I spent a few minutes with the morning newspaper and a cup of coffee, put the pinto beans that had been soaking overnight into the crockpot, with a nice ham bone, and waited for Mr. H to get up. After he'd had his morning coffee, he held the rickety ladder so I could reach the top boards with the primer. Then I turned him loose with paintbrush, roller and primer, to paint the back of the shed. This is only the second time in 47 years that I've allowed him to hold a paintbrush in his hand. I'm rather particular about paint, I don't like drips or smudges! He actually did quite a good job with the primer, but I'm not going to trust him with the actual paint job *grin*.
We ended up using OSB instead of the expen$ive Hardie Board for the back and far side of the shed, as it's hidden from view. We did, however, decide to use the horizontal siding at the top, as it does show from the neighbor's yard. I think it will look just fine with a couple of coats of paint on it.
While Mr. H was painting the back of the shed, I dismantled the old park bench, scraped the loose paint from the boards, spray painted the iron and applied two coats of primer to the boards.
As I waited for the bench boards to dry, I picked sugar snap pea pods and parsley from the garden. I refrigerated the pea pods, then washed and trimmed the parsley for drying. I like my parsley dried in the microwave. It only takes 4-5 minutes, and it holds its pretty dark green color so well. This batch ended up taking four minutes, then I placed it, on a paper towel, on top of the microwave where I'll let it sit until tomorrow, just in case there is any moisture left in it.
With the parsley done, it was time to start cooking the beets that I picked yesterday. Mr. H wants more pickled beets, as does my neighbor, Pat. She's not the neighbor with the barking dog...if she were, she wouldn't get any pickled beets! I was surprised that I only got one quart from this batch of beets, as they were quite a bit larger than the last ones. I did, however, quarter them and pack them in quite tightly, so there are probably twice as many in the jar as I had the last time.
Well, so far this has been quite the "P" day, hasn't it? Primer, paint, pinto beans, parsley, pickles, pea pods and park bench!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go...........
cut some broccoli.
wow! I rarely have a day that busy! Even with 3 yr old twins! I wish I had that kind of energy! Everything looks great!
ReplyDeleteLOL, Shawn Ann! I'm not through yet, I still have to paint the park bench boards and possibly the shed eaves (If I don't poop out).
ReplyDeleteGez Granny, I've been a major slacker today in comparison!
ReplyDeleteI'd better go mix that soil so that I can plant my popping corn!
So busy. I didn't get anything done today except taking care of my sick dog. I finally got out to the garden for a second and noticed I still hadn't planted my lettuce. I wanted to amend the bed a bit since it had had lettuce once there already, but nope. I threw it in. I hope it grows. At least in the bed it won't shrivel up when its soil block dries out. I need to get motivated like you are and get some work done.
ReplyDeleteToni, get busy! Time's a-wastin'!
ReplyDeleteDaphne, I just planted 10 soil blocks of lettuce and 8 of sunflowers. They germinated, and I wanted to give them some sun, so I set them out in the flower bed...where I forgot about them and turned on the sprinklers. I drowned all the plants, the soil blocks were dissolved in about 4" of water! My last batch of lettuce in soil blocks got knocked off the porch rail by my youngest son, and ended up broken to bits, I managed to save five plants out of around 25 that had sprouted. I'm destined to not have summer lettuce.
ReplyDeleteI hope your dog is OK.
Granny, I want to be you when I grow up. P's and everything. :)
ReplyDeleteLOL, Ribbit....thanks.
ReplyDeleteGranny...you weren't kidding about having the same bench. We decided not the paint our boards. Eventually the old weathered look is the desired "color". To add to your P's....you were very Productive today!
ReplyDeleteEric, the color of my bench is now "Cafe Latte". I don't know whether to drink it or sit on it!
ReplyDeleteAnother P...I'm Pooped out!
I saw you joined my blog so I had to come visit yours! I instantly got 2 items to put on my to-do list (thanks alot, lol!) - dismantle and repaint the bench, and get after my hollywood junipers! I love your blog and you & your camera take amazing shots of the veggies, gorgeous! And it seems you have a sense of humor similar to mine in your writing style :) I will definitely be back to browse all your posts after I get my butt in gear and do what I sat down to do tonight...post on my own blog! Thanks for the detour this evening...
ReplyDeleteOk- I better get busy ...I don't think my days are busy enough!
ReplyDeleteI have a bench that needs scraping and painting. A headboard that needs sanding and staining...we have to finish our trellises and if it would stop raining for a while I need to weed and weed whack!
I got tired reading about your day!
That's not good! I agree I want to be you when I grow up!
Keep inspiring me!
Erin, welcome to my blog! I found yours through Kate & Crew's blog, and was instantly drawn to your sense of humor!
ReplyDeleteNow get your butt in gear! ;-)
Thank you, Susan....that's a wonderful compliment.
ReplyDeleteGreat work Granny! I'm tired just reading this, hehe. No, mostly it was the three grande coffees I had yesterday that kept me up all night so I'm exhausted today. Good thing all I had to do was sit at a desk all day. All that happened in the garden was watering.
ReplyDeleteSinfonian, it's a good thing my garden is on auto pilot right now! It has to take care of itself for a couple of days, 'cause I'm determined to get the outside of this shed finished!
ReplyDeleteI have to go take a nap now Granny.
ReplyDeleteWow you get a lot done in your day. I still have to plant more lettuce and carrots... should have done so a week ago!
Liisa
Liisa, I wasn't finished! I did all that before dinner. Then I baked biscuits, ate dinner, put one coat of paint on the bench boards and ripped out my sugar snap peas, tore down the trellis netting, cleaned the kitchen....of course I won't be able to move tomorrow ;-)
ReplyDeleteWell, I certainly had a good chuckle over the "P"s! Also felt like a serious SLACKER too! LOL! I have days like that though where I just get in a working groove and there's no stopping me until I crash for the night.
ReplyDeleteI am going to have to try the microwave drying of parsley. I like to dry them too but have not used the microwave to do it. Have some that needs to be harvested and dried - so I will get it a try. Work for cilantro too?
KitsapFG, do you know your website can't be accessed right now?
ReplyDeleteI'd think cilantro could be dried the same way, it's practically the same thing. I use a paper towel and spread the parsley over it, zap one minute, transfer to a dry paper towel, zap one minute, repeat as necessary. It takes 4-5 dry paper towels, but they are just damp, not dirty, so can be dried and reused. Tried a folded dish towel, but the parsley sticks to it.
Doesn't work for basil, it turns black and ugly.
I'm ready to crash.
I can't be the only one who thinks it should be "productive" day! You did a lot, even with help!!
ReplyDeleteYou sure had a burst of energy. I get like that from time to time. Bad part for me is I usually OVER-do it and spend the next 2 days doing nothing.
ReplyDeleteBet your getting excited to fill the new shed. I'm happy its turned out so well.
Have a great week!
Granny - yes it is frustrsting - the site is down for emergency maintenance. I am hoping it is back up sometime today. I had a blog update ready to post last night and have since been unable to publish it.
ReplyDeleteGoing to give the microwave drying a try for the parsley and cilantro this weekend. Thanks for the info!
That is the flaw with soil blocks. They aren't terribly fragile, but they are a lot more fragile than pots. Even paper pots are much more sturdy. I've found most of my containers when I put them outside, I can't leave them there because if it rains they would drown. I need a system like I have for my paper pots. I have two different kids of flats. They pots are put in the one that doesn't have a solid bottom so it can drain. But I bottom water with my solid flat. I fill it up with water and dip in the non-solid flat. When it is done I can just take it out and when the non-solid one is outside and it rains, the water goes right through so they don't disintegrate. I'm thinking maybe I could make some flats with screening on the bottom for the soil blocks. I'll have a project this winter.
ReplyDeleteStefaneener and Sue, my body doesn't want to move today, LOL. I think I'll finish the bench and call it good!
ReplyDeleteKitsapFG, I hope they get their "maintenance" done quickly! I'd be so frustrated if Blogger went down. I need to back up my blog, I'd certainly hate to lose my online journal.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the parsley, and let me know if it works with cilantro. I also have some "Chinese Parsley" that was sent by Wintersown Org. I started to buy a cilantro plant at the nursery, but it was also called "Chinese Parsley", so I figured that was what I'd planted. It's not. Mine tastes and smells like celery.
Daphne, I have perforated containers and/or shallow trays that I use with the soil blocks, but I wasn't going to put these outside in the heat, I was going to leave them in the plant window, so I put them in solid containers. Then I forgot. I know the paper pots are sturdier. The ones I used last summer were still in one piece this spring! Maybe I made them with too many layers.
ReplyDeleteGranny, I would like to be able to keep up with you but I keep forgetting that I am older than you are. ;o) Your produce looks great.
ReplyDeleteJohn
Yeah, John..I'm glad I'm not as old and decrepit as you are, LOL! I started picking my first bush beans today and gave up after about five minutes. Dang it's hard to find those suckers in a triple row, when the plants are three feet high! These darned bifocals don't help matters any. I'll go back out this evening, when it's a bit cooler, and try again.
ReplyDeleteGranny - my friends in high school used to use a microwave oven to dry the foliage of a particular plant, but it wasn't parsley. Ha! You only did the bench today? What's the holdup??? Get it in gear....heh.
ReplyDeleteI did a bit more than that, EG....go read the latest blog.
ReplyDeleteI never knew you could dry parsley in the microwave! I never would have even guessed haha. I'll definitely try it though since I'm growing so much this year :)
ReplyDeleteCynthia, I always dry parsley and thyme in the microwave. Just do them one minute at a time, and change paper towels each time so you always use a dry one. You can reuse the towels after they dry.
ReplyDeleteI recently found your blog and am enjoying it. I tried your microwave drying method for parsley and had to share my joy with how well it worked!! I only had to use three one-minute increments. I looOove how wonderfully green the outcome is. :) Thanks so much for sharing this!
ReplyDeleteValntyn, I'm glad you found the technique useful, it's the only way I'll dry parsley now. I also love the way it stays so green. I tried it on basil last week though, and it caught fire!
ReplyDelete