Garden tour

In spite of the need for rain, I decided to take some photos of the fruit trees and garden.

The first summer that I taught English at summer institute in Dnepropetroesk I was doing a lesson about Johnny Appleseed (the teachers are all Canadian and I did American history and culture) I kept having to explain whnt the difference was between garden and orchard- now I know that to Ukrainians its all the same- the yards are full of fruit trees.




The strawberries and cherries look like a bust this year (last year I made jars and jars of jam- this year- maybe the apricots will be good for making jam) we did enjoy strawberry shortcake for dinner- with some of the cream that was separated on Saturday. There is a tree with a few red cherries- I missed it because Garry has been snacking on them this week.




Victor planted some little trees last fall- Garry ripped out a tangle of raspberries and weeds in this corner of the yard at the end of last summer. I saw Victor taking some buckets of water to them today, so it must be dry (Victor worries about giving them salty water). We are getting 5-6 neighbours who are interested in getting hooked up to the irrigation water at the end of the village, and are going through the steps of getting a pipe run through the back of the gardens so everyone will be able to water the gardens and grow more food (to eat or sell.) It will be great for the garden and trees in the yard and Garry's little alfalfa field in the other garden- he could get 7-8 cuttings off that little piece. It was enough to feed the cows for a week the first cut and is growing back some already- in spite of no water. They hope to have it done for this summer yet, we'll see.













There are little apples and pears growing. There are many different trees with different varieties of apples- they ripen from July until October- for the last two summers I made applesauce and pie almost everyday. The first summer it gave me something to do when I finished teaching English- every morning I'd pick up apples and peel them on the picnic table and cook them up in the summer kitchen. Pie was easier than cake because the oven had no temperature control in degrees- I'd stick my hand in and think- that feels about right. Much easier now with the new stove- just have to remember what it is in centigrade instead of Farenheit.




Garry thinks it will be a good year for walnuts- some have dropped off the trees though. He enjoyed picking them up and cracking them in the fall (and eating them until his mouth was sore) I found a great recipe on the internet for sugared walnuts in the crockpot- and cajun flavored ones too.



















The hose is keeping the garden alive- the zucchinni plants have doubled in size since I watered them on Friday. Garry watered part of it again today. The string beans look promising (maybe the cucumbers) and there are some green tomatoes growing already. I have picked some spinach and two of the six cabbage plants Garry planted early have become salad.
Here's a Ukrainian-style cabbage salad for you- chop or shred your cabbage mix in about 1/3 the amount of thinly sliced and diced cucumber, finely chopped dill plant and and some salt (quite a lot- you want to wilt it)- to draw out the water from it- just let it sit on the counter for an hour maybe and you've got salad - you can add finely chopped onion or tomato and a dash of oil before serving- for a slightly different salad- I found out the name for that one and I've forgotten it- maybe assorti?)