So yesterday was dedicated to vegetables. We have been battling rodents eating root vegetables in our garden. So this year Tom planted his potatoes in pots to see if this helps. Last year was a total failure so it couldn’t get worse. So far, so good.

I have been battling tomato blight.  So this year I am trying upside down tomatoes.  Tom bought some buckets that had been used for worm farming.  Tom cut the holes in the bottoms for the tomatoes and I drilled holes for drainage and the handles.  I used fencing wire to make the handles.  Here are the first two hung up.

And here is my planting station.  It was hot so I used an umbrella for some shade.

Tom had previously replaced two of the clotheslines in anticipation of this.  And yesterday he made a support to prevent sagging.  Here are the upside down tomatoes all hung.  

We are starting this year with 10 to see how it goes.  The majority of the tomatoes are in the hot house.  I will pot some to keep in the greenhouse as well.  

There was a recent comment on the Weight Management For Adrenal Diseases facebook page about baking turnips with olive oil, salt, pepper and fresh rosemary as well as frying radishes.  So since I have both in the garden now I thought I would try them.  Here are the turnips in the oven,

And here are the radishes frying.

And here is my farm dinner.  I am not a fan of turnips, but this is the best recipe I have found so far.  Still not a fan but edible.  The radishes were actually good.  Unfortunately these are the last of my radishes for the year so something to remember for next year (particularly for the more mature radishes).

I also harvest quite a bit of our rhubarb to start a batch of rhubarb wine.  I remember having some at the Okanogan Barter Faire when I was quite a but younger and loved it.  So I am enthusiastic about trying to make some.  Here is the rhubarb including some left over from last year.

I watched the Mariners lose while I cut up a lot of rhubarb (7#). I added chopped golden raisins, boiled water and sugar. This morning I added tannin, pectic enzyme and orange zest. Tomorrow I will pitch the yeast. I hope it turns out.

So that was my vegetable day (although you can argue that tomatoes are actually fruits). I remember last year how debilitated I was with my illness, unable to do much gardening at all. I remember if I tried to weed at all I would have to stop to catch my breath, let my heart rate come down, and my dizziness pass. I remember spending most afternoons on the couch due to profound fatigue. So I am so grateful that I am healthier now to be able to get some garden work done. I am not completely healthy but better. So I will take it. The Florinef and/or Remicade really seems to be helping. Of course, this means I will be on steroids for a while with the serious side effects of that (particularly during a pandemic). Plus I recently learned of a study that shows antibody production in people on even tiny doses of prednisone are blunted with the SARS-CoV2 mRNA vaccine. I know I am antibody positive but do not know my titers. So this gave me pause and kind of made me wish I hadn’t gone to the races the other day. So I still need to be incredibly cautious (which is what my rheumatologist already said). It is just getting so old.