The soil is alive.

Here at The Homestead we've been bringing in a slow and steady crop of beans and tomatoes and cucumbers.

We went out to the garden to do some work today in preparation for some late summer planting and I was excited to find some dry-growing little grey and orange mushrooms underneath the indian corn. Not much, and I couldn't find out what kind they were, but exciting that another of the Biotic Kingdoms elected to join in the fun.

We made a few decisions to cull what was out there: 1) Pull up the garden peas, as they were ready to go, 2) Pull up what was left of the spinach, which wasn't much, 3) Cut losses on the three mustard plants, which Kat had dreams of turning into, well, mustard, but which was getting really big and unmanageable, and 4) Be done with the "mangy" kale.

As I started pulling out the mustard, which was planted in between the kale and in front of the spinach in the southwest quadrant, Kat kneeled down and noted that the ground was teeming with tiny white creatures of some sort.

Perhaps we'll go get some ladybugs.

Stop! Harvest Time!

Behold.

The Ronde De Nice squash is uncertain and only producing a serviceable fruit every several days now. There's one in there in the middle.

The zucchini's leaves are yellowing and my guess is it has a couple more weeks at best. In the meantime, it's delivering superzukes, as shown on the left.

But the cucumbers and cornichons are making up for it, (on the right) and the tomatoes are nearing their red (or black or green, depending) and juicy tipping point (buried in the back but soon to be in the foreground, for sure). And the beans (green, purple, and fava) are a steady and reliable, if not as prolific, source over these past several weeks, with more to come there, we're sure.

I suggested last night that we could slice a cucumber and a zucchini and alternate the slices, kind of like a vegan turducken. The Kat was displeased with this.

No matter, it appears that cucumber-zucchini salad is quite a hit on the Ivory Coast.

Anyhow, that there is over 8 and a half pounds of food, all pulled out of the dirt today. Hurrah.

Here's what's harvested right now.

15 radishes
4 zucchini
1 ronde de nice squash
2 small tomatoes
About 20 purple beans
Various green beans (though I'm not sure if these came from the garden)