Bountiful...

 

My Basket

 Today was Bountiful Baskets Day.  Since I had never volunteered, I decided today was the day.  I left home at 7:30 a.m. and arrived at 8:30 to help unload the truck.  There were about 10 other volunteers there.  Unloading the cases of fruit and veggies was the easy part.  Then came the sorting -- fruits in their baskets and veggies in their baskets, side by side.  A pair makes a Basket for each person who orders one.  We sorted any rotted fruit or veg out and left that in it's own box.  I spoke for throw-aways to feed my chickens, and they were glad to let me haul it away.  There wasn't much, but a nice assortment for the girls.  After that, we let the masses in.  We had prepared for 180 baskets along with add-ons and extra cases of apples, green beans, chilis, breads, coconut oil, and granola.  After all the baskets were sent out the door to the contributors, then came the clean up.  There were 360 baskets to wipe down, floors to sweep and mop, tables to clean, and boxes to break down and haul out.  It was a big day for us.  All of us were breaking a sweat by the end of the morning with all the chores we had to do.  We could have used a few more volunteers, but we did it.  The volunteers were hard-working, nice folks and the coordinators do a bang-up job.  If you've never tried Bountiful Baskets, I encourage you to give it a try.  It's the Best Buy Around -- just $16.50 for a basket of delicious fruits and veggies.  I'd say you will get around 25-30 pounds of produce per basket, and you'll get a great variety!  Check it out HERE. 

 

My garden is coming right along, but still not as bountiful as my Bountiful Baskets yet.  This is a giant pumpkin vine and it has a few babies setting on it right now.  

 There are zucchini, squash, cucumbers, carrots, new lettuce and tomato vines with marigolds in the background.  You can see a few zinnias peeking out from amongst the zucchini.  Poor dears, they have to fight for sunshine.  I planted a couple watermelon plants as an experiment.  I know they take a long time to produce, but I thought I'd try.

Green beans have been picked a couple times and the lettuce that was planted in spring was great.  There are just a couple heads left to eat so I replanted some more lettuce for fall picking.  The cucumbers are loaded with blossoms, but nary a cuke yet.  Rats!  Zucchini has been good and the squash vines are making some beautiful big acorn babies.  The peppers are really producing and I'm ready to pick a few green ones any day.  I sometimes let the peppers stay on the vine longer and get fully ripe -- red or orange.  They are so much sweeter that way.

Of course, I can't garden without a few towering sunflowers keeping watch over the garden.  Soon the goldfinches will be stuffing their beaks full of seeds.  Aren't these red & yellow sunflowers beautiful?  I love them.  Every now and then I just have to pick a couple and put them on my kitchen table.  I've still got a nice patch of rhubarb that I plan to pick.  I'm craving a pie!  What's growing in your garden?  Thank you for stopping by and saying hello.  I enjoy your visits.