The latest extension is a pair of the
garden kit boxes on the porch. She likes them partly because she
doesn't have to bend over to pull fruit off the vine. The most advanced
tomatoes on the plant are still just green balls though.
The eggplant is still just purple
flowers right now. Looking at the plant it's easy to see that it's a
relative of the tomato. As Dana said "they are both in the nightshade
family."
Beyond the porch there was a lot more.
Chard, corn, beans, and flowers. Maybe it seems tiny compared to a real
farm, but it's huge compared to the crop I'm able to grow in a few pots
on my porch. Probably this yard has fed me more meals than any other in
Santa Clara County, if you don't count the fruit snacks I get from the
neighbors trees or the stuff I buy from farmers.
Dana had several squash plants growing
under the corn. She couldn't show me squash growing on the vine because
it had all been harvested to go in our supper. Despite having limited
success getting the beans to grow up the corn like it was poles, she is
still trying to do that.
I spent some time picking berries for
the dessert. Some of them were so ripe that they would fall apart when
I touched them. I had no trouble getting together a bowl of beautiful
berries. I didn't want to goo up my camera showing them, so you have to
take my word for it.
The fig tree has a ways to go before
the fruit turn purple and sweet. At this point they aren't ready to eat
yet. I know from experience.
That huge weed is a lettuce plant that
escaped. Dana hasn't gotten around to pulling it out because she likes
the way it looks.
The end of the tour was a look at the
solar panels on the roof. Gerry confirmed that the power meter really
has been going backwards since they were installed. In the foreground
you can see the grape vine they are still training to cover the arbor.
Then we ate a wonderful meal. I didn't
photograph the many fine dishes that weren't grown on site. The above
were quite delicious.
I made the beans. Lois said they were
quite good, but maybe a little more salt would make them better.
Later in the evening we played a game I found interesting. Gerry tuned
in a radio station playing music of the 1940s and 1950s (before Rock
& Roll). A song would come on and he'd ask title and artist. Dana
got a lot of them Lois got some, and I sort of muttered. I just wasn't
familiar with that kind of music. Anyhow, after everybody had done
their guessing he'd look at the radio station's website and say who was
right, or whom it was if we guessed wrong. I still think that's a great
use of all that technology, since it was already there.