Our first bowl of ripe tomatoes....this was a long time in coming.  Despite me bemoaning our poor summer here on the West Coast, I realize we were lucky to have grown anything at all.  This year certainly presented it's challenges.

And, hoping this bowl of tomatoes will ripen nicely.  The rains are coming, so I picked these for now.  There are still many green tomatoes on the vines, but they looked too green to pick.  Every other day, we have been able to pick the odd handful of green bush beans and scarlet runner beans, as well as the occasional zucchini.  So overall, not too bad considering the summer.  Last year was the exact opposite.  I had huge abundance, we even had enough to freeze. I am just thankful for what we did grow this year.   So this morning, before the rains come, I wandered around the gardens with a bowl, picking what I could and put together this lovely salad:

Fresh tomatoes, scarlet runner beans and zucchini that I lightly blanched, fresh Italian Flat leaf Parsley, Basil, and Chives.

Then I added crumbled Feta cheese, with a drizzle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil, fresh squeeze of lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Summer freshness that tasted divine!  This was so good, I actually had it for breakfast - all that freshness of just picked goodness, and I savored every bite...knowing the rains are coming.