What a gorgeous day to be out harvesting. The conditions could not have been nicer…bright blue skies, white puffy clouds, no humidity, with the high temperature in the mid 70s. There was a slight breeze and I could hear the birds chattering away as well as the not so distant sound of a small, twin engine airplane tooling around for fun.

I took Farley out to the fields with me this afternoon and he immediately started to investigate far and wide. I think the neighbors must get tired of me calling for him to get back to me but he loves to wander and investigate so I’m always trying to locate the little dickens before an owl or hawk locates HIM!.  He did not find any scat or deteriorating animal remains to roll in today – despite a determined effort on his part. Thankfully, this meant he will not have to be bathed in the laundry room sink which is often the case after one of his thorough snooping expeditions.

I picked all sorts of goodies: various tomatoes, green peppers, hot peppers, squash, scallions and cucumbers. It was daring to be out at this time of day since the Cicada Wasps are still very active and were buzzing around me the whole time. Dave tries to wait until later in the day when they seem to settle down, but I was on a mission and brazenly advanced my objective despite their presence. The only area that spooked me was the eggplant patch where it seemed they were a bit too active for my nerve so I did not venture over there despite sagging branches laden with fruit. Here is a pic of today’s harvest which totalled 6 pounds 10.25oz. Although Dave is the keeper of the Excel Harvest Weight File, I think what I contributed yesterday and today will raise the total for the year to over 324 pounds of produce so far. Had I done any potato or eggplant harvesting, today, this number would have likely been closer to 335 or 340 pounds.

Unfortunately, I also came away with a tomato picking rash which is mostly on my arms – but it was worth it to get all these goodies. My next order of business is to investigate some options for preserving the peppers. We have heavy load of California Wonders as well as spicy Nacho Muchos. I’m really waiting for more of the Garden Salsas to redden in order to make more of my Sriracha sauce which was very popular last year!