Garden Fuss

This is day one of garden clean-up. As you can see we had a bumper crop... Wait what is a bumper crop anyway? Pardon me as I digress, I just looked this up on Wikipedia and they refer to a Bumper Crop as: "In agriculture , a bumper crop refers to a particularly productive harvest yielded for a particular crop ." Not only did we produce a crazy amount of Table Queen Acorn Squash, we grew and harvested an amazing amount of pole beans (kentucky wonder I believe). We've enjoyed stir-fry, soup, casserole, and even green bean pickles. The latter being a huge hit in my and my brothers home. I am now down almost two jars; there happens to be approximately 5 beans floating in a nummy garlic dill brine in my refrigerator. I am way into the thick of it when it comes to putting food by these days. My kitchen is oober full of large pots, produce, and a couple scrap buckets...

  Just made it back from walking the dog. What is disturbing to the hubby and me is that along the creek bed we saw only rocks and small puddles with stranded fish. What was worst of all was hearing only quiet as we walked to where the water "falls" over the sandstone into the lower creek bed. There was a trickle that didn't fall it kind of just sheened down the rocks into what was a very small kiddie sized pool of water. Kids from a neighboring school yelled, "crane" "crane". As we edged closer to see that there indeed was a crane plump full with fish that were very easy pickings. We've always wondered if there were fish going over the falls and today proved that yes there were and that they depend on the falls for their lively hood. It gets them from one place to another, and carries valuable nutrients and food to them. Until today the drought in my mind only consisted of brown grass, thirsty trees, and dried up vegetation. Today's visi...

    I've waited all year to try my hand at making my own hot sauce. Yes I know there are plenty of grocery stores in my area that sell a variety of peppers that would have allowed me to try this out before now. However, there is nothing like the satisfaction one feels from growing their own and learning to create valuable pantry staples directly from their own land (yard). The recipe was so flippin easy I smacked myself on the forehead for not doing this sooner.   The beauty of making your own condiments allows you to control the sugar and sodium in the final product. I wish we had scratch and sniff monitors so you could have smelled and felt the spice coming from the teeny tiny Thai Peppers. Everyone in the house had very high oxygen levels after the preparation of this I'm sure because it opens you right up.   Tina's Thai Chili Hot Sauce: Ingredients A handful of Thai Chili Peppers. 4 cloves of peeled garlic 1 large o...

One Giant Roma, 6 stalks of Dino kale, a small white onion (all from the garden); mixed with a splash of cream make a delicious easy sauce for pasta. 3 year old and adults approve and I must agree that this recipe is a keeper. Now with only remnants of all the goodness left in the pan I am realizing that I should have made more. So much for my simple brunch plan... I was sure the guys wouldn't like it so I made a small pan. Next time I'll know to go all out.
Happy Harvesting!

Tina

House Plants..... Are simply a joy to most people who enter a home or mall where they bloom, sprawl or climb. Especially in the winter; in Minnesota. I know no one wants to think of the "W" word for a while but it is on my mind. Most of us flood the malls just to get a little view of greenery during shopping excursions or enjoying a nice hot chocolate while listening to our screaming children run from ride to ride at a venue like Mall of America.  I didn't really have this on my mind today when I took a trip to the Minneapolis Farmers Market to find discounted outdoor plants or shrubs. However, low and behold there before me in a stall next to piles of edamame were beautiful Peace Lillies, Aloe, and Pothos plants. Most people think my thumbs are stained green with how well I tend plants on the outside. I have had no real luck with house plants since..... Well, since we moved to this house. The direction of the sun is not conducive to what plants need in our family roo...

I have been watching this tomato and his partners grow and grow and grow some more. Finally they are ripe enough to pull from the vine. I feel like two or three of these bad mamajammas would make a mean bag of sauce. The taste is way supreme to other paste varieties I've grown in the past. Just chop and toss in a pan with what ever and it's instant sauce for what ever. I've added these to chicken, zuchinni, green beans, on their own even and have been more than happy with the results. I'll dig through my spring plan and get the name of this variety for you. All I remember at this point in the growing season is that they came from the Friends School Plant Sale lol. UPDATE: I found my catalog from the Friends School Plant Sale and these tomatoes are the Opalka which is described as follows.  Opalka Outstanding for canning and salsa, this 5" sweet paste tomato is meaty with few seeds. It looks more like a long pepper than a tomato! Indeterminate, 75-85 days ...

Dost my eyes decieve me? that is what I thought when walking through the garden hunting monster sized zuchinni. The wait for just a glimpse of a single bean has been agonizing. I thought for sure this would be my star veg this year but alasthey almost didn't make an appearance at all. First there were critter issues which widdled them from 12 plants to 3. Of which only two are actually of size and blooming. Then there have been sunlight issues ad possible overcrowding. I take full responsibility because with this years crop rotation the tomatoes and my almost too ingenius table queen squash plan; I accidentally walled in some things that are now getting partial to full southern sunlight instead of just full. Looking at the garden as a whiole you'd never suspect any issues. My neighbors daughter says to her mom, "Mommy look at Mrs. Jones garden it's just like a jungle!". I so agree.... It's easy to get discouaged at this stage of the game. There is just so much...