Rare Vegetable Plants for your Home Garden

6 to 8 Carrots grated (thickly or finely or both)
2 to 3 apples finely chopped or grated
1 cup Raisins
Juice of 1/2 lemon (or orange if you prefer less tart)

Mix all ingredients well, Chill and Enjoy!

Slice up a few of these beautiful tomatoes for your next family picnic! Mr. Stripey Open-Pollinated Tomato has a mild, low-acid flavor and intriguing color both sure to win praise. Plum-sized, bicolor fruits have yellow flesh and a pink center. Indeterminate. 80 DAYS.

Tomatoes offer so many delicious possibilities-slice them, sauce them, can them, or turn them into salsa!

Selection Tip: When choosing varieties, keep in mind that "determinates" ripen over 3-4 weeks on bushy vines that usually need no staking. "Indeterminate" vines continue to grow and produce fruit all season until frost. The large vines need support.

One of the best ways to eat a delicious organically grown tomato is by it self, just slice and serve. The second best way, in my humble opinion, is in a delicious, fresh summer Tomato salad. This is my favorite recipe for Tomato Salad:

4-5 large ripe tomatoes, wedged
1 medium sized green bell pepper, thinly sliced
1/2 large red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cucumber, thinly sliced (optional)
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/8 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 pinches dried oregano
salt and pepper (to taste)

Place all vegetables in a bowl, add vinegar and oil, then the spices. Toss Gently. Cover and put in refrigerator to chill for at least 30 minutes.

This is great with some crusty bread to soak up all the yummy juices!

This simple recipe has become a staple in my household. With just three ingredients, and very little prep time, it is a great springtime recipe.

Ingredients
1 head of broccoli, Chopped
4-6 cups Vegetable Broth or water (enough to just cover chopped broccoli in pot)
Salt (to taste)

Directions
Roughly chop broccoli and place in large soup pot. Add vegetable broth, or water so that broccoli is mostly covered. Bring to a boil, simmer until broccoli is tender. Scoop broccoli and some of the broth into a blender or food processor, blend until smooth. Return blended broccoli to pot, stir, rewarm and serve.

How about a Spooky White Pumpkin for your jack-o-lantern this Halloween. This Ghostly White Pumpkin is perfect for carving, painting or decorating. It is also perfect for making tasty pumpkin pies. Lumina Pumpkins are smooth and pure white outside, all fine grained orange flesh inside. Mid size fruits grow 8-10 inches tall, weigh up to 12 pounds. It takes 95 day to maturity.

Seed Counts: 1/2 oz. of pumpkin seeds contains about 65-150 seeds and sows a 100-ft. row.

This is a wonderful filling salad with just a little bit of spicy kick to it.

1 1/2 cup black eyed peas, dried
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, diced
2 tomatoes, diced
1 Serrano chile, seeded, diced
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
1 lemon and/or lime
salt and pepper

Combine 1.5 cup dried black eyed peas and 3 cup water w/ pinch of salt. cover & bring to a boil, reduce to simmer, simmer with lid cracked 15-20min until tender but with a little bite. Drain and run under cold water.

Combine cucumber, tomato, Serrano, cilantro. Salt & Pepper to taste. Add lemon/lime juice. Let sit for at least 20 minutes. The longer the better.

You can also substitute your favorite hot peppers for the Serrano chile's and I also add some diced avocado when I have it on hand.