making smoked paprika

 cold nights mean its time to pick my peppers. i had a whole whack of alma paprika's

 first step? remove all the seeds & set them aside to dry on a screen 

 next: cut all stem & excess seed material from peppers 

then, give them to your awesome friend who puts them in his smoker & to dry. 

mmm. they smell amazing even at this stage

next. grind up the dried peppers & amazing, you have smoked paprika 

last big harvest

 some roots pulled for thanksgiving dinner! 

 picked lots of green tomatoes & peppers 

 roots & peppers 

more harvest shots

 first potato picks 

 gorgeous cherry tomatoes going to local restaurants

 basket for local restaurant 

october in the seed garden

 covering up for frost protection 

 summer squash putting out last little fruits 

 orca beans going to seed 

 nasturtiums are looking gorgeous 

 Harvest 

Peppers

 I picked a whack of peppers in anticipation of a cold weekend! 

Saving Seeds & Making Salsa

 Tomato bounty season means finding lots of way to eat tomatoes. 

I have been picking my tomatoes & doing my best to preserve them. 

I squeeze out all the tomato seeds into labelled jars & set them aside to ferment

then boil down the rest of the tomatoes to make my own salsa! 

add delicious peppers, onions, garlic, vinegar & heat! 

pantries getting stocked

Crocuses in September

a crazy thing happened in my seed garden this month

crocuses bloomed! 

september harvests

 early morning community garden harvest 

 lovely monarch landing on a newly blooming mexican sunflower

 tomatoes are really rolling in now

 tomatoes against the hideous construction

 rainbow of heirloom colours 

Saving Seeds of Greens

Here are some photos of various leafy greens going to seed: 

 This is some lettuce seed in the stage after it has flowered (above) 

When collecting leafy green seeds, pay attention to the plants. They will begin to "bolt", grow upwards & create flowers (they will no longer taste very good at this stage), let those flowers bloom & die back, and then seed pods will form. Let them brown & then collect! Dry further indoors, pop open pods, and there is the seed! 

 Here are some greens that are sending up their flower stocks, and are about to bloom

 Romaine Lettuce bolting, it is about to send out it's flower stock

 Romaine sending out flowers

 Leafy green flower stocks against a beautiful august evening sky

 Red Romaine just about to flower

After the flowers have bloomed, you will have to wait another few weeks for the pods to form and start to dry out . . .watch carefully, when they are ready, they may burst open & you will loose the seed. Take them inside to dry before that stage . . .