home-grown goodness

vacation for us this year meant just "hangin' out," doing whatever tickled our fancy. one day, while joe hunkered down with a good book in our new library (pics coming soon), i made zucchini bread with veggies from katy cummings' aunt's garden, and a pitcher of iced vanilla peppermint tea, the mint grown from my own little herb box on the front step. we shared (fully downed!) the goodies with matt and amber augspurger, friends from los angeles whom we hadn't seen for over a year. (i'm sad i didn't capture their faces here!). it was a jolly, sunny day, and it was such a treat to be able to enjoy our home with friends.

so here's my herb garden: basil, thyme, sage, small basil, oregano, summer savory, chive, and peppermint. they're doing so well!! i'm completely amazed. and my mom is even more amazed. ;)

i have strawberries too! the variety is "seascape" and they love our climate. i haven't reaped any fruit, however, because there's some sort of critter the likes the taste of the fruit. that green strawberry was gone the next morning, the stem cleanly chomped.

here's our vanilla peppermint tea. it could have been more pepperminty, but i would have wiped out my entire plant had i put more in. the vanilla simple syrup added a fun twist.