Wordless Wednesday - Thanks For Stopping By

Peaches Part Deux

We went to the Farmers Market on Saturday.  (One of these trips I'll have to remember to bring my camera...I love pictures of FM's.)  I bought mushrooms, green beans (since mine aren't ready yet), lettuce, a Purple Cherokee tomato (that had SM shrugging his shoulders on the taste factor), a small taste of nectarines and peaches (of course.)

We sampled as we went and I purchased some peaches from Knob Oak Farm, whom we bought great fruit from before.  I bought a basket of "ready to go" (IMHO) and another that would need a bit of time.

Sunday morning I hauled out all my canning stuff.  Put the jars in the dishwasher to sterilize, had all my pots going and dropped the first handful in so I could slip the skins.

Well crap...still not ripe!  

Since I didn't want to waste what I'd already blanched, I switched gears and blanched a few more and made more jam.


Enough with the jam already!  


After I cleaned up the kitchen, I googled a few key words and found Tall Clover Farm which is a delightful blog of a fellow raising fruit trees on 5 acres west of Seattle.  West of Seattle?  That's the ocean right?  Yep!  He's on an island.  Anyway, Tom had written a post on The Best Way To Ripen Peaches  Since I've always done the brown paper bag thing, I thought I'd give Toms way a shot.  

I'm pretty sure most of you have heard of Food In Jars a blog about (what else?) canning food.  I found a nice Peach Vanilla Sauce recipe that I might try instead of making more jam.  But as SM points out "How much peach stuff do we need?"

I might want to start looking at plums...(grin)

In Between

I received my Baker Creek order yesterday.  

Last week, I couldn't order online so I ended up talking to them directly.  I mentioned that I was re-ordering all my squashes because of the SVB and "hoped" that I wasn't too late getting the seeds in the ground.  "No.  You'll be fine.  My husband just put in our squashes and pumpkins last week, and we're in Missouri."  The BC Rep said.

Yeah me!  So I went out and re-planted this morning.  I added to the seed collection with a yellow "Lemon" squash and a Blue "Jarrahdale" pumpkin along with these cute little winter squashes called " Sweet Dumpling".

After giving everything a squirt, SM stopped by for his morning garden stroll with coffee in hand.  It was a beautiful morning, 67 degrees.  We peeked under leaves and found a few more cucumbers...

Butternuts are coming along.

Bell and Hungarian Yellow peppers

My green beans are just starting to develop, although the leaves look like lace with everyone chewing on them.

On the tomato front everything seems to be in a holding pattern for now.  Matt's Wild Cherries are starting to redden up, but they're very tiny.  Not at all what I'd thought a cherry tomato would be.  

We have 1 "big-un" starting to ripen.  It's a German Red Strawberry (Baker Creek) that is absolutely LOADED with green tomatoes.  (I can't get in there good enough to get you all a decent picture of the red one, so here's a picture of some of the green ones.)

If this tomato passes SM's taste test, it will be our number one tomato from this years sample of the seven different varieties we put in.  Nothing is coming close to showing the production that this variety has put out so far. 


Here's a long view of the raised beds which look positively barren compared to the lushness of the "double dig" patches.  

I'd re-seeded some summer squashes along with green and lima beans a few weeks ago.  (This was before I figured out that the beans really don't like  being in the raised beds.)  Next year ALL beans are going in the ground, not the beds.


It looks like we should be eating a lot out of the garden right now but we're still in that Tweener-Time where it's still just a bit too early.  And then everything will POP all at once won't it?  


Can't wait!

You've Come Along Way Baby

There was a time in the not too distant past, where I would buy things without doing a whole lot of research on them.  That was SM's job.  If we needed a car or an appliance I just shrug my shoulders and tell him to deal with it.  He makes good choices.

Interestingly enough, with the garden, I'm a bit more into the "What are we buying?"  Fertilizer?  I swing organic.  Pest control?  "No, I don't want Sevin."  I bought organic there too.

SM didn't have the time to get the fungicide for the tomatoes, so last night on the way home, I did.

I swung by the "big box" assuming they'd have a variety of products.  Nope.  Just one, Daconil.  I picked it up and headed to the register.  A funny thing happened on the way though.  I stopped at the paint counter, pulled out my reading glasses...(Yes, I need those now)...and read the label.

You know...the label that's 5 pages long that they've stuck with some kind of glue to help keep it attached to the bottle.  Wow.  All kind of environmental nasties.

I stood there amongst the paint chips and said to myself "What price am I willing to pay to protect my tomatoes?"

Not this.

I turned around and put it back on the shelf.

As I drove to a local nursery, I thought that I've really come along way.  There used to be a time when I would do what needed to be done and didn't really care either way that I might hurt myself or my environment in the doing of it.

As the nursery gal walked me over to the one product she had left on the shelf that was organic, I asked her if she knows if anything really works for blight.

She shrugged and said "The weather this year has been tough on everyone with a garden."


"So I'm just buying time?"  I asked.


"Pretty much."  She replied.


If all I'm buying is time, then I made the right decision on purchasing a product that will have minimal impact on the environment in my garden.


Cause lets face it, there's always next year.  And a decent Farmers Market in the big city. (Where we'll head today after post-ops...Love the Farmers Market!)

Let The Spraying Begin

Last weekend I noticed some yellowing on the tomato leaves.  I went out again last night and while there few a few more here and there, the Brandywines seem to be hit the hardest.

Looks like blight to me.  SM is under orders to go out and buy spray and get it applied today, if he can.  Since I don't really want to pussyfoot around here (IE: organics)...What spray would you all recommend?


Or am I just "Whistling Dixie?

Wordless Wednesday - We Love You Mom

Squash Vine Borers

SVB's, (otherwise known from here on out as the "little bastards") are definitely in all my summer squashes, my Georgia Candy Roasters (winter squash) and ("damn-it") my pumpkins.  The pumpkins are hard to loose.  They were doing SO beautifully too.  SM is pissed about them the most I think.

We went out just now in the 98 degree heat.  SM on one side, me on the other and "walked the rows".  The butternut seems OK for the moment, along with the melons.  The cucumbers also seem unaffected.

While at work, I researched the little bastards and everything I read says there's not much you can do at this point.  Spraying the base with insecticidal soap BEFORE they bore in is probably your best bet.  Who knew?  Last years squashes were abundant, so at least now I know what to look for.

I did read that you could take a razor and slit the vine vertically and pull the little bastard out but all the wound sites I observed look a couple of inches long at least.  I don't personally think that the plant would survive. 

I'm now thinking that I'd like to protect the integrity of my soil for next year.  It seems that the worms will soon drop back into the dirt to pupate and turn into adult moths that will lay more eggs and start the cycle all over again for next years crop.

I just went out and yanked it all up.

Extreme?  Maybe.  But I do know I'm lucky enough to have a long growing season.  If I re-seed now I'll likely be harvesting late September, early October.  We don't typically get frosts until October 15th.  It's a chance I'm willing to take.

I've already re-seeded the summer squashes about 10 days ago so they've just come up.  Slugs are more of a pest at this point than the SVB's.  I just looked at them and I don't see anything going on yet.  But they're still pretty small.

I'll have to re-order some winter squashes and pumpkins as the rest of my seed packets went into the laundry in one of my more "senior moments".

You know, I could be upset about this but oddly I look at this as an opportunity to see if I can succeed in a later start date and still get a harvest in.

Rolling with the punches...That's what it's all about!

Destructive Ants?

What's with the ants this year? 

I'd noticed that the 2 zucchini I'd planted were wilting morning, noon and night the past few days.  Today I gently lifted the plant and the whole base came off.  I strongly suspect the ants chewed right through them.  They've been in all the flowers so far and I hadn't given much thought to them.  Didn't see the harm.  But I'd never heard of them chewing through the plant at the base.  (A goggle search confirms this.)  

Well, drat.  I'd had an over abundance of zucchini last year so I planted very sparingly.  (Ha!  Just goes to show you.)  Now both are gone and it looks like they're eating the yellow squashes too.  Someone mentioned that ants don't like cucumber so I put some cucumber shavings from last nights salad around the base of the remaining squash.  I think they're doomed, but will see.


Later in the day I had to take Ginny out for a stroll so I curiously looked at the cucumber patch.

Lots of blooms and baby cukes...and what's that?

Ants all over them too.  So much for the "ants don't like cucumber" theory.  Not really sure what to do other than observation. 

Oh hey, look what I found!

This is the first cuke from our garden. Baker Creek Beit Alpha.

I then strolled over to eyeball the tomato patches.  I've been reading Erin's trials and tribulations with early blight.  (Shudder)  All I can do is watch for now.  I have a few yellow leaves close to the ground.  I went ahead and pruned those off wondering if I held the beginnings of the big B in my hand.  Time will tell.  I remember 2-3 years ago Ohio gardens were affected.  No tomatoes and lots of burn piles.

When I read how horrible a year it's been for so many of you, I consider myself lucky that I've gotten off lightly so far this year.  

We'll see how long that luck holds.  And if ants eating my zucchini is the only thing I've got to worry about, than I have gotten off easy.

A Part-Time Kinda Life

Back when the Great Recession hit (cough) my employer, like many others, cut costs where it affected them the most.  Payroll.  Over the past few years I've watched our staff be cut in half.  The ones left standing, me included, experienced a 25% pay cut, sizable increases in our health care costs and reduced hours.  Who new this would be my new normal. 

This month marks my third year working at 32 hours a week.  This is still considered "full time" by my employer so I still qualify for benefits, but it sure feels like part-time to me.

SM and I had hoped on a retirement where we worked when we wanted (or needed) to and take off in the winters to RV and travel.  We would then come home during the spring, summer and fall to work (for the money to pay for the traveling) and to take advantage of the nice weather to garden.  This is still our hope.  Our jello plan for our future.

I did the math the other day.  I work 4 days a week and have the other 3 off.  If the month has 30 days in it, I'm only working 16 of them.  50% of the time I work for "The Man."  The other 50% is mine.

I'm kinda liking this part-time kinda life. 

At first I fussed and considered switching jobs.  I even thought of picking up a second job.  But a funny thing happened during the past 3 years.  I relaxed.  In a way, I was forced into analyzing how I spent my free time.  I starting gardening, preserving, blogging.  All of these things take time. 

We used to eat out, buy convenience foods, pick up take out pizza.  Now, I home cook pretty much everything.  I'm learning new skills that actually improve my life.

I admit I used to be a workaholic.  I went in early and stayed late.  I would often be thinking about work on my days off.  Boy, has a lot changed.  I go into work on time and leave when I'm finished.  I hardly give work a thought on my days off.

About 5-7 years ago I work with a charming young lady, Dina, whose family had moved back and forth between the US and Greece.  She'd only been with us 6 months or so and she asked for the entire month of August off for her vacation time.  Say what?  Dina gave me an education in how europeans managed their work lives.  They don't work 40 hours a week, take month long holidays and retire early.  Now I know Greece is in a really sorry situation now...but to tell you the truth, back then, it sounded like a pretty sweet deal to me.  Dina only got 2 weeks off, not a month, but she opened my eyes to the fact there's more to life than the time clock I'd been punching.

This is how it's supposed to be.  But I had to be forced into it.  It wasn't something I looked for.  I don't think my employer will go back a 40 hour week anytime soon.  The recession looks like it will be a long one.  By the time things pick back up I may very well be at the point in my life where I decide to continue this part-time kinda life.

After all, money isn't everything.

Sunday Buffet

 *Sunday Buffet is my smorgasbord of random thoughts and observations.

*Last night's dinner was provided to us 100% from our garden.  How I've waited for this day!  We had new potatoes, boiled with salt and pepper, steamed zucchini and summer squash, and salad.  We actually harvested another round of lettuce from the garden.  I'm so pleased.

This is my future goal of course.  To be able to provide our fruit and vegetables from my own backyard is a very liberating feeling.  I know I'll never be able to walk completely away from the farmers markets and the groceries stores but still, every little bit helps!

*Our neighbors are filling their pool with water this weekend.  The kids are already in it and having a ball.  SM was talking to Heath, our neighbor.  They put in an in-ground "lined" pool.  The cost...21K.  Coincidentally, our neighbor catty corner to us is also putting in an in-ground pool.  Cement.  Rumor in the "hood" has it out that it's costing 50K.  More power to em.  Actually this family is an extended family success story.  Mom and Dad owned the house.  About 5 years ago Dad died (He'd been ill for a long time) and their only daughter and family sold their house and "bought" Mom and Dads place.  They built a Mother-In-Law apartment suite that's attached to the garage.  3 adults with 2 children.  You don't see that arrangement too much these days with everybody going their separate ways.

Don't get any ideas Mom

*We drive old cars.  The Jeep is 11 years old with 225K mile on it.  The truck needs mystery repairs.  (Fix one thing and another thing goes.  It's dead in the driveway.)  SM has been driving the Buick around busted up (from the accident back in February) while he argued with the insurance company.  SM finally settled his claim this week.  It dragged out this long because they would not give replacement value on the Buick.  The Buick is 8 years old and has close to 200k miles on it.  SM felt that they were short-changing him on the settlement by $1,500.  He went around and around with them.  He threatened to go to court.  About this time, the Jeep stopped working.  We were down to one vehicle and THAT car was iffy.  I threatened to go out and buy a new car.

Which threat did SM take seriously?  (Never piss your woman off, that's all I got to say...&:)

*We also had a thunderstorm move through last night as we were having our "garden" dinner.  We got some rain but had at least 10 minutes of the worst wind.  After the storm had passed we went out and all the tomatoes in the raised bed were flattened.  The cages pulled right up.  I'm not a big fan of tomatoes cages, staking is better IMHO but the beds weren't deep enough to support stakes.  They just wobbled.  So we had to go with the cages.  All the tomatoes that were staked did just fine.  Of course the corn was all flattened out but they'll bounce back.

*I like naps.  I'm liking them even more lately and I've noticed SM is too.  We both get "blinky" on the weekends between 1 and 3:00.  Just a part of getting older I guess.  It feels naughty though, like you're supposed to keep going all day long.  I never get sleepy at work though.  Just at home.  Must be because my time is my own.

*It's been two months since we suspended our Direct TV account for the summer.  Yesterday afternoon when SM turned the TV on to watch the local feed for the US Open (golf), he said "Do you realize we haven't had the TV at all today?"  Shocker!  I asked him if he could live without his sports options so we could just unplug satellite completely.  SM knows he can watch whatever the local channels offer, but he really wants the ESPN feeds and the Big Ten Network (Go Bucks).  So we'll be picking DTV back up again in mid August.  I think from here on out we'll always suspend service over the summer to save a few bucks.

Treasure Hunt

I remember when I was a little kid going on a "Treasure Hunt" where items had been placed in a sand box and all the little kids had to dig around to find their treasures.

Digging for potatoes is a bit like that and "Oh, Boy" was I excited!

I went out about 6:30 this morning and pulled up the potato plants.  Look what popped up when I did that!

I was practically jumping up and down clapping my hands.

I stuck my head in the house and said to SM "You might wanna pop out here for a few minutes and see what comes out."  SM says that I was as excited as a little kid.  "Lookie!"  I pointed proudly.  "Is that cool or what!"

I got out my little kneeling mat and got to work.  After digging out the first few I ran into some rotten ones.  "Uh, oh."  This can't be good.  (I followed the John Jeavons method.  Which is basically stick a potato deep in the ground cover it up and see what happens.  No hilling required.)

"Phew"  nothing stinks worse than a rotten potato.  And they "pop" when you touch them.  Ugh.

It seems that I have a water line in my raised beds.  The top half was dry but the bottom half was damp.  The last time this bed got rain was about 6 days ago.  SM and I discussed this as I continued searching for potatoes.

SM "We always hilled ours.  We grew those great big white potatoes.  It was still easy to harvest them because of the hilling."

Me  "Well, that's what we'll be doing next time for sure."

When all was said and done, I had about 14 lbs of good potatoes.  Many were decent sized to very large, along with the handful of little pebble potatoes. 

I expect I had about 5 lbs of rotten potatoes though.  So around 20 lbs from 5 lbs of starter seed potatoes.  (I bought a 5 lb bag of organic Red Pontiac potato seed, plus a little 3 lb bag (close out sale) of Yukon Gold from Walmart.  Never buy your seed potatoes from Walmart.  Nothing much happened with those.)

So this was a fantastic learning experience.  I haven't even cooked these up yet but I know they'll taste better than any potato I've ever eaten.  I plan on using the "hilling" method of planting potatoes from now on. 

Can I use some of these potatoes and "reseed" another batch?  Or do I need to buy seed potatoes?

The High Ponytail

We've actually had some pretty decent temperatures this week...high 80's low 90's.  I'm sorry to see them go.  My garden is starting to do the afternoon "wilt" thing. 

We haven't seen anything yet though.  The 10 day is calling for temperatures hovering around 100 again.

When it gets this hot, it's time for the high ponytail.

You girl's know what I mean.  You just can't take the heat on the back of your neck anymore.  So up, up, UP it goes.  This ain't no ponytail hanging down your back.  This is the "I can't take it anymore" yank up on top of your head and you seriously start to consider a short haircut.  Maybe a pixie.

I can't do anything with the curly hair I've developed in my later years, so going short is not an option.  It's long and pulled up high for me.  (Hmmm....Maybe I should have called this post "Thinking About Your Short and Curlies?"&;)

SM got his military buzz cut a few weeks ago.  Slap some sunglasses on that man and I'm getting turned on!  "Yes, Mr Police Officer.  Anything you say!"

(Maybe I'm getting delusional in the heat...grin)  It's as good of an excuse as any.

Tomorrow, I'm planning on doing the potato harvest.  5 pounds in the ground to start.  I wonder what I'll pull up?  Placing bets?

Mid Season Observations

SM and I are already taking about expanding the gardens again this fall.

When we expanded this year, I wanted a few more raised beds but I mostly wanted to "double dig" a patch of ground, amend it with compost and see what would happen.  

Since I wanted to compare how things grew using the two different methods, I made sure I planted the same thing in both areas.  (Exception corn, winter squashes, melons and pumpkins. Those are just too aggressive for a raised bed.  As a matter fact the area they're currently in isn't large enough to contain them.  Hence the expansion discussion.)

Since our summer temperatures run a pretty consistent mid 90's, I've noticed that the heat loving plants are adapting very well to the raised beds AND the "double dig"areas.  But the "cooler" plants aren't liking the raised beds as much.

Take the green beans for example.  The beans in the ground are a deep healthy green and are blooming nicely.

The beans in the raised bed are more "pale" in color (same compost used) and have been attacked by bugs and fungus more.

There's maybe 10-12 feet separating the two patches but I can already tell that the beans in the ground will produce.  I'm not so sure the beans in the raised bed will.  SM thinks the roots are getting too hot.

I have cucumbers growing in the same raised bed as the beans.  They are a rich healthy green and are going bananas!  

I wasn't planning on pickling this year but now SM is encouraging me to give it a shot.  So they are loving the hotter soil where the beans don't.

The tomatoes and peppers in the raised beds set fruit at least two weeks ago. 

The tomatoes and the peppers that are in the ground are also doing well but are just now blooming and setting fruit.

Last year the zucchini and yellow summer squashes did fabulously in the raised beds.  This year its only OK production.  Lots of male flowers.  So I went and planted some extra in another raised bed and also in the ground.

The NC extension said I could "stagger" planting my beans (lima and green) until July.  I planted two packets in raised beds 2 weeks ago but only 20% came up.  Too hot?  Probably.

The long and the short of this post is that I don't think I want anymore raised beds.  I think we have enough.  I'll take one (maybe two) of my 5 raised beds and plant them with strawberries next year.  I keep my lettuces in a raised bed too.  And since I got stung last year with too much rain, I'll always have a raised bed or two for tomatoes and peppers (and now cucumbers). 

But moving forward, I think I'll stick with the double dig method when we expand again this fall.  It still utilizes some of the advantages of a raised bed, (as we add more and more compost and elevate the growing bed) but still allows the roots to get deeper down into the ground than the raised beds allow.  For a summer garden, cooler is better around here.  

For a fall/winter/spring garden, I'll stick to the raised beds of course.

OK...Now What?

My Red Pontiac potatoes are dying back. 

We don't eat a ton of potatoes around here, maybe once a week in the summer, so I'm very interested in curing and storing these to last for a few months.  If it were fall, I'd just leave them in the ground and harvest as needed but since it's the height of summer, I'm a little hesitant on how to proceed.

I've read that once the plants die back that you should leave them in the ground another two weeks to allow them to cure.  But does that apply if the temperature outside is in the mid 90's?  Granted...they're in soil, not straw so the temperature of the soil is a little cooler...but it's still a raised bed.

Once harvested, I've read that's it's:

OK to refrigerate/No, it's not OK to refrigerate them. 
Store them in the dark at 50-60 degrees/Store them at 40 degrees. 
Leave the dirt on/take the dirt off.

There's a lot of conflicting information out there.  So I'm asking you my gardening Goddesses...

What do you advise?

Stewed Fruit

I've never been really big into jams and jellies.  Too gooey.  Now I love preserves.  But a lot of recipes still want you to throw in pectin.  I've got nothing against adding pectin as a rule, it's just that I feel it's unnecessary for the small batches that I make.  I like to use stewed fruit as an alternative so I can use it as a topping on other deserts as well.

I found a really nice article on Why? Jams, Jellies and Pectin.  It does a really nice job explaining about pectin. 

SM is big into bagels and toast in the mornings and since he's Mr Buffet he's always on the lookout for different jams and jellies.  This past winter, (I kid you not), I must have had at least 6-8 different kinds of toppings in the fridge. 

This year I resolved to make small batches of "stewed fruit.  I've asked SM to watch the fruit at the farmers market and let me know what he'd like as a topping.  So far this year I've made strawberry and peach.  While both were a hit...we both noticed that the peach came out really sweet.

Now I use No Pectin Jam recipes from off the Internet.  I'm always amazed at how much sugar they want you to use.  I started to follow the recipe on the strawberry, but cut back the sugar and lemon by half, and I still think it had too much of a lemon aftertaste.  (SM says it's fine).

On the peach, I cut back on both the lemon and the sugar even more and while it didn't have that lemon taste,  ewww weee was it sweet!  Note to self, cooked peaches sweeten up, Wow!

Today I saw that the local market was advertising cherries for $2.99 a pound which was a dollar less than at Sams Club.  So I went and taste-tested...(I know, a lot of people hate seeing that at the market)...and I bought 5 pounds.  They were California Organic Cherries to boot.  Thank you California!

(*Conversation with Bambi at the market: Bambi: "Whatcha gonna do with that many cherries?"  Me "I turn 'em into preserves."  Bambi  "Don't they have seeds in 'em?"   Me "Yeah, pits...But you just take them out."  Bambi "Huh.  You gonna eat any fresh?"  Me "Sure.  But most of 'em I'll cook down.")

I kept 1 pound back for fresh eating and (as SM was sampling), I pitted 4 pounds of cherries, (my cuticles look like hell) and threw them in my heavy stock pot along with just 1/2 cup of sugar (They recommend 4 cups of sugar) and a little bit of lemon. 

I brought it up to a rolling boil and turning the heat down just a bit, I kept it at a boil for about 20-25 minutes.  You've got to stir it more as it cooks down.

Toss a plate into the freezer.  (You use that to check for the "gel" so you don't overcook it.)  You can tell when you're getting close when you make a pass with your stir, you see the bottom of the pan and the juice doesn't run back into the pass very quickly.  I take it off the heat, (but keeping the heat on in case it needs to cook more) and put a plop on the plate and stick it back into the freezer for about a minute.

Pull it out and swipe your finger through it.  If the swipe stays, it's gelled.  If not, back on the heat for another minute or two and repeat the process.

This looks good.  

It'll still seem a bit loose but it thickens up as it cools.  I didn't have any pint jars, so I boiled up a quart jar and plopped the fruit in that and sealed it.

(*I didn't do a water bath as this will stay in the fridge to be eaten over the summer months.  I'd process it if it was going on the shelf of course.)

4 pounds of cherries came down to a little over a quart of stewed fruit.  The sweetness was just right at a 1/2 a cup of sugar.  

The price tag for a quart of cherries? 12 bucks.  Perhaps a little indulgent but aren't cherries a special treat anyway?  That's why they're always on top of cheesecake.

(Oooo...Cheesecake!)

7 Minutes

I wonder how much rain you can get from a thunderstorm lasting 7 minutes?

It poured and then it sprinkled.

I'd have been happy with an hour of the stuff...but that's not how it works.

Here and then gone.  But we'll take what we can get and be grateful for it.

Sunday Buffet

*Sunday Buffet is my smorgasbord of random thoughts and observations.

*Ginny has adapted pretty well to being restricted.  She's a very smart dog and seems to understand that I only want her to walk and not run.  We're only 2 weeks into her house-arrest but I've already noticed that she's not doing the 3-legged thing (only rarely) and just for a moment when she first gets up.

*I've cut back on the length of my dog walks with Casey and Scooter.  Just 1 mile now.  But since I'm battling a middle aged spread, I've continued with an extra solo mile walk all on my own, which is weird (not having dogs pulling me along) but kinda nice.

I came across a box turtle this morning as I did my solo walk. 



He wanted to cross the road, so helped out a little.  He hissed and closed his doors when I picked him up.  I took him over to the other side so he wouldn't get smushed by a car.  As I admired his markings, I thought that it was a very good thing I didn't have the dogs.  Not that they could hurt him, just that they'd be a pain in the butt to manage and I wouldn't have had this nice moment...just me and a turtle.

*I've always been one of those people that could wake up and be ready to go in an instant.  Not so much anymore.  I've noticed this past year that I'm slower to wake up.  I usually make coffee for SM first thing.  I completely forgot this morning and just managed to get it made before he got up today.  My stem cells just aren't firing on all cylinders first thing anymore.  I could really use some caffene, in fact I'm craving a cola like you wouldn't believe.  I've sworn off the stuff as it's not good for my acid reflux.  Another development of being older.  Sigh.

*Sams Club had cherries yesterday.  3 pounds for $12.  Is that reasonable?  I didn't buy them thinking I'd look for some next time we go to the farmers market.  Cherry jam would be a yummy addition to the pantry.  I've noticed the prices going up again.  SM and I are grateful for the garden more than ever.  The lettuce has really slowed down, (I haven't picked in several days) and since SM and I love salads I sucked it up and bought some romaine while we were at Sams (sob).  But it's better than nothing.

*After 8 hours of thunder we finally got some rain yesterday.  Maybe a 1/4 of an inch.  Disappointing for sure but we have another chance for some rain today so send your rain to me, guys...I'm happy to take it off your hands!

SM's hinting at some breakfast so I'm off for now!  Toodles!

The "Bubble"

The last time we had any rain here was two weeks ago.  A real nice soaking rain. 

Since then there have storms all around us, but nothing falls...We're in "The Bubble."

I'm sure you've all been in "The Bubble" from time to time.  Sometimes the bubble is dry, sometimes wet, sometimes cold, sometimes hot.

SM was watching the radar last night.  We grab each others hands, jumping for joy!  Here it comes, yep almost here....Then nothing.  Nothing!

"Oh, Man!!!  Skunked again!"

We've been feeling like Moses has come to visit.

I can just envision it.  SM standing on the front porch, golf club in hand...



And the clouds part.  The sun comes out. 

"Hey!  Stop that!  We need this rain.  The garden is developing cracks!"

(I'm going to hell, I just know it....grin)

Late Strawberries, Early Peaches

SM was in South Carolina last week and buzzed by Gaffney as he was coming home on I 85.  Gaffney SC has outlet stores (if you're into that sorta thing) and all sorts of "I'm tired of being on the road and I need a break" shops.  

It's also the home of the big peach.

They turned a water tower into a peach.  Looks really impressive too. Lots of peach orchards in Gaffeny.

Phone rings:

"Hey Baby" Me

"Hey"  SM 

Southerners don't say Hi or Hello they say Hey.  I only say "Hi" when I'm meeting someone new.  After that it's always "Hey".  I'm kinda big on "baby" too.  But that's just me.

"I'm down here in Gaffney and they've got strawberries for sale."  (SM knew I hadn't gone picking this year.  Who knew that my favorite U-Pick farm started picking early April and had finished up by Easter?)

"Really?  How much?"  Me

"$12 for a gallon.  They look really good!" SM

"OK get me a couple." Me

"They've got peaches too." SM

"Too early." Me.  (Last year I was putting peaches up mid July.)

"But they look really good, smell good too." SM

"They're pushing the season.  If you can taste them and they're good, OK.  But I'd wait."  (I always taste produce before I buy, I've gotten stung too many times.)

SM brought home 3 gallons of strawberries (shockingly good) and the peaches.  The berries I froze (and we're also eating fresh) but the peaches were hard as rocks so I stuck them in a brown paper bag for about 6 days.

Today I went ahead and slid them into boiling water to loosen the skins and then cut off what I could for fresh eating.  They were still pretty hard midway to the pit, so I decided to make peach jam with the "firmer" part of the fruit.

(I need to assume that everything is coming in a bit earlier than normal this year.  I may be putting up peaches sooner than I think.)

"What do you think we spent on strawberries this year?"  (5 gallons at $12 each = $60) Me

"Maybe we should reconsider and put in a raised bed of strawberries.  Can we still do it this year?"  SM

"I don't think so.  Too hot.  It'd be best if we put them in early spring.  I can buy them from the seed catalogs."

So now we're reconsidering having a strawberry patch.

(You've come a long way, Baby...)

Boys Are Made of Greasy Grimey Gopher Guts

When I was a sweet young thing, I didn't care too much for boys.  Girls ruled! ("Naaalh" tongue sticking out.)

SM found this the other day and stuck it on the fridge.

What a cutie!

SM says "The pot belly hasn't changed too much" and I said "Budda Happy"  giving his belly a rub.

If I was a little girl and met this little boy I'm sure we'd be fast friends.  

And then I'd clobber him.

Lett-uce Please Consider

It's a mystery to me.  

 
I'm STILL harvesting lettuce.  I started harvesting lettuce on April 15th.  (I had direct sowed on March 14th)  We've had plenty of hot weather but I see no sign of bolting yet.  We're forecast to hit 97 today and have been in the 90's more or less for the past 2 weeks.

Now I'm not complaining, rather I'd like to figure out what I did, so I can do it again.  (grin) 

Besides planting varieties that were more heat tolerant, I also planted on the farthest "east" side of the bed and put potatoes beside it.  I had wondered if the potatoes were helping to shade the lettuce from the late afternoon sun, but it doesn't seem to be the case.  They get sun pretty much all day.  The potatoes are starting to flop over and die back so if that's the secret, then we'll find out pretty soon.

I harvested 6 yellow straight neck summer squash yesterday.  (Sorry no pic)  I steamed them up with butter and salt and pepper.  Simple and yummy.  SM and I scarffed those up in one night.

I do have a few patty pans starting to form up.  

Lots of male flowers so far.  I've never grown patty pans so I'm kind of excited to see and taste what happens.  There's something about yellow summer squashes that I love.  I think they are sweeter than zucchini.  I've planted LOTS of yellow squash this year.  Only 2 zucchini.

Since the pea harvest is complete, I direct sowed a bed of lima beans (new for me) on Saturday along with another bed of green and yellow bush beans.  I had a few empty spaces in one of the landing strips so I thought I'd plant some more butternut squash and a second planting of yellow straight and patty pans.

So now every inch of the garden is being put to use...as it should be.  SM and I drove by a small homestead we know that has a stand out front (not open yet) and his garden is beside the road.  His tomatoes are HUGE and you can see the fruit from the road.  SM says the he had his tomatoes in the ground mid April.  I didn't have the guts to do that but I feel better knowing that he's got me beat by a month.  Our tomatoes are flowering and are just starting to put out fruit. 

The green peppers are still behind.  Flowers but no fruit yet.  The cucumbers and pumpkins are starting to vine.  The melons are still small but look promising.

Moon and Stars Watermelon (Baker Creek)

Enjoy your day!