Back Home! Garden Flourishes, Look What Market Spice Tea Does to Apples!

It's so good to be home! We have guests arriving from Oregon today, so time to turn around and change mode. I'm probably not going to be a big part of festivities with our guests, though, since they are all strapping men and there's not a chance I'll keep up. And I'm very much looking forward to settling back in, 'recombobulating,' tending the garden, and getting back to writing!

First, a strange story. I bought some rooibos Market Spice tea in Anchorage - I love the rich cinnamon/orange zest flavor, and love that they have it with rooibos so that I can enjoy it even though I have to avoid caffeine. I bought it in bulk in a ziploc bag. 

I also bought some organic granny smith apples - impossible to find in Homer this time of year and the ND still wants me to eat apples! Apples and tea went in the same bag, and look what the tea did to the apples! 

At first we thought they must have been frozen and thawed out and discolored, but they smelled really strongly of cinnamon and orange oils - and look, it even discolored the label on the apple!

Fortunately, I discovered this battle and separated the parties before the apples could be trounced any further. They were still edible, with a strong cinnamon/orange flavor, and where the skin was discolored, the flesh was softened.

Good to know, huh? Maybe that's something one could use for a marinade idea. 

Back home, I'd been gone three weeks, and the garden has been loving the rainy summer this year. I was so excited to find this beautiful cauliflower!

And here are carrots and chives with the cauliflower leaves in the foreground. Cauliflower leaves are monstrous! I'm hoping to kraut them.

Here's another cauliflower I just harvested (raspberries in the background are coming on)…

… and some rather funny carrots that I'm not quite so sure about!

Lots more beauties - had some romaine for lunch as well. And although it's definitely autumnal-feeling here now, I think I could get in another crop of lettuce/spinach/other short-season greens before it all gets too cold.

I'm pleased that my energy is as good as it is, but rest is definitely part of the picture for the next few days. But I'm looking forward to getting back to translation work and to writing, and to fooling around in the garden! It's also nice to have my own non-garden foods at hand again. I did make a batch of 'bark' on the road with coconut oil/stevia/a ton of chlorella/maca/shredded coconut/flax meal/spices (lots of cardamom, some ginger).

It was very strong with all the chlorella, but it was good, and I seem to feel better when I have some of that kind of food around. So, nice to have all the other bits that I put in there (reishi powder, spirulina, nut pulp from nut milk, spices, etc) to make a big fresh batch!