Some Decent Poundage

I delivered 64 pounds of produce to the food bank today. The majority of weight came from pumpkins, which I have started to part with. I harvested a bunch a few weeks back to cure and admire. Some of the full-size ones are quite heavy. Some of the food bank families have up to a dozen kids, so one big pumpkin, quartered and roasted, doesn't even feed them all. I plan to post some photos of my pumpkins, but I'm pre-occupied with melons right now.

I also had a large bag of pears taken from my backyard that I delivered to the food bank. I have a small pear tree and small apple tree. Last year, I got about two pears and three apples. I did a good job of pruning this winter, and now the trees are covered with bumper crops of each.

And, of course, everything is coming ripe at once: melons, pears, apples, tomatoes, winter squash, pumpkins, onions. It's a drag because six weeks ago, I was salivating over the notion of fresh melons and onions, and now I have so many, it's almost a burden. Most of the onions end up as topping for frozen pizza.

Four of a kind: melons clockwise from left, Tigger, Prescott Fond Blanc,
Korean Star and Charentais. The Tigger is much bigger than average,
the Korean Star is smaller than average. The larger Korean Stars
already have been harvested and eaten The Charentais is about
average size, this one being about the size of a large softball.

I ate part of my first Charentais melon today. Of all the orange-fleshed melon I've tried, I like Charentais the best. I shared my first Prescott Fond Blanc melon with my family over the weekend, another orange-fleshed, French heirloom (apparently, the French like melons). Although it was perfectly ripe and fragrant, the taste was so, so. Prescott is a great stealth melon, though. Even people who know vegetables were stumped. The same goes for Korean Star melons: A cucumber? A squash? Not worth your time thieves. I haven't lost a single melon this year.

My brother's cat, Diablo, visited my garden plots over the weekend.
He likes to go for walkies like a dog. He got overheated on this
near 90-degree day, so my brother gave him a shower under one
of the water spigots. Then he took a nap in the shade of a sunflower.