Unmitigated Exuberance

I am wondering how I could have been sucked in.  I can only attribute my indescretion to the seductive names in the seed catalog.  I mean, who could resist "Black Beauty" or "Guatemalan Blue Banana" or "Golden Zucchini?"  But that was back in the winter and I had grandiose dreams as I longed for "fresh" and "green" and "succulent..."

And adding insult to injury, I--and it was I, no doubt about it, no shirking responsibility for the current state of affairs--decided to plant half a row of each!!!  That's 25 FEET of ZUCCHINI ---EACH.  Twenty-five feet of Black Beauty, and 25 feet of Golden Zucchini. (the Guatemalan is actually a winter squash and I'll have to deal with that later!)

Need I say, we are buried in ZUCCHINI!  I put a flag on the roof so someone will eventually be able to find us and perhaps dig us out. 

Even the pigs have said they are TIRED OF ZUCCHINI!  Imagine that!  The old sow didn't even get up to come look this morning, MM said.  And, yes, I know you've all heard Paul Harvey's mention of the guy standing on his porch with a shotgun, threatening anyone bringing zucchini,  with mayhem!  We haven't quite reached THAT stage out here JOTOLR.

Actually, I admit during winter, a little zucchini is a delightful addition to soups and stews. The trouble usually is getting it from summer to winter. Most methods of preserving tend to leave it a soggy mess...it's impossible to can it, yes, it can be pickled, freezing it hasn't worked for me.  What has worked, though,  is drying it.  In fact, I do a lot of drying: corn, onions, asparagus, apples, herbs, and zucchini. 

A dehydrator has found a home here. I went for the big one--nine trays at a time with temperature control.

1/4-inch slices before drying...

1/4-inch slices after drying

One slice....

A whole GARDEN of zucchini! In one tiny package.

Even so, a little zucchini goes a long, l-o-n-g way! And I never seem to learn!