Mourning in the Tomato Row :(

Well, in spite of all of our efforts, most of our tomatoes have been attacked by the dreaded late blight. I have been out there for weeks watching, spraying, PRAYING, but most of the tomatoes are covered with rotting brown spots. Blech!

We cut, ripped, tore out and I cried and pouted a lot to try and salvage SOMETHING. But no luck. It has just been too wet over the past few weeks. Maybe with some dry days like we've been having we will have some new growth that will come out of what is left.

Oh well!!!!!

The few tomatoes we have been able to spare have been oh-so-good. And we have lots of cucumbers, beans, peas and lettuce. Even our carrots are doing ok. (although they look really funny! ) The winter squash look good--Scott is not convinced that we will get much use out of them. (Guess he doesn't like squash!) The cabbages look really nice. (How do you know when cabbages are ready to pick?) The celery didn't do anything. They look the same as when I planted them in June. Although I must admit that I have never grown celery, so I have no idea what it supposed to "do" or look like. The radishes aren't doing anything, which is funny since they are supposed to be so easy to grow. The Brussels sprouts are gorgeous, but I don't see anything on the plants that look like Brussels sprouts! (I have never grown them either-what are they supposed to look like?) We are not even going to mention the PEPPERS, because all that is there of them are these pitiful little brown and green sticks! Don't worry, we are taking notes for next year. If the weather is going to be anything like this year, we are putting in a RICE PADDY.

So ANYWAYS, I am getting ready to make a pretty salad for the VBS picnic tonight that will feature our green/wax beans and herbs. I am also going to make a batch of pickles--both recipes from the Dinosaur BBQ cookbook.

The kids have had a blast at VBS all week. They made lots of new friends. There were probably about 100 kids there all week. Tonight we will get to go see their little program and enjoy a community picnic. Dan and Susie have been marching around singing the songs, and there are bible crafts all over the house. I have them tell us the bible stories and verses they have learned and then I tease them: I tried to tell them that God drove a big monster truck up the mountain and rapped a message to Elijah in a big storm. But they insisted it was in a still, small, voice. Who knew? ;)

Next week we have reserved a museum pass from the library to travel to Bristol to the children's museum there. It looks pretty much like the Discovery Center in Binghamton. The library has a bunch of free family passes to various places in CT like the zoo, aquarium, etc. Although there is a brand new science center in Hartford, the cool thing at this children's museum is the authentic 1940's ice cream parlor! (wooooo!) So much for going for FREE, eh? :) But should be a fun little day trip. Also coming up next week is the big Fireman's Fair which everyone says is the big thing around here for Summer.