No raised garden beds or rows of greens for us boat dwellers. Just our wee container of tomatoes and basil. These are the ones the fellas started back in spring and have nurtured and cared for ever since. The same ones Mrs. Quackers made her nest in not long ago. And now they are providing us some fabulous, dock grown (and duck fertilized) food.
But our dockside tomatoes are not our only source, we have a secret garden. Or rather Zach does. There is a spot on the marina where some boater some time ago must have started a small patch of pear tomatoes. They are sort of wild and free and nobody in particular cares for them, and as such they have thrived. Zach checks this secret tomato patch every few days and always totes home a little golden harvest.
Then it's time to dig in. One of the things I love about gardening, even on a microscopic scale like we are, is the way kids take complete ownership of the food. Zach never cared for tomatoes before, but once he started growing them HIMSELF, well -- now they are his favorite afternoon snack. I don't think our tomatoes are especially sweet or different, it's just the taste of accomplishment.
This time of year this is about all we need for a quick dinner. A baguette, some garlic scape pesto from our CSA farmer (drool!), and our little handful of tomatoes becomes a scrumptious summer meal.
Now if only we had some fresh caught fish to go along with this...
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8 comments:
Looks like a wonderful little harvest! That last photo is making my mouth water!
Nice Harvest there!
Our tomatoes are *almost* ready...
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I loved this post so very much Cindy!
Your meal looks absolutely incredible!
And the little yellow pear tomatoes are my favorite!xo
This post is so inspiring Cindy! We've always been rather hopeless gardeners - and we have a whole back garden for goodness sake! - now we are planning our cavie garden - in front of their little hut we are making a raised bed to grow greens and carrots in - their favourite snacks - and it will be Abby's responsibility to care for it - I've shown her Zach's tomatoes for added incentive - if a little fellow half her age can grow tomatoes on a yacht, then she has some catching up to do ;-)
I just posted about the wild blackberries around the corner of my marina that are begging to be picked. Also tomatoes, basil, okra and jalapeno peppers on my neighbor's patio are growing leaps and bounds. The summer is off to a great start.
Really enjoyed many of your stories. First time commenting.
Lovely to come across you blog, my husband will be envious. We ordered a catamaran 4.5 years ago because it was my husbands dream to sail until we visited a farm in Dominican Rep. that I fell in love with,, a long story short we couldn't find docking space here nor close to where we lived in Miami, it was becoming complicated and expensive...then they were late on delivery so my husband had an option to cancel. Much to his dislike he did but we've enjoyed many good years here on the farm, a completely different lifestyle for us. He's still looking at boats he will sail some day!
Enjoy your adventures, a wonderful way to explore the world. We are heading off on a 3 months trip in an airstream RV to visit state parks in the US.. will be fun.
Cindy,
What CSA do you use? We get our veg from Calvert Farm with pick up here in Eastport.
Auspicious - we go through Zooks Farm which delivers from PA to Annapolis (in the neighborhood behind India's). It's a week by week rather than seasonal commitment so you can skip out when you don't need anything. We started for the raw milk and cheese which is fabulous, and grass fed meats! Email me if you want the info.
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