The first ripe tomato of the year – a Sun Gold
Our garden is coming right along, even though we need rain. After the last several years of wet weather it seems strange to long for rain.
We’ve been watering of the evening and even though its a chore I can tell it is helping the plants continue to flourish.
The spring vegetables are about played out. I haven’t harvested the beets or cabbage yet, but most everything else has either been eat up or is on it’s way out.
Our malabar spinach is so thick and lush I’m going to have to do some major trimming on it or its liable to take over the whole bed of tomatoes that are growing beside it.
Rattle Snake Beans
All our beans are blooming, and we’ll be able to pick our first mess of Rattle Snake beans in the next few days. We’ll also have cucumbers to pick by the weekend. I’ve noticed a couple of baby squash so we should have them to eat soon too.
I’m tickled pink over our peppers. We’ve been eating them for almost two weeks. We have never managed to produce peppers this early in the summer. Starting them under grow lights upstairs in the warmth really made all the difference.
Even though we’ve been eating out of the garden from the spring vegetables for a couple of months, it’s so exciting to see the first beans, cucumbers, squash, and ripe tomatoes. This is the best eating of the year!
Last night’s video: Using Light Bread for Toast: Cinnamon Toast, Sugar Toast, Cheese Toast and More!
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One summer morning, many years ago; my brother who is twenty months my senior, decided he would prepare an entire cookie sheet of light bread into cinnamon toast. He had polished off all of he bread on hand. When my cousin and I awoke for breakfast, he said he was too hungry to share with us….My mother overheard the conversation and she made him eat his entire batch of toast. We were raised in Southern Okla., and called it “light bread” and “sweet milk. We were of your Granny and Pap’s generation: I turned 81 last March, and he will be 83 tomorrow. Country kids raised in the country by our Grandparents…Played all day in the Tuskeeoak creek and the Washita river as well as in the surrounding woods. Your garden sounds wonderful! We always had a big garden and Mama always canned and made jelly. We had chickens, a jersey milk cow, and raised and killed a hog and a calf each year. My brothers hunted and fished too. We were poor, but never hungry…
I was picking yellow squash and zucchini two weeks ago in my 3* raised planter beds, here in SC PA. Back from vacation, I was so happy to pick me a small mess of green beans from my one and only bush bean plant and it a lot more are coming on. I saw tiny cucumbers growing a week ago and I am amazed at how much they have grown. My raspberry bush and blackberry bush are full of berries but I had to go today to the garden center and get me some netting to put over them. My bird friends out in the yard fly in early morning and they don’t want to share the berries with me:( Tomatoes aren’t ripe yet but they are coming on and I can almost taste that wonderful tomato sandwich:)
You are wonderfully blessed!
Over here in Kingsport, TN our garden is about to dry up and blow away… the rains always miss us by just a few miles. Been watering regularly, but it’s not the same, really. Still, peas have been good, lettuce wonderful, and we’re eating fresh beets and beet greens now. Onions, radishes, and the usual spring stuff did well. We’ve got nice big ‘maters on our plants of “Park’s Whopper”. which has been a really good tomato for us the past couple of years. Can’t wait to start having my summer lunch of ‘mater sandwich (light bread, Duke’s mayo, and sometimes with some pimiento cheese or a slice of a big Vidalia onion)!
Our okra didn’t seem to want to sprout, and I discovered that the seeds were years old, so we bought a new packet and planted them alongside the old row. Naturally, they all sprouted the next week, and we/ve got some serious thinning to do.
Congratulations on your garden bounty, Tipper! Here in Smithfield, it’s so dry and since we don’t grow a garden we have been trying to find some fresh vegetables but not much luck. Our friends are having the same problem. May end up having to go to Raleigh to the farmer’s market. A coworker of my husband’s brought some squash and cucumbers to work but by the time they all shared, he got 4 cucumbers and 3 squash, LOL. Three small squash hardly will make a mess but grateful for them. We can’t find any fresh tomatoes and we are craving tomato sandwiches made with light bread, Duke’s mayo and salt and pepper. I bet you next year, I will grow me some tomatoes. Have a great day everyone!
There is no food like the beginning of summer first crop. They always taste best! The tomatoes are glorious and the first crop of leafy greens! It is all so very good. The cucumbers and squash, young and tender…it’s all good! I get as excited as Tipper and the Deer Hunter. I don’t grow a garden, but they generously share with me the bounty from their garden, and I do so enjoy it!
We picked our first ripe 4 th July tomato on June 3 rd here in southern Ohio and been getting a few along since then, they are small tomatoes but still good. I have grown them for several years and the earliest I have had is this year, usually have some sometime in June but on to the weather.
I have been eating good fresh tomato sandwiches this week made from early girl tomatoes. I have also used light bread or loaf bread as it is called here for many of the same things Tipper mentioned. I am reminded of how busy we were when growing up during the summer months. The children would be helping with picking the vegetables grown in the garden while mother and grandmother along with grandaddy and daddy after he got home from work would be working so hard to freeze, can or make jelly from anything thing that could be used for food. Our garden along with our neighbors would be 1-2 acres in size and this did not include the corn fields. It not only provided food for us but also food for the animals. We would also have a large sweet potato patch around 500 -1,00 plants each year that would be harvested in the fall. Some of these would be sold. This was just a way of life for country people in my area when I grew up, very little food was bought in a grocery store or restaurants. I was 17 years old before I ever tasted or knew what pizza was, eating hotdogs was a special meal. For the children that didn’t want to help, the parents would break a keen hickory switch and change their attitude. They were not being mean, it was just necessary for everyone to help.
Good Morning, I too planted a garden this year, my second in 50 years, needless to say its “pathetic”. I’m imagining all the ways that can be said in Appalachia. I enjoy all things Blind Pig and the Acorn. I look forward to the daily post and then go search out some more. I decided to start using all my cast iron. If Tipper can use it on her glass top, so can I.
Thanks Tipper!
Glad to see your garden doing well. Here in eastern NC we’re dry as a bone also. I’ve been watering my garden since I planted it, I’m blessed to have a good well so I don’t have to pay for water. Picked my first tomato today, everything else is producing well except my snap beans, I’ve planted another crop of them and they’re up and looking good. Blueberries and figs should be ready in another week or two.
Thanks for your blog, God Bless.
I just picked my first zuchini this morning and many are not far behind! Seems in the last week the garden is getting into producing mode.
I was not able to leave a comment on your latest light bread video, but wanted to mention the way my grandma made “sugar toast”. She would butter the bread on both sides and put it in a cast iron skillet. Once the bottom side was lightly browned, she would flip it over and immediately sprinkle sugar and cinnamon on the browned side, and the heat would crystalize the sugar while the bottom was browning. As a little kid, I would have happily eaten the whole loaf of Sunbeam fixed that way.
Enjoy the harvest!
Ahhh the tasty garden bounty and personal pride in growing your own fresh vegetables and fruits. I say there’s nothing like it in this world! My rattlesnake and Cherokee beans are blooming. BTW what lovely blooms are those!!! I’ve had a few cucumbers and found one gone yellow I can’t eat. I’ve gotten 2 peppers and the tomatoes are slow. My corn is up to my waist. A lot of this year is trying planting to see what happens. I’m happy but it’s been dang hard work! There seems to be different bugs every week trying to take my garden out. I am loving crushing me some beetles in my fingers. I’m getting good at it. I got lime, diatomaceous earth, bone meal, humus, miracle gro, manure, and whatever else I can find in my armament. Tipper, you’re my inspiration. You are a gardening ambassador!!! BTW LIME takes care of bloom end rot on tomatoes I hear… DEER NETTING sure has rocked the varmint kingdom. Animal minds are blown!!!
Tipper, your garden is way ahead of mine. Some things I planted have never seen a drop of rain during our record-breaking temperatures. It rained for eight minutes yesterday and I appreciated every single drop. An older neighbor once told me that watering with city water just keeps vegetation alive but doesn’t do a thing for production. I think he is right.
Glad to hear you are getting the rewards from the garden. You have me beat by a country mile. But sorry you are watering. I should be but do not want to start. Shaping up as a poor garden year here in multiple ways. Gets discouraging sometimes but the not-so-good years are just part of it. Makes me want to leave my troubles though and go find a new set.
On a totally different note, I am reading “Old Burnsides” by Harriet Simpson Arnow (author of the book “Mountain Path” that Tipper read for those who do not know the connection). It is available to borrow on Internet Archive (www.archive.org) if you have the time to check it out. Thought it might serve better to do this as a post rather than send a message to your inbox Tipper. Please let me know if you would prefer I not post off-the-subject comments. I won’t be upset.
Enjoy your garden bounty, it’s a whole lot of backbreaking work but we all know it’s worth it ❤❤
I enjoy reading these “blindpig and the acorn so much. I watch you on YouTube and listen to you read. I love your daugthers. Your music and everything you all do. Makes me miss my Mamaw Seal even more. I am from Morristown Tennessee all my life. My Mom told me years ago about a great, great, great grandmother who use to live in Cades Cove. I enjoy your home cooking. I love that you give God the glory for it all. Since I started watching you, & yours, you all have been great company for me at night. My husband works 6pm till 6:30 a. My kids are grown. I have 4 grand kids from 10 to almost a year. I was born and raised in a Christian home. My Dad was preacher. He is still living but he not doing to well. He has a birthday coming in July he be 87. Mom still living and hanging in there. My brother is a preacher. My oldest son & his wonderful wife has 2 sons. My youngest son and his wonderful wife has 2 daughters. I feel very blessed. Keep up the good work. And thanks for been such wonderful company and neighbors. God bless your whole family.
Shelia,
I really enjoyed your response to this article. I grew up in Kingston Tennessee and have similar values to yours. I also enjoy Tipper and her family. Her writings and videos seem to bring all of us together from all over. It’s so good to know other good people from around the globe. Our world is so much better for it! I always feel encouraged by the blog, and the responses from other readers. It’s truly encouraging to me to “get together” with good folks for a “visit”!
I too am planning my first garden in 20 years, hoping to be smart about it I am having raised elrvated beds which also helps with the low spots. Moving here in late May I sadly did not end up with enough time, but will watch and maybe can get a few things in as summer and fall come along
I thoroughly enjoyed watching your May 2022 garden video and signed up to your blog after doing so. That size garden takes a lot of work! I “made a garden” this year – for the first time in many years – with a focus on healing herbs but also including some tomatoes and peppers. I kept telling my family it was just an experiment because the last garden I had here in Georgia was a complete disaster. Tomatoes rotted, pepper plants didn’t have any peppers on them and everything else failed. I was worried this one would fail but I’m happy to say this new garden, in a new location, is thriving. At 61 I’m a bit old to be doing this alone but I have my grandmother to thank for inspiration. She gardened well into her eighties. Every once in a while I can get my son to help out there. The garden is pretty much laid by now.
I’m not a Georgia native – I came to GA from Massachusetts 8 years ago. I’m practically your neighbor here in Ellijay. I love the people here and have since I moved here. My “tax accountant” is a 78 yo lady who sounds very much like Appalachia. I love to listen to her and she’ll tell stories every time I go see her. I enjoy listening to your Appalachian accent and speech. It tends to stick in my head to the point that I emulate it without intending to.
Looking forward to reading more and watching more of your videos – and your daughter’s videos as well.
You will love Tipper’s blog…it is so enjoyable and something I look forward to daily. We just moved from Cherry Log last year, after 24 years and I so miss it. I did have to learn the ‘Appalachian’ language when we moved there from upstate Florida and we are now back to that area. There were a few memorable slogans….yuns rather than ya’ll, and ‘I have to tell you this’ are only two that comes to mind right away…and when I think about them they continue to bring a smile. Tipper and her family have become a mainstay in my home and I am still trying to catch up to all their blogs…look up the ‘Pressley Girls’ blog also, enjoyable. God Bless
Hey Rosemary, I live in Ellijay also! Moved here several years ago from North FL after my husband passed to be closer to the now-grown grandkids. The Lord guided me here and I am so very grateful. The generational families, like Tipper’s, have such wonderful ethics and I admire and respect them and they have become dear friends. My neighbors have welcomed me and looked after me. I am on my 3rd year of raised bed planting. I love to can, and this county has an amazing canning facility.