tomato, basil & rabbit love

 I absolutely love garden fresh tomatoes, nothing beats them if you ask me!
 I mentioned recently that I was having problems with the first of my tomatoes being eaten from the inside out by caterpillars. I will be quite honest and say that I was more than a little stressed and worried! I have about 20 tomato plants and I had visions of every single tomato being ruined and going to my  chubby little chooks.
I am so pleased to say that I learnt on Down to Earth blog a while back that tomatoes can be picked green and brought inside to ripen. The advantage of doing so is that you can keep them away from hungry bugs- or in my case, contain the hungry caterpillars.

 Each day I went out and picked all tomatoes that had anything that resembled a caterpillar hole (they were about the size of a pin head) and brought them inside. I stored them in a sealed container. The tomatoes gradually ripened. Once red I cut each tomato open. Some I could save much of the tomatoes, others went straight to the chooks. The chooks feasted on caterpillars and tomato and I was pleased to each time have one less pest in my veggie patch.
I also brought each tomato that had begun to turn orange inside in case it had a caterpillar that I hadn't noticed. Above is my bowl of presumably all healthy tomatoes  slowly ripening. When we have a banana or two in the house I lay them on top of the tomatoes as it helps them ripen quicker. I cant remember why but it certainly works well!

 Ive now not had a bad tomato in over a week, Yay!
I'm still cutting them open to be sure there aren't any 'suprises' inside but I think soon ill be able to let them ripen on the vine and confidently eat them straight from the garden, warmed by the summer sun just like I love them best. I think after a little the scare my tomatoes taste all the sweeter and juicier

 Can you tell by these rushed dark and blurry photos that all I wanted to do was put down the camera and eat my tomatoes already? They are seriously delicious and there are loads more in the garden so fingers crossed they remain healthy and happy and produce all summer long

mmm basil, soon to become pesto

Remember Bunny? I'm happy to say that he has been played with a lot more than I expected. Ive made dolls before which the children I look after at the moment don't play with much so I didn't really have high hopes for bunny leaving the toy shelf a whole lot but I'm pleased to say I was wrong. Bunny has a cheeky personality and he loves veggies and muffins. Sometimes if the children aren't eating their food I tell them they better eat it up or else bunny might sneak it which they find hilarious and it usually makes their food disappear quickly. At nap time he sleeps with Cameron and at night time he sleeps with Josh. Bunny has another advantage- his dark colour means that I can happily let him be taken outdoors to enjoy the fun and sometimes messy play. It warms my heart to see something I made receive such love and care