Beets!

I will start with this- I love my garden. I LOVE MY GARDEN. The thought that everyday I can go out to an area that was just dirt and clay in February, that is now filled with plants, flowers, veggies, fruits, all the yummy things!

What just places me in total awe, is that I started almost 100% of my garden from seeds.  The only "pesticide" I have used is red pepper flakes to keep away the squirrels, and marigolds for the rabbits.  Bugs have not been a problem so far.

Let's do a quick walkthrough before I write about what I wanted to write about!

My 1st round of green bean bushes.  I have planted more seeds in between these plants to create a 3rd round of beans. (the second round just started fruiting!)

My asparagus which I sadly did not get to eat this year.  They needed to go to seed for the first year so that I could get a good harvest in the next however many years.

My cucumber plants- I harvested my first cucumber today!  I will be eating it for lunch tomorrow.

8 tomato plants, of different varieties.  Two of each Roma, grape, cherry, and big boy. I harvested my first grape and roma today and yesterday! Yum!

5 of my 8 pepper plants- hot banana, jalepeno, yellow bell pepper, and green bell.

My green onions that I recently cut back because the stalks got too tough, and my white onions growing on the left.

My yummy kale plants- purple ornamental in the front.  Works great in the juicer!

BEEEEEETS!

Carrots- which I will not do again next year.  I planted them the same time as the beets, and they are taking forever! I like more turnaround in my garden.

My 1st round of sugar snap peas, sadly coming to a close in producing... But I will pull them out and compost them when they are done, and plant more!

My second round of green beans- I picked today, blanched the result, and put them in the freezer in meal sized portions. Yum!

My blueberry bushes- 3 different types.  They are fruiting, but not turning blue.... I am hopeful they will turn soon!

My cute little flower corner to try and bring the bees and pollinators in.

White (aka green) raspberry bushes- For the longest time I was waiting for these to get darker thinking they were going to turn red or black.  Turns out they have been ripe for a while and are actually supposed to stay white!  They are extremely sweet and I am looking into making a sorbet with the fruit.

A full picture of part of the garden, with the wonderful grapevine in the back! Grape jam/jelly and juice coming soon!

My little garden shed!

Sangria peppers- turn from purple to red! Edible, but not very spicy.

Now- for the main reason I wanted to post.  I visited the farmers market this past Saturday, and picked up two different types of beets, red and gold.  I also picked up some raspberry parmesean cheese, and goat cheese, along with some turnips.  (I bought the turnips as my monthly "new" food- we shall see what I make with them!)

I came home today and picked three beets from my garden.  Washed them up,

Then washed the rest of the beets, and kept all the greens to wash, I am planning to juice them the next couple days.

I cut the roots and leaves off the beets, and boiled them for around 30 minutes.  Look at how the water turned colors! Very pretty (hmmmm... new yarn dye color?)

After boiling the beets, the peels came right off, but they were very warm, so I dropped them in some ice water.

After peeling, the real colors came out.  These pictures don't even do the veggies justice! They were so bright!

The really dark ones came out of my garden.

I sprinkled some salt to bring out the sweetness, and took some of both cheeses and crumbled it over the salad.  Look at how pretty those beets look!

Very filling. As in, I ate a quarter of what I plated up before I was full!  That's eating healthy!

If you look at this picture and go "ewwww" you need to try this.  Very healthy. Very nummy. And very expensive in restaurants! :)