The fact that we cook every day, or nearly every day, is actually pretty special on its own -- but if we posted about that with any diligence, this would cease to be a house blog and would be just a blog about what we're cooking every day.

However, in the past few days an abundance of tomatoes has led us to a cooking arena which is off our normal routine. We broke out the hot water bath canner (and a trusty canning/preserving cookbook) and put up some tomatoes.

We actually had buckets and buckets of tomatoes. Here are some of them, including heirlooms. We also had tons of plum tomatoes:

After we cooked down the most ripe ones, Evan put them through the food mill. We then cooked that sauce some more:

Then we ladled them in quart jars with 2 tbsp of lemon juice apiece. We ended up with five quart jars, which we put in the canner for 35 minutes. Here they are before I lowered the canning rack into the canner for processing:

I burned myself a couple times on hot water. And the kitchen got very hot. We actually did the cooking and canning at night, which was good because the temperature was lower overall, so it only got to like 90 in the kitchen.

After they'd processed in boiling water for 35 minutes, I let them sit in the canner for another five minutes, then extracted them from their steaming bath so they could sit quietly overnight. Voila!

Not sure what we're going to do with the old windows:

So, three windows down -- five more to go. And maybe next year we'll do another five or so, after we see how these survive the winter. Yes, we've got that many more windows to replace.

For now, we are overjoyed at how nice the new windows look. Viewing them from inside (these are all in the living room), they look clean and sturdy. And, unlike the old windows, you can open them. Ah, nice to feel a breeze in the house...

Really excited, though, about the corn.

Last year we had corn but various things -- bugs, deer, other bugs -- ate it. I think we ended up with only a couple ears. Last year, the Japanese beetles also ate up the beans until around September, after which the beans rebounded and we were flush with beans for about a month.

So, 2008: very sad to report that aphid-like bugs infested my summer squash plants, and some of the pumpkins, so I had to pull them up. But, unlike last year, the corn and beans are flourishing. Here's the first ear that we picked, and then ate, last week. With a couple beans in the background.

To fill in where the squash had been, I forged ahead with 2008 Garden 2.0 -- lots of little exciting experiments: First, turnips, pak choi (supposed to be like bok choi) and swiss chard. Like, two feet of each. Just to see how they do. Planted those last week and they're starting to sprout. Turnips planted in late summer last year turned out great, so we'll see....

Today continued the experiment: Planted spring onions, spinach... and carrots. I suspect it is a little late for carrots in our zone 5/6 climate, but we might get some baby ones. We've got more than two months of summer left, after all!

Also, Evan started replacing the windows. He started today and got 90 percent of the work done on one. I didn't take pictures as we were crunched for time when he started, but we will document next weekend when he ventures to do the next one. He's planning on replacing eight windows before winter comes knocking....

Also... what a difference a month makes. If you scroll back to the "Chomp" entry from June 10, you'll see a pretty barren plot that had been made even more paltry due to somebody eating our tomato plants down to the nibs.

Thanks to Evan's fence, here it is today. The tomatoes have now grown to become nearly a solid mass of plants.

The other side of the plot is sweet corn, still developing.

One more thing: We picked the garlic. We braided it and hung it in the smokehouse to dry. Don't know how long it will take to use it all; we probably got 40 cloves of garlic!

But the truth is, I didn't plant this squash. I planted squash, yes. The squash plants that I sowed are growing quite nicely...

However, this particular specimen is the volunteer offspring from some flat yellow summer squash of 2007.

The squash that I planted are probably a week or two behind this squash, which sprouted in-between the shallots, all by its lonesome. When I realized what it was, I decided to let it go and see what happened.

It's looking nice. We'll keep it!

All things considered, it didn't take overly long to build. Here's one of the specimens that I hope will survive.

One or two of the other tomato plants were almost completely eaten away; nothing remains but the stem. Interestingly, the hungry critter went for the heirloom tomatoes and didn't make dinner out of one of the non-heirloom plants that I'd also planted.

Nate seems to be enjoying the fence as a new obstacle to run around.

After we finished our planting, it rained on and off for most of the rest of the weekend. So, our timing was good, in terms of planting. We also planted beans and some summer squash. I hope to be posting their growing progress here, so Salma can see how they do!

The chives are blooming. They looked particularly vibrant in the rain.

Nearly all work around here happens on the weekends. During the week, we're, you know, working at our work jobs. Anyway, last weekend there was a lot of tearing up old overgrown flower beds, wrestling with rows of weeds along the edges of buildings, scrambling to put some order on areas that were beginning to go wild. All crammed into a couple hours when Nate naps in the afternoon.

We started by beautifying, or trying to. Planted flowers, clipped back weeds, turned in compost, nothing too monumental -- just a few hours of digging, tearing, pushing, tossing, panting, etc., etc. Then on Sunday I decided it was time to tear up an old flower bed that had been overgrown with what I think was lots and lots of yarrow, as well as a few tiger lillies and a bunch of weeds.

We carted off the lilies (above photo, in wheelbarrow) and replanted them by the side of a building near the pond. From the side of that building, we carted away a jumble of weeds and dead leaves.

I took a photo of the tiny collection of herbs that replaced the old hard-bitten yarrow patch, but it looks like nothing, so I'll wait to post that until I have a decent "after" photo ... like maybe in August.

I planted rosemary (two plants, one of which is supposed to be hardy to zone 5, and we're zone 6, so I have high hopes). Also planted tarragon and Greek oregano, both of which are supposed to survive here. Evan lined my new little herb garden with rocks.

This is actually my second herb patch; the first one contains a bounty of sage and thyme, both planted two summers ago and which have survived the winters thus far.

As for what I think is or was yarrow (or whatever it is that we yanked up), I potted up a few specimens for potential relocation somewhere else, though I think Evan would be happy if I trashed them all.

I also have some mint, in a big huge pot, that I kept alive over the winter, which I need to plant somewhere soon. But I know that spreads easily, so I really need to find the right location.

Worked on expanding two small plots of garden yesterday -- joining them together to create one bigger plot. Lots of hacking up the turf, knocking off dirt and earthworms, and carting away wheelbarrows of the weed-grass sod.

Evan mixed in some compost and mushroom soil and evened out the old and new garden sections. We now have two plots as pictured below; the other plot is just a big brown rectangle of dirt and stones and a couple weary thyme plants, so it doesn't make for much to look at.

But here's the newer plot, in which we have a few things growing already:

Evan got the tiller going to loosen up all of the soil on the far side of the plot, where we then planted two rows of onions.

The onion-y looking rows in the photo are actually garlic that we planted last fall. I'm hoping/ expecting it to be ready to be pulled up in June. Garlic is new territory for us, so we'll see...

The part of the garden in the front of the picture is planted with some of this garlic, plus shallots (planted last week; still not sprouted), cilantro and baby spinach. A few of the baby spinach plants surprised us and survived the winter; I planted some more seeds of the same in-between the survivors, and they are just starting to sprout above the earth.

Today we got lots of rain! I hope we'll see some growin' going on by the weekend.

As of tonight... it's about as tall as our son!

We're letting the asparagus go/ grow this year; I've read that you should let it grow three years before cutting it. But depending on how many shoots come up next year, we might not be able to wait that long!

In six days, spring was bypassed and we got an early preview of summer.

With temperatures soaring into the 80s, the garden, trees, lawn, everything burst into greenness. It was bright and hot and, really, a little much, but we tried to take advantage of the warm weather. Among a number of other projects, Evan transplanted some Tiger lilies that were overgrowing their space. We decided a new good location for the overflow was by the side of the barn, where there is a stone wall.

We also dug up the garden some more. I tried to instill some order on one corner of the plot, raked in some compost and planted two rows of shallots. Shallots don't sound all that exciting, but seeing how we cook with a ton of shallots, I could probably plant the entire garden with shallots and it would be worthwhile. I planted two rows -- around 35 bulbs. Here are some sitting in a row, before I pushed them down into the ground and covered the sides of the bulbs with dirt. In the background, to the right, is garlic that we planted last fall.

Finally... we marveled at how much the asparagus grew in the past week, thanks to the heat wave. Here's a photo of some of the asparagus yesterday:

Compare to my post from a week ago (below), when it was just a few inches above the ground. It must have grown, oh, three or four inches, at least, in a week. And in the past day it grew another two inches, or maybe even three.

I am in awe!

The largest shoot is only a few inches long, but it is recognizable and vibrant-looking, even in its paleness.

We planted some strawberry plants and baby spinach, and Evan turned up some more turf to connect two of our four small garden plots.

The garden is otherwise a wash of ugly dirt and shale, worn down by winter. There are a few perennials trying to come back to life; a feeble row of garlic, green tops beginning to perk up; and some volunteer cilantro clinging close to the ground.

Apparently, some of us think it's right around the corner. We can only hope.

I can't believe how quickly the past year went. I know that's what every parent says at the end of the first year, but it's true. Seriously. When you first arrived you were 8 pounds, 7 ounces, with a misshapen little head. Now you're 25 pounds of peas, bananas, and cheerios, walking around with nine teeth and demonstrating how big you’ve become.

When your mom was pregnant, I remember being so nervous, so excited, and so terribly scared. Would everything go smoothly? Would you be healthy? And then I realized that I had very little control over where things went before you arrived. The only thing I could control was my intake of gin, which I did surreptitiously while your mom wasn’t looking. It never mattered – she knew as soon as she heard the sound of ice dropping in a glass that I was up to no good. Drat!

One of my favorite pastimes lately is thinking about going on an adventure with you when you're older. We could reenact Robert Persig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Or maybe camping. Hell, maybe you’ll be more into buying clothes in NY and responding "whatever, dad" to all of my questions. It doesn't really matter, just the thought of sharing those experiences with you warms my heart. Just as long as you don’t hate me.

Walking has been an interesting development. You gotta try and take it slower, man. I am fearful that you'll grow up to be a football player and I'll have to pretend I actually enjoy watching games. I mean, you do like to tackle stuff, like the corner of the coffee table. You should try not to lead with your head, though. Mom was very upset that you had to go to the emergency room. It made us look like negligent parents, and that's not cool.

Happy birthday, buddy. Look forward to many more.

The floor project is not quite done -- a few more tiles to go. But in the main part of the kitchen, we no longer have to dance across grubby old uncleanable linoleum. It is...

... a laminate that looks like slate!

I'm not sure the photo does it justice -- but in real life, it's nice. There's a texture to it, and it fits in nicely with the rest of the kitchen style. So I am excited. Combined with the fact that we had plumbers here on Friday installing the dishwasher [cue angels singing from somewhere over the rainbow], I feel as if Christmas came early.

That feeling is perhaps doubly strong since we got six inches of snow in the past two days (I think it finally stopped tonight), making our corner of the world look like a winter wonderland....