Summer Perfection

The garden can be a lot of work, especially at this time of year. Although we've got the weeds under control, there is so much to harvest and then preserve that it can feel a bit overwhelming. Sometimes, though, you don't have to do anything except pick and eat and perfect fruit:

This is our first cantaloupe (ok, technically muskmelon, but whatever). We had a really tiny one once at the Red House, but this one is just right. It's a smaller variety than the giant ones you'd find in the grocery store, but that's needed this far north to end up with ripe fruit before you run out of warm summer days. The flavor is much, much better than anything in the grocery store. I'm not a huge fan of cantaloupe, but this I like. It's sweet (but not too sweet), and the best part is the texture — smooth and firm, not at all grainy (which I think is why I never liked cantaloupe in the first place — because the ones in the store are crappy).

And here is one big, perfect bell pepper. I suppose we could have waited for it to fully ripen to yellow, but in the past something has always happened along the way to ruin it. Plus we needed it for dinner. This is by far the best pepper we've ever grown (they are tricky for us for some reason). 

And that's all there is to say about that. Sometimes you grow a perfect fruit, and then you eat it up.