New produce and preserving the garden's abundance...

We spent about 7 hours at the farm yesterday and the garden is really in full swing now.  I am always surprised at how fast our cuc's and squash grow, but this year has been crazy so far!  I actually bought
some yucky old cuc's at the store because I wasn't expecting to have any until next week.  We are trying a new variety this year called Poona Keera.  It is an Indian heirloom and is really fantastic.  Not only is it early, but supposedly it never gets bitter.  It has a firm and tasty flavor.  The only bad thing would be the skins get a little tough as they get older so they are best picked when white or yellow.  Here is a pic of them...

We are pretty well prepared for the "Why are you bringing bad cucumbers to market" comments (I would have been among those people 4 or 5 years ago!).  Thankfully our regular customers are some pretty cool cats who are OK with trying some unusual stuff.  I think they look cool as heck!  The whiter one has a less tough skin.  You can see a little brown on the ends, but it is still tender.  The ones in back taste great as well, the skin just needs peeled.  Supposedly if you let them go they will turn all brown and look like a potato.  The texture is really firm, almost like a zucchini that tastes like a cucumber so we think they will make great pickles. 

We also harvested a bushel of chard for market this Saturday.  That is the most we have harvested so far, and we sold a lot of it but had some left over.  I really didn't want to waste it so John made some quick refrigerator pickles from them.  He didn't season them at all, as I do not like pickled beets seasoned, just vinegar and a very tiny amount of sugar.

I can't wait to eat these on salads and sandwiches!  We forgot (again) to take pics of the garden while we were up there but we are going up again this week so I will do my best to remember.  The difference between the garden now and a month ago is incredible!  I will leave you with a pic of our garlic harvest this year.  Some of them are cut off, but most of them are in the pic (please ignore the messy yard and un-weeded yard! Lol!)