Now...where was I ???

 Such a week it has been.  And I'm hung up on the computer this morning, accomplishing nothing that I had hoped to...but I'm tired today. Emotionally exhausted, so I'm cutting myself a little slack here. The service last night for my nephew went off relatively well...a few fireworks, but we got there just after those, so I didn't have to witness any of it. (Thank you, God.)   I got home a little before 9 , I think.  The rest of the family went out to eat afterwards, but we ate before we went, so we came home, since both of my guys had to get up at 5 AM.  It was okay with me.

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  It rained last night/early this morning. When I went out to tend the chickens, everything was all damp and good smelling.  After the watering/feeding/trying to decide if I need to clean the coop this morning (the answer, you'll be glad to note, was NO)  I wandered around a little and did my morning garden check. Came in with about 5 tomatoes.. The new green beans are about 3 inches tall, and the radishes are looking good. The spinach and lettuces are coming up nicely. Carrots are starting to show, and himself got the kale in Saturday evening. Still have to plant the beets, and haven't been able to find any parsnip seeds. So...that might not happen, unless I order them online.  Still up for debate.  I did notice that there are about 5 or 6 more smallish, (but growing) butternuts out there, to add to the 13 we already harvested.  It's been cool this last week, and the tomatoes (there are lots of them on the vines) are not ripening very quickly.  That's okay, as I have plenty to do. lol

  I have been researching how to harvest the lemon grass. I can use the tops for tea, which is a VERY beneficial tea. Antioxidant, antinflammatory, detoxifier...read more here:  

http://planetwell.com/lemongrass-health-benefits-and-healing-properties/   

   And I'm going to dry some of the stalks as well, to use in cooking. The plants did really well here...this past summer was a good one for tropical plants. lol  Then the experiment will be this: one plant will be cut low to the ground and  heavily mulched and left to see if it will come back next year.  And just in case it will not...the other plant will be dug up and potted and brought in the house for the winter.  Hedging my bets, as it were...because it really is not that easy to find lemon grass plants. I lucked out at a farmers market and found a guy with one pot, who says he grows them every year. I snatched it up. lol

  Tonight for supper, I am making  a coconut Thai noodle and lemon grass dish and spring rolls. I bought wrappers yesterday and some mung bean sprouts. I usually sprout my own, but this was last minute and ...well...I have a lot going on right now that's taking up almost all my kitchen counter space.  LOL   I'll take pictures and post them.

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  I'm feeling particularly motivated to work  on my house today, so maybe I'll really get some stuff done.

  On the big screen at the service last night, my nephew and brother had done a beautiful montage of photographs of my nephew..one of them was at my house at Thanksgiving last year, and we had a pic of all the boy cousins together. You could really see the beautiful walls...and I thought--WOW! I really like how that turned out!!  lol  Several people commented on it too. Let's see if I have that pic in my archives...hmmm..don't see it. Maybe it's some where else though...I'll have to look later. Wait--here it is:

 ...and this isn't all of them either....(oops).

  Anyway...I had a big old bowl of granola this morning,. all glopped up with plain yogurt and bananas. Finishing my coffee now. Had a long phone call from a friend. 

  Not a bad way to start a day....

Namaste.

I am so tired tonight....

Busy, busy morning. Errands to run, beans to can...

 Tomatoes to dice and can...

 Busy time of year.

 My son was at a job today and got himself stung when he grabbed a hornets nest that was behind a fascia board on the house. He said he thought he was going to pass out. The lady he was working for gave him a benadryl and he lay on the cold basement floor for a little while. He said he isn't usually allergic, but maybe he got stung more than once. He's not sure. He seems to be fine now, except for his cartoon sized hand. When he was finished working for the day, he picked around 30 gallons of peaches for me from this same woman's trees. They're small, but look fairly good. Sigh...guess we know what I'll be doing tomorrow... I'm grateful--don't get me wrong.  I'm just tired. The hardest part is finding a way to sit so that I don't have to stand the whole time I'm peeling and slicing and dicing. I have a tall stool that goes to my island and I use that, but it still isn't quite comfortable.

  

  Guess I owe that boy of mine a peach pie....

  

    Wanted to stop in tonight, because I will going full tilt tomorrow and probably not have any time to get on here until after I get back from MissB's house at 9PM.   On Thursday I am going to a friends house to do corn for the freezer. I am off that day (hallelujah!) On Friday morning, I am going to visit another friends new house for the first time. So,. I need to find the perfect housewarming gift to take with me. It might be a gift basket, filled with homemade goodies and Useful Stuff. hmmmm.....

  

    Sweet dreams all.  I'll be back tomorrow.

   

  

  

Namaste.

Wednesday is my new friday...

   This is one of my Egyptian walking onions.  They are all beautifully coming to heads and twirly-whirlies, getting ready to put down roots and make more plants. The spinach has bolted, which means that it too thinks it's time to go seed.This is really the first part of the growing season in the central part of the country, but the weather has been way goofy, first cold too long, then very hot, then cool again...then we limped into spring and now the trends are a little more normal, except for way too much rain. Lots of growing things out there, and mostly adapting well to the goofiness. It was 95 yesterday, and only gonna hit about 78 today. Okay by me...I opened all the windows and turned on all the fans.  Blow out the stink and energize the house with the sweet smells of honeysuckle  and all manner of goodness.

 These are flowering Red Pontiac potatoes. My favorite potato in the whole world. Except for the fingerling Ruby Crescents.  We have about a 25 ft bed of these babies. They don't overwinter as well as the white potatoes or russets do, but we almost always manage to get them all eaten before we lose too many to rot.  I don't think I had to buy potatoes this past season until about April. And then I have only bought maybe 15 pounds, because I do still have sweet potatoes left, and am using them more and more.

  One of my 'maters.  I have a dozen plants that will be used for salsa and sauces and good ole diced tomatoes and okra.  (And yes, there are a dozen okra plants as well).  Not sure, but this might be the Nebraska wedding tomato.  Never seen it before, just liked the name, lol  I have a tray full of eggshells dried and ready to go around the base of the plants. Hopefully tomorrow or Friday I'll get that done. I have the gallon jar of voodoo juice sitting out on the back porch in the sun...cooking.  It's full of dried jalapenos, onions and onion skins, garlic and garlic skins and cayenne and dish soap. And water. It'll be ready to spray by Friday, and I'll give those squash bugs what for.

  And finally, this is my pepper bed. It has several kinds of bell peppers and 6 jalapeno peppers as well.  Someone (who obviously doesn't know me) asked me recently why on earth I had vegetables growing in my front lawn. I sweetly replied that it was for the same reason I had fruit trees growing in my front lawn. Because it's stupid not to. I have some great areas hither and yon around my place that are perfect for growing. I take advantage of that. My front "lawn" also has blackberries. And peaches. And apples and cherries.

  I don't need no stinking lawn.


  I have some marinara bubbling away in the kitchen, with the last 10 meatballs from the last batch I made soaking up the sauce. I'll quick cook a little pasta and the Irishman can have spaghetti and meatballs for his supper. I put lots of onions and garlic and bell peppers and basil and oregano in it and the smells permeating my little house are heavenly. There's the leftovers from the big salad I made yesterday in the fridge and that should satisfy his manly appetite.  lol  Maybe this weekend I'll make a big batch of meatballs and get them in the freezer, as I love having them to fall back on. The recipe I use (sort of) is on my food blog. I am quite guilty of not writing there for over a year. I need to get busy.

  Alrighty then. It's about time for me to finish up the odds and ends that are going on here and get ready to take the ride down to MissB's house for the evening. Then I'll have 2 days off and I'll love every minute of being at home, piddling in my gardens, and cooking. The Irishman is taking a trip up to see his dad in Wisconsin this weekend, so I'll be on my own for a few days.

  Well...on my own with 2 dogs and 8 cats and 5 chickens and a dozen fish and my cockatiel.

  Enjoy your blessings!



Namaste.