January 6, 2014 - Satisfying the Urge

A week before Christmas I inherited five nearly dead African violets.  My daughter manages a mobile home village, and one of the residents had passed away over a month earlier.  We ended up buying the mobile home for a granddaughter, and I rescued the plants and brought them home to nurse back to health.  One was already too far gone, so I got the other four watered and fertilized and set them in the north facing plant window in the laundry room.  A few days ago I repotted them into fresh potting mix and divided one of the plants into four, so now I have seven African violets to play with.  They join the Happy Yummy sweet pepper that I brought in from the garden last fall.  I had a bit of potting mix left over, so I planted a couple of pots of lettuce this morning.  It's old seed, and may not even be viable, but I figured I'd give it a try anyway.  If I can get a couple of plants to nibble on, I'll be a happy camper.

 The plant window is beginning to look like spring!

 I hope I can keep them alive.  I'm not nearly as good with indoor plants as I am with my vegetable gardening.

 Pots of lettuce on the left, and the Happy Yummy pepper on the right (looking both happy and yummy).  I've had to do a bit of selective pruning on the pepper plant to keep it small enough for the window, but it seems to thrive.  I can hopefully keep it going and get a good head start on the sweet pepper production next spring.

 The prettiest and largest of the violets.  One other is blooming, but it is plain dark purple.

 Pretty enough to deserve a close up photo.

The Happy Yummy pepper has had a lot of blossom drop, but managed to bear five nice peppers so far.  I wish they would hurry and ripen!

January 4, 2014 - The Gardening Year Begins

When I typed the date in my title, I put "December".  That's how far behind I am!  Not only am I still in 2013, I'm not even in the correct month yet.  But....it IS 2014 now, and time to start planning my garden.  The first thing that must be done is to place my seed order.  I've decided to try Fedco this year, because so many others have mentioned how they like them.  I had to work a bit to get my order up to $30, as I really do like "free shipping".  I'm afraid the shipping costs at most catalog companies makes me turn the other way.  I'd love, for instance, to order from Johnny's.  They have so many varieties that I'd like in my garden, but I find them a bit expensive.  Yes, I am a cheapskate!  In the past I've usually ordered from Ed Hume seeds, or purchased them from the seed rack when they go on sale each spring, but I've had some mislabeled seeds the past two years, so I've decided to go with another seed source.  I must say, the Ed Hume seed company was quick to refund my money when I notified them about the problem, but that didn't turn my "rose colored" nasturtiums from orange to pink, nor did it give me time to replant the "sugar snap peas" that turned out to have inedible pods.

Varieties I've ordered for 2014 (varieties new to me are preceded with  * )
*Beans (bush), Jade
Beans (bush), Provider
Beets, Red Ace
*Broccoli, Fiesta
Cabbage, Early Jersey Wakefield
*Carrot, Mokum
*Carrot, Sugarsnax
Corn, Honey Select
*Cucumber, Calypso  (sold out)
Lettuce, Anuenue
Lettuce, Buttercrunch
Lettuce, Jericho
*Lettuce, Sierra
*Onions, Copra
Onions, Walla Walla
*Pea, Cascadia Snap
Radish, Champion
Spinach, Tyee
Squash, Early Summer Crookneck
Squash, Jackpot Zucchini
Watermelon, Sugar Baby OG

I think I have all of the rest of the seeds I need for sweet peppers, Fortex pole beans and butternut squash, as well as miscellaneous herbs and flowers.  Dan is sending some melon and tomato seeds, and I also have quite a few tomato seeds left or saved from last year.

I HEART the Colonel.  Normally I shun fast food, but Mr. Granny came home from KFC with a couple of these one day last fall.....

Did I see the crispy chicken strips and fat laden potato wedges?  No.  What I did see was this:

 A 4" seed starting pot with room for two seedlings.

 Two dimples in the bottom to mark the spots to add drainage holes with my hot glue gun.

 A very sturdy 3" clear dome that comes with a small vent hole in the top.  That's 7" of combined depth and height for the seedlings.  Perfect.

I may have encouraged him to consume a few orders through the winter.  So far I have 20 cups, enough for 40 seedlings.  I think another four might do for this year  :-)

Happy 2014!

December 27, 2013 - Chop, Chop!

It doesn't seem possible that the end of 2013 is near!  The year has gone way too quickly for me, but I guess time flies faster as one ages.

We had a nice Christmas holiday.  The kids came for a simple Christmas Eve dinner, and presents were opened at that time.  I told them I'd done my duty by hosting the Thanksgiving feast, so I planned on taking it easy this year and enjoying Christmas without all the fuss and fancy.  I set up a build-your-own taco bar and let Costco provide the desserts.  I sat myself down and enjoyed visiting with the family, and it took just minutes to clean up the mess, with only one load of dishes for the dishwasher.  I think I'll make this a tradition, only I would prefer a soup and homemade dinner rolls menu rather than tacos, which were Mr. Granny's choice.

We had some excitement to watch the entire Christmas week.  Our next door neighbor had a professional tree trimmer come and prune her four big sycamore trees, and the two huge English walnut trees.  They really cut the sycamores back drastically.  I'm not so sure it's the best way to do it, as new growth is in the form of weak water sprouts, but it seems to be the accepted way of pruning these giants.  I must say, they are quite ugly in their new nakedness!  On the other hand, I was impressed with the walnut tree pruning.  One of those trees casts morning shade on about half my garden, and had many dead branches that would break and fall onto our property with each windstorm.  I had one fall on my head once, so I had to be especially careful about gardening if the wind was blowing!  Now the garden will get a lot more light, and my body should be safe from falling limbs.

 A worker in the walnut treetop.  Hi, up there.....high up there.

 Walnut trees looking so much better.

 My garden will appreciate having so much of the old growth removed.  I don't think the squirrels will be too happy though.

The last of the four sycamores being pruned.  Or stubbed.  They all end up looking bare naked like the one in the background.

 I wish I had a better photo of all the wood that was removed from six trees.  Her entire front yard is covered about 6' deep or more, with just the driveway left open for the cars.  Even the "lighter" pruning of the walnut trees left an unbelievable amount of branches.  The branches are covering her hedge, and overflowing into our side yard.

This one, as viewed from the bedroom window, looked a bit too close to our house.  I had to go out to see if we had any damage from it, but it missed the house by about 6".

I figured they would be in today with the big chipper to begin clearing up the mess, but they must be taking a long holiday break.  

December 3, 2013 - Thank You, Robbie!

Robbie, from Palm Rae Urban Potager, has been kind enough to give me the Very Inspiring Blogger Award!  Thank you, Robbie.  You also inspire me to add color to my vegetable garden by including flowers for the pollinators and for our personal enjoyment.

Upon receiving this award, I'm supposed to tell seven interesting things about myself.  That's been done many times before, so I won't bore you by being too repetitive.   I'm also supposed to list the blogs that have most inspired me.  I've decided my list will not be passed on, as these bloggers that have most inspired me in the past, are no longer blogging.  I miss them all so very much, but they will always be remembered.

They are, with the date of their last post:

Ed at http://talesfromthemountainside.blogspot.com/ January 18, 2013

Laura at http://www.modernvictorygarden.com/apps/blog/ August 5, 2013

Liisa at http://liisasgarden.blogspot.com/ May 10, 2013

Mike at http://subsistencepatternfoodgarden.blogspot.com/ November 8, 2012

Katie at http://gardeningwithoutskills.blogspot.com/ March 2, 2011

Caffeinated Mom at http://thecaffeinatedmomgardens.blogspot.com/ July 19, 2010

Momma_S at http://gardeningwithcare.blogspot.com/ August 6, 2010

Robin at http://cordarogarden.blogspot.com/ August 1, 2013

Ribbit at http://thecorneryard.blogspot.com/  July 29, 2013

EG (Jeff) at http://engineeredgarden.blogspot.com/ (evidently still active for invited readers only, which doesn't include me)

Gosh, I sure do miss them.

December 2, 2013 - Well Blow Me Down, or Throw Me Down or...

Knock me down.  Whatever.

I was out trying to clean up the latest pine mess from the last wind storm.  I had the big garbage can, and I should have known better than to try to move it without first closing the lid.  As I pushed it forward, the lid swung back toward my feet.  I tripped.  The can came crashing over.  I fell.  Face first.  Right onto the lid that was now on the pavement.  My nose has several cuts, it throbs, and I'll most likely end up with two black eyes.  I hope I heal by Christmas.

November 30, 2013 - The "Empty the Freezers" Challenge Continues

The first two weeks of the "empty the freezers" challenge went exactly as planned.  I stuck strictly to the menus, though only for Mr. Granny the last week or so.  After I gained two pounds from the first week's meals, I ended up tweaking my meals just a bit and got everything under control again.  Even though I ended up removing quite a bit of meat, fish, poultry, veggies and breads from the freezers, I took advantage of a good sale on lean ground beef and ended up freezing 12 pounds of it.  So the only freezer that looks as though it might be getting a bit emptier is the refrigerator freezer.

This week I have to concentrate on using up my glut of beef wieners, ground beef and chicken breasts.

*(f) = from the freezer

11/29 We ate Thanksgiving leftovers

11/30 Crockpot baked beans
Grilled all beef wieners (f)
Coleslaw
Corn muffins

12/1 Grilled chicken breast (f)
Green beans (f)
Baked sweet potato
Tossed salad

12/2 Shepherd's pie (ground beef (f), mixed veg (f), mashed potatoes)
Lettuce wedge w/light 1000 Island dressing

12/3 Grilled Salmon (f)
Creamed peas (f) and potatoes
Carrot/raisin salad
Tartar sauce/lemon juice

12/4 Beef (f) stew (peas (f), carrots, celery, potatoes)
French bread

12/5 Fried chicken breasts (f)
Corn (f)
Boiled potatoes
Chicken gravy
Coleslaw

12/6  Spaghetti w. meat - sauce and meat (f)
Green beans (f)
Garlic french bread (f)
Tossed salad

November 26, 2011 - Thanksgiving Preparations

The Menu

Roast Turkey

Cedar Planked Salmon (Bryan)

Smoked Crown Roast of Pork (Scott)

Dressing (Amy)

Mashed Potatoes

Gravy

Baked Butternut Squash with Butter and Brown Sugar

Green bean Casserole (Alicia)

Lion House Dinner Rolls and Butter

Deviled Eggs (Amy)

Layered Salad (Amy)

Grape Salad (Amy)

Cranberry Sauce

Glazed Fresh Apple Cake

Pumpkin Pies (John)

The turkey is thawing in the refrigerator, rolls have been baked, cranberry sauce is chilling and the squash casserole is precooked and ready for the oven.  It looks like everything is under control.  I have to go to the store in the morning to buy apples for the cake, and I'll get it baked in the afternoon.  That just leaves the turkey to roast, the potatoes to cook and mash, and the gravy to make on Thursday.

Rolls, cranberry sauce and squash cooling on the counter.  There just happened to be enough dough left over for a few cinnamon rolls for Mr. Granny's breakfast and snacks.  I might force myself to eat one too  ;-)

Five-year-old Alicyn has requested root beer, vanilla ice cream and bacon for her Thanksgiving dinner.  Of course, I will see that she gets it!  I have a feeling I'll be able to talk her into a nice warm roll with butter, too.

November 16, 2013 - A Challenge Accepted

Tiny Gardener threw down the challenge today, and I accepted the challenge.  I will, to the best of my ability, try to empty my freezers and pantry of excess foods between now and Christmas.

The freezers are stuffed.

The laundry room freezer.

The garage freezer.

The refrigerator freezer.  Not quite as stuffed as the others.

I got a head start yesterday, when I took two one-gallon bags of cherries that had been frozen since 2012, and turned them into 12 jars of cherry jelly.  Or cherry syrup.  I don't think it jelled very firm.

So, here's the plan.....

I took a quick inventory of what was on hand (mostly what was on top), and came up with dinner menus for the next 12 days.  Hopefully that will take me to Thanksgiving without going to the grocery store.  After that, there will be a few days of eating leftovers, then I'll take another inventory of the freezers.

11/16 Grilled salmon (freezer)
                Green beans (freezer)
                Scalloped potatoes
                Coleslaw
                Tartar sauce/lemon juice

11/17 Grilled chicken breast (freezer)
                Buttered peas (freezer)
                Baked butternut squash (storage)
                Tossed salad w. tomato

11/18 Pizza: pepperoni, pizza sauce and peppers (freezer)
                Mixed fruit cup

11/19 Roast turkey tenderloin (freezer)
                Mixed veggies (freezer)
                Mashed potatoes and  turkey gravy
               Waldorf salad
                Cranberry sauce
                Rhubarb (freezer) Pie

11/20 Grilled hamburgers (freezer) on              
                Homemade hamburger buns (freezer)
                French fries
                Lettuce and tomato

11/21 Hot turkey sandwiches (leftovers) on
                Homemade bread (freezer)
                Tossed salad

11/22 Chicken fried steaks (freezer)
                Mashed potatoes with country gravy
                Green beans & summer squash (freezer)
Sliced tomatoes

11/23 Chicken Mozzarella (freezer) with
                Marinara sauce (freezer)
                Mixed veggies (freezer)
                Whole grain spaghetti
                Garlic French bread (freezer)
                Tossed salad

11/24 Pork roast (freezer)
                Pork gravy
                Roasted carrots
                Roasted potatoes
                Waldorf salad

11/25 Chinese Pork & Noodles (leftover pork) with
                Hard cooked egg; chives; soy sauce
                Mixed fruit cup

11/26 Bacon (freezer)
                Scrambled eggs
                Hash brown potatoes (freezer)
                Homemade bread, toasted (freezer)
                Cinnamon rolls
                Chilled peaches

11/27 Chili with beans (hamburger freezer)
                Cornbread
                Coleslaw

11/28 Thanksgiving

Anyone else want to join in on the challenge?