I pity our gardens in the relentless heat we've been having. Despite it, our cherry tomatoes have soldiered on, producing dozens of sweet/tart, red-orange fruits. The jalapenos thrive in it. And while the pole beans are done now, they did quite well this year, giving us enough of a harvest to enjoy generous helpings of them cooked in a variety of ways. We've had plenty of basil too, and I've been enjoying sliced tomato sandwiches with coarse sea salt, a drizzle of balsamic vinegar, and several basil leaves, perhaps paired with some sliced cheese or pureed white beans.

At the farmers market we're seeing the classic summer fruits and vegetables: tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, corn, blueberries. I've frozen some peaches and blueberries from this year's crop in the hopes of giving more variety to my local food diet during the Eat Local Challenge in October.

I'm already planning for the fall garden, cover cropping some beds with Sudangrass; I had put winter rye in a couple over the winter, and those have done quite well this summer. A neighbor gave us ten yellow pear tomato seedlings, which we're trying to nurse along.

Thanks everyone for bearing with me during this blogging dry spell. It's an exciting time of the year for gardening, but that hasn't been reflected here. I had my final chemotherapy treatment on May 28, and have since been recovering and trying to get back into a routine...and in summer of course, there isn't much chance for a routine, especially if you have kids. I've seen a lot of interesting content online lately, so I'll be trying to get those links up to pass along some good reading to you.

I'd love to hear some of your summer gardening stories.

We checked the pole beans yesterday and found these ready to harvest. They've done well this year; I wish I had planted more. The cherry tomatoes have tons of small fruits, the blueberries are slowly ripening. Our lemon tree has lost all but one of its fruits, so I hope it blooms again.

I had chemotherapy on Thursday and didn't feel great, but I dragged myself down to the market.

Available for purchase: cabbage, citrus (kumquat and lemon), cucumbers (I keep forgetting to mention these), green beans, greens (collard and turnip), lettuce, okra, onions, peaches, potatoes, radishes, sugar snap peas, summer squash (yellow, zucchini, and patty pan), pecans, beef, eggs, fresh goat cheese, honey, seafood, baked goods, jellies/preserves, pasta, cut flowers, plants, handmade soap, candles, other handcrafts.

Blueberry season should be just around the corner. Wonder if we'll see some berries at the market next week? I'm looking forward to it.

In this week's Minimalist column in the New York Times, Freeze That Thought, Mark Bittman gives advice about how to prevent wasted food and save time on meal prep. The tips are not news to anyone who's made a habit of putting up a bountiful harvest of produce or saving extra portions, but are still good basic advice. Personally, I never thought of freezing the extra dough rather than eating an entire delicious batch of cheese biscuits! You use your freezer as an extension of your pantry, as a way of extending the life of ingredients that might otherwise go unused or spoil, prepping ingredients for later use, and creating your own frozen dinners.

For more on freezing, canning, and drying foods, see the National Center for Home Food Preservation.

By the way, my daughter has now heard me refer to Mark Bittman so many times that she has asked me whether I was making something out of the "Bittman book."

ADDITIONALLY: I usually try to mention that, since we live in hurricane country, if you have a lot of money invested in food stored in a chest freezer, you may want to either have a generator for backup power, plan on using up the contents around hurricane season, or have some other alternative plans in place to protect your investment.

I also found this nice guide to freezing at Real Simple: Freezer Fundamentals.

My cherry tomatoes have their first fruits on them, which look like they'll be ready to harvest by late May. The pole beans have tiny pods and plenty of blooms. The jalapenos have tiny flower buds. The dewberries are reaching the end of their productive period. Lavender is blooming and the herbs are doing well before the onslaught of high summer. And sadly, two of our six blueberry plants seem to be suffering from blueberry stem blight.

If you bought (or have) Meyer lemons and you're looking for something to do with them, you should try making lemon curd. That's what I did with the lemons I bought last week. If you've never had it, lemon curd is an irresistible confection of lemon juice (and zest), butter, eggs, and sugar. Use it on muffins, scones, cake, English muffins, toast, whatever you like. Just be sure to have a friend in mind to give some away to, because if not you may be tempted to eat it all.

At Salon, you can read a few comments from Michael Pollan (and others) about President Obama's first 100 days in office, specifically in regards to food policies.

All You Can Eat? A Journey Through a Seafood Fantasy is an excellent article by Jim Carrier in the March/April issue of Orion. This revealing look at the history and current state of the shrimping industry features snippets of conversations with Leslie Hartman, Alabama shrimp biologist working in Mobile Bay, and Mike and Joe Skinner, who (as of 2005) were shrimpers in Mobile Bay.

Via Culinate, a Canadian article raises the question of whether to put a moratorium on salmon consumption. As Daniel Pauly, a fisheries biologist quoted in the article says, "We're told we have to buy right, we have to consume right. But to make consumption our major means of expression...consumption is the problem."

Also at Culinate, a review of Bottomfeeder: How to Eat Ethically in a World of Vanishing Seafood by Taras Grescoe. If you'd like to know the end result of Grescoe's journey,

Grescoe’s own diet has changed irrevocably. He has become a true bottomfeeder, eating mainly at the base of the food chain: small, pelagic fish (sardines and anchovies), plus sustainable shellfish (oysters, mussels, and clams). He also discovers some larger fish that are still abundant, such as sablefish, trout, and Arctic char, and eats them in moderation. (Grescoe eventually compiled his own sustainable-fish list and posted it on his website.)

Week two of the Market on the Square saw much the same: warm weather and lots of late spring/early summer produce.

Available for purchase: cabbage, citrus (kumquat and lemon), green beans, greens (collard and turnip), lettuce, onions, peaches, potatoes, radishes, summer squash (yellow), pecans, beef, eggs, fresh goat cheese, honey, seafood, baked goods, jellies/preserves, pasta, cut flowers, plants, handmade soap, candles, other handcrafts.

The beef is from Irvington Cattle Company, and I was told is hormone free and antibiotic free. The cattle are raised on grass and finished on grain, and the meat is aged for 21 days prior to sale. The meat is sold vacuum packed and frozen, and you can get cuts ranging from steak and roasts to organ meat and tail, and of course ground beef.

Things looked good on the opening day of the market at Cathedral Square in Mobile. There were plenty of vendors, a decent selection of produce, new things to buy and look at, and a buzz of people, even at 7:30am.

Available for purchase: citrus (kumquat and lemon), corn, greens (collard and turnip), okra, onions, peaches, peas (sweet, snow, and sugar snap), potatoes, radishes, strawberries, summer squash (yellow), tomatoes, pecans, eggs, fresh goat cheese, honey, seafood, baked goods, jellies/preserves, pasta, cut flowers, plants, handmade soap, candles, other handcrafts.

Of interest: Retriever Soapworks, maker of handcrafted goat milk soaps, is now offering a goat milk based, mildly scented lotion. Henrietta's Dairy plans to be at the market each week selling their fresh goat milk cheeses (available in plain and several flavors), and eggs. Their cheese is also available at Martha Rutledge Catering at 4507 Old Shell Road in Mobile. The meat vendor was not at the market today, but should be next week. They will be selling beef.

As you can see from the photo, I bought a variety of produce, eggs and cheese, soap, and cookies, as well as some flowers that didn't make it into the picture. The citrus, I was surprised to learn, is Meyer lemon, which develops into this orange color if left on the tree. At three for a dollar I was happy to try them out.

As a bonus, we were able to harvest another pint of dewberries from the yard today.