I spent part of the day setting up new Worm Bin Starters and harvesting castings for the garden. I found myself enjoying my work very much and finished with several gallons of pure, mature castings that are quite pleasant to touch and handle.

Every now and then people I meet at the farmer’s markets (where I sell the Starter) will mention how much delight they take in their worm gardens, and I share that delight. It’s not just the satisfaction of having clean garbage cans and knowing that you’ve stemmed the flow of organic matter from your kitchen to the landfill.

For me, I think the pleasure comes from witnessing (and assisting) a process of cleansing and renewal that ends in a fertility-enhancing, vital resource that wouldn’t have otherwise existed.

On a much more prosaic level, if you think of the resources that are devoted to the transport and disposal of putrid organic matter, you can’t help but recognize the value of that worm bin out in the garage.

This week has seen a lot of good food come out of the gardens. In fact, I’m going to have to get cracking in the kitchen to make sure nothing goes to waste. (On the topic of waste, please read the Worm Bin pages. Links are at the upper right of this page.)

We have Brandywine, Cherokee Purple, Better Boy, Golden Jubilee, and Juliet tomatoes (two heirlooms and three hybrids, if you’re keeping score.) The Juliets are small plums that I like to grill, the Golden Jubilee is a pretty yellow tomato that is especially good in a stew or casserole, and the others are all big slicers. All taste pretty good right now, but none so far have knocked my socks off. The riper the better, and I’ve been unwilling to wait.

There’s also a good supply of eggplant and plenty of peppers. I’m still getting gold-colored beets out of the garden, though they seem to have stopped growing in the heat of summer. The red ones are flourishing and even seem to like it. They are medium-sized (MUCH smaller than the ones in the supermarket, which I think are grossly oversized) with smooth, thin skins. The tops are not as bountiful as they were earlier in the season; the bugs have nibbled on them a little, as they have on my chard, but I still have plenty of braising greens, wild and cultivated, for anyone who loves them.

Still have those sweet, flavorful scarlet nantes carrots, too. A few squash and cucumbers. No green beans to speak of at the moment, but another bed is underway and there will be more in a few weeks.

As I’ve mentioned before, I have too much bounty for my family and not quite enough to make it worth setting up a table at the farmer’s market, so if anyone’s looking for a weekly delivery of washed, trimmed local vegetables (with the option of organic baked goods), send me an email. We can size and price the basket to suit your needs.

I love this little market in Oregon Hill — we’re there from 3:30 to 7:00, but often sell out earlier than that.

Patricia is bringing onions and herbs — both cut and growing. On the vegetable front, I expect to have roasting vegetables (new potatoes, baby carrots, golden beets, and red beets), grilling vegetables (green beans if we’re lucky, eggplant, banana and jalapeno peppers, and plum tomatoes), and summer braising greens (both red chard and a mix of wild and cultivated greens, plus the beet greens).

I’ll probably have dill and basil, and I hope to be able to bring some blackberries. As far as baked goods are concerned,  I’m thinking of bringing a peanut butter cookie that is a favorite at our house. It’s vegan, and all the ingredients are organic except for the maple syrup and the chocolate chips.

I’m also going to be selling more Worm Bin Starter for people who want to keep their kitchen waste out of the landfill. It’s $5 for a quart, and you can start your own bin with one quart — use more if you want to see results more quickly.

I’ll update this posting Monday night when I know for sure what I’ll have.

I spent a whole day tending to my garden beds, which are scattered around — I have eggplant, tomatoes, sweet potatoes and herbs in the west end, a small personal plot in the community garden at the Humphrey Calder Community Center, and a couple of much bigger beds on southside, where I garden with Patricia Stansbury of Epic Gardens.

I thought I’d be picking some green beans on southside today, and some beets, but was surprised to find that my first bed of beans hadn’t produced much since the last time I was there.  They are slowing down, and I need to decide when to pull them up and put in something else. I already have the next bed of beans planted and it has just come up, replacing the peas and lettuce I grew in the spring. (I also have a small bed at the HCCC that produced enough for a couple of servings).

But much to my surprise, there were quite a few new potatoes in a small bed I had given up on. They’ll be popular with the family. And I wandered out into the tall weeds under the power lines and found a couple quarts of blackberries. Shared some with Patricia and brought the others home to make a cobbler and eat raw. I’m a big, big fan of wild blackberries.

I also came home with a modest amount of arugula, picked from the now-stalky plants that are well into the task of making seed pods. There were a half-dozen small plum tomatoes, as well. I decided to give the beets and carrots one last thinning, and brought home several big handfuls. The golden beets and the danvers carrots, roasted together and dressed with a vinaigrette, are good with raw arugula and a little feta cheese.

For the first time this season, I used a little liquid fish-and-seafood fertilizer (2-3-1) to give the beets, chard, and eggplant a boost, and also gave a good shot to the volunteer potato leaf tomato that I picked out of the compost. It might be a Brandywine. We’ll see.

I’m holding off on picking the eggplant, so as to have some for the Byrd House Market on Tuesday.