In The Veggie Garden

Today's harvest....Olivia needs a straw hat in her size.

Summer is so rewarding, my veggie garden is pretty neglected, yet we were able to harvest enough from it today to make a green smoothie...and if Baxter hadn't have been left in the veggie garden area unsupervised for two minutes the other day we could be enjoying a complete garden salad....but that Labrador knows when the tomatoes and strawberries are right for the picking.

This morning the girls and I got outside nice and early before the heat hit. With Olivia in the ergobaby, and Lara stomping around in her gumboots we harvested a nice little collection of leaves and a cucumber to make a green smoothie...including a green tomato that the hose managed to bash off the plant. We enjoyed silverbeet, rainbow chard, parsley, mint and cucumber all from our organic garden, with the addition of store bought lemon (our tree needs some love), ginger and a last minute addition of banana to take away the bitterness of all the greens-for me lemon, mint and ginger do this nicely, but it doesn't pass the kid test.

Current cucumber situation. Happy day.

Since I know I struggle in the heat, and rarely feel like eating much, I made a big batch of green juice and put it in a reused passata bottle in the fridge. It looks pretty fancy and delicious to me, and often prevents the 3pm slump. A glass of veggie juice at that time seems to help me power on through to dinner, bath and bedtime with two adorable, energetic toddlers.

Reused glass bottle full of homegrown, homemade green smoothie. Winning!

On a side note, the frangipani tree that has been waiting for me to break down into small branches and pot up (for months now) isn't doing too badly with neglect. It is literally laying on the pavers, out in the sun, amongst the weeds and flowering....what are the chances of me getting to it whilst the babies sleep today, amongst all the other jobs?

Neglected frangipani tree in flower-yep, this is real life, there are weeds in my pavers.

Now that I've finished my tea, and Lara and Olivia have stopped protesting sleep it must be time for me to go and do poop patrol in 33oC....and then I will do some more jobs in the veggie garden. Prioritising sucks!