins. Boo!

LEFT: I know the chickens like to pick their own tomatoes right off the plant, but this was a first. She came and snagged one right from my bowl.
RIGHT: What was left of my garden harvest after the chicken thief stopped by.

FRUIT TREES

The plums ripened and were delish. However, the deer ate as many as we did.

HARVESTING & PRESERVING

Farmer John canned beets and dilly green beans.

LEFT: I chopped herbs like sage and cilantro in a food processor, drizzling in a little olive oil. I then took the herb/oil mix and froze them to use over the winter.
RIGHT: Most of the basil, though, has been turned into pesto. Then used in dishes such as this.

I tried taking zucchini chunks and transforming them to fruit snacks. They were just so-so, really not that good. They were weird and chewy. We ate them, but I certainly haven’t made them again.

LEFT: I also used the zucchini chunks to make faux pineapple. This turned out far better than the fruit snacks. So far we’ve only used it on pizza, but I can’t wait to try it in a stir fry.
RIGHT: Instead of the same ol’ zucchini bread, I made Pineapple Zucchini Bread. It was a nice change.

August certainly was a productive month in the garden.

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Mint simple syrup is an easy way to enjoy all that mint growing like crazy over the summer.

We have an obnoxious amount of mint. They aren’t kidding when people tell you to keep it in pots.

Originally I was so happy with how well mint grows. When we bought bare property one of the first things I did was create flowerbeds. I wanted quick growing, cheap plants to add to the beds while I waited for the foundation plants to grow to their full size. Mint grew so well, I transplanted some here and there. Soon I had it everywhere. EVERYWHERE.

Slowly but surely I’m getting rid of the mint. My goal is to only have it grow around our main chicken coop. I have read mint keeps mice away. I don’t know how much truth there is to that. But, for us, it’s a good place to have our mint plants anyway. It’s away from my flowerbeds and the chickens can eat the herb when it grows close enough to their run. We don’t happen to have a mouse problem in the coop. I really don’t know if it’s because of the mint or if the chickens enjoy a mousey meal when one scurries nearby.

One of my favorite methods to use up all the mint is making a flavored simple syrup. It really is simple to make. It’s quick and requires only basic ingredients.

INGREDIENTS

Equal parts:
• water
• sugar
• fresh mint leaves

PREP

Pick mint from your garden or grab a bunch at the store or farmer’s market. If you wait too long to harvest your mint and it has flowered, like I have done a time or two, chop the flower off. I feed the flowers to our chickens.

Give the mint a quick rinse.

Pull the leaves off the stems. If you want, you can coursely chop the leaves. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don’t.

COOKING THE SYRUP

Add the water and sugar to a pot or saucepan. Over medium high heat, bring water to boil. Stir sugar until dissolved.

Just as the water starts to boil, add mint leaves.

Place a lid on the pot, reduce heat, and simmer about 10 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Strain syrup into a jar. Keep the leaves in the sieve/strainer, but give them a smoosh to get out the last of the liquid minty goodness.

STORING THE MINTY SYRUP

I can several jars at a time in a hot water bath.

You can also store in air tight container for a couple weeks in the fridge.

ENJOY!

The syrup can be used in a number of culinary ways. However, I always use it for summertime drinks, both kid friendly and adult versions.

Also, check out our other site for a how to on making mojito cream jello shots using the mint simple syrup

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