Gratitude Monday--GadZukes!

The zucchini pictured below came to us courtesy Mike's mom. She had given us many of them this year including one that makes this entree look meager.
I am grateful for the zukes and for the bounty of the garden in general.
The zucchini pictured below measured 30 cm (12 in. in the Old Tongue). My husband carved it into a pair of fine boats for our eating pleasure.
We ate the one topped with cheese and I froze the other one for a later day when garden fresh is but a fond memory.

A regulation -sized zucchini was added for perspective.

Gratitude Monday --Garden Goodness Edition

Harvest is one of my favourite times of the year. It's when all the work of spring and summer come to fruition. It's a busy time for most of us even if you're like me and only have a small garden in the back.
The busy time doesn't last long, but it still comes.
Yesterday Mike dug out my carrots while I brought in the coriander to ripen. I like to leave it out, but he wanted to dig over the garden. I only had a few plants as they'd grown wild this year. I harvested enough from last year's planting that I had no intention of growing any more for several years.
A few plants popped up in the carrots and beans. I let them go with the idea to take a few cilantro leaves as needed. They smelled so good I decided to leave them in.
A few potatoes grew wild as well. Mike digs compost into the garden in spring and/or fall. Quite a few random plants come up with the seeded ones. I often let them grow.
Anyway, back to the carrots. I cleaned the first batch as he dug. He cleaned the next three batches. In they are photo below
three bath towels full worth are drying and resting comfortably, unaware of their fate. The first towelfull are on the table being quickly and humanely topped and tailed.

They waited in the fridge overnight. Today they're being blanched and frozen to be enjoyed during the cold winter months.

I am grateful for a great many things: the garden, the carrots, and all the work my husband did yesterday in bringing in our harvest.

Gratitude Monday--Ambitious Sprouts Edition

Several potatoes are growing wild in my garden. At least a dozen plants have popped up and are smiling at me.
It's good to see them. I have a limited amount of room in my garden so it is devoted to salad spices and a few other things including a few carrots and peas.
The spuds are a bonus and I am grateful for them.
What happened is we compost. Each year the compost is dug into my garden and thus random veggies struggle up each year and I commonly leave them be.
We had potatoes from my FIL this year and as they sat awaiting their fate they do as potatoes do, they sprouted. It is those ambitious little sprouts that got their start in a box in a darkened corner of my kitchen that are now waving their leaves in the breeze and helping themselves to the nutrient-rich soil bed.
I weeded them today, assuring them they have as much right to be there as anything deliberately planted. As I did I realized life finds its own level. It will start where it can, when it can, and what it can, and it will survive as best it can.
What more can we ask?