Yes, I'm still here. I appreciate the e-mail check-ins and have no real excuse for this latest gap in posting except that for the first time in my life I am being walloped by unrelenting allergies. I feel as if I am enveloped in water and have a near constant cough. Stealing my husband's various prescription medications isn't helping much - the only thing that has was yesterday's 16-hour excursion to Philadelphia. Once north of D.C. I found that I could breathe easier and coughed much less. As soon as I hit I-495W on the trip home the cough returned. Living in the south can really be a kick in the butt sometimes, you know?

Today we harvested the last of the radishes to accompany the latest lettuce clippings. The Boy Wonder helped with both, guaranteeing consumption of his evening salad (like most kids, he'll eat just about anything he has a hand in preparing). This weekend I'll sow green beans in the radishes' space - I should be able to fit 8 or 10 plants, which will hopefully all germinate and go on to supply plenty for our table and lots of leftovers for pickling.

My husband and I had a slight garden-related miscommunication. I planted four Roma tomatoes and a variety of yellow grapes, the name of which escapes me. In discussion what more I wanted him to get while I was away somehow I either communicated that I needed him to buy tomatoes when what I was trying to get across was that I wanted room for zucchini, cilantro, horseradish, two bell peppers and some scented geraniums.

I arrived home (from the aforementioned Philadelphia trip) to find the new garden extension already planted with four Big Boy tomatoes, three cherries, a cucumber and...eight corn transplants. I've never been big on corn on the cob but the men around here seem super excited about it all so if that means I have to be less of a garden control freak in the name of familial happiness so be it. I don't have to mention the dozens of squash, hundreds of tomatoes, or many pumpkins we could grow in that space, right?

Finally, I made the tomatilla salsa last week and it came out very well. I'll be transcribing the recipe over the next couple days in between a couple new products and will post a pic as soon as I can find my little external storage thingy.