BUTTER 'N BEANS

Our cooler than normal early summer has made for small squash so far. This is "Butterstick" from Territorial Seed. The purple podded beans are also from them. Both varieties like the cooler weather of the Pacific Northwest and are producing when the hot weather varieties are waiting for "real summer" to happen! Good luck with that!    

JUNE WANDERINGS IN THE GARDEN

My undergardener refurbished the old crow garden marker with his trusty One Shot sign painter's paint. He even custom mixed the MY FAVOURITE spring green

In my small garden, every sunny space is valuable so I put a grow bag in my cold frame and planted some squash and morning glories.

You can see from this view at the entrance to the veggie garden that stuff is really growing! We're picking peas and will soon have cukes and beans.

Chase likes the green bench when it's in the shade. Evidently the geranium next to it is a favourite with the hummingbirds. We had a close call with the KILLER(alias Izzie) who caught a big fat one but I managed to get it away from her. Up to her old tricks and why I don't have a hummingbird feeder!

FISH STORY

Late spring brings us a special treat like no other...Copper River Salmon!

This salmon makes a 300 mile journey up Alaska's Copper River to spawn so it puts on extra stores of Omega-3's to endure the long journey. Here in the Pacific Northwest we are lucky enough to get this treat flown in fresh.

I'm marinating this wonder in a concoction of teriaki sauce, honey, mustard & lemon with fresh chopped dill. The sage leaves just add contract to the natural and spectacular color red of the fish.  

Broiled up for only a few minutes produces the most tender and indescribable flavour! Once your have Copper River salmon, you can't even think about buying the farm raised Atlantic fish! It's worth every dollar to get this wonderful fish in your kitchen. Here I've plated it up with some rosemary roasted red potatoes and some fresh picked by me snow peas sauteed in a bit o' bacon.

JUNE BLOOMS IN THE KITCHEN GARDEN

A favorite white clematis

This is the view out my kitchen window today. The fresh cut sweet peas are next to my sink. The raised bed has a white clematis with some morning glories yet to bloom. The trees behind the fence are cypress and the light green is the hill beyond.