Accidental Home Educator, Continued

BOTANY in the Garden (science & active living history)We harvested nearly 5lb. of spinach last week. Note: If your spinach begins to wilt in the hot sun before getting it into the house, don't fret. Fill your kitchen sink with cold water, plunge the spinach into the cold water, agitate, remove to a colander to drain. I then remove the excess water by spinning the spinach leaves in a salad spinner. Finally, I place the spinach in a Debbie Myers Green Bag, along with a folded paper towel, squeeze out the excess air, close with a twist tie and refrigerate. Within a couple hours I have crisp, crunchy fresh spinach.

It looks like it's time to harvest and dry some garlic chives and oregano.

A photo of our spinach and lettuce patch. When I harvest spinach and lettuce, I do not pull the plants out of the ground. Instead, I use a pair of scissors and cut the leaves, leaving the base of the plant. My spinach and lettuce then grow new leaves and I again, have fresh salad green within a couple weeks.

Our green beans are coming along nicely. These are Mr. B's favorite.

Our yellow squash and zucchini are looking good. I pray they continue doing well. The last couple years I've lost all varieties of squash right before the first harvest.