July 31, 2009: July Harvest Totals

7/1 4 oz. peas, 5 oz. berries (mostly strawberries)

7/2 10 oz. (trimmed) carrots, 12 oz. green beans, 55 oz. potatoes (red and yellow), 3 oz. shallots, 12 oz. (trimmed) cauliflower, 6 oz. onions

7/3 5 oz. strawberries, 7 oz. zucchini

7/4 6 oz. strawberries

7/5 19 oz. Royal Burgundy beans, 11 oz. Contender beans, 39 oz. potatoes, 28 oz. carrots (trimmed weight), lg. bunch basil (did not weigh), 8 oz. berries (mostly strawberries)

7/6 12 oz. zucchini, 10 oz. yellow crookneck squash, 16 oz. onions

7/7 First picking of 16 oz. pole beans, 6 oz. royal Burgundy beans, 7 oz. berries, 6 oz. cucumber

7/8 7 oz. Contender beans (pulled plants)

7/9 14 oz. yellow crookneck, 3 oz. berries, 7 oz, Royal Burgundy beans

7/10 FIRST TOMATOES! 4 cherry tomatoes, ate and did not weigh

7/11 2 oz. cherry tomatoes, 8 oz. cucumber, 18 oz. pole beans, 9 oz. strawberries (inc. 6 raspberries), 19 oz. carrots (trimmed weight; last of the spring carrots), 8 oz. green peppers, 4 lb. potatoes

7/12 14 oz. yellow crookneck

7/13 9 oz. strawberries, 11 oz. cabbage, 18 oz. onions, 10 oz. Royal Burgundy beans, 23 oz. pole beans, 2 oz. cherry tomatoes, 8 oz. dill & basil

7/14 5 oz. green bell pepper, 6 oz. cucumber

7/15 6 pounds 12 ounces crookneck squash, 7 oz. strawberries, 16 oz. lemon cucumbers, 13 oz. cucumbers, 11 oz. pole beans, 3 oz. cherry tomatoes, 11 oz. parsnips, 10 oz. onions

7/16 15 oz. crookneck squash, 8 oz. cucumber, 38 oz. burgundy beans, 6 oz. lemon cucumber, 2 oz. Rutgers tomato

7/17 32 oz. potatoes, 20 oz. crookneck squash, 3 oz. lemon cucumbers, 7 oz. cucumber, 3 oz. cherry tomatoes, 8 oz. pole beans, 5 oz. Russian Persimmon tomato, 9 oz. strawberries, 1 oz. jalapenos

7/18 12 oz. Russian Persimmon tomatoes, 26 oz. Volvograd tomatoes, 6 oz. cucumber

7/19 24 oz. cucumbers, (also picked 3 large cucumbers and a bunch of burgundy beans for Pat, did not weigh), 3 oz. cherry tomatoes, 5 oz. green pepper, 10 oz. strawberries

7/20 30 oz. crookneck squash plus 42 oz. (2) that were overgrown and will go to compost. I will not add the 42 oz. to my total harvest. 4 oz. Rutgers tomato, 10 oz. pole beans, 8 oz. cucumbers, 3 lb. 3 oz. potatoes. Picked a 10 oz. vine ripe heirloom tomato(Cherokee Purple?)

7/21 2 lb. 6 oz. Volvograd tomatoes, 6 oz. Celebrity tom, 12 oz. Rutgers tom, 8 oz. Russian Persimmon tom, 3 oz. Red Rock tom, 18 oz. green peppers, 16 oz. cucumber

7/22 9 oz. Celebrity tom, 6 oz. cucumber, 8 oz. crookneck, 7 oz. pole beans, 2 oz. cherry tom

7/23 12 oz. lemon cukes, 18 oz. cukes

7/24 9 oz. Celebrity tom, 2 oz. Chico III tom, 9 lb. 13 oz. potatoes, 22 oz. lemon cukes, 13 oz. cuke, 8 oz. Cherokee Purple (?) tom., 8 oz. pole beans, 1 lb 12 oz. crookneck squash, 11 oz. Rutgers tom, 3 lb. 6 oz. Volvograd tom, 13 oz. strawberries, 14 lb. 8 oz. pumpkin

7/25 20 oz. ?Cherokee Purple tom ?, 10 oz. Kellogg's Breakfast tom, 14 oz. Early Girl tom, 6 oz. Celebrity tom, 13 oz. lemon cukes, 3 ounces jalapeno peppers

7/26 3 pounds Volvograd tom, 5 oz. Chico III tom, 11 oz. Tumbling Tom/cherry, 25 oz. Rutgers tom, 8 oz. Celebrity tom, 21 oz. Russian Persimmon tom, 4 oz. ?Cherokee Purple? tom, 5 oz. Early Girl tom, 3 oz. Red Rock tom, 3 oz. green pepper, 12 oz. cucumbers, 1 pound strawberries

7/27 27 oz. Kellogg's Breakfast tom, 17 oz. Early Girl tom, 14 oz. Chico III tom, 20 oz. Russian Persimmon tom, 4 oz. Red Rock tom, 11 oz. Rutgers tom, 9 oz. cucumbers, 7 oz. lemon cucumber, 21 oz. green peppers, 7 oz. pole beans, 9 oz. crookneck squash

7/28 1 lb. 9 oz. shallots (cleaned weight), 7 lb., 4 oz. tomatoes, 6 oz. onions, 4 oz. carrots, 1 lb. 14 oz. cucumbers, 11 oz. crookneck, 14 oz. green peppers, 5 oz. jalapenos, 9 oz. strawberries

7/29 7 lb. 8 oz. potatoes (final dig), 2 lb. 1 oz. crookneck, 5 lb. 6 oz. cucumbers, 2 lb. 13 oz. tomatoes, 8 oz. basil.

7/30 6 oz. mesclun, 9 lb. 15 oz. tomatoes, 2 lb. 4 oz. cucumbers, 1 lb. 8 oz. green peppers

7/31 1 lb. 2 oz. cucumbers, 4 lb. 10 oz. tomatoes, 1 lb. 2 oz. strawberries

Total for July: 190 pounds, 3 ounces
Total for 2009: 263 pounds 10 ounces

July 31, 2009: Garden Blogger's Death Day

These sunflowers met their demise during a wind storm on July 13th. The same wind that took out every single dill plant in my garden. Blew them flat to the ground.

I think this was a tomato plant that got lost behind the rabbit cage and forgotten.

I should have taken photos of the PILES of nasturtiums I pulled out by their roots this month. They had practically taken over the garden, providing hiding places for multitudes of earwigs and sow bugs, and taking up valuable real estate that could be used for growing stuff we'll actually eat. Or the marigolds I slaughtered because they grew to 4' in height, rather than the 2' it said on the seed packet.

We eat, therefor we garden.

July 30, 2009: The Birth of a Purple Beauty

I never in this world thought it would happen. After all, I planted eight seeds way back on March 13th, and by April first only one had germinated so I planted another three seeds. By April 15th, I had a total of four Purple Beauty plants, tiny but alive. By May 12th, there were only two survivors that were large enough to repot into a larger container. The other two were too small, and had shown absolutely no growth in weeks, so they were composted.

All my other (25 or so) peppers grew large and lush and are filled with large to giant sized peppers, but the Purple Beauty plants have just finally begun growing. One is about 12" tall now, and the other is around 18". The bigger one has given birth....here is my first Purple Beauty!

It's still a baby, not much over two-inches long, but isn't it pretty!

I've been getting so many cucumbers, today I decided to make sweet pickle relish. Last year my neighbor, Pat, made a delicious zucchini relish, and I had plans to make it this year. Unfortunately, I don't yet have any zucchini. I Googled for a relish recipe in which I could use my cucumbers, and the very first one I found happened to be the same as the one Pat uses for her zucchini relish! So cucumbers and zucchini are interchangeable in the recipe.

I guess I could have left out those four drops of green food coloring. It probably would have been green enough without it, as I used all green peppers (none of mine are red yet). I used my freshly picked garden cucumbers and peppers, and the last of my onions in this recipe, and it made three pints, although I only canned 2-1/2 pints and left some out for immediate use. I'll be making more of this real soon, as I have lots of cukes and green peppers to use up.

We eat, therefor we garden.

July 29, 2009: Yes I Can!

Yes I can! Not to be confused with Ribbit's Yes, As a Matter of Fact, I Can!

This morning, this is what was staring at me when I got up................

So this afternoon I turned four quarts of crushed tomatoes into this................

The recipe for this sweet Chili Sauce is here. I added 1/4 cup more vinegar to compensate for the low acid yellow tomatoes. There were only three of them, but I didn't want to take any chances.

We love this stuff mixed with onions and canned tomatoes on Swiss steak or hamburger patties. Tonight we used the leftovers as a dip for our sauteed shrimp. Everything in the sauce came from my garden, except for the vinegar and spices.

We eat, therefor we garden.

July 28, 2009: A Day in the Garden

*Post #2 for today, please scroll down for post #1.*

In my earlier post, I mentioned the Chico III (Roma) tomatoes being hit by blight (probably Verticillium Wilt). If you click the above picture to enlarge it, you can better see just how bad it is. Notice the healthy shoot coming out of the right side of the plant. The Celebrity on the right of the Roma was also showing signs of disease on the bottom stems.

I picked off every tomato that was ripe or nearly ripe, and tried to prune off the worst of the diseased branches on both plants. *Important: dip the pruning shears in a solution of one part bleach to one part water after each cut.* The Celebrity is looking pretty good, but I think the Roma is beyond hope. Wouldn't you know, I accidentally lopped off its only healthy branch.

Since I was in a pruning mood, I decided to also tackle this pathway. It was impossible to get from one end of the garden to the other without backtracking all the way around the other side.

Annie was smart enough to relax in the shade while I labored in the 104 degree weather.

When I finished, there were fewer marigolds and no nasturtiums. The parsnips were still a bit floppy and will have to be dealt with later. Otto was the first one to try out the newly cleared pathway.

There's just so much cuteness there, I had to get him coming and going.

A few minutes after I took this photo, I heard Otto behind me, making a weird sound. I turned and saw him writhing on the ground, as though he were having convulsions. I grabbed him and noticed he was very frightened, and couldn't close his mouth. I reached way inside and pulled out a 2" long stick he had gotten stuck sideways at the back of his mouth. It just goes to show you, they aren't always safe, even in their own yards. I shudder to think what would have happened to him if I hadn't been there to help him. Needless to say, he got lots of hugs and loves after his ordeal. Our little dogs are very precious to us.

Pulling out the nasturtiums left me with a nice 2' x 4' planting bed. Now I must decide what fall crop I want to put there.

This is the bed I planted just 30 days ago. Fiona of Rowangarth Farm was curious about how I glued my carrot seed to paper and planted the paper mats in my garden. These carrots were glued onto cheap paper napkins by placing a dot of water soluble glue every couple of inches in each direction, then dropping a single carrot seed into the glue. I let the seed mats dry, then placed four of them side by side in the dampened garden box. I mixed up some garden soil with a bit of vermiculite and covered the seed mats to a depth of about 1/4 inch, then tamped them down with the back of a rake. I then covered them with boards for a few days, until the first ones began sprouting. The boards kept the seeds from drying out in the hot, windy weather. Once the boards were removed, I gave them a gentle spray of water twice a day, morning and mid-afternoon. As you can see, germination was quite good. I did go back the other day and fill in a few bare spots, probably fewer than another 25 seeds. The beets in the front of the bed were sown at the same time. They have been thinned, and the thinnings either transplanted into another row or fed to our rabbit. The transplants wilted down right away, but in a couple of days began to grow new leaves, so it looks as though transplanting in summer heat can be successful. I put a row of grocery store green onions between the carrots and beets, to give us some nice sized onions next fall.

Remember the Tumbling Tom tomatoes I started in Arizona last February, brought to Washington in a picnic cooler, and raised in my laundry room window? Well, I don't think they are Tumbling Toms. They don't tumble.....in fact, this one is over 7 feet tall now, and it has at least two feet of stem buried underground! The tomatoes still have very little flavor, and the skins are really tough. Unfortunately, even after all the loving care I've given it, it's a loser.

What happened here? I've never had a Yellow Crookneck Summer Squash cross with another variety. It's planted next to the Waltham Butternut Winter Squash. Do you suppose there was some hanky-panky going on in that bed?

"We eat, therefor we garden"

July 28, 2009: Hot!

Monday (yesterday) in the Garden

The heat is too intense to get much done. All of the SWCs (self watering containers) have to be filled twice a day, and the tomatoes in them still wilt mid-day. The tomatoes that are planted in the ground are withstanding the temperatures just fine, with watering every other day. Even the ones in the five gallon buckets fare well with once a day watering, so I think this will be my first and my last year of using SWCs.

The flavor of the tomatoes has improved over those early picked ones. I was just about to pull up the Russian Persimmon, but I tasted one today and it was actually quite good. My Chico III, a Roma variety, looks terrible. It looks like it's affected with blight, but it has some lush new green growth coming out on one side of it. It is loaded with tomatoes, many of them nearly ripe, and I'm undecided whether to pick them and pull out the plant or pick them and prune it back to new growth to see if it gives me another crop. The Celebrity right next to it is also beginning to show some damage to its lower leaves....I hope the disease isn't spreading.

The peppers are beautiful! I've never grown them so large and so plentiful. The plants were so heavy they were horizontal. I spent the evening staking, tying and fencing them to hold them upright. A few of them are getting sun scald, but most are just gorgeous. Since I forgot which varieties were planted where, I'm anxious for some to turn color so I know just what I have!

I'm considering pulling out my remaining nasturtiums. I looked under one today, and there were thousands of sow bugs underneath it. I've had more insect damage this year than ever before, and I'm thinking the plants are too close and providing excellent hiding places for multitudes of sow bugs and earwigs.

Powdery mildew is rearing its ugly head in the pumpkin patch and on one of the lemon cucumbers. I think I'll cut off the really bad leaves, then begin spraying the plants with one part milk to nine parts water, which is supposed to control the mildew.

Our son, John, came by this afternoon, and I loaded him down with tomatoes, cucumbers, crookneck squash, refrigerator pickles and bread and butter pickles. I still have tomatoes all over the kitchen counter, so I need to do some canning.

Monday's Garden Dinner

*Pork Chop and Potato Scallop (potatoes, onions, parsley)
Honey Glazed Carrots
Cucumber/Tomato Salad for Mr. H (cucumbers, tomatoes, onions)
Sliced Tomatoes for Granny (tomatoes)
Iced Tea

********

Pork Chop and Potato Scallop
4 servings

4 pork chops (about 1 pound)
flour
1 Tbsp. cooking oil
1 can Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup
3/4 cup low fat milk
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley or 1 tbsp. dried
4 cups thinly sliced potatoes
1/2 cup diced onion
Salt, pepper

Dredge pork chops in flour. In skillet, brown chops in oil, seasoning each with salt and pepper. Remove chops from pan and set aside. In drippings, blend soup, milk and parsley; heat to boiling.

Place potatoes and onions into a Pam sprayed 2-quart casserole; stir in hot soup mixture. Top with chops. Cover; bake: at 350°F for 1-1/2 hours.

********

"We eat, therefor we garden"

July 27, 2009: Monday Harvest

Daphne, from Daphne's Dandelions, has suggested Mondays be the day we enter our weekly/yearly harvest tallies. She has installed a Mr. Linky widget on her page where everyone can link back to their harvest blog. I think. I checked out Mr. Linky, and I just don't get it. I mean, WTH is a meme, and where does one put it? Oh well, I'll do the harvest tally, but pass on the Linky thingy.

July 20

July 24

July 26

July 26: Canned five pints of "Chili Base" from six pounds of tomatoes and a Mrs. Wages mix. As the others ripen, I'll try the Mrs. Wages Pizza Sauce and Mrs. Wages Pasta Sauce mixes.

Mrs. Wages

Except for this huge and delicious Cherokee Purple that might be a Brandywine tomato. Or the big orange Kellogg's breakfast tomato that also has a delightful flavor. Those will be saved for fresh eating! Today's lunch was a BLT, and one slice covered the entire sandwich.

Harvest totals for July 20-26:

Crookneck squash 4 pounds 10 ounces (plus 2 pounds 11 ounces that went into compost and were not added to total)

Cucumbers 7 pounds 8 ounces

Peppers 1 pound 8 ounces.

Pole beans 1 pound 9 ounces

Potatoes 13 lb.

Tomatoes 22 pounds 2 ounces

Pumpkin 14 pounds 8 ounces.

Strawberries 1 pound 13 ounces

********************
Total for week: 66 pounds 6 ounces
Total for 2009: 210 pounds 13 oz.

July 25, 2009: Today in the Garden

First of all, I'd like to welcome my dear friend EG back to the world of blogging after a three week hiatus. If you haven't "met" him yet, please visit him at Our Engineered Garden.

Today in the Garden

A small tomato harvest: Two Early Girls, which were picked rather too early. These were suffering from sun scald, so I thought they would benefit from ripening inside; a rather small Celebrity; my first Kellogg's Breakfast; a 20 oz. unknown giant....the seeds were labeled Cherokee Purple, but it obviously isn't (or could it possibly be a cross with a Brandywine?).

The pumpkin patch.

More of the pumpkin patch.

And more of the pumpkin patch. These are all on one vine, and they are growing quite large for their supposedly small variety. I probably won't let any more mature after these four, as the leaves are starting to suffer from powdery mildew.

The largest Waltham Butternut in the squash patch is well over a foot long now.

There seem to be quite a few of them, and many are already a good size.

July 24, 2009: The Big Harvest

Has it really been four days since I last blogged? It's been a busy week for me. Mr. H and I "ran away" for a day on Tuesday. Sometimes we just have to get away from real life and have a day of fun (and overeating), so we drove to Oregon for the day, and had a nice dinner before returning home. On Wednesday we celebrated granddaughter Alicia's 15th birthday, and she and I spent the day shopping....and eating, then her whole family joined us and we went out for a buffet dinner. Alicia spent the night, and yesterday we made Pioneer Woman's Individual Raspberry Cobblers. We only made half the recipe, but it didn't take long for them to disappear, along with a lot of vanilla ice cream. I wonder why I can't fasten my jeans today????

Today was busy too, but it was spent in the garden. Would you believe I harvested 34 pounds of food this morning Yes, I did!



Of course, it helped that 14-1/2 pounds of that total was the pumpkin, and nearly 10 pounds were potatoes.

It's supposed to hit 104F this week, and I'll be making pumpkin pies. I think I planted the pumpkin seeds a bit too early!

July 20, 2009: YES!!!

Look what I found hiding in the indeterminate tomato patch tonight!

A real, honest to goodness vine ripened heirloom tomato! This was from seed that was labeled "Cherokee Purple", but it's a potato leaf plant, and the tomato doesn't look very purple to me, so I'm not really sure of the variety.

Of course, we tasted it immediately. It wasn't quite perfect, but much closer than the others have been. At least it didn't taste like a "cardboard" store-bought tomato! If we hadn't been so full from just having eaten dinner, it would have probably tasted even better.



The kitchen window sill is beginning to look like summer, with Volvograds on the left and Russian Persimmons on the right.



Yesterday I showed you the jungle that was the west garden. This is the jungle that is the north garden. Lots of tomatoes on these vines! (Click to enlarge).



Borage, godetia and pansies to attract the bees.



I think the pumpkin is ripe for picking now.



Annie relaxing in the cool of the evening.

Otto looking out the sliding glass door, through the doggy snotty-nose prints.
They had their rabies boosters on Friday, and are sporting their new turquoise rabies tags.

July 20, 2009: It's Better Than it Looks

Usually, through the growing season, we have "garden dinners", using home grown and/or local produce, when most everything turns out pretty good. I don't always show the photos, as taking pictures is a bit time consuming and the food can get cold while I'm trying to get a good shot of it. For instance, to get good color, I have to take the food outside to the patio, where I have natural light. It just doesn't photograph as well with the flash, under artificial light.

Case in point....


Last night's dinner was really good! The photo was really bad. Mr. H was hungry, and wasn't about to wait for me to have an outdoor photo shoot with his meal, and I wasn't having enough to eat to make my plate a good subject. Last night's dinner was much better than it looks.

Sunday's Garden Dinner

Sirloin Steak Kabobs (my green peppers, local onions)
over
Brown Rice
Diced Cucumber-Red Tomato-Orange Tomato-Sweet Onion Salad
with Ranch Dressing
(my cucumbers, red and orange tomatoes, local onions)
Iced Tea
Strawberry Shortcake (my strawberries)

********

Here is today's harvest and three pints of bread and butter pickles that I canned last night. Two of the yellow crookneck squash got too large, so they will go into the compost and not be added to the harvest weight. There is only half a Rutgers tomato, 'cause I just had to try it out....it wasn't all that great, I have yet to get a really good tomato. I did, however, eat the other half on my BLT for lunch. The potatoes, over three pounds of them, were "stolen" out from under the plants. That makes about 18 pounds of potatoes that I've harvested from the 3' x 4' bed so far. I expect to get over thirty pounds from it by the time they are all dug. The green beans are slowing down....finally. We are getting rather tired of them.

I'm doing some heavy pruning on one of the SWC tomatoes. I water it each day, but by afternoon it is completely wilted down. I figure it will take less water with less leaf area, but I'm only removing a few each day so as not to stress out the plant even more. It's a Rutgers variety, the one that didn't have a very tasty first tomato.

Our weather is supposed to be in the 98-103F range for the remainder of July. It must be quite humid, as I'm dripping and it's only 78F in the house! Of course, I've been out in the mid-day heat, repairing and replacing sprinklers. Mr. H annihilated one with the riding mower, another was clogged and had to be removed to clean out the screen, and the new soaker hoses were both toast...they lasted about a month before the holes expanded and began ripping. I removed them and put up a temporary impulse sprinkler that I tied into the irrigation system with a hose, so it will water at the same time as the rest of the sprinklers. My next husband is going to know how to install and repair sprinklers!

No "garden dinner" tonight, as I'm cleaning up odds and ends from the freezer.

Stay cool!

July 19, 2009: The Little Tomato That Could

Way back on May 9th, I posted a picture of this poor little grape tomato plant. Ribbit commented " It's not ugly...it's...well, interpretive dance. That's what we'll call it." I replied, "OK, it will be known as the tomato, variety Interpretive Dance. I'm going to plant the sucker out behind the shed, just to see what happens!"

Well, I didn't plant it behind the shed, but I did plant it on the site of last year's compost pile. I figured if it was going to live, it would have the best chance there. By June first, it still wasn't dead, but hadn't made any progress in nearly a month.

Look at it today! There's not a chance it will mature enough to give me a tomato, but the little trooper will have a home in my garden for the rest of its life. Interpretive Dance lives!

Elsewhere in the garden..........

It's a jungle out there!

The marigolds got so large, I pushed them over to give the tomatoes more room. Now they block the pathway to the south end of the garden.


About half the potatoes have been dug.


I'm so happy with the Tristar day neutral strawberries. I'm not getting huge pickings, but there are only 20 new plants this year. We pick every other day and get enough for the two of us to enjoy on ice cream or shortcakes, with a few left over to freeze for smoothies.


So far this is the only melon on the three varieties I planted. This one is a Savor F1 melon from Dan's Urban Veggie Garden.


This big old bumblebee needs to get busy and pollinate the melons, squash and cucumbers!


Blue skies, blue birdhouse and blue morning glories.


Mr. H looked at this cucumber and said "You're always talking about male and female blossoms.....it's a boy!"

July 18, 2009: Addendum for Dan

Dan has requested the recipe for the French Fried Onion Rings that I blogged about a few minutes ago. Here it is, Dan!

French Fried Onion Rings

This batter fries up tender and crisp, but it MUST be icy cold so do NOT skip the chilling process. The batter is also excellent for other fried veggies, such as zucchini, broccoli, okra, etc., or for fish.

3 large onions, sliced into rings (about 1/2” slices)
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cornstarch
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1-1/4 cups iced water (original calls for 1-1/2 cups, but I think that makes it too thin)
vegetable or canola oil for frying

Separate the onions into rings. Soak in a bowl of ice water, in the refrigerator, for about two hours.

Meanwhile, prepare the batter; combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt in a large bowl. Add the 1-1/4 cups iced water all at once and whisk until the batter is smooth. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

When the onions and the batter are thoroughly chilled, heat 2 inches of oil in a heavy, medium saucepan or deep fryer to 375F. Drain the onion rings and pat dry with a towel. Place all of the onion rings in the chilled batter and stir to coat well.

Working in batches to avoid crowding, drop the onion rings one by one into the hot oil. Fry, turning once, until golden brown and crisp (3-4 minutes). Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and serve hot.

July 18, 2009: Onions, Onions Everywhere

Everywhere but in my garden, that is. I've used up all but a half dozen or so of those I raised. But the Walla Walla Sweet Onions are in the farm stands! That means we'll be eating onions in just about everything for the next few weeks, as they are not good keepers. If you're not familiar with Walla Walla sweets, they are great big onions that can almost be eaten like an apple, they are that mild. There's nothing better than a thick, raw slice on a hamburger.

Yesterday I made a pot of corn chowder, using freshly dug potatoes from my garden, along with Walla Walla Sweet Onions and freshly picked Sugar Dot corn from the farm stand up the road, about a half mile from our house. We had it for dinner last night, along with jalapeno corn dogs, made with peppers from the garden.

Our garden dinner tonight featured these delicious Walla Walla Sweet Onions.

Saturday's Garden Dinner

Grilled Walla Walla Sweet Onion Burgers
French Fried Walla Walla Sweet Onion Rings
Green Beans (green beans)
Cabbage-Pepper Slaw with Walla Walla Sweet Onion (cabbage, peppers)
Cantaloupe & Pineapple
Iced Raspberry Green Tea

The 25th Annual Walla Walla Sweet Onion Festival

July 18th & 19th 2009 · Downtown Walla Walla, Walla Walla, WA

July 17, 2009: Happy Blogoversary to Me!

A year ago today, I began my very first ever blog as a garden diary for my own use. I never, in my wildest dreams, thought anyone else would actually read it! Who knew I'd still be around a whole year and 204 posts later? I've "met" so many wonderful people in this past year. I love each and every one of you, and I hope you'll all be right here with me through the next year or (hopefully) years to come.

Love,
Granny

July 16, 2009: Blanching and Freezing Vegetables

Since I had a bumper crop of green beans and summer squash this year, I put quite a bit in the freezer. Today I had nearly 2-1/2 pounds of the neighbor's Royal Burgundy bush beans to prepare. I like blanching the Royal Burgundy "magic" beans, as they are really self timing. When they turn a uniform bright green, they're ready!

A mixing bowl full of washed and snapped beans.

Put the beans in a blanching basket and lower into vigorously boiling water. Place a lid on the blancher, return the pot to boiling and blanch for 3 minutes.

The Royal Burgundy beans will turn a uniform bright green when blanched. This batch is almost ready. In the meantime, fill the sink or large container with cold water and add a lot of ice cubes.

Remove the beans from the boiling water and drain well.

Plunge the drained beans into the ice water to cool quickly and stop the cooking process.

Drain well.

I like to spread the drained beans onto a large pan that has been covered with a clean dish towel, and place them, uncovered, in the freezer.


When the beans are frozen solid, they can be bagged and returned to the freezer.


I was on a roll, so I decided to freeze the excess yellow crookneck squash. My youngest son had taken half of yesterday's squash harvest, but I found three more today. Two of the bunch were a bit large, so they went into the compost.


I ended up with two bags, weighing 1-1/4 pound each.

For complete instructions on blanching and freezing your vegetables, visit The National Center for Home Food Preservation

I picked my first "big" tomato today. It was a whopping 2 ounce Rutgers, that tasted just like a winter, store-bought "cardboard" tomato. I hope I get a tomato that tastes like a tomato soon.

Thursday's Garden Dinner


Rotini Mozzarella Casserole (onions, basil, garlic)
Fried Zucchini (local zucchini from farm stand)
Corn on the Cob (local corn from farm stand)
Tossed Garden Salad with Fat Free Italian Dressing (tomatoes, cucumbers)
Hot Garlic Bread (garlic)
Iced Raspberry Green Tea

Chilled Cantaloupe (local cantaloupe from farm stand)

July 16, 2009: My Friend and Neighbor

I often mention my next door neighbor in my blog. Pat lost her husband last March, and she'd been holding up quite well until last week, when she told me she was beginning to feel depressed. Of course, that was to be expected after the loss of her loved one. After all, they had been married for over fifty years.

Pat doesn't have a vegetable garden, but she loves mine. We have a gate from her yard into my garden, and she is always welcome to anything she can use. In return, she brings me jars of home canned goodies from her kitchen, usually containing something I've grown.

This spring, I planted a two hills of zucchini and two hills of cucumbers over on her side of the fence, and gave her the remainder of my packet of Royal Burgundy bush beans to plant there as well. She loves having her own little garden, even though her zucchini are giving her worries over the dying leaves.

I hadn't seen Pat out in her yard for two or three days, and assumed she'd gone somewhere. I'd noticed her daughter and son-in-law looking over the fence at my garden just a couple of days ago, which was what they always do when they're visiting her, and I figured they were just looking after the place in Pat's absence. But yesterday, I noticed her beans were ready to pick, and still no Pat, so I called her. It turns out the poor dear has been very sick in bed, with aches and fever, all week! And nobody told me.

Well, of coarse I told her I'd tend to her beans and make sure they were picked, blanched and frozen for her. Now I'm wondering if anybody is bothering to bring her food. I'll be fixing her beans today, and I think a nice pot of chicken soup will be simmering on my stove.

By the way, she got a bigger crop from her purple beans than I did. She didn't amend her soil with anything, just planted them in native soil with no fertilizer, no nuthin'! Just look at the first picking from her 2' x 6' bean patch....



That's almost 2-1/2 pounds! The cucumber is from her plant, and I really need to go over to check for more. My hands were so full of beans, I couldn't carry any more. The lemon cucumber is from my plant, it was hanging over on her side of the fence where I couldn't see it.

Hmmmm. The seeds were mine, and I planted them and picked them. Do I add this to my harvest total, even if they weren't picked from my garden ? I think I should!

Wednesday's Garden Dinner

Pan Fried Sirloin Steak with Caramelized Onions (onions)
Parsley Buttered New Potatoes (potatoes, parsley)
Green Beans & Crookneck Squash (beans, squash)
Sauteed Parsnips (parsnips)
Sliced Cucumbers with Ranch Dressing (cucumbers)
Cherry Tomatoes (tomatoes)
Strawberry Sundaes (strawberries)

July 15, 2009: Addendum

This is my second post for this date. Please scroll down for the main blog for today.

After I picked the yellow crookneck squash, I ventured back out into the heat (93.9 in the shade) to harvest more from the garden. I picked the first Lemon Cucumbers, the seeds of which were a gift from Cheryl's Garden Goodies, and only two cucumbers total from the three Spacemaster plants. There was a rather small crop of strawberries, but lots of green berries and blossoms, so there are many more to come. The raspberries are finished for the season, the few I picked will be eaten right away and not even weighed. There were just enough cherry tomatoes for Mr. H's dinner salad, and yet another picking of green beans to add to the ones that are still waiting in the refrigerator. I either need to get them cooked or frozen.

I know the parsnips are not supposed to be pulled until after the first frost, but curiosity got the best of me. They are certainly large enough to eat, but I don't know how sweet they'll be with an early harvest.

Once everything is washed, trimmed and weighed, I'll be adding some poundage to my 2009 harvest total.

July 15, 2009: A Messy Kitchen is a Happy Kitchen...

.... and this kitchen is delirious!

I envy the bloggers who give beautiful pictorial step-by-step instructions while preparing their recipes in their spotless, modern kitchens.

I'm not one of them.

My 80s era kitchen has a long counter that is perfect for food preparation, and I utilize every square inch of it. That's why you'll never see any pretty cooking pictures on this blog! You might see....

And this is just the beginning. It gets worse....

See what I mean?

Luckily, by the time the banana bread comes out of the oven, it's back to normal.

But I worked up an appetite. Who can resist warm banana bread, right from the oven?

I hate my old Harvest Gold formica counter top, and I lust for a granite beauty, in rich dark colors. Unfortunately, my counter top will not wear out, stain or burn up. And Mr. H thinks it looks great....he says it's "retro". I think I'm stuck with it.

And with the Harvest Gold sink.

*whimper*

Some Harvest Gold colored things aren't so bad, though.

A Harvest Gold pumpkin

Harvest Gold marigolds and calendulas

And can you believe this one day's picking of Harvest Gold crookneck squash?

I had to weigh the squash in two batches, and it added 6 pounds 12 ounces to my 2009 harvest total. I'd call that "Harvest Gold"!

Banana Nut Bread

Makes 1 average loaf (recipe may be doubled)

1/2 cup shortening (I use butter)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas
1 1/2 tbsp. milk mixed with 1 tsp. lemon juice or vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. soda
1 cup chopped walnuts

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. Add mashed bananas, vanilla and milk/lemon juice.

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and soda and stir into creamed mixture. Stir in walnuts.

Pour into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350F for 45-50 min.

* I just bought new bread pans, and they are a very dark color. I almost burned my bread before the center was done. In the future, I'll use my old light colored aluminum bread pans, or drop the oven temperature to 325F.

July 14, 2009: Annie's and Otto's Garden Dinner

I have to use all those green beans up some way, so Annie and Otto had a "garden dinner"........

....but look closely. See where the green beans are ending up? Notice the neat little pile of beans next to Annie's dish. Otto, on the other hand, is a typical guy. His beans are scattered all around. Maybe they were just saving the best for last, as they did eat all but one bean after they finished their meat.


Mr. H and I didn't have much of a "garden dinner" ourselves, but we did have one thing from the garden, because I needed a green pepper. Just look at this beauty!

We had a really delicious and pretty dinner tonight, but you'll just have to take my word for it as the phone rang just as I was heading outside with the plate in one hand and the camera in the other. It was a friend, calling from Pennsylvania, so I shoved the plate of food at Mr. H, and I grabbed a fork and ate from the serving dish, standing up, while conversing. I do wish I'd been able to get a photo, as it was a thing of beauty.

Tuesday's (kind of) Garden Dinner

Grilled Shrimp Kabobs with Green Peppers and Pineapple
*I marinated the raw shrimp in Yoshida's Sauce, then threaded them on skewers with chunks of green pepper (the only item on tonight's menu from the garden) and pineapple. I grilled them on the George Foreman grill and served them on a bed of....

Brown Rice with Broccoli Stir-fry Vegetables
*Just a bag of Success brown rice cooked according to package directions, mixed with a one-pound bag of frozen stir-fry veggies that were microwaved per instructions on the bag, tossed with a little Yoshida's.

Such a simple dinner, but so good and so pretty.

July 14, 2009: A Kitchen Bouquet

A bouquet of dill and basil on the counter is not only pretty, it makes the kitchen smell delightful!

And the first strawberry shortcake of the season is heaven on the taste buds.

July 13, 2009: Granny's Pumpkin Patch

The "Big Guy" is turning orange now, and I think he's finally stopped growing. You can see by the photos that he's much larger than any others on the vine. These are supposed to be the small, 5-6 pound pumpkins, but "Big Guy" weighs 14.5 pounds! Yes, I took my digital bath scale out to the garden, positioned it on a square of plywood, lifted the pumpkin and scooted the scale under it with my foot. I'm sure my neighbors think I'm insane.

Big Guy

Normal pumpkin #2

Normal (but oddly shaped) pumpkin #3

Normal pumpkin #4

Normal pumpkin #5

There may be more pumpkins in the patch, but I wasn't going to risk losing my computer mouse in that jungle of vines!

The bell peppers are getting so heavy, they have to be staked to stand upright.

Lots of yellow crookneck squash on the way!

And lots of butternut squash, too.

Today's harvest of dill, basil, onions, tomatoes, pole beans, Royal Burgundy bush beans and a small head of cabbage added another 5 pounds to the 2009 harvest total..

All of the dill got blown over in last night's wind storm, along with my sunflowers. Two of the bell pepper plants were leaning badly, but not damaged. The parsnips were held up by the bush beans, but now they need to be fenced in upright, as I pulled the last of those beans today.

Monday's Garden Dinner

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (onions, basil, garlic)
Hot Garlic Bread (garlic)
Tossed Salad (tomatoes, cucumbers)
Strawberry Shortcake (strawberries)

July 12, 2009: Sunday's Garden Dinner

Sunday's Garden Dinner

Roast Beef Hash (potatoes, onions)
Buttered Green Beans with Yellow Crookneck Squash (beans, squash)
Cherry Tomato Garnish (cherry tomatoes)
Creamy Ranch Cucumbers & Pickled Beets (cucumbers, beets, onions, parsley)
Vanilla Ice Cream
Cinnamon-Sugar Cookies
Iced Honey-Lemon Green Tea

July 11, 2009: Today's Harvest

Although the thermometer read 99.7 in the shade, I braved the heat to harvest the food for tonight's dinner. And, at 8 pounds total, a lovely harvest it was!



That's the last of my spring carrots and, other than a few that are trying to survive under the tomatoes, there will be no more until fall. The ones I seeded on 6/27 have germinated, and it looks to be close to 100% so far. The beets that were planted the same day are getting their tiny true leaves already.

The small green pepper had a spot of sun scald on it, or I wouldn't have picked it so young, but the larger one is nice sized, thick walled and heavy.

I am loving the potatoes! They just taste so good fresh from the garden, and I'm actually looking forward to tonight's green beans, as these pole beans have such a good flavor and texture. Mr. H is happy that he's getting a cucumber nearly every day now. We also picked six cherry tomatoes, but they were eaten right away so didn't make it to the photo.

Saturday's Garden Dinner

Braised Pork Country Ribs (onions)
Parsley Buttered New Potatoes (parsley, potatoes)
Green Beans with Bacon (beans)
Honey Glazed Carrots (carrots)
Cole Slaw (cabbage, green pepper, onion)
Fresh Strawberry Sundaes (strawberries)

July 10, 2009: Garden Shed Update

I worked on the interior of the new garden shed again today. I got all the primer and painting done, with the exception of the corners, three of which I still have to install. The wall shelves got finished, too!

I thought I was going to have to do the shelves all by myself, as Mr. H took a nasty fall onto the patio today. We have a sliding glass door that comes out of the kitchen, with two steps down to the concrete patio. I don't know where his mind was, but instead of going down the steps, he stepped over and off the side, and landed on his elbows and knees on the pavement. He got skinned up a bit, but thankfully no broken bones. At 74 years of age, it's so easy to break a hip in a fall like that. He took something for the pain and, like the old trooper he is, came out and helped me put up the shelves.

One nice thing about spending 8+ hours working on the shed, I was too tired to cook. I did, however, end up with a "garden dinner". We had it delivered from The Chinese Gardens!

My mini-greenhouse will sit on the counter where the paint and tools are now. It will take up 4' of the 8' long counter. There will be open shelves underneath for bags of seed starting mix, vermiculite, potting soil, etc.

The next 4' of counter top will be my work space. Under that will be shelves for my tool box, brad nailer, and containers of nails, screws, etc. The chest of drawers will hold miscellaneous gardening items. The top drawer is in the process of being rebuilt. The shelf over the bench is 8' long and 16" deep, and will hold watering cans, gallon jugs for measuring/mixing liquid fertilizers, potting trays, etc.

The next cabinet will hold my radio, CDs, fertilizers, garden gloves, pegs for the peg board, and the drawers will hold miscellaneous garden supplies such as drip tapes, tubing and connectors. The wall holds my larger garden tools and a broom.

The back wall holds my step stool, the door to the garden, and a hook for my garden sweater. To the right of my sweater there will be a hook and loop of rope for tying the lawn cart up against the wall. The fertilizer spreader might hang from this back wall, too. The riding and push mowers will be parked here.

On around the corner, the fetilizer spreader might have to hang from the wall on the right.

Two more shelves that we finished today. The longer one is 6', the other one just under 5', and they are 8" deep. These should hold gallon sized fertilizer containers and miscellaneous pots. The ladder fits perfectly underneath, and will come in handy once we put up the ceiling, as I'll have a hatch in it so things like irrigation pipe can be stored over the rafters.

The front door is 4' wide to accomodate the riding mower and lawn cart.

I picked the first tomatoes today! One of the Tumbling Toms gave me four sweet little ones.Several more are close to being ripe.

July 8, 2009: No Rest For The Wicked

We're having a few cooler days right now, so I'm trying to get as much outside work done as I possibly can before it gets back up into the 90s again, later this week. I went out at six this morning and prepped the north wall in the new garden shed for painting, painted the back door trim, then painted the wall. It might seem as though this painting is going quite slowly, but the walls are made of recycled OSB, and they are quite rough. They have to be primed, and all the larger gouges and nail holes filled. Even the seams have to be filled, as the pieces don't always fit as tightly together as one might want. Then I paint everything with a brush rather than a roller, so I can work the paint into the rough surface. I'm using a good exterior satin house paint on the inside walls, as I know it will hold up well under moist, unheated conditions. It's hard work, but I think it's worth it.



There is still so much left to do! I have to prep and paint the east wall, install quarter-round in the corners, install shelving, install hooks to hang garden tools, install a threshold under the back door, install weather stripping around all the doors. I doubt we'll even try to put in a ceiling this year, that can wait until next spring. It looks so large when it's empty! Soon this corner will hold a big dump cart, a riding mower, a rototiller, a push mower.....it won't leave a lot of room for me!

With the wall finished, I dragged out my old step stool and gave it a coat of fresh paint. I can't put a beat up old paint splattered step stool in a nice new garden shed!




I started to pick the Contender bush beans today, but only found a handful. I decided they have outlived their usefulness, so I pulled them out and composted them. I'll transplant lettuce into that area once the plants get large enough to move. That's two varieties of bush beans gone, and one to go. I'll probably plant another row somewhere so I can continue to complain about picking those darned beans!

The nasturtiums are overtaking the gardens. I pulled out a few, and trimmed some others back, but they need some serious thinning out.

The dill got a few branches broken in the windstorm the other day, so I clipped them off and hung them to dry.




The parsnips took quite a beating, too. I'll be corralling them, like I did the potatoes, with 3 or 4-foot long 1"x2" stakes and heavy garden twine. They must remain upright for about another 3-1/2 months! They are getting absolutely huge, the tops being at least three feet high. I dug around a couple of them to check the root size, and those are getting big, too.

The peppers are looking terrific, and growing like weeds!

I can freeze the bells,

....but what on earth am I going to do with all the jalapenos?

Of coarse, the pole beans are almost ready to be picked again!

Do you see what I see? This is one of the Tumbling Tom cherry tomatoes I started in Arizona last February, carried all the way back to Washington and continued to let it grow in the laundry room. It had blossoms on it months ago, but they never bore any fruit. Its "big sister", twice its size, still has no ripe tomatoes. Once these ripen, I won't be weighing them, I'll be eating them before they reach the kitchen!

Son Scott came to pick up Grandson Kevin, who had spent two nights with us, so I coerced him into mowing the back yard for me. I wanted the clippings bagged to use as mulch in the garden, so he mowed and I spread the clippings. The pea vines that I removed the other day, and the beans and nasturtiums from today were mowed, bagged and added to the compost heap.

I've never been able to get my entire garden in one picture. well, duh...I have a "panorama" setting on my camera that I'd never even tried! It still doesn't include the small west garden, but here is the main garden in its entirety. Click to enlarge.





The rest of the afternoon was spent grocery shopping. I store-hopped for specials today, so it was rather time consuming and I got back home just in time to cook dinner. We had a nice "garden dinner", but no pictures. I was so tired, I just dished up Mr. H's plate from the stove, and took mine to the computer on a paper plate!

Wednesday's Garden Dinner

Grilled Salmon Fillets with Lemon
Scalloped Potatoes (potatoes, onions)
Carrot/Broccoli/Cauliflower Medley (carrots, cauliflower)
Warm Apple Pie Ala Mode (store bought)

I know some people are grossed out when I tell them our two dogs sleep with us. Well, they are bathed regularly (they probably smell better than I do!), we love them dearly, and they are spoiled as badly as we spoiled our children. Besides, sometimes their sleeping expressions are just priceless.

Sweet dreams, little Otto.
*Click to enlarge the cuteness*

Sweet dreams, dear readers.

July 7, 2009: A Garden Dinner

I had a hard day working on the new garden shed today. Son John still hadn't finished the interior walls, and didn't show up last night, so Mr. H and I decided to tackle that last wall. Now, if you've been reading my blog for very long, you'll know Mr. H and I do not work well together. Building projects = divorce threats in this household. But guess what? We did the job, did it well, and didn't even have an argument all day! Well, maybe one small one when I couldn't reach the top of the board to mark where to cut it. He just doesn't understand I'm five inches shorter than he, and cannot reach to the same heights. Of course, before we even began working on the wall, we had to clear out all the tools, boards, and general mess just to get to that back wall. I think that took longer than the actual building!

After we'd finished, I got a coat of primer on that wall, but it was too close to dinner time to prime the fourth and last wall. I had to go inside and load the breakfast and lunch dishes into the dishwasher and find the kitchen, which was a mess from the day's meals, so I could start dinner. And before I could start dinner, I had to go pick.....beans.

It seems as though all I've done this summer is pick beans. Endless beans. I picked Royal Burgundy bush beans, then on my way to the other side to pick the Contender bush beans, I happened to notice the pole beans were getting quite large. I wandered over to check them out, and sure enough, they did need to be picked. The first picking of the year! I ended up getting a full pound of beans off of those vines, and they were almost a joy to pick. Unlike with the bush beans, I didn't have to bend and stoop and reach, but could stand comfortably and pick them with ease. I never did get to the Contender beans, they'll just have to wait until tomorrow. On the way back to the kitchen, I checked the cucumbers and decided one was large enough for the dinner salad. Our first cucumber of the season.

Tuesday's Garden Dinner

Kevin was visiting, so who has time to take pretty pictures of the dinner. Feeding hungry grandchildren takes priority!

Barbecued Chicken Breast
Baked Yukon Gold Potatoes (potatoes)
Fried Zucchini (zucchini)
Green Beans with Yellow Crookneck Squash (beans, squash)
Tossed Salad with Ranch Dressing (cucumber)
Milk

By the way, the pole beans were delicious! I cooked the entire pound with both of yesterday's crookneck squash, and we (Mr. H., Kevin, myself and the two dogs) ate every bite of it! Otto and Annie loved them. The variety is Kentucky Blue, and they have a good, old fashioned "beany" flavor.

July 6, 2009: A 100-Pound Milestone

With today's harvest of onions, zucchini and yellow crookneck squash, I've brought the total harvest weight for 2009 past the 100 pound mark.

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned my zucchini seemed to be infected with some type of fungus, as did those of my neighbor. All of the plants came from a single package of seed, so I'm wondering if the seed itself could have carried the infection.

The infected plant.

Fungicides don't stop it.

I tried several applications of cornmeal tea, and my neighbor tried a commercial fungicide. Neither product alleviated the problem, so yesterday I cut off the really infected leaves, and today I applied double strength fish emulsion to my plant. My neighbor did the same to hers, only with regular strength. It's do or die. I have harvested two nice little zucchinis from the plant, so all is not lost. In the meantime, I planted another hill of zucchini from a different supplier.

The first "Small Sugar N. E. Pie" pumpkin is growing like a weed! The following photos were taken a week apart.

***

There won't be photos of my "garden dinners" until we finish eating all of our leftovers. Nachos and leftover corn aren't that pretty ;-)

***

July 5, 2009: The Day After

It was supposed to get over 100 degrees again today, and it certainly started out hot enough. I watered the garden yesterday, and I watered again this morning. The heat has made everything look rather droopy. Before I came back in, I pulled out a couple of nasturtiums that were crowding my pepper plants. They are pretty, and I do like flowers in my garden, but I must remember to only allow one plant in a square foot next year, not four. They really got very large, and created too much of a canopy for other plants. I decided I'd better pick the green beans, as I missed two days in a row, and had some that were larger than we like. The dogs enjoy them, so they will get the big beans in their chicken dinners tonight. I pulled a few carrots for Cookie, the house rabbit, and since I was right next to the potato bed, decided to feel around for a few more new potatoes. I had used all of the ones from Thursday in the potato salad we had for dinner last night.

I came in with 1 pound 3 ounces of Royal Burgundy beans, 11 oz. of Contender beans, 2 pounds 7 oz. of Yukon Gold and Norland potatoes and 1-3/4 pounds of Rainbow Blend carrots.

It didn't reach 100F after all. It's clouding up now, so I expect we'll get a real thunder boomer this evening. It might rival the fireworks we watched last night.

There were thirteen of us here for dinner.......well, twelve if we don't count the baby. We had fried chicken, potato salad, baked beans, corn on the cob, potato chips, olives, cupcakes and ice cream, beer, booze, iced tea and pop. Enough to satisfy everyone!



After dinner, we put baby Alicyn in a plastic tub of water and let her splash and play for a while, then about half the group walked to the river to watch the fireworks. The rest of us sat in our driveway, where we had an excellent view, and access to even more food. We ate pico de gallo and chips, and just about finished off the cupcakes. Nobody can say we weren't well fed!

***

Several people commented about yesterday's picture of Otto. Well, it wasn't Otto. It was a picture I found through Google Images, and it was a dead ringer for the Otter Dawg, right down to the tongue! Ribbit said it was Otto's stunt double, and "sooner or later he’ll have stand-ins for all of his difficult work; walks, vet visits, baths. He’ll show up for feedings and belly rubs. Next you’ll be noticing he pauses in odd places in his speech, can’t use contractions, and looks like he bathes every other Wednesday. Then you change his name to Kevin Costner and his transformation into diva superstar will be complete."

"Stunt Double".................................. Otto

Ribbit also commented on my frog collection, saying she preferred cows. Just one question, Ribbit. If you prefer cows over frogs, why don't we call you "Moo" instead of "Ribbit"?

I couldn't find a "stunt double" for Annie, but she hopes everyone had a wonderful Fourth of July, and wants you to know she went off of her diet long enough to have a cupcake last night.

Uh..Annie, are you sure you only had ONE cupcake?

***

July 4, 2009: Independence Day

Have a Safe and Happy Independence Day!!

July 3, 2009: Hello, Donna!

I just have to give a big "hello" to my newest follower, "Granny's Kitchen Table". She's my neighbor when I'm in Bouse, AZ during the winter! You can check out her blog, Coffee With Granny. Donna, I'll be down for that coffee in October.

LOL, Bouse, Arizona is just full of grannies!

July 3, 2009: Happy Plates

Yesterday I lamented that my dishes weren't really conducive to food photography. They are a bright, cheerful pattern that brought a smile to my face when I got them, and they still make me smile, over ten years later. They fit my laid back lifestyle. I don't do fancy dinners or entertaining, and my family only cares about what I put on the plate, not how the plate looks.

I think I said I'd "bought" a 12 place setting of them. Actually, I got them with points we'd earned from our visits to Laughlin, Nevada. We happened to be there when the offer was discontinued, and they brought in a truckload of boxes that were practically given away. I ended up with a service for 15 (I gave two of those to a friend, and kept extras for "breakage replacement"). What would have cost around 6000 points, I got for 600 points! They might end up as a collector's item, they are all stamped "Colorado Belle" on the bottoms. Of my 13 place settings, Mr. H broke the handle off of one mug, and just this week I chipped a salad plate. They've held up beautifully through many years of everyday use.

The plates have been photographed a LOT! I remember when, a few years ago (early 2006 to be exact), my friend and I had a competition. I was in Arizona for the winter, Teresa was in Illinois, or Iowa, or one of those "I" states (I don't even know for sure where she lives!). She and I both had a collection of frogs, and we both liked to cook, so we took photos of our meals and each photo had to have a froggy name and a frog from our collection. She won, as she had quite a few more frogs than I, but it was a fun and funny competition. We're still virtual friends, we've never met...but I love you, Teresa!

I must have been bored that winter. I made all of my bread from scratch!

A few of my "froggy" entries......................

A place setting of my "happy plates".

Baked Frog Breast and Stuffing, Green Beans and Toad Slaw

Frogcabbage Casserole (this is the same casserole I blogged about last week!) with Corn/Green Beans, Wadorfroggy Salad and French Bread

Swiss Frog Steak with Baked Potatoes, Froggybeans, Froggygreens and Fruit Cup

Froghetti with Fresh Steamed Asparafrograss and Garlic Bread.

Frog Hash with Broccoli and Corn.

Cottage Wheat Frog Bread and Froggy Burger Buns

Crockpot Roast Frog with Potatoes, Carrots and Gravy, Basic White Frog Bread and Tossed Frog Greens with Balsamic Vinaigrette.

Polynesian Frog Wings on Brown Rice, served with Frog Greens (broccoli and tossed salad)

Froghetti with Frog Balls Marinara and Italian Toad Bread

Frog Stew and Light Wheat Bread

Dakota Frog Bread

FrogMama and Kids Herb Bread, Seared Salmon with Balsamic Frog Sauce, Rainbow Potato Frogcakes with Sour Cream, Mixed Veggies, Cabbage Slaw and Iced Tea.
This was my favorite, but most difficult bread to make. The flavor is delicious, but you try making bread dough look like a bunch of frogs!

OK, I'll stop now *smile*

*****

July 2, 2009: I Have Worms!

I Have Worms!

Well, not me personally. But my garden has nice, big fat worms. See what came out of the potato bed this morning...

That's one beautiful worm!

He's all of 7" long, and I promise I didn't stretch him out one bit!

What? You don't measure your worms?

There were potatoes in there, too. No potato plants were harmed in this harvest, as I pulled out 3-1/2 pounds from underneath them. My first two Yukon Golds! Aren't they pretty? But "pretty" certainly doesn't describe the cauliflower. I blanched it for a week, but it's determined to get old before it gets white. Oh well, it should taste good in tonight's dinner. So will those beautiful shallots.

Yes, more beans. I wonder if the kids need some. Carrots for tonight's dinners, both ours and the bunny's.

Everything is cleaned up before being weighed (the onions were harvested today, too).

For tonight's dinner, I needed shallots, onions, carrots, parsley and cauliflower fresh from the garden. I also needed some of my my previously frozen sugar snap peas. I had 1-1/2 pounds of raw shrimp that I had purchased on sale, knowing I had to remove the shell, but failing to notice they had not been deveined. It took me quite a while to devein 102 shrimp. Yes, I counted them. The plan was to cook them all by sauteing them, with minced shallots, in butter. Then I would set half of them aside for tomorrow's dinner, and use the remainder for tonight.

Thursday's Garden Dinner

Shrimp and Garden Vegetable Stir Fry
(shallots, onion, snap peas, carrots, cauliflower, parsley)
Brown Rice Pilaf (parsley, onion)
Teriyaki Sauce
Iced Tea

*Are you getting as tired of those fruity plates as I am? Too bad I bought a service for 12 about ten years ago, and they just won't break! I chipped a salad plate this week though, so maybe they are getting weaker ;-)

July 1, 2009: Granny and the Bean Stalk(s)

Yesterday I decided to do one last picking, then rip out the Burpee's Stringless Green Pod bush beans. The raspberries, in the same bed, really needed the room to send out next years canes, and the beans had certainly given me more than my money's worth. These seeds were purchased from a dollar store, and cost a whopping 50-cents for the three packets! I harvested around ten pounds of really nice beans from them, and they still had some small beans and blossoms on the vines when I pulled them out. You might think that was a waste of perfectly good plants, but two succession plantings of other varieties are producing now, and I'm seeing little beans on my pole beans as well. I think I'm going to be "beaned out" before long!

The 8' long bean patch "before".

The bean patch "after".

I just about had a real catastrophe after I finished pulling the vines. I had taken my camera to the garden, as usual, and I always hang it from a fence post between pictures. Well, I forgot to bring it in, and I turned on the sprinklers! After I rescued it, I dried it off as well as I could, took a couple of pictures, and it seemed to be just fine. But this morning I took a picture of the pile of vines, and it looked a bit odd. So I tried another picture, and the camera went into panoramic mode and wouldn't come out of it! Many of the settings wouldn't work, and all the photos were odd looking. I turned it on so the lens would come out, then took out the memory card and batteries, and set it out to dry. Fortunately, that worked.

I had a huge pile of vines to dispose of, but the lawnmower made quick work of it. They were bagged and then put in the compost bin.



Contender and Royal Burgundy bush beans on the left, Burpee Stringless Green Pod bush beans on the right. Berries rounded out last night's harvest.

I had a huge pot of beans to snap, blanch and freeze.

After giving my neighbor a pound of beans for her dinner, and giving in to my youngest son who called and begged for my "purple beans", I still had a good amount to put in the freezer.

Once they were frozen, I bagged them. I literally stuffed three pounds of beans into a gallon bag. I almost couldn't zip it shut!



Update on the New Garden Shed

I haven't shown any photos of the new garden shed lately, because we haven't made much progress since the last time. John (our son) is using recycled OSB for the interior walls (he also used it as exterior sheathing). Only the roof and my work bench got new OSB. The cabinets are recycled as well, and the paint I'm using inside is some exterior satin that was mixed for our house last year, and they goofed on the color. So I guess you could say the paint is recycled too. It's slow going, as everything needs a coat of primer first, and the OSB's rough texture makes painting it a bit difficult.

I painted these walls and the cabinets this morning. I'll probably get the drawers painted tomorrow. We still need to install baseboard molding and a threshold under the back door.

The left side of the 8' workbench will hold the 4' mini-greenhouse, and there will be deep shelves underneath for potting mixes, pots, etc. Pegboard is for my small gardening tools.

It's a mess!

But, excluding the ceiling, about half finished.


Wednesday's Garden Dinner

Fried Chicken Tenders (parsley garnish)
Creamed New Potatoes & Peas (potatoes & peas)
Corn on the Cob (local, from farmer's market)
Iced Raspberry Green Tea
Fresh Strawberries with Vanilla Yogurt (strawberries)
Brownies