I'm on vacation this week, and entirely enjoying myself despite the fact that I have gone nowhere and have done things like wash the side of my house, cleaned the car, and weeded.  But there's been plenty of fun stuff too, like this

strawberry rhubarb  jam

And this:

scape pesto

The first of these I've ever grown.


That went into this: 

fresh pasta with peas, favas, broccoli, fresh herbs, and dried tomatoes & mushrooms.

And if I'm not crazy enough, I just put a strawberry pie in the oven at 9:00.  It's a special kind of madness, isn't it?

Also on the gardening front, I discovered the ultimate mulch today.  The vacant city lot (across a sidewalk from the bit we just bought) gets mowed every few weeks or so.  If you go through and mow it with the bagger in another week, you get this perfect mix of partially dried and extra long grass clippings.  It's like free hay! Well, definitely worth the wee bit of gas I used to mow it, and I made the neighbor happy too, since it looks a lot better after a second grooming.

And, my dog mauled the pea patch today (he has learned to jump the 4 foot fence).  I should have never let him watch me shell the first picking, he's way too clever and decided to harvest his own!  Between the chickens and my pea-loving hound, this may be my worst pea season ever.  Oh well, next year!