Zucchini, cucumbers and beans - oh my!

A wet July has finally paid off.

Last month, I wondered if I'd be harvesting anything from the garden thanks to record setting rainfall. However, the garden is producing so much now it's difficult to keep up. Today's rewards are: five pounds of beans, eight zucchini, one slicing cucumber and six pounds of pickling cucumbers. One zucchini is 12 inches long. Not a record for my garden (the largest I've ever grown was 18 inches long), but it's a keeper.

We've had a lot of bees this summer, despite reports in other parts of North America that bees are dying off. Our bees have been very busy. We have a lot of clover, goldenrod and other wildflowers that attract pollinators. They've been working their magic in the greenhouse, too. Tomato plants are loaded with fruit that's still green, but ripening little by little each day.

Busy bee collecting pollen from a sunflower.

Now comes the conundrum: What to do with all of those zucchini? As much as I love zucc, I'd rather not eat it every day. So, I'm preserving veggies in a few ways: canning, dehydrating and freezing. I love the dehydrator. Three medium sized zucchini took six hours in the dehydrator and once dried, they fit in one medium-sized Ziploc bag which saves a lot of storage space.

Three zucchini after dehydrating.

Three zucchini fit in a medium-sized Ziploc bag, with room to spare.

My pantry is quickly filling up with dried Saskatoon berries, veggies (some store bought) and fruit (apples, oranges, bananas and pineapple). Four trays of fresh picked beans and five trays of sliced zucchini are in the dehydrator right now. I look forward to enjoying my home grown edibles in the middle of winter when fresh produce prices are ridiculously high. I've already made half a dozen jars of traditional BBQ relish, and will start using my new pressure cooker/canner when the next batch of beans is ready for picking.

BBQ relish made with my zucchini

Tonight after the house cools down a bit, I'll be making another batch of garlic dill pickles. Last year, I made 36 jars of dill and bread and butter pickles. We just used the last jar of dills a few weeks ago and they were fantastic, so much tastier than store bought. Preserving food is an ongoing learning process. I can honestly say that I'm never bored!