Wally hasn't taken his phone off the farm yet so none of the pictures I've been taking have been sent to my phone. Boooooo! I have some really good ones I wanted to share with you but it looks like they'll have to await my return from FL.
On the way home from work, I was asked to bring beer. This meant finding a store on the way that wouldn't charge an arm and a leg (although 1/2 a big fat thigh would happily be donated...lol) for two 12 packs. We had company at the house - Curt, who had been doing fence repairs all day and his wife and daughter. You already know who I'm talking about. So I pulled into this store parking lot where the only signs posted are "Ice Cold Beer" and "Live Bait." Sounds like a good place, right?
There aren't many options and since they did advertise Ice Cold Beer, what choice did I have? The parking lot was full. There were guys/farmers/construction workers/red-necks/hillbillies, old trucks, a kid on a bike, a Pepsi delivery truck and lil ol' me. Nice. And I'm buying two 12 packs of "Ice Cold Beer." I was feeling pretty darn popular at that moment I must say. One guy opened the door for me, another one offered to carry the "Ice Cold Beer" to the counter for me and another one offered to let me take his place in line. True, true, true I swear! They were so nice and polite I felt like a princess, well maybe I wouldn't go that far... but you get my point.
I don't really get nervous in those situations, I just don't like standing out in the crowd. I'm more of a behind the scenes person. In this instance, I totally stood out in the crowd whether I liked it or not. It just goes to show, you can't judge a book by its cover. The "Ice Cold Beer" was kind of pricey but the service by far made up for it. I won't even mind stopping there again should I be asked. On down the road I went :)
To my complete surprise, the guys had already brought Jimbo to the house. If you didn't read yesterday's post, you'll need to in order to see who I'm talking about.! He had already been introduced to the horses and was happily grazing his way around the yard, the outdoor kitchen, the driveway, everywhere he could find grass. He never lifted his head while I was watching him - nope, just kept on eating. That's exactly what he needs to do too because he is really, really skinny. I'm a little worried about leaving him to come down there but Wally says he'll be fine. He's already better off than he was. Through no fault of their own, his owners just didn't have what he needed to get him back in shape. I hope we do.
We visited with Curt and family for a little while and we watched comedy central, some hilarious guy was on there. He cracked us up but I don't remember his name. Our company loaded up and left us about 4:30ish. I went and brought my clothes in off the line and started making dinner. I seasoned the rabbit with some bbq rub and then browned it on the stove top. I poured a little beer into the pan and covered it and put it in the oven for about 30 minutes. It was a little too long in the oven as some pieces were a little dry. The pieces I had were tender and juicy but Wally said his were kind of dry. It did make a perfect gravy on its own though, so he just dunked his pieces into that and it was all good.
I steamed some of the Napa cabbage from the CSA basket with some scallions and added a can of red kidney beans to it. We both loved it! It was a totally impromptu throw-together that worked out really well. We talked about using pinto beans next time... this little discovery just opens up a whole new world for me. Woo Hoo!
I guess I'm getting anxious about the trip because I woke up at 3:30 this morning and couldn't get back to sleep. I got out of bed at 4:00 and was dressed and out the door by 4:45. That included shaving! Not bad at all. I'm not even sure Wally heard me leave. He was working in that heat for most of the day yesterday and was really exhausted from it so he was sleeping good when I left.
This morning he wormed the horses, which entails shooting some apple-tasting juice down their throats, gave them the remaining sweet feed and then him and Curt finished the fence repairs. If only I was off work today, I could have us already packed and ready to hit the road. Oh well, that'll come later on.
As I headed out, I looked for Jimbo to see how he was doing after his first night on the farm but he was nowhere to be seen. It's a good thing for him that I feel sorry for him because he ate the top of one of my tomato plants! ugh!! It may come back because the stem is pretty thick and it was one of the taller plants. It still has leaves - just no top. I'm 100% sure it was him because Smokey and Rebel would have already eaten all of the plants since they've been mowing freely all along. Now that I think about it, I didn't see Smokey or Rebel this morning. They are almost always somewhere in the front yard or along the driveway when I leave for work. Maybe it was too early for them!
I asked Claudia to pick up my CSA basket for me this Monday since I'll be out of town. She was more than happy to oblige and I told her to eat out of it anything she thought might go bad before I get back. She said she was looking forward to seeing what all comes in the basket. It really is a basket too - a tan colored, woven one with a metal handle. Again, the picture will have to wait... darn it.
Yes, it's a little strange thinking about going to FL for vacation... all these years I've come to TN for vacation and it's finally the other way around. Pretty cool. Well, actually, it's pretty hot everywhere you go these days... ha ha!
The weekend we get back, we're having a 4th of July cook-out. We're putting that outdoor kitchen to use, aren't we? I think we're just going to have bbq chicken this time around and whatever else everyone decides to bring. I'm planning on a fruit salad since the blackberries should be in by then and also so I don't have to worry with mayo going bad in the heat. Ew that's nasty. Of course you're welcome to come join us. Just give me some notice so I can plan for you :)
It's not hard to plan for someone...basically I show you where your room is and your bathroom down the hall. Unless you're Dizzy Debbie and we all know where her room is... ha ha! Smokers smoke outside and it's preferred that you drink from cans rather than bottles so we don't have to clean up glass when it breaks. And it does. All the time. That's just the cold, hard truth of it and I have no idea why. lol
I found a new website today that is pretty darn interesting. Well, to me it is. It's called The Pioneer Woman and it can be found at http://www.thepioneerwoman.com/. Ree is the lady's name and she has all kinds of stuff on the site from living on a ranch, to raising 4 kids, home-schooling, photography, cooking (including a cookbook) and managing everything in the world. She refers to the kids as punks (I should tell her about the twerps!) and to her husband as the Marlboro Man. She fell in love with a cowboy and moved from the city to the farm and has been there ever since. Her story is on the website. The way she writes is pretty funny - I enjoy reading it. Her cooking isn't as wholesome and nourishing as Jenny's cooking at The Nourished Kitchen but she has good pictures and good directions along with the recipes. Let me know what you think.
Sorry the blog is short today but I gotta get outta here, get home, get packed, get on the road, get down there to see YOU!!
"Tis easy enough to be pleasant, when life flows along like a song; but the person worth while is the one who will smile when everything goes dead wrong." - Ella Wheeler Wilcox
Friday, June 25, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Getting everything together for the trip down...
I still don't know exactly what day we will arrive in FL but you'll know as soon as we get there! I'm sure we'll end up at the club if it's not too late and we aren't too tired from the drive.
Yesterday morning, leaving the farm, a big deer crossed the driveway right in front of me. I wasn't going fast and it wasn't in a hurry to get out of the way either. We both just stopped for a second and looked at each other then the deer moved off to my right and started grazing. It was dark still so I may have missed it but Wally said when he got up and looked out the window, there was a doe and a fawn in the same area. I didn't see the fawn but I'll be on the look-out from now on :) I'm just glad to see them back in the yard because for a while there, we weren't seeing any. The day Debbie got here, one ran across the driveway up by the first gate. Until yesterday, that was the only one I had seen. I see them on the way to work but not on the farm.
They sure are a whole lot bigger here - man, I can't wait to have one in the freezer. lol Venison is good eating, it's low in fat and high in protein. We are definitely getting a cow, maybe even two. Curt is coming over today to help mend the fences that were damaged in the flood. Once that is done the cows can come home.
For those of you who have been here, remember the red gate down at the entrance where the bridge is? The one by Randy's house? Well, there was another gate sorta beside that one but down further towards the creek...anyway, that gate was carried up over the driveway and over the bridge where it lodged against the trees that were carried before it. The guys are going to get it back in place too.
We'll be able to bring the cows home and let the horses go back down to the lower pastures where they can eat all the grass they want and they'll have access to the creek for water. Otherwise, we couldn't both come to FL because someone would have to stay and make sure the water bucket is filled. It's so hot these days, we're having to fill it twice a day.
Curt and Beverly are the couple we went fishing with. They have a horse that's about 25 years old. He was badly neglected by his owners so Curt and Beverly took him home with them in the hopes of getting him back in shape. His name is Jimbo. Wally took me to see him yesterday when we picked up the dressed rabbits (little tuxedos are so cute...ha ha!) and we offered to let them put Jimbo on our property. They have the room for him but not enough grass. He is literally skin and bones. It's so sad to see and we're all hoping he'll do better with access to more grass than he could ever imagine.
He'll eventually get sweet feed too but Wally says we can't start him out on it. We have to get him healthier first. I just hope Rebel and Smokey don't get their noses out of joint having a new guy around. Wally will be the one making the introductions - not me, I'll just be a bystander. Jimbo comes right up to you and lets you pet him without even bribing him with food. Poor guy. He looks like those horses you see being rescued on Animal Planet. I'll keep you posted on him and the cows as soon as we have them all.
I'm bringing the cilantro and onions with me to FL so I can make some salsa. From what I hear Dizzy Debbie can supply me with all the tomatoes I can use - very cool! I'm also bringing some of the Napa cabbage. I have enough for cole slaw, steaming, and even cabbage rolls if I so choose. We'll be staying at my house so I'm sure Tammy Jo won't mind me using her cookware. She knows I know how to take care of it. Even though she does sometimes neglect her cutting board... I have no doubt in my mind that Bud won't have a problem with me cooking for him! That man can eat some food I tell ya! He's like a bottomless pit.
The turnips from the basket were very good as were the beets. I boiled the turnips in chicken broth (of the homemade sort, of course) and then seasoned them with salt, pepper and a little butter. Nothing to it. They did seem to be missing something and Mom suggested adding carrots next time. I'm thinking carrots and peas too. I may have mentioned that I love peas. The beets boiled for about 1/2 hour so they would be good and tender. They didn't need seasoning at all, they were just so good. I had enough left over to put on my lunch salad the next day. You should have seen my fingers after peeling them! They were red as a beet... ha ha ha ha ha pun intended!
My pot roast was a flop. It was so tough I couldn't eat it. Wally shredded it and we put it back in the crock-pot with some of the leftover turnips and kale. I made a gravy with the juice and we let it go over night. I haven't tried it yet to see if we were able to salvage it. Although it was pricey, I'm thinking I'll go back to the grass-fed roast I bought at the Farmer's Market. That was a wonderfully tender, juicy, I could go so far as to say succulent, roast. I had a feeling the store bought one just wouldn't hold up to it and it didn't.
The kale was sauteed in butter and garlic and I added some black pepper. I never had kale before and didn't know what to expect. It is kind of like a collard green in texture but it has a taste all its own. I'm going to use my next bunch of kale in a soup. I love soup and have some really good recipes for it, but we'll save that whole subject matter for when colder weather comes. It's too hot to think about it now, although this building is pretty cold. I wear my gray jacket all the time when I'm at work.
Back to the rabbits. The guy who sells them is taller than Wally. It's always so strange to me when that happens I guess because it doesn't happen often. He seemed like a pretty nice guy to be doing all that rabbit slaughtering... lol He does have domestic rabbits for sale if you want to just have a pet or if you want to raise your own stock. Like I told Kris, killing a rabbit is just not my thing - too little reward for all the work you have to do. Eating a rabbit, no problemo. In fact, that's what we're having for dinner tonight.
I'll just season them up with some adobo (of course) and black pepper and brown them in a skillet. I'm thinking the Wolfgang Puck skillet... They'll get topped with some fresh thyme from the garden and into the oven they go. I'd cook them on the grill but it's so darn hot outside I just don't feel like going there. Too bad, it's a really nice outdoor kitchen! Daryl has the stonework on the front almost finished. He's supposed to come today to work on it.
The first time I had rabbit was at the Oriole's. We had some leftover from meat bingo I think. Anyway, I cut it into pieces and seasoned it and Bill Hollihan cooked it on the big grill out by the gazebo. We were still in the old building then. Well, he brought it in and we were all eating it and I saw that Neccy and Jack were there. I brought her a piece and she said "no, no, no Darcy, I'm not eating rabbit." I stuffed a piece in her mouth and she made a beeline for more. She loved it. I'm pretty sure she gave Jack some but don't bet on it... LOL
My mystery plants are in decline as well as the lilies. The lilies are still flowering but only a couple a day as opposed to 20 or 30 a day when they first got started. I can't plant anything until we get back from FL but I'm thinking about putting hydrangeas in as a backdrop to the lilies. They don't bloom at the same time so I'll have flowers for months. The horses deposited some fertilizer by the step for me so all I have to do is rake it in - how nice of them :)
Ernie's momma called me the other night. I was in the middle of getting a shower and forgot to call her back. She lives in Missouri and Wally tells me it's about an 8 hour drive from here. I'd love to go visit one of these days. She's such a sweet lady. Next time she comes to town, you'll have to meet her if you haven't already. She came up to play meat bingo on one of her trips. Remember that perpetual list I have running? I have her on it so I can remember to call her back. I have plenty of time while I'm driving home but there's no guarantee of coverage on the way.
I'm looking forward to visiting with everyone but I'm sure not looking forward to the traffic. I'm pretty sure the good old road rage will come back in full force shortly after we get on the interstate. Driving through Atlanta will bring it all back to me!
One other good thing about the trip, Teri saved a German tomato plant for me that Jay forgot to bring up when he came for the cookout over Memorial Day. I'll be able to pick it up on the way back and plant it when we get home. I grew one of these a couple years ago. I don't know if you remember it or not. The plant got about 6 feet tall and the tomatoes were about as big as the palm of my hand. It completely outgrew the cage and I had to tie it to the tree branch to keep it upright.
Okay everybody, the time has come for me to leave you for the day. As these days have gone by it's been fun writing about my antics or the lack thereof. You'll be jonesing when I'm in FL because I'm not planning on updating the blog. With the limited time I'll be there, I doubt I'll have time to get on a computer. I'll try for one last update tomorrow but just in case - I'll be back July 6th with plenty to say :)
"Maybe a person's time would be as well spent raising food as raising money to buy food." ~Frank A. Clark
Yesterday morning, leaving the farm, a big deer crossed the driveway right in front of me. I wasn't going fast and it wasn't in a hurry to get out of the way either. We both just stopped for a second and looked at each other then the deer moved off to my right and started grazing. It was dark still so I may have missed it but Wally said when he got up and looked out the window, there was a doe and a fawn in the same area. I didn't see the fawn but I'll be on the look-out from now on :) I'm just glad to see them back in the yard because for a while there, we weren't seeing any. The day Debbie got here, one ran across the driveway up by the first gate. Until yesterday, that was the only one I had seen. I see them on the way to work but not on the farm.
They sure are a whole lot bigger here - man, I can't wait to have one in the freezer. lol Venison is good eating, it's low in fat and high in protein. We are definitely getting a cow, maybe even two. Curt is coming over today to help mend the fences that were damaged in the flood. Once that is done the cows can come home.
For those of you who have been here, remember the red gate down at the entrance where the bridge is? The one by Randy's house? Well, there was another gate sorta beside that one but down further towards the creek...anyway, that gate was carried up over the driveway and over the bridge where it lodged against the trees that were carried before it. The guys are going to get it back in place too.
We'll be able to bring the cows home and let the horses go back down to the lower pastures where they can eat all the grass they want and they'll have access to the creek for water. Otherwise, we couldn't both come to FL because someone would have to stay and make sure the water bucket is filled. It's so hot these days, we're having to fill it twice a day.
Curt and Beverly are the couple we went fishing with. They have a horse that's about 25 years old. He was badly neglected by his owners so Curt and Beverly took him home with them in the hopes of getting him back in shape. His name is Jimbo. Wally took me to see him yesterday when we picked up the dressed rabbits (little tuxedos are so cute...ha ha!) and we offered to let them put Jimbo on our property. They have the room for him but not enough grass. He is literally skin and bones. It's so sad to see and we're all hoping he'll do better with access to more grass than he could ever imagine.
He'll eventually get sweet feed too but Wally says we can't start him out on it. We have to get him healthier first. I just hope Rebel and Smokey don't get their noses out of joint having a new guy around. Wally will be the one making the introductions - not me, I'll just be a bystander. Jimbo comes right up to you and lets you pet him without even bribing him with food. Poor guy. He looks like those horses you see being rescued on Animal Planet. I'll keep you posted on him and the cows as soon as we have them all.
I'm bringing the cilantro and onions with me to FL so I can make some salsa. From what I hear Dizzy Debbie can supply me with all the tomatoes I can use - very cool! I'm also bringing some of the Napa cabbage. I have enough for cole slaw, steaming, and even cabbage rolls if I so choose. We'll be staying at my house so I'm sure Tammy Jo won't mind me using her cookware. She knows I know how to take care of it. Even though she does sometimes neglect her cutting board... I have no doubt in my mind that Bud won't have a problem with me cooking for him! That man can eat some food I tell ya! He's like a bottomless pit.
The turnips from the basket were very good as were the beets. I boiled the turnips in chicken broth (of the homemade sort, of course) and then seasoned them with salt, pepper and a little butter. Nothing to it. They did seem to be missing something and Mom suggested adding carrots next time. I'm thinking carrots and peas too. I may have mentioned that I love peas. The beets boiled for about 1/2 hour so they would be good and tender. They didn't need seasoning at all, they were just so good. I had enough left over to put on my lunch salad the next day. You should have seen my fingers after peeling them! They were red as a beet... ha ha ha ha ha pun intended!
My pot roast was a flop. It was so tough I couldn't eat it. Wally shredded it and we put it back in the crock-pot with some of the leftover turnips and kale. I made a gravy with the juice and we let it go over night. I haven't tried it yet to see if we were able to salvage it. Although it was pricey, I'm thinking I'll go back to the grass-fed roast I bought at the Farmer's Market. That was a wonderfully tender, juicy, I could go so far as to say succulent, roast. I had a feeling the store bought one just wouldn't hold up to it and it didn't.
The kale was sauteed in butter and garlic and I added some black pepper. I never had kale before and didn't know what to expect. It is kind of like a collard green in texture but it has a taste all its own. I'm going to use my next bunch of kale in a soup. I love soup and have some really good recipes for it, but we'll save that whole subject matter for when colder weather comes. It's too hot to think about it now, although this building is pretty cold. I wear my gray jacket all the time when I'm at work.
Back to the rabbits. The guy who sells them is taller than Wally. It's always so strange to me when that happens I guess because it doesn't happen often. He seemed like a pretty nice guy to be doing all that rabbit slaughtering... lol He does have domestic rabbits for sale if you want to just have a pet or if you want to raise your own stock. Like I told Kris, killing a rabbit is just not my thing - too little reward for all the work you have to do. Eating a rabbit, no problemo. In fact, that's what we're having for dinner tonight.
I'll just season them up with some adobo (of course) and black pepper and brown them in a skillet. I'm thinking the Wolfgang Puck skillet... They'll get topped with some fresh thyme from the garden and into the oven they go. I'd cook them on the grill but it's so darn hot outside I just don't feel like going there. Too bad, it's a really nice outdoor kitchen! Daryl has the stonework on the front almost finished. He's supposed to come today to work on it.
The first time I had rabbit was at the Oriole's. We had some leftover from meat bingo I think. Anyway, I cut it into pieces and seasoned it and Bill Hollihan cooked it on the big grill out by the gazebo. We were still in the old building then. Well, he brought it in and we were all eating it and I saw that Neccy and Jack were there. I brought her a piece and she said "no, no, no Darcy, I'm not eating rabbit." I stuffed a piece in her mouth and she made a beeline for more. She loved it. I'm pretty sure she gave Jack some but don't bet on it... LOL
My mystery plants are in decline as well as the lilies. The lilies are still flowering but only a couple a day as opposed to 20 or 30 a day when they first got started. I can't plant anything until we get back from FL but I'm thinking about putting hydrangeas in as a backdrop to the lilies. They don't bloom at the same time so I'll have flowers for months. The horses deposited some fertilizer by the step for me so all I have to do is rake it in - how nice of them :)
Ernie's momma called me the other night. I was in the middle of getting a shower and forgot to call her back. She lives in Missouri and Wally tells me it's about an 8 hour drive from here. I'd love to go visit one of these days. She's such a sweet lady. Next time she comes to town, you'll have to meet her if you haven't already. She came up to play meat bingo on one of her trips. Remember that perpetual list I have running? I have her on it so I can remember to call her back. I have plenty of time while I'm driving home but there's no guarantee of coverage on the way.
I'm looking forward to visiting with everyone but I'm sure not looking forward to the traffic. I'm pretty sure the good old road rage will come back in full force shortly after we get on the interstate. Driving through Atlanta will bring it all back to me!
One other good thing about the trip, Teri saved a German tomato plant for me that Jay forgot to bring up when he came for the cookout over Memorial Day. I'll be able to pick it up on the way back and plant it when we get home. I grew one of these a couple years ago. I don't know if you remember it or not. The plant got about 6 feet tall and the tomatoes were about as big as the palm of my hand. It completely outgrew the cage and I had to tie it to the tree branch to keep it upright.
Okay everybody, the time has come for me to leave you for the day. As these days have gone by it's been fun writing about my antics or the lack thereof. You'll be jonesing when I'm in FL because I'm not planning on updating the blog. With the limited time I'll be there, I doubt I'll have time to get on a computer. I'll try for one last update tomorrow but just in case - I'll be back July 6th with plenty to say :)
"Maybe a person's time would be as well spent raising food as raising money to buy food." ~Frank A. Clark
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
It is just plain old hot everywhere!
I have my weather report set to show me the weather for Nunnelly, TN (91 degrees), Altamonte Springs, FL (90), Atlanta, GA (92) and Tucson, AZ (96). Now those are some very high temperatures! Keep drinking lots of water and stay inside whenever possible. Jeez, what happened to the 70's? lol They have emergency stations set up here, around town, where people can go and get water and cool off in the air conditioning.
Still it doesn't seem to have the same effect on everyone. I can't stay out very long without tons of sunscreen, gallons of water, sunglasses and even a hat if I must. I don't care for hats but I'll wear one if it's that hot. Then again, I imagine I'll wear one when it's THAT cold too... lol
Wally can go with some sunscreen and a hat and that's about it. He gets hot but not like I do. We definitely have our a/c on during the day now. We can still turn it off at night but daytime - no way.
Since we haven't had any rain, the garden has been getting watered by me with the good old garden hose. It goes from the middle of the backside of the cabin, all the way around to the front and then out to where the vegetable garden is. Since that doesn't really tell you how long of a hose it is, suffice it to say that it's a long, long ways around and out to the veggie garden... lol Well, some of you know how it is.
Southwest has round-trip flights from Orlando to Nashville for $79.00 each way plus the service fees. You can't fly on Fridays or Sundays but the special runs from 9/8/10 - 11/17/10. I just thought you might be interested since you can't even drive for that cheap with gas prices being what they are. It's typically a 2 hour flight. No excuses for not coming to visit :)
My tomatoes are about a foot tall, maybe a couple of them are a foot and a half. The squash and cucumbers have their second round of flowers and are beginning to spread out more. They are becoming more defined but I still don't know which is which. The flowers are different and the leaf size is different too. We shall see!
My basket was so pretty this week! We took a picture of it with Wally's phone and as soon as I get it, I'll post it. We got another head of Napa cabbage, more kale, another head of broccoli, a bunch of cilantro (woo hoo!!!), some scallions, a head of lettuce and 5 big white turnips. Oh me, oh my, was I ever excited! I steamed the broccoli the first night and ate it right up. I already ate the lettuce today for lunch - I couldn't resist. It was just a small head. According to the farmer, the lettuce has begun to bolt. I'm not sure what that means other than that I won't get anymore of that particular type. I think it's just too hot now.
The rest will be cooked before I leave to come down there or I'll bring what I can with me. Some of it will keep until I get back. It doesn't seem to go bad as soon as store bought but that could just be all in my mind being so excited about getting it.
The blog is short today because time got away from me and it's time for me to pack up and leave. I'll try to get on tomorrow and fill you in on my plans for the rest of the food and my trip down to FL. It's Wednesday so we're going to Pee Wee's Place.
Enjoy your evening, morning, daytime... whatever time it is that you find to read this :)
"Now that it's all over, what did you really do yesterday that's worth mentioning?" ~Coleman Cox
Still it doesn't seem to have the same effect on everyone. I can't stay out very long without tons of sunscreen, gallons of water, sunglasses and even a hat if I must. I don't care for hats but I'll wear one if it's that hot. Then again, I imagine I'll wear one when it's THAT cold too... lol
Wally can go with some sunscreen and a hat and that's about it. He gets hot but not like I do. We definitely have our a/c on during the day now. We can still turn it off at night but daytime - no way.
Since we haven't had any rain, the garden has been getting watered by me with the good old garden hose. It goes from the middle of the backside of the cabin, all the way around to the front and then out to where the vegetable garden is. Since that doesn't really tell you how long of a hose it is, suffice it to say that it's a long, long ways around and out to the veggie garden... lol Well, some of you know how it is.
Southwest has round-trip flights from Orlando to Nashville for $79.00 each way plus the service fees. You can't fly on Fridays or Sundays but the special runs from 9/8/10 - 11/17/10. I just thought you might be interested since you can't even drive for that cheap with gas prices being what they are. It's typically a 2 hour flight. No excuses for not coming to visit :)
My tomatoes are about a foot tall, maybe a couple of them are a foot and a half. The squash and cucumbers have their second round of flowers and are beginning to spread out more. They are becoming more defined but I still don't know which is which. The flowers are different and the leaf size is different too. We shall see!
My basket was so pretty this week! We took a picture of it with Wally's phone and as soon as I get it, I'll post it. We got another head of Napa cabbage, more kale, another head of broccoli, a bunch of cilantro (woo hoo!!!), some scallions, a head of lettuce and 5 big white turnips. Oh me, oh my, was I ever excited! I steamed the broccoli the first night and ate it right up. I already ate the lettuce today for lunch - I couldn't resist. It was just a small head. According to the farmer, the lettuce has begun to bolt. I'm not sure what that means other than that I won't get anymore of that particular type. I think it's just too hot now.
The rest will be cooked before I leave to come down there or I'll bring what I can with me. Some of it will keep until I get back. It doesn't seem to go bad as soon as store bought but that could just be all in my mind being so excited about getting it.
The blog is short today because time got away from me and it's time for me to pack up and leave. I'll try to get on tomorrow and fill you in on my plans for the rest of the food and my trip down to FL. It's Wednesday so we're going to Pee Wee's Place.
Enjoy your evening, morning, daytime... whatever time it is that you find to read this :)
"Now that it's all over, what did you really do yesterday that's worth mentioning?" ~Coleman Cox
Monday, June 21, 2010
A busy week ahead of us...
We have a lot of stuff to do before we make our trip down to FL. I still don't even know what day we're leaving but we'll figure it out as the weekend draws nearer. Even though we weren't home much this weekend, we did have a good time.
Friday's drive home from work proved to be very nice. It was hot outside but clouds were moving in so there was a cool breeze blowing as I drove along. We ended up at Pee Wee's Place and stayed there for a few hours. She actually had a pretty good crowd for a Friday night and my friend Claudia came in so I had someone to talk to while Wally visited with the guys he knows. We were home early because we wanted to get up early Saturday morning and go for a motorcycle ride before it would get too hot.
We got up early and had breakfast, we watered and fertilized the garden and I hung some clothes on the line. In this heat they're practically dry by the time I get done hanging all of them. I imagine we're realizing a pretty good monetary savings on our electric bill by going this route, not to mention how good the clothes feel and smell. The girls at the cook-out were certainly impressed by the pulley system Wally has set up for me. I just stand at the corner of the back porch and pull the line towards me as I take the clothes off. As I hang them up, I just push the line out towards the trees. I never have to step on the ground unless I drop a clothespin, which I regularly do. lol But it does make it easier not having to drag the clothes basket down the line as I hang them. To top it off, I'm standing in the shade of the porch :) Love it!
I loaded us up with sunscreen and bottled water and off we went. Since we were out pretty early in the morning, it was nice and cool and shady riding along those curvy roads. You have to wear a helmet here and that takes some getting used to again. I'm constantly reaching up to scratch my head or my fix my ponytail and all I get is a bonk in the helmet! You would think I'd get used to it... It is hotter to have the helmet on but the tangles in my hair are greatly reduced. If you have ever brushed out hair after being on a motorcycle, you know it's worth it just for that. Forget brushing it dry - I usually wet it, condition it, then comb it and then wash and condition again. With the helmet on I can just wash it as always with very few tangles to deal with.
We rode around for a while and Wally pointed out some highlights of the places we saw, old iron bridges, the shortcut to the Mennonite's, a CSA Farm that I had read about on the internet but wasn't sure where it was. Around 11:00 we stopped in to have lunch at Logan's Steakhouse. We ended up with just an appetizer of wings. It was a combo plate where we had some spicy bbq wings, some garlic Parmesan and some regular hot wings. They were just okay. I wouldn't order them again. But then you have to realize that my mindset for wings is always based on the ones they serve at Pretzels. In my opinion, there are none better. I've tried a bunch of them too. Wings N Things used to have good ones but they have long since closed down.
After lunch we headed back to the cabin and I was able to get some long overdue chores taken care of. Of course the clothes were dry so I brought them in and hung out another load. I cleaned the downstairs bathroom and wiped down the shelves in the refrigerator. I gently tore the leaves from the stems of the kale that came in my CSA basket and rinsed it in cold water a couple times. It wasn't all that dirty but they say you should do it anyway so I did. I bagged up the stems for the horses. From what I've read the kale is best cooked like spinach. I'll probably wilt it down in some chicken or beef broth and then put the butter and garlic on it to finish it up.
I filled the water bucket for the animals (no bunny today) and fed the horses some carrots. They were pretty clear in that they wanted some sweet feed to go along with those carrots as they kept walking off towards the feeding pen every time I would give them one. Smokey wouldn't come to me for a carrot so I tossed his on the ground. I won't usually do that because Wally says I have to make him come to me but I could tell it wasn't going to be one of those days. Every now and then it's okay to toss his treats on the ground but you really can't make a habit of it or he'll never come to you.
So off I went to the feeding pens. We have started tying up the horses when we feed them so they get used to waiting for us should we ever have time to climb on their backs and go for a ride. One day... Well, tying them is easy enough for Wally because they're used to him doing it. I was a little intimidated to say the least. They know they're getting fed so they get a little antsy and Rebel will sometimes even nudge you with his nose. It's pretty cool but they are big animals so I do have to be careful walking around them.
I got my bucket of sweet feed and by this time they were already in their places. I didn't have to call them because they followed me out there after they finished their carrots. I stay on the back side of the fence until I get more comfortable with feeding them by myself - Wally just walks right up to their trough and dumps the feed in. They like to stick their heads in the bucket and they each want to be first so they aren't really concerned with whether or not they step on me. I'm just not going on that side yet :) call me chicken if you want, bock bock bock!
I held the bucket up so rebel could get some and then poured some into his trough. While he was eating I clipped his lead rope to his halter so he couldn't go anywhere. Smokey waited patiently by his bucket (amazingly enough) and even let me pet him before I gave him the bucket to get a sample. I was in shock. I reached down to get his bucket and he didn't even flinch - he normally will take off or spin out of the way at the slightest movement.
I pet him again and then poured the rest of the feed into his bucket. While he ate, I clipped his rope to his halter too. Unbelievable how well he acted. I've seen him really show out but not this time. He was as calm as I've ever seen him. I reached out to pet him on the neck and shoulders and he just stood right there and let me. huh! So there... lol I know it probably won't happen again for a while but it was nice being out there in the woods with two very well-behaved horses. Don't get me wrong, I was still on my side of the fence but I felt like maybe they're actually getting more used to me taking care of them.
Later on we decided to head over to Pee Wee's for a little while and before we left I went and set them free from their ropes - This I can do from their side of the fence because, well, they're tied up! LOL I unhooked Rebel first and then Smokey and then Wally always tells them to go play. I petted each of them once more and told them to go play. They took off like kids in a candy store! Running, bucking and tossing their manes and tails. It was a sight to see for sure! Rebel bucked up so high all for feet came off the ground. I'm sure they put on the show for me in thanks of having let them go... right?
Pee Wee's was crowded again - a bike run had her place as a stop on their route so that was pretty cool. Wally knew most of the group and I met a couple new people. I'm not the social butterfly Neccy is so a couple of new names was enough for me. I sat at the bar and talked to Daryl and was perfectly content doing so. Daryl gave me some zucchini squash that Claudia had given him. He said he likes it but never has time to cook it. I'll be making a squash casserole out of these guys and maybe even fry some up since there's so much of it. I took a picture of them so you can see how huge they are. Claudia did a good job! She said she has more for me if I want it, we just hadn't seen each other in over a week. Maybe I'll try my hand at zucchini bread... me and baking have never really gotten along but it won't hurt to try.
We were invited to go on a fishing trip early Sunday so we didn't stay late Saturday night either. I made some tostadas for dinner and made my list of things to get from the store for the squash casserole and all the other recipes I plan to make this week. I gave up on the soft corn tortillas. They just tear apart no matter how I heat them up. I found them pre-cooked and packaged in the same section of the store where the soft tortillas are. These were much easier to use and stayed together to make them easier to eat as well. I layered on the fat free re-fried beans, the hamburger meat seasoned with taco sauce, the cheese, lettuce and salsa. hmmmmmm yummy! Crunchy but not falling apart, soft warm beans, spicy meat and melted cheese. Ooh la la and all that good stuff, we stuffed ourselves on those things! LOL we didn't even consider that this might be a problem on the boat the next day... ha ha ha We were in bed before dark - but we had been up since about 5 so we figured it was justified.
The fishing trip was wonderful. Curt, Beverly and their daughter Tenesha were very gracious boat hosts. Everything was ready when we got there except loading what we had into the coolers. I made salsa and she had picked up some lunch meat and bread. The guys were in charge of the beer and ice. Of course I brought two big bottles of water from the house so I wouldn't get dehydrated. Daryl came along too and he did the driving to start with. As we headed out from the dock, it was foggy and cool. It was so foggy, it was hard to see where we were going but Daryl has been on this river his whole life and knew right where to take us. I got some pictures on Wally's phone. I'll post them when he sends them to me. Daryl put us on some fish pretty quick like and you'll never guess who caught the first one.... that's right, lil old me :) It was a little white catfish (which is what we were there for) and pretty darn exciting. I haven't caught fish in a long, long time except those little ones in the pond by the cabin. They aren't big enough to keep but this guy was.
They all gave me credit for the first fish but shortly thereafter Wally got the credit for the biggest fish. Curt caught one too but his was little like mine. Any way we had three good size fish in the bucket within about an hour or so of being on the water. Unfortunately, that was all we caught. Not for lack of trying. I had one on my line that almost bent the pole back on itself but I lost it. They said I must not have had the hook set good since it got away. Who knows? From the way it was pulling on my line, I'm not sure I could get it in if it hadn't gotten away... Beverly was right there to help since the guys were in the water swimming. They took credit for running the fish my way of course. lol
We fished, had lunch, re-applied sunscreen and swam in the river. It was refreshingly cool as we neared the heat of the day. Curt put the top up on the boat so I wouldn't get burned. Everyone else already had a tan and they wanted to get more tan. Not me - I'm good being skin cancer free. I'm sure I got some sun but not like they did. I wore a hat all day too so the top of my head wouldn't get burned. Only as we were headed in for the day did I think to ask what river we were on. Turns out it was the Tennessee river! That just made it all the more cool. We decided we had to do this again sometime soon even though we were hot, tired and wet as we cleaned out the boat (ladies), loaded it on the trailer (men) and headed for home.
We were both too tired and river-worn to stop and get anything to eat so while Wally got cleaned up, I made us grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and served them with our leftover potato salad. I pulled in my clothes from the line, got my shower and headed for bed. I was exhausted. It's been a long time since I was on the water all day and it sure did feel good. We watched a couple episodes of Criminal Minds - two I had never seen and crashed out.
Up at 4am, out of bed and ready for work by 5am I remembered that I had a pot roast thawed that needed to go in the crock pot... I really wanted to leave early today so I could go pick up my CSA basket but it looks like Wally will have to get it for me this week. I didn't get to work until 6:20am. I cleaned and chopped up some carrots and onions, seasoned the meat and got it set on low in the pot. I have no expectation that it will be as good as the grass-fed roast we had last week but it'll have to do until I can either get my own cow or find a less expensive grass-fed beef supplier.
Getting my own cow seems to be the best deal as Curt knows a guy who sells them for $300.00. It's a 600 lb cow so that's just .50 a pound. His brother has a processing business so we can get them processed for free, we just have to trailer them to West TN for it to be done. A freezer full of beef, bones for broth and some for the dogs and even the tongue for me and the kids...I can't wait! It's not like we don't have plenty of pasture to raise them on :) :) :) (next I'll work on getting chickens...)
The veggies are doing really well and the flowers have just started to show. We have had to hand water though since it doesn't rain quite enough to sustain them. On the other hand, my herbs are growing like weeds even without the rain! The sage is being dried for Thanksgiving stuffing, the dill is going into some homemade ranch dressing, the basil I just lay across the farmer's market tomatoes and the thyme was used this morning to flavor the beef. I have lots left!
I wrote a letter to Ricky Kline and received one back from him the other day. He's so funny even considering where he is right now, still the same old Ricky. If you have the time and are so inclined I'm sure he would like to hear from you too. Hopefully, he'll be home soon.
I got my first edition of Southern Living magazine with all the things I need to do for my Tennessee garden. I was so excited to see the tips and time lines - what a big help knowing what to plant when for this new zone I'm living in. I won't be throwing away these issues any time soon! Hopefully my garden will be well planted throughout all the seasons - even holly will grown in the winter or at least stay green. The red berries will provide food for the birds and something pretty for us to look at while we hang out inside by the fire. But it's too soon for that kind of writing!
Hope you have a good Monday - I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation of what will be in my next CSA basket...I sure am!
"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."- Margaret Atwood
Friday's drive home from work proved to be very nice. It was hot outside but clouds were moving in so there was a cool breeze blowing as I drove along. We ended up at Pee Wee's Place and stayed there for a few hours. She actually had a pretty good crowd for a Friday night and my friend Claudia came in so I had someone to talk to while Wally visited with the guys he knows. We were home early because we wanted to get up early Saturday morning and go for a motorcycle ride before it would get too hot.
We got up early and had breakfast, we watered and fertilized the garden and I hung some clothes on the line. In this heat they're practically dry by the time I get done hanging all of them. I imagine we're realizing a pretty good monetary savings on our electric bill by going this route, not to mention how good the clothes feel and smell. The girls at the cook-out were certainly impressed by the pulley system Wally has set up for me. I just stand at the corner of the back porch and pull the line towards me as I take the clothes off. As I hang them up, I just push the line out towards the trees. I never have to step on the ground unless I drop a clothespin, which I regularly do. lol But it does make it easier not having to drag the clothes basket down the line as I hang them. To top it off, I'm standing in the shade of the porch :) Love it!
I loaded us up with sunscreen and bottled water and off we went. Since we were out pretty early in the morning, it was nice and cool and shady riding along those curvy roads. You have to wear a helmet here and that takes some getting used to again. I'm constantly reaching up to scratch my head or my fix my ponytail and all I get is a bonk in the helmet! You would think I'd get used to it... It is hotter to have the helmet on but the tangles in my hair are greatly reduced. If you have ever brushed out hair after being on a motorcycle, you know it's worth it just for that. Forget brushing it dry - I usually wet it, condition it, then comb it and then wash and condition again. With the helmet on I can just wash it as always with very few tangles to deal with.
We rode around for a while and Wally pointed out some highlights of the places we saw, old iron bridges, the shortcut to the Mennonite's, a CSA Farm that I had read about on the internet but wasn't sure where it was. Around 11:00 we stopped in to have lunch at Logan's Steakhouse. We ended up with just an appetizer of wings. It was a combo plate where we had some spicy bbq wings, some garlic Parmesan and some regular hot wings. They were just okay. I wouldn't order them again. But then you have to realize that my mindset for wings is always based on the ones they serve at Pretzels. In my opinion, there are none better. I've tried a bunch of them too. Wings N Things used to have good ones but they have long since closed down.
After lunch we headed back to the cabin and I was able to get some long overdue chores taken care of. Of course the clothes were dry so I brought them in and hung out another load. I cleaned the downstairs bathroom and wiped down the shelves in the refrigerator. I gently tore the leaves from the stems of the kale that came in my CSA basket and rinsed it in cold water a couple times. It wasn't all that dirty but they say you should do it anyway so I did. I bagged up the stems for the horses. From what I've read the kale is best cooked like spinach. I'll probably wilt it down in some chicken or beef broth and then put the butter and garlic on it to finish it up.
I filled the water bucket for the animals (no bunny today) and fed the horses some carrots. They were pretty clear in that they wanted some sweet feed to go along with those carrots as they kept walking off towards the feeding pen every time I would give them one. Smokey wouldn't come to me for a carrot so I tossed his on the ground. I won't usually do that because Wally says I have to make him come to me but I could tell it wasn't going to be one of those days. Every now and then it's okay to toss his treats on the ground but you really can't make a habit of it or he'll never come to you.
So off I went to the feeding pens. We have started tying up the horses when we feed them so they get used to waiting for us should we ever have time to climb on their backs and go for a ride. One day... Well, tying them is easy enough for Wally because they're used to him doing it. I was a little intimidated to say the least. They know they're getting fed so they get a little antsy and Rebel will sometimes even nudge you with his nose. It's pretty cool but they are big animals so I do have to be careful walking around them.
I got my bucket of sweet feed and by this time they were already in their places. I didn't have to call them because they followed me out there after they finished their carrots. I stay on the back side of the fence until I get more comfortable with feeding them by myself - Wally just walks right up to their trough and dumps the feed in. They like to stick their heads in the bucket and they each want to be first so they aren't really concerned with whether or not they step on me. I'm just not going on that side yet :) call me chicken if you want, bock bock bock!
I held the bucket up so rebel could get some and then poured some into his trough. While he was eating I clipped his lead rope to his halter so he couldn't go anywhere. Smokey waited patiently by his bucket (amazingly enough) and even let me pet him before I gave him the bucket to get a sample. I was in shock. I reached down to get his bucket and he didn't even flinch - he normally will take off or spin out of the way at the slightest movement.
I pet him again and then poured the rest of the feed into his bucket. While he ate, I clipped his rope to his halter too. Unbelievable how well he acted. I've seen him really show out but not this time. He was as calm as I've ever seen him. I reached out to pet him on the neck and shoulders and he just stood right there and let me. huh! So there... lol I know it probably won't happen again for a while but it was nice being out there in the woods with two very well-behaved horses. Don't get me wrong, I was still on my side of the fence but I felt like maybe they're actually getting more used to me taking care of them.
Later on we decided to head over to Pee Wee's for a little while and before we left I went and set them free from their ropes - This I can do from their side of the fence because, well, they're tied up! LOL I unhooked Rebel first and then Smokey and then Wally always tells them to go play. I petted each of them once more and told them to go play. They took off like kids in a candy store! Running, bucking and tossing their manes and tails. It was a sight to see for sure! Rebel bucked up so high all for feet came off the ground. I'm sure they put on the show for me in thanks of having let them go... right?
Pee Wee's was crowded again - a bike run had her place as a stop on their route so that was pretty cool. Wally knew most of the group and I met a couple new people. I'm not the social butterfly Neccy is so a couple of new names was enough for me. I sat at the bar and talked to Daryl and was perfectly content doing so. Daryl gave me some zucchini squash that Claudia had given him. He said he likes it but never has time to cook it. I'll be making a squash casserole out of these guys and maybe even fry some up since there's so much of it. I took a picture of them so you can see how huge they are. Claudia did a good job! She said she has more for me if I want it, we just hadn't seen each other in over a week. Maybe I'll try my hand at zucchini bread... me and baking have never really gotten along but it won't hurt to try.
We were invited to go on a fishing trip early Sunday so we didn't stay late Saturday night either. I made some tostadas for dinner and made my list of things to get from the store for the squash casserole and all the other recipes I plan to make this week. I gave up on the soft corn tortillas. They just tear apart no matter how I heat them up. I found them pre-cooked and packaged in the same section of the store where the soft tortillas are. These were much easier to use and stayed together to make them easier to eat as well. I layered on the fat free re-fried beans, the hamburger meat seasoned with taco sauce, the cheese, lettuce and salsa. hmmmmmm yummy! Crunchy but not falling apart, soft warm beans, spicy meat and melted cheese. Ooh la la and all that good stuff, we stuffed ourselves on those things! LOL we didn't even consider that this might be a problem on the boat the next day... ha ha ha We were in bed before dark - but we had been up since about 5 so we figured it was justified.
The fishing trip was wonderful. Curt, Beverly and their daughter Tenesha were very gracious boat hosts. Everything was ready when we got there except loading what we had into the coolers. I made salsa and she had picked up some lunch meat and bread. The guys were in charge of the beer and ice. Of course I brought two big bottles of water from the house so I wouldn't get dehydrated. Daryl came along too and he did the driving to start with. As we headed out from the dock, it was foggy and cool. It was so foggy, it was hard to see where we were going but Daryl has been on this river his whole life and knew right where to take us. I got some pictures on Wally's phone. I'll post them when he sends them to me. Daryl put us on some fish pretty quick like and you'll never guess who caught the first one.... that's right, lil old me :) It was a little white catfish (which is what we were there for) and pretty darn exciting. I haven't caught fish in a long, long time except those little ones in the pond by the cabin. They aren't big enough to keep but this guy was.
They all gave me credit for the first fish but shortly thereafter Wally got the credit for the biggest fish. Curt caught one too but his was little like mine. Any way we had three good size fish in the bucket within about an hour or so of being on the water. Unfortunately, that was all we caught. Not for lack of trying. I had one on my line that almost bent the pole back on itself but I lost it. They said I must not have had the hook set good since it got away. Who knows? From the way it was pulling on my line, I'm not sure I could get it in if it hadn't gotten away... Beverly was right there to help since the guys were in the water swimming. They took credit for running the fish my way of course. lol
We fished, had lunch, re-applied sunscreen and swam in the river. It was refreshingly cool as we neared the heat of the day. Curt put the top up on the boat so I wouldn't get burned. Everyone else already had a tan and they wanted to get more tan. Not me - I'm good being skin cancer free. I'm sure I got some sun but not like they did. I wore a hat all day too so the top of my head wouldn't get burned. Only as we were headed in for the day did I think to ask what river we were on. Turns out it was the Tennessee river! That just made it all the more cool. We decided we had to do this again sometime soon even though we were hot, tired and wet as we cleaned out the boat (ladies), loaded it on the trailer (men) and headed for home.
We were both too tired and river-worn to stop and get anything to eat so while Wally got cleaned up, I made us grilled ham and cheese sandwiches and served them with our leftover potato salad. I pulled in my clothes from the line, got my shower and headed for bed. I was exhausted. It's been a long time since I was on the water all day and it sure did feel good. We watched a couple episodes of Criminal Minds - two I had never seen and crashed out.
Up at 4am, out of bed and ready for work by 5am I remembered that I had a pot roast thawed that needed to go in the crock pot... I really wanted to leave early today so I could go pick up my CSA basket but it looks like Wally will have to get it for me this week. I didn't get to work until 6:20am. I cleaned and chopped up some carrots and onions, seasoned the meat and got it set on low in the pot. I have no expectation that it will be as good as the grass-fed roast we had last week but it'll have to do until I can either get my own cow or find a less expensive grass-fed beef supplier.
Getting my own cow seems to be the best deal as Curt knows a guy who sells them for $300.00. It's a 600 lb cow so that's just .50 a pound. His brother has a processing business so we can get them processed for free, we just have to trailer them to West TN for it to be done. A freezer full of beef, bones for broth and some for the dogs and even the tongue for me and the kids...I can't wait! It's not like we don't have plenty of pasture to raise them on :) :) :) (next I'll work on getting chickens...)
The veggies are doing really well and the flowers have just started to show. We have had to hand water though since it doesn't rain quite enough to sustain them. On the other hand, my herbs are growing like weeds even without the rain! The sage is being dried for Thanksgiving stuffing, the dill is going into some homemade ranch dressing, the basil I just lay across the farmer's market tomatoes and the thyme was used this morning to flavor the beef. I have lots left!
I wrote a letter to Ricky Kline and received one back from him the other day. He's so funny even considering where he is right now, still the same old Ricky. If you have the time and are so inclined I'm sure he would like to hear from you too. Hopefully, he'll be home soon.
I got my first edition of Southern Living magazine with all the things I need to do for my Tennessee garden. I was so excited to see the tips and time lines - what a big help knowing what to plant when for this new zone I'm living in. I won't be throwing away these issues any time soon! Hopefully my garden will be well planted throughout all the seasons - even holly will grown in the winter or at least stay green. The red berries will provide food for the birds and something pretty for us to look at while we hang out inside by the fire. But it's too soon for that kind of writing!
Hope you have a good Monday - I know you're sitting on the edge of your seat in anticipation of what will be in my next CSA basket...I sure am!
"In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt."- Margaret Atwood
Friday, June 18, 2010
Deer, deer, and more deer...
I haven't said much about the deer I see whenever we go somewhere or when I'm on my way to or from work. I see them all the time now and I don't know if it's because they are more brave outside of hunting season or if I'm just getting better at driving and watching the sides of the roads. Either way, they are in abundance and rarely a day goes by that I don't spot one.
Leaving the cabin the day of the Farmer's Market there was one just before you get to the stop sign at Oak Springs Rd. There used to be a mobile home on the property but it has long since been moved leaving just the wild flowers, day lilies and irises to take over the space. It's fenced in so I can't "share" any of the flowers... but the deer was just standing there watching us as we went by. It didn't run off, it just went back to eating as we passed it by. Wally said he saw nubs on its head but I couldn't see it well enough to know. It was on his side of the road.
Just the other day I was on the phone with Dizzy Debbie while driving to work and when I turned on Murray Rd., the first or second house on the left had 5 deer standing in the driveway! Just standing there looking at me go by. The speed limit is 35 so I was going slow enough not to scare them off, although they may not have been scared either way. They were standing about 10 feet from my car and looked really big to me. Of course the driveway winds up a hill (this is Brentwood after all) so looking up at them may have made them appear bigger than they actually were. Five of them just hanging out in the driveway made me wonder if the homeowner is baiting the yard for them to come there... like maybe he has plans for hunting season???
On another day I saw just half of a deer - no, it wasn't cut in half, the belly and rump were sticking out as his head was in the woods. This was the biggest deer I've seen yet and I didn't even see all of him. He was huge! I was on a pretty back road called Sneed which I had just turned onto at the church by the Loveless Cafe'. Riding up the hill, I happened to look to my right and there he was in all his deer glory. I say "he" because I can't imagine the females getting this big but what do I know? Again, I was no threat to him as he just kept going at his breakfast like I wasn't even there.
Lately, I can add lots and lots of rabbits to my list of wild life viewing pleasures. They remind me of the whole "breeding like rabbits" saying. I know first hand why that saying was coined. They are everywhere!! It used to be I'd see one or two on the driveway in the mornings or on the dirt road leaving the property. Now, I see 3 or 4 just going from where the driveway starts to the first gate. They are early morning risers because I'm on the road between 5:00 and 5:15 and they are always out there scurrying about. Wednesday when I went to fill the water bucket for the animals, one was sitting right there in front of the bucket. It was maybe 2 feet from me. I turned on the water and waited until the bucket was filled and the little rabbit just sat there and waited too. It's by no means big enough to drink from the bucket but it may have been waiting for me to leave so it could drink the water that puddled around it.
I'm hoping to see some black blackberries this weekend but with my luck they'll turn black during the week when I have less time to gather them. Wally saw one that had turned black down by the barn and he ate it. He said it was kind of small but that it tasted good. I was all ready to get on the 4 wheeler and head down there for some picking when he informed me that it was just the one, not a whole bush like I was hoping for. Maybe tomorrow...
He has to bush-hog the pasture this weekend so we can let the horses back down there. Since they've been up at the cabin, the thorn bushes have taken over. The horses have mowed around the cabin very sufficiently. I only have one little strip to mow and it's right outside the front door. While Wally's on the bush-hog, I'll take the 4 wheeler and see about those blackberries coming in. I might be able to cut back the rose bush at the trailer too. If it's not blooming, it's coming out and getting replanted by the flag pole where the driveway splits to the right or left. I would love to have some put up to bring down there when we come. Keep your fingers crossed...
Last night it rained just after I got home. It was cloudy, windy and cool enough to open the windows and doors again. We did have to finally turn the air on a few days ago but only during the day. At night we can run the fan and be just fine. I can stand there and watch the rain like there's no tomorrow. It reminded us that we want to put up screen doors because we didn't have them open but about 20 minutes when the flies started coming in. Only 2 or 3 got in but how annoying! There's no way to avoid them when you have horses, you just have to keep the fly swatter handy.
I remember my dad walking back and forth through our old Bambi house swatting flies. He was a watcher of the rain too... He would stand at the front door and look through that little square pane the whole time it was raining, smoking and drinking Busch in a can...maybe that's where I get it. Mom would always be on the couch or in her bed eating popcorn and reading books. Hey, I like doing that too... a little of both of them in me :)
We had the carrots from the farm basket for dinner last night. Oh, they were accompanied by some pork chops and some potato salad but for me the carrots were the best. They needed no seasoning at all - I just ate them whole right off the plate. Yummy!! I know you're thinking they couldn't be THAT good but yes, they were. They really don't taste anything like what you get in the store and I'm seriously going to miss them when the season is over. Who knew carrots could have such a variance in flavors?
We had recorded "Hot in Cleveland" so we watched that while dinner was cooking. It was an okay show. I laughed a few times and I guess we'll give it another chance. I didn't know it would be so much male-bashing. A little bit of that goes a long way - maybe it was just a way of setting the stage so you had background on the characters. Betty White was true to form though. She cracked me up. Archie was the episode where he was a minstrel singer (he pronounced it menstrual lol) and Gloria was having the baby. Oh my gosh, that was a funny one!
I talked to Ernie almost the whole way home last night. Most of the time my phone won't work that long but I was lucky last night. She says she's going to go to the Oriole's so if you don't see her down there, give her a call. I'm sure she wants to go visit... :) hee hee hee Don't let her get carried away on those shots... she might be very convincing when she tells you she wants another one but she REALLY doesn't. At least not according to her the next day... William can vouch for her :)
We used to laugh at ourselves all the time on the mornings after our porch parties. We would sit out there drinking beers and talking and laughing and thinking we wanted just one more when we were already at the end of a 12 pack. We would even get someone go get us more if we could talk anyone into it. Who knows why, jeez, neither one of us could handle even one more. We were headed off to beddy-bye but not before making all sorts of plans for the next day. I would always get up early and go garage-sailing my way home and then I'd call Ernie later in the day. We would both be canceling all those stupid plans we made the night before LOL! One thing was for sure, we didn't have it in us to go again the next night...
I haven't been to a garage sale since I got here but not for lack of finding one. Lately they're on every corner. The problem is that I already have so much stuff I don't know what to do with all of it... what the heck am I going to do with more? I just know I'm missing out on some good deals though... maybe I'll just limit myself to one or two things like books or picture frames. Yeah, right.
Tonight I have to stop at the Dollar General for some spray paint. Wally bought me a garden wagon with wood rails around the top of it. The wood is bare so I have to either stain it or paint it. Having never painted anything more than a water color in my whole life, I decided to paint it. It could be pretty funny - I'll be sure to let you know how it comes out when I write on Monday. Maybe I'll even get a picture of it if it isn't too bad.
So hopefully I'll be blackberry picking and storing and maybe even horseback riding this weekend. It's Friday so we might even make it over to Pee Wee's Place. We just never know...
Happy Father's Day to any father who read this, although I'm not sure any do.
"Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes." ~Gloria Naylor
Leaving the cabin the day of the Farmer's Market there was one just before you get to the stop sign at Oak Springs Rd. There used to be a mobile home on the property but it has long since been moved leaving just the wild flowers, day lilies and irises to take over the space. It's fenced in so I can't "share" any of the flowers... but the deer was just standing there watching us as we went by. It didn't run off, it just went back to eating as we passed it by. Wally said he saw nubs on its head but I couldn't see it well enough to know. It was on his side of the road.
Just the other day I was on the phone with Dizzy Debbie while driving to work and when I turned on Murray Rd., the first or second house on the left had 5 deer standing in the driveway! Just standing there looking at me go by. The speed limit is 35 so I was going slow enough not to scare them off, although they may not have been scared either way. They were standing about 10 feet from my car and looked really big to me. Of course the driveway winds up a hill (this is Brentwood after all) so looking up at them may have made them appear bigger than they actually were. Five of them just hanging out in the driveway made me wonder if the homeowner is baiting the yard for them to come there... like maybe he has plans for hunting season???
On another day I saw just half of a deer - no, it wasn't cut in half, the belly and rump were sticking out as his head was in the woods. This was the biggest deer I've seen yet and I didn't even see all of him. He was huge! I was on a pretty back road called Sneed which I had just turned onto at the church by the Loveless Cafe'. Riding up the hill, I happened to look to my right and there he was in all his deer glory. I say "he" because I can't imagine the females getting this big but what do I know? Again, I was no threat to him as he just kept going at his breakfast like I wasn't even there.
Lately, I can add lots and lots of rabbits to my list of wild life viewing pleasures. They remind me of the whole "breeding like rabbits" saying. I know first hand why that saying was coined. They are everywhere!! It used to be I'd see one or two on the driveway in the mornings or on the dirt road leaving the property. Now, I see 3 or 4 just going from where the driveway starts to the first gate. They are early morning risers because I'm on the road between 5:00 and 5:15 and they are always out there scurrying about. Wednesday when I went to fill the water bucket for the animals, one was sitting right there in front of the bucket. It was maybe 2 feet from me. I turned on the water and waited until the bucket was filled and the little rabbit just sat there and waited too. It's by no means big enough to drink from the bucket but it may have been waiting for me to leave so it could drink the water that puddled around it.
I'm hoping to see some black blackberries this weekend but with my luck they'll turn black during the week when I have less time to gather them. Wally saw one that had turned black down by the barn and he ate it. He said it was kind of small but that it tasted good. I was all ready to get on the 4 wheeler and head down there for some picking when he informed me that it was just the one, not a whole bush like I was hoping for. Maybe tomorrow...
He has to bush-hog the pasture this weekend so we can let the horses back down there. Since they've been up at the cabin, the thorn bushes have taken over. The horses have mowed around the cabin very sufficiently. I only have one little strip to mow and it's right outside the front door. While Wally's on the bush-hog, I'll take the 4 wheeler and see about those blackberries coming in. I might be able to cut back the rose bush at the trailer too. If it's not blooming, it's coming out and getting replanted by the flag pole where the driveway splits to the right or left. I would love to have some put up to bring down there when we come. Keep your fingers crossed...
Last night it rained just after I got home. It was cloudy, windy and cool enough to open the windows and doors again. We did have to finally turn the air on a few days ago but only during the day. At night we can run the fan and be just fine. I can stand there and watch the rain like there's no tomorrow. It reminded us that we want to put up screen doors because we didn't have them open but about 20 minutes when the flies started coming in. Only 2 or 3 got in but how annoying! There's no way to avoid them when you have horses, you just have to keep the fly swatter handy.
I remember my dad walking back and forth through our old Bambi house swatting flies. He was a watcher of the rain too... He would stand at the front door and look through that little square pane the whole time it was raining, smoking and drinking Busch in a can...maybe that's where I get it. Mom would always be on the couch or in her bed eating popcorn and reading books. Hey, I like doing that too... a little of both of them in me :)
We had the carrots from the farm basket for dinner last night. Oh, they were accompanied by some pork chops and some potato salad but for me the carrots were the best. They needed no seasoning at all - I just ate them whole right off the plate. Yummy!! I know you're thinking they couldn't be THAT good but yes, they were. They really don't taste anything like what you get in the store and I'm seriously going to miss them when the season is over. Who knew carrots could have such a variance in flavors?
We had recorded "Hot in Cleveland" so we watched that while dinner was cooking. It was an okay show. I laughed a few times and I guess we'll give it another chance. I didn't know it would be so much male-bashing. A little bit of that goes a long way - maybe it was just a way of setting the stage so you had background on the characters. Betty White was true to form though. She cracked me up. Archie was the episode where he was a minstrel singer (he pronounced it menstrual lol) and Gloria was having the baby. Oh my gosh, that was a funny one!
I talked to Ernie almost the whole way home last night. Most of the time my phone won't work that long but I was lucky last night. She says she's going to go to the Oriole's so if you don't see her down there, give her a call. I'm sure she wants to go visit... :) hee hee hee Don't let her get carried away on those shots... she might be very convincing when she tells you she wants another one but she REALLY doesn't. At least not according to her the next day... William can vouch for her :)
We used to laugh at ourselves all the time on the mornings after our porch parties. We would sit out there drinking beers and talking and laughing and thinking we wanted just one more when we were already at the end of a 12 pack. We would even get someone go get us more if we could talk anyone into it. Who knows why, jeez, neither one of us could handle even one more. We were headed off to beddy-bye but not before making all sorts of plans for the next day. I would always get up early and go garage-sailing my way home and then I'd call Ernie later in the day. We would both be canceling all those stupid plans we made the night before LOL! One thing was for sure, we didn't have it in us to go again the next night...
I haven't been to a garage sale since I got here but not for lack of finding one. Lately they're on every corner. The problem is that I already have so much stuff I don't know what to do with all of it... what the heck am I going to do with more? I just know I'm missing out on some good deals though... maybe I'll just limit myself to one or two things like books or picture frames. Yeah, right.
Tonight I have to stop at the Dollar General for some spray paint. Wally bought me a garden wagon with wood rails around the top of it. The wood is bare so I have to either stain it or paint it. Having never painted anything more than a water color in my whole life, I decided to paint it. It could be pretty funny - I'll be sure to let you know how it comes out when I write on Monday. Maybe I'll even get a picture of it if it isn't too bad.
So hopefully I'll be blackberry picking and storing and maybe even horseback riding this weekend. It's Friday so we might even make it over to Pee Wee's Place. We just never know...
Happy Father's Day to any father who read this, although I'm not sure any do.
"Old as she was, she still missed her daddy sometimes." ~Gloria Naylor
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Time sure does fly when you're having fun...
Or, as the frog says, "Time is fun when you're having flies..." Okay, so we did some sight-seeing on our way home from the market and it was a very relaxing trip. I'm getting better about knowing where I am but we were on some roads I had never been on so my head was out the window like a dog panting in the wind. I didn't actually pant but I was thoroughly enjoying the view of the rolling hills, the huge trees, the cows, horses and the gardens people had planted all over the place. It reaffirmed for me that my little garden will be just fine going in as late as it did. I saw some gardens that were further along and some that had only just been tilled up.
Arriving home we unloaded our treasures and took a little break. My head was in the clouds as I checked all that we had seen and done into my memory banks. It's a good thing I have the blog to refer back to because we all know the memory banks aren't quite what they used to be. LOL I get so easily distracted but I was trying to focus on how I was going to cook the roast and the vegetables I had purchased. I decided to hang out a load of clothes and let my mind wander across all the possibilities. I have a big, electric roaster that I could have used but it seemed like too much. I have a smaller turkey roaster but the beef wouldn't lay quite flat enough in that one. My big red pot was just a little too small for this job - even though it is perfect in every way for everything else :) and if it were any bigger, I wouldn't be able to manage it. As it is, when it's full I have to have help lifting it. But I digress...
The clothes were hung on the line so I headed into the hot tub room where my kitchen cookware stash is located and quickly realized that the stoneware roaster would be perfect for the job. It was the right size and shape and it somehow seemed fitting that this big slab of beef be slowly roasted in stoneware. I can't exactly say why but that's how it was. So I seasoned that bad boy up with some adobo and black pepper and poured just a little bit of Dale's Seasoning on it. I snipped some fresh thyme from the garden and spread it out across the top. I covered it with foil and into the oven it went for 3 hours.
When it got to the two hour mark, I scrubbed and peeled the carrots and added them to the roaster - the scent coming out of that oven was, predictably, red meat at its finest. It was all I could do not to try it but I didn't want that first bite to be disappointing so back in the oven it went. I gave Rebel the carrot tops and now I know that should I plan to grow carrots, they will have to be heavily guarded so as to keep him from eating them first! He is a p.i.g. HOG!
I cut the greens off the beets but not so far as to allow the color to leach from them and dunked the golden globes into a pot of water to boil.Within about 20 minutes they were ready for peeling. The skins literally slipped right off of the beets and I couldn't resist eating the very tiniest one of the bunch. Lordy that little ball was packed with golden, juicy beet flavor. No canned or jarred beet compares and I've tried lots of them. I'll prove it to you when you get here if you aren't adventurous enough to go get some fresh ones on your own. You'll wish you had when you taste what you have been missing. They didn't even need to be seasoned. huh!
I did try lightly sauteing the beet greens with some butter and garlic but I wasn't impressed with the flavor. Wally liked them though so at least they didn't go to waste. I tried feeding the stems to the horses but, like me, they weren't impressed. I heard the timer go off which meant my meal was ready and I'll tell you what we were both very much ready for it lol! Bet you are too about now...(tee hee hee) Having smelled it all through the house for all that time, we could barely contain ourselves getting to the table. You would have thought we hadn't eaten in days. But of course you know that's not the case.
While it was costly, that meat was absolutely, hands-down, 100% the finest roast I had ever eaten. This isn't to say that ribeyes, chuckeyes and all other cuts of beef aren't good - I love them all. It's just that as far as roasts go, this one was tops! I'm sure it was due in part to the fact that it came from a local farm and it was grass-fed if not finished, that coupled with the rest of the day's events made it seem all the better. The gravy might have had something to do with it...lol I'm getting pretty good at this gravy stuff y'all and I even skimmed off the little bit of fat that cooked out of the meat. The dogs got that :)
We ate until we couldn't eat anymore. The carrots didn't taste watery like they do from the store and even though they weren't very big in size, every inch of them was packed full of sweet, carrotiness (I know it's not a word but it best describes what I needed to say) like you just wouldn't believe.
So that was our dinner. What do you think? I'm amazed I could write all this much about one simple meal. The picture is of everything before it was cooked. The sage in the bottom right corner wasn't for dinner but it did come from my garden so I thought I'd include it. The only things missing from the picture are the tomatoes - I had them up on the windowsill and forgot to get them down. The picture on the blog is kind of small so if you would like to see it in a bigger view, just let me know. I'll email it to you. It's very pretty.
I forgot to mention that while dinner was cooking, we got the 4 wheelers and went up to the mailbox to dig up the Hollyhocks that had previously been cut down. I noticed that they started coming back up so I wanted to get them before that guy cut them down again. Wally showed me how to get them out of the ground with a shovel instead of having to use the post hole diggers - thank goodness because my arms weren't quite ready for those things again. We transplanted them into a hole in the ground made by the removal of a hitching post that had rotted. Funny thing was, after digging up all the rocks from the garden area, I was now collecting those same rocks to put in the hole to fill up the unnecessary space and keep the Hollyhocks from falling in too deep. Thinking on it now, it seems I planted rocks... ha ha ha ha ha just watch, they'll multiply like crazy!
I checked the Hollyhocks today and they survived the transplanting without issue. The rest of the garden is doing well; squashes and cucumber spreading out and blooming, tomatoes standing just a little bit taller and the herbs are bright green and ready for clipping back. I'll use the dill in some potato salad this weekend and I'll dry the basil to go in some tomato sauce once the tomatoes come in.
I have just a little more to add today so I hope you aren't bored with my ramblings yet. While we were at the market I decided to join a CSA farm. CSA stands for Consumer Supported Agriculture. You buy a share or a half share from the farmer and you receive a basket of organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, etc. every week. The basket contents are determined by what is in season and growing on the farm. I did some very thorough research (naturally) and checked out a couple of the offerings while at the market. The farm I joined is called Beaverdam Creek Farm. It's located just outside Centerville but has a Monday delivery in Centerville at the soccer field. You can check them out at beaverdamcreekfarm.com if you feel like it. I joined a little late in the season so my cost was pro-rated but I will receive a basket every week through October and it's all prepaid.
So guess what I did Monday??? LOL I left work at 2:45 and drove all the way to Centerville to pick up my basket. Wally offered to get it for me and he did show up right after I got there but try to imagine my enjoyment... fresh veggies for me and Wally and a local farmer supported by local people. ahhhhhh
I should have taken a picture...Monday's basket contained a huge head of Napa cabbage, which I already used part of for chicken soup Monday night, 2 heads of lettuce that were both varieties I'd never tried before. I ate some for lunch Tuesday and have more of the other head for today's lunch. The basket had a bunch of carrots, a bunch of beets, 2 heads of broccoli, one of which went into the shrimp pasta (whole wheat) alfredo and a bunch of dinosaur kale. I've never had kale so I'll let you know how it turns out. From what I can see it is best used in soups or sauteed in olive oil and garlic. I can't wait until next week when it's rumored I'll have cilantro in the basket amongst other things :) Happiness :)
Trish said she'll bring the stems from the broccoli cuttings and any carrot tops that they don't use for composting. I told her the horses would love it. Here it is Wednesday and I find myself wishing for Monday. Now that's weird. To know my weird self is to love my weird self :) Kind of reminds me of Rebecca... :)
It's firefly season and they are everywhere! All I have to do is look toward the woods just after dark and there they are, lit up like you wouldn't believe... It looks like there are hundreds of them out there if you ask me. In reality they just get around fast so I'm really seeing the sames ones lit up here and there as they fly about. Very cool!
I'm loving it here as you are probably aware. Me and Wally in the cabin, my garden, the creatures of the woods and even the neighbors all suit me just fine :)
"There is no sight on earth more appealing than the sight of a woman making dinner for someone she loves." ~Thomas Wolfe
Arriving home we unloaded our treasures and took a little break. My head was in the clouds as I checked all that we had seen and done into my memory banks. It's a good thing I have the blog to refer back to because we all know the memory banks aren't quite what they used to be. LOL I get so easily distracted but I was trying to focus on how I was going to cook the roast and the vegetables I had purchased. I decided to hang out a load of clothes and let my mind wander across all the possibilities. I have a big, electric roaster that I could have used but it seemed like too much. I have a smaller turkey roaster but the beef wouldn't lay quite flat enough in that one. My big red pot was just a little too small for this job - even though it is perfect in every way for everything else :) and if it were any bigger, I wouldn't be able to manage it. As it is, when it's full I have to have help lifting it. But I digress...
The clothes were hung on the line so I headed into the hot tub room where my kitchen cookware stash is located and quickly realized that the stoneware roaster would be perfect for the job. It was the right size and shape and it somehow seemed fitting that this big slab of beef be slowly roasted in stoneware. I can't exactly say why but that's how it was. So I seasoned that bad boy up with some adobo and black pepper and poured just a little bit of Dale's Seasoning on it. I snipped some fresh thyme from the garden and spread it out across the top. I covered it with foil and into the oven it went for 3 hours.
When it got to the two hour mark, I scrubbed and peeled the carrots and added them to the roaster - the scent coming out of that oven was, predictably, red meat at its finest. It was all I could do not to try it but I didn't want that first bite to be disappointing so back in the oven it went. I gave Rebel the carrot tops and now I know that should I plan to grow carrots, they will have to be heavily guarded so as to keep him from eating them first! He is a p.i.g. HOG!
I cut the greens off the beets but not so far as to allow the color to leach from them and dunked the golden globes into a pot of water to boil.Within about 20 minutes they were ready for peeling. The skins literally slipped right off of the beets and I couldn't resist eating the very tiniest one of the bunch. Lordy that little ball was packed with golden, juicy beet flavor. No canned or jarred beet compares and I've tried lots of them. I'll prove it to you when you get here if you aren't adventurous enough to go get some fresh ones on your own. You'll wish you had when you taste what you have been missing. They didn't even need to be seasoned. huh!
I did try lightly sauteing the beet greens with some butter and garlic but I wasn't impressed with the flavor. Wally liked them though so at least they didn't go to waste. I tried feeding the stems to the horses but, like me, they weren't impressed. I heard the timer go off which meant my meal was ready and I'll tell you what we were both very much ready for it lol! Bet you are too about now...(tee hee hee) Having smelled it all through the house for all that time, we could barely contain ourselves getting to the table. You would have thought we hadn't eaten in days. But of course you know that's not the case.
While it was costly, that meat was absolutely, hands-down, 100% the finest roast I had ever eaten. This isn't to say that ribeyes, chuckeyes and all other cuts of beef aren't good - I love them all. It's just that as far as roasts go, this one was tops! I'm sure it was due in part to the fact that it came from a local farm and it was grass-fed if not finished, that coupled with the rest of the day's events made it seem all the better. The gravy might have had something to do with it...lol I'm getting pretty good at this gravy stuff y'all and I even skimmed off the little bit of fat that cooked out of the meat. The dogs got that :)
We ate until we couldn't eat anymore. The carrots didn't taste watery like they do from the store and even though they weren't very big in size, every inch of them was packed full of sweet, carrotiness (I know it's not a word but it best describes what I needed to say) like you just wouldn't believe.
So that was our dinner. What do you think? I'm amazed I could write all this much about one simple meal. The picture is of everything before it was cooked. The sage in the bottom right corner wasn't for dinner but it did come from my garden so I thought I'd include it. The only things missing from the picture are the tomatoes - I had them up on the windowsill and forgot to get them down. The picture on the blog is kind of small so if you would like to see it in a bigger view, just let me know. I'll email it to you. It's very pretty.
I forgot to mention that while dinner was cooking, we got the 4 wheelers and went up to the mailbox to dig up the Hollyhocks that had previously been cut down. I noticed that they started coming back up so I wanted to get them before that guy cut them down again. Wally showed me how to get them out of the ground with a shovel instead of having to use the post hole diggers - thank goodness because my arms weren't quite ready for those things again. We transplanted them into a hole in the ground made by the removal of a hitching post that had rotted. Funny thing was, after digging up all the rocks from the garden area, I was now collecting those same rocks to put in the hole to fill up the unnecessary space and keep the Hollyhocks from falling in too deep. Thinking on it now, it seems I planted rocks... ha ha ha ha ha just watch, they'll multiply like crazy!
I checked the Hollyhocks today and they survived the transplanting without issue. The rest of the garden is doing well; squashes and cucumber spreading out and blooming, tomatoes standing just a little bit taller and the herbs are bright green and ready for clipping back. I'll use the dill in some potato salad this weekend and I'll dry the basil to go in some tomato sauce once the tomatoes come in.
I have just a little more to add today so I hope you aren't bored with my ramblings yet. While we were at the market I decided to join a CSA farm. CSA stands for Consumer Supported Agriculture. You buy a share or a half share from the farmer and you receive a basket of organic fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, etc. every week. The basket contents are determined by what is in season and growing on the farm. I did some very thorough research (naturally) and checked out a couple of the offerings while at the market. The farm I joined is called Beaverdam Creek Farm. It's located just outside Centerville but has a Monday delivery in Centerville at the soccer field. You can check them out at beaverdamcreekfarm.com if you feel like it. I joined a little late in the season so my cost was pro-rated but I will receive a basket every week through October and it's all prepaid.
So guess what I did Monday??? LOL I left work at 2:45 and drove all the way to Centerville to pick up my basket. Wally offered to get it for me and he did show up right after I got there but try to imagine my enjoyment... fresh veggies for me and Wally and a local farmer supported by local people. ahhhhhh
I should have taken a picture...Monday's basket contained a huge head of Napa cabbage, which I already used part of for chicken soup Monday night, 2 heads of lettuce that were both varieties I'd never tried before. I ate some for lunch Tuesday and have more of the other head for today's lunch. The basket had a bunch of carrots, a bunch of beets, 2 heads of broccoli, one of which went into the shrimp pasta (whole wheat) alfredo and a bunch of dinosaur kale. I've never had kale so I'll let you know how it turns out. From what I can see it is best used in soups or sauteed in olive oil and garlic. I can't wait until next week when it's rumored I'll have cilantro in the basket amongst other things :) Happiness :)
Trish said she'll bring the stems from the broccoli cuttings and any carrot tops that they don't use for composting. I told her the horses would love it. Here it is Wednesday and I find myself wishing for Monday. Now that's weird. To know my weird self is to love my weird self :) Kind of reminds me of Rebecca... :)
It's firefly season and they are everywhere! All I have to do is look toward the woods just after dark and there they are, lit up like you wouldn't believe... It looks like there are hundreds of them out there if you ask me. In reality they just get around fast so I'm really seeing the sames ones lit up here and there as they fly about. Very cool!
I'm loving it here as you are probably aware. Me and Wally in the cabin, my garden, the creatures of the woods and even the neighbors all suit me just fine :)
"There is no sight on earth more appealing than the sight of a woman making dinner for someone she loves." ~Thomas Wolfe
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
My weekend was perfect in case you were wondering
I left work early as noted on Friday's blog. Leaving early on Friday is topped only by taking Monday off which I didn't do so Friday was great! The ride home was pretty quick since school is out - no 15 mph school zones and no parents waiting to get in the pick-up lines. I only go past three schools so it's not that bad even when school is in but once you get used to no traffic, there's just no going back. I love being one of only 4 or 5 cars/trucks on the road at any given time. I'm sure I've mentioned that before so onto the weekend's events...
Friday we went and got cheeseburgers at the diner. They were just as good as they were last time we went and we practically had the place to ourselves. A friend named Red was just getting there with his wife and there were two guys already placing their orders. That was it. No lines, no crowds, sit wherever you want, change the tv channel, or not since racing was on... lol The diner is cool. They have good food and cold beer and that's just what we were looking for Friday night. After dinner we headed over to Pee Wee's for a little while. There might have been 10 people there and thankfully, Pee Wee had the air on. She doesn't do that unless it's really hot outside. Whew! It was.
It reminds me of the Oriole's even still. Everyone pretty much knows everyone and they are all up in each other's business in a joking way. It doesn't matter what you did, they won't let you forget it until someone else does something funnier or sillier or whatever-er to take the place of what you did. I just sit back and take it all in. It's pretty funny stuff. Some of the accents are a little too heavy for me to completely understand everything they're saying - I have to ask Wally when that happens :) and you thought his accent was heavy... lol! We played some songs on the juke box and stayed there for a couple hours.
Saturday morning we were up before dawn so we got cleaned up had BLTs for breakfast, loaded the cooler with water, Mt. Dew and ice and we took off in the black truck for the Franklin Farmer's Market. I was excited to be going because I would finally get to see all the vendors with their fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers that I have been reading about since before I ever moved here. You can Google it and see what I mean. I was in hog heaven! They have booths where you can sign up to be a member of a CSA farm, booths where you can buy organic, pesticide-free vegetables and fruits, booths selling grass-fed, grass-finished beef and artisan breads and cheeses among other things.
If you can imagine me there, you know I simply could not get my fill. We walked around all the booths checking out what the farmers had to offer and the prices (which were unbelievably high) they were asking. We sampled a homemade goat cheese flavored with garlic and dill that was just wonderful. This isn't a crumbly, bitter tasting goat cheese. This was creamy and loaded with dill so that it almost tasted like a dip. It was made on a farm in Franklin called Noble Springs Dairy. They have a website too if you would care to visit it at http://www.noble-springs.com/. The cheese is pricey but boy oh boy is it ever good.
Well, now that I had my cheese I had to have something to put it on so off to the artisan bread booth. This guy has three wood-fired ovens where he makes his own sourdough breads in 6 or 7 different flavors. I just couldn't decide! Wally and I both sampled a couple different ones and finally bought the first one we tried. These breads have no sugar, no white flour and no artificial flavorings or preservatives. It was to die for. Crunchy outside, moist and flavorful on the inside. When topped with the cheese and put under the broiler for a minute or two...wellllllll you can just imagine!
Sorry y'all - I have to shut down my computer for a few minutes but I'll be back with you to finish up my visit to the Farmer's Market... I didn't even get to the beef yet!!
Okay - I wrote all of that on Monday but for some reason it never posted so I'm just continuing on today.
There were a few different farms offering grass-fed beef which I have been dying to try. The problem is that even though the beef was grass-fed, it wasn't grass-finished which is a totally different product altogether. I'll leave that subject for another day or you can google it and see what I mean. I debated whether or not to try the beef and ultimately the raging carnivore in me won out. I bought a 3.5 lb chuck roast.
Choosing vegetables is close to impossible at this market. They all look so tempting but I didn't want to buy too much and risk having anything go bad on me. I narrowed my search to carrots, beets and tomatoes. By this time it was starting to get hot outside, lots of people had showed up and I'm pretty sure I was beginning to drive Wally crazy with my indecisiveness.
It helped that almost every booth was priced close to the same and the products varied only slightly. I could choose heirloom tomatoes from the Mennonite booth for $5.00 a pound (yep, I said they were high) and they would have probably been worth it but I just couldn't do it. Another booth had regular (but fresh from the farm) tomatoes at $2.50 for a container with 6 tomatoes in it. It weighed in at about 2 lbs so that decided it for me. I went out on a limb with the beets opting for Golden Beets instead of the usual red ones and the carrots were the same price everywhere. So I had my tomatoes, my beets and my carrots and we were off and out of there by about 8:30 am. Whew what fun I had in that short amount of time.
I had my bundle on the floor in front of me and couldn't wait to get home and start cooking! Wally showed me how to get to the market from my work so I can pick up anything I need on Tuesdays when they are open until 6pm. From work it takes about 20 minutes. From home it took us about 45 minutes. Wally drove so it would have taken longer with me behind the wheel. Contrary to what you might think I am not a speeder.
We meandered through all sorts of hilly, winding, back roads and saw how completely devastated some areas still are from the flooding. The effort has been made to make bridges and roads accessible on a temporary basis. You can tell they will need to revisit these areas and make the repairs permanent. They just haven't had time yet. I'm still shocked by what that water did.
I'll have to finish this up tomorrow folks. It's time for me to leave for the day and you know me...I'm not staying any later than I have to.
Stay tuned tomorrow for how all that food got put to use... I'll even have a picture for you!
"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." ~Lewis Grizzard
Friday we went and got cheeseburgers at the diner. They were just as good as they were last time we went and we practically had the place to ourselves. A friend named Red was just getting there with his wife and there were two guys already placing their orders. That was it. No lines, no crowds, sit wherever you want, change the tv channel, or not since racing was on... lol The diner is cool. They have good food and cold beer and that's just what we were looking for Friday night. After dinner we headed over to Pee Wee's for a little while. There might have been 10 people there and thankfully, Pee Wee had the air on. She doesn't do that unless it's really hot outside. Whew! It was.
It reminds me of the Oriole's even still. Everyone pretty much knows everyone and they are all up in each other's business in a joking way. It doesn't matter what you did, they won't let you forget it until someone else does something funnier or sillier or whatever-er to take the place of what you did. I just sit back and take it all in. It's pretty funny stuff. Some of the accents are a little too heavy for me to completely understand everything they're saying - I have to ask Wally when that happens :) and you thought his accent was heavy... lol! We played some songs on the juke box and stayed there for a couple hours.
Saturday morning we were up before dawn so we got cleaned up had BLTs for breakfast, loaded the cooler with water, Mt. Dew and ice and we took off in the black truck for the Franklin Farmer's Market. I was excited to be going because I would finally get to see all the vendors with their fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers that I have been reading about since before I ever moved here. You can Google it and see what I mean. I was in hog heaven! They have booths where you can sign up to be a member of a CSA farm, booths where you can buy organic, pesticide-free vegetables and fruits, booths selling grass-fed, grass-finished beef and artisan breads and cheeses among other things.
If you can imagine me there, you know I simply could not get my fill. We walked around all the booths checking out what the farmers had to offer and the prices (which were unbelievably high) they were asking. We sampled a homemade goat cheese flavored with garlic and dill that was just wonderful. This isn't a crumbly, bitter tasting goat cheese. This was creamy and loaded with dill so that it almost tasted like a dip. It was made on a farm in Franklin called Noble Springs Dairy. They have a website too if you would care to visit it at http://www.noble-springs.com/. The cheese is pricey but boy oh boy is it ever good.
Well, now that I had my cheese I had to have something to put it on so off to the artisan bread booth. This guy has three wood-fired ovens where he makes his own sourdough breads in 6 or 7 different flavors. I just couldn't decide! Wally and I both sampled a couple different ones and finally bought the first one we tried. These breads have no sugar, no white flour and no artificial flavorings or preservatives. It was to die for. Crunchy outside, moist and flavorful on the inside. When topped with the cheese and put under the broiler for a minute or two...wellllllll you can just imagine!
Sorry y'all - I have to shut down my computer for a few minutes but I'll be back with you to finish up my visit to the Farmer's Market... I didn't even get to the beef yet!!
Okay - I wrote all of that on Monday but for some reason it never posted so I'm just continuing on today.
There were a few different farms offering grass-fed beef which I have been dying to try. The problem is that even though the beef was grass-fed, it wasn't grass-finished which is a totally different product altogether. I'll leave that subject for another day or you can google it and see what I mean. I debated whether or not to try the beef and ultimately the raging carnivore in me won out. I bought a 3.5 lb chuck roast.
Choosing vegetables is close to impossible at this market. They all look so tempting but I didn't want to buy too much and risk having anything go bad on me. I narrowed my search to carrots, beets and tomatoes. By this time it was starting to get hot outside, lots of people had showed up and I'm pretty sure I was beginning to drive Wally crazy with my indecisiveness.
It helped that almost every booth was priced close to the same and the products varied only slightly. I could choose heirloom tomatoes from the Mennonite booth for $5.00 a pound (yep, I said they were high) and they would have probably been worth it but I just couldn't do it. Another booth had regular (but fresh from the farm) tomatoes at $2.50 for a container with 6 tomatoes in it. It weighed in at about 2 lbs so that decided it for me. I went out on a limb with the beets opting for Golden Beets instead of the usual red ones and the carrots were the same price everywhere. So I had my tomatoes, my beets and my carrots and we were off and out of there by about 8:30 am. Whew what fun I had in that short amount of time.
I had my bundle on the floor in front of me and couldn't wait to get home and start cooking! Wally showed me how to get to the market from my work so I can pick up anything I need on Tuesdays when they are open until 6pm. From work it takes about 20 minutes. From home it took us about 45 minutes. Wally drove so it would have taken longer with me behind the wheel. Contrary to what you might think I am not a speeder.
We meandered through all sorts of hilly, winding, back roads and saw how completely devastated some areas still are from the flooding. The effort has been made to make bridges and roads accessible on a temporary basis. You can tell they will need to revisit these areas and make the repairs permanent. They just haven't had time yet. I'm still shocked by what that water did.
I'll have to finish this up tomorrow folks. It's time for me to leave for the day and you know me...I'm not staying any later than I have to.
Stay tuned tomorrow for how all that food got put to use... I'll even have a picture for you!
"It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." ~Lewis Grizzard
Friday, June 11, 2010
Leaving early today!
I ended up working an hour overtime yesterday so I'm leaving an hour early today to make up for it! Woo Hoo I just love getting out early on a Friday :) At 6:30 this morning, Wally was getting the horse trailer ready so he could load up the horses and take them to get shoes on. That's a pretty good indication we might actually go riding this weekend. No sure bet but the potential exists! You'll know Monday if I'm still sore from it... lol.
We got on the 4 wheeler and went to check out the blackberry situation. They still aren't ready. They range in color from light pink to dark, almost raspberry, red. Maybe they'll be ready in another week or so. From the looks of things, I'll need to get some more jelly jars because I don't have anywhere near enough. The blackberry bushes practically line the property on the southeast side. They're all over the place. Some I can't get to because they are too deep in briers but even without those, I'll have bazillions of blackberries. Wally said they don't all come in at the same time and that I'll have to check back every week once they start. Man I sure wanted to eat one but that would have been seriously detrimental to my health so I held off. It wasn't easy though as they are getting really, really plump!
The mystery plant is still hanging in there and the bees are just loving it. I noticed a couple of the flowers were just starting to show signs of fading but the majority are doing just fine. They Day lilies are thriving still and continue to put out new flowers every day. The Tiger Lily, I'm sad to say, is completely done. I did notice a different variety in one of the yards down off the main road. It's much taller than my Tiger Lily but has the same type of leaves. It's probably 4 feet tall and from what I can see from the road, the blooms are blood red. I'll be looking into those for next spring!
Since the Day lilies and Tiger's are orange, I'm thinking about planting blue flowers or blue flowering shrubs in the spaces between them. It's either that or mow and I'd much rather have flowers! On the other side of the tree, opposite the lilies, there are red and white mums that Wally's grandma planted when she was alive. I would never take them out but I'm at a loss as to what to plant between and around them so I don't have to mow that area either. I may use the cuttings from the Hostas that Claudia said she would share. They are mostly just green leaves but some have white lining the edges of the leaves. Her varieties bloom too. It's not a plant that does very well in FL because it's just too hot.
As I make my lists and then erase and make new lists I realize that I might as well just stop at the nursery and see what I like and take it from there. The mums only bloom once a year so really anything could go with them. Looks like I'll be getting the post hole diggers out again! I'm gonna need some tougher gloves. I used mine until they tore and then I went bare-handed (they were cheapo anyway). It wasn't too bad but it quickly became apparent that my hands weren't used to that kind of abuse. lol
All over the property there are Brown-eyed Susans blooming. I cut some and brought them in the other day. They just can't help but brighten up any room they're in. They're about 3 feet tall in the ground and I cut them to about a foot, foot and a half. I love looking at them in the vase on the wagon wheel table in the living room. Those big, bright yellow blooms really stand out against the mostly tan and brown colors of the living room. If anyone was here to see them, I'd put a vase of them by my bed. They would really look pretty next to that blue and white quilt! But alas, we have no visitors... ha ha ha
I have another mission for those of you who are interested. The bed in the spare bedroom is antique I think. If it's not, it's very old and probably close to it. I'm looking to buy some sheets for it but can't find anything that matches the size. The label on the mattress says "4x6." I looked on-line and found some that were close but even shopping antique sheets I found a variety of dimensions. None that are close enough to fit. The closest I could get had the length at 5 inches longer than the mattress and the width 3 inches longer. Do you think those will fit? I mean, I know the sheets have to be a little bigger in order to fit, especially fitted sheets but you know how I am about shopping. Once I force myself to go get them, I'm not going to want to return them if they don't fit... ugh!! By the way, Bed, Bath and Beyond is over 50 miles from the house... lol But there's one that's not too, too far from my work. If I have to, I can go there. Thank goodness they have kitchen stuff too... takes my mind off the fact that I'm shopping when I'm in that department.
Please keep Derek Mercer in your thoughts as he mourns the passing of his Mom. She fought the brave fight with leukemia but ultimately lost. Bless her heart raising all those boys! While Derek might try to hide it so as not to ruin his bad reputation, she did instill some qualities in him that became more and more apparent as her illness progressed. I won't list them here but suffice it to say, if you know him well, you surely have seen some changes. This was one tough lady, very classy and very sweet. May she rest in peace.
As always I stopped at Kroger for my fuel last night. It was down again from $2.50 last week to $2.46 this week. That's a pretty good savings when you consider the miles I'm driving. I wanted to go in and get some fried chicken but I decided against it. I have to stop reading the websites promoting healthy eating if I'm ever going to be able to buy fried chicken again. It's so so so so so so so bad for you. Probably why it tastes so so so so so so good!! We had sliced pork tenderloin instead. I mixed together the leftover Okra and blackeyed peas to go with it. Since that was so juicy, I added some whole wheat pasta ribbons to soak up some of the liquid. Nothing fancy but it was way healthier than fried chicken would have been...
Wally promised to take me to the Franklin Farmer's Market tomorrow morning. You can google it and see what they are all about. I can't wait to get some fresh beets, spring lettuces, tomatoes and hopefully some sort of melon for my lunches next week. Who knows what all I'll come home with. Poor Wally will be my guinea pig if I find a bunch of stuff I've never cooked before lol Somehow I don't think he'll mind.
I made him a dessert the other night that you should all try. You take some regular graham crackers and a tub of sugar-free cool whip. Break the crackers in half and top one half with the whipped topping. Take the other half of the cracker and make like a sandwich with it. Put them on a cookie sheet and slide them into the freezer for about 3 hours. Once they harden, you wrap them in foil and they'll stay good for about a week or so. If they last that long. It's kind of like having an ice cream sandwich. They aren't completely sugar-free but they are low enough where Wally can eat one or two without complications. It's keeping him away from that third one that's the problem. LOL
I'm giving myself the night off from cooking. Mostly because I forgot to take something out before I left the cabin this morning...lol It's that memory thing again. I think we're going to the diner and I'm planning on having the cheese-burger with onion rings. I let the fried chicken stay at Kroger but the burger is all mine!! It's handmade and grilled and they'll cook it however you like it -even pink in the middle for me! I can't wait :)
So my weekend will be filled with weeding, hopefully planting, the Farmer's Market and horseback riding. Do you think I can fit it all in? LOL No matter what I end up doing or what you end up doing, I hope your weekend is as fulfilling as mine in every way.
“The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.” Anonymous (contributed by Kathy Connelly - my girl I used to carpool with in FL and an avid reader of the blog - Thanks Kathy!)
We got on the 4 wheeler and went to check out the blackberry situation. They still aren't ready. They range in color from light pink to dark, almost raspberry, red. Maybe they'll be ready in another week or so. From the looks of things, I'll need to get some more jelly jars because I don't have anywhere near enough. The blackberry bushes practically line the property on the southeast side. They're all over the place. Some I can't get to because they are too deep in briers but even without those, I'll have bazillions of blackberries. Wally said they don't all come in at the same time and that I'll have to check back every week once they start. Man I sure wanted to eat one but that would have been seriously detrimental to my health so I held off. It wasn't easy though as they are getting really, really plump!
The mystery plant is still hanging in there and the bees are just loving it. I noticed a couple of the flowers were just starting to show signs of fading but the majority are doing just fine. They Day lilies are thriving still and continue to put out new flowers every day. The Tiger Lily, I'm sad to say, is completely done. I did notice a different variety in one of the yards down off the main road. It's much taller than my Tiger Lily but has the same type of leaves. It's probably 4 feet tall and from what I can see from the road, the blooms are blood red. I'll be looking into those for next spring!
Since the Day lilies and Tiger's are orange, I'm thinking about planting blue flowers or blue flowering shrubs in the spaces between them. It's either that or mow and I'd much rather have flowers! On the other side of the tree, opposite the lilies, there are red and white mums that Wally's grandma planted when she was alive. I would never take them out but I'm at a loss as to what to plant between and around them so I don't have to mow that area either. I may use the cuttings from the Hostas that Claudia said she would share. They are mostly just green leaves but some have white lining the edges of the leaves. Her varieties bloom too. It's not a plant that does very well in FL because it's just too hot.
As I make my lists and then erase and make new lists I realize that I might as well just stop at the nursery and see what I like and take it from there. The mums only bloom once a year so really anything could go with them. Looks like I'll be getting the post hole diggers out again! I'm gonna need some tougher gloves. I used mine until they tore and then I went bare-handed (they were cheapo anyway). It wasn't too bad but it quickly became apparent that my hands weren't used to that kind of abuse. lol
All over the property there are Brown-eyed Susans blooming. I cut some and brought them in the other day. They just can't help but brighten up any room they're in. They're about 3 feet tall in the ground and I cut them to about a foot, foot and a half. I love looking at them in the vase on the wagon wheel table in the living room. Those big, bright yellow blooms really stand out against the mostly tan and brown colors of the living room. If anyone was here to see them, I'd put a vase of them by my bed. They would really look pretty next to that blue and white quilt! But alas, we have no visitors... ha ha ha
I have another mission for those of you who are interested. The bed in the spare bedroom is antique I think. If it's not, it's very old and probably close to it. I'm looking to buy some sheets for it but can't find anything that matches the size. The label on the mattress says "4x6." I looked on-line and found some that were close but even shopping antique sheets I found a variety of dimensions. None that are close enough to fit. The closest I could get had the length at 5 inches longer than the mattress and the width 3 inches longer. Do you think those will fit? I mean, I know the sheets have to be a little bigger in order to fit, especially fitted sheets but you know how I am about shopping. Once I force myself to go get them, I'm not going to want to return them if they don't fit... ugh!! By the way, Bed, Bath and Beyond is over 50 miles from the house... lol But there's one that's not too, too far from my work. If I have to, I can go there. Thank goodness they have kitchen stuff too... takes my mind off the fact that I'm shopping when I'm in that department.
Please keep Derek Mercer in your thoughts as he mourns the passing of his Mom. She fought the brave fight with leukemia but ultimately lost. Bless her heart raising all those boys! While Derek might try to hide it so as not to ruin his bad reputation, she did instill some qualities in him that became more and more apparent as her illness progressed. I won't list them here but suffice it to say, if you know him well, you surely have seen some changes. This was one tough lady, very classy and very sweet. May she rest in peace.
As always I stopped at Kroger for my fuel last night. It was down again from $2.50 last week to $2.46 this week. That's a pretty good savings when you consider the miles I'm driving. I wanted to go in and get some fried chicken but I decided against it. I have to stop reading the websites promoting healthy eating if I'm ever going to be able to buy fried chicken again. It's so so so so so so so bad for you. Probably why it tastes so so so so so so good!! We had sliced pork tenderloin instead. I mixed together the leftover Okra and blackeyed peas to go with it. Since that was so juicy, I added some whole wheat pasta ribbons to soak up some of the liquid. Nothing fancy but it was way healthier than fried chicken would have been...
Wally promised to take me to the Franklin Farmer's Market tomorrow morning. You can google it and see what they are all about. I can't wait to get some fresh beets, spring lettuces, tomatoes and hopefully some sort of melon for my lunches next week. Who knows what all I'll come home with. Poor Wally will be my guinea pig if I find a bunch of stuff I've never cooked before lol Somehow I don't think he'll mind.
I made him a dessert the other night that you should all try. You take some regular graham crackers and a tub of sugar-free cool whip. Break the crackers in half and top one half with the whipped topping. Take the other half of the cracker and make like a sandwich with it. Put them on a cookie sheet and slide them into the freezer for about 3 hours. Once they harden, you wrap them in foil and they'll stay good for about a week or so. If they last that long. It's kind of like having an ice cream sandwich. They aren't completely sugar-free but they are low enough where Wally can eat one or two without complications. It's keeping him away from that third one that's the problem. LOL
I'm giving myself the night off from cooking. Mostly because I forgot to take something out before I left the cabin this morning...lol It's that memory thing again. I think we're going to the diner and I'm planning on having the cheese-burger with onion rings. I let the fried chicken stay at Kroger but the burger is all mine!! It's handmade and grilled and they'll cook it however you like it -even pink in the middle for me! I can't wait :)
So my weekend will be filled with weeding, hopefully planting, the Farmer's Market and horseback riding. Do you think I can fit it all in? LOL No matter what I end up doing or what you end up doing, I hope your weekend is as fulfilling as mine in every way.
“The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before.” Anonymous (contributed by Kathy Connelly - my girl I used to carpool with in FL and an avid reader of the blog - Thanks Kathy!)
Thursday, June 10, 2010
You've been missin me, haven't ya?
Sorry about the missing days. I have just been swamped at work trying to learn a teammate's job so I can be his back-up while he is out of the office. To make matters worse, my machine was migrated to a different domain (don't ask me, that's just what they told me) and now I don't have access to all the links I need. La la la, figures :)
Needless to say I have some free time while the people in India escalate my ticket to the people in, "who knows where," who take our IT calls...
Gosh, I haven't been up to much but the days surely do get filled up quickly. I have an update on the vegetable garden (thank you Teri). While I thought I had all squash and tomato plants, I'm told I have cucumbers too. I have butternut in addition to summer squash and we're not 100% sure on the tomato variety. I may have yellow heirloom or Roma tomatoes or both. I may not have either, they could all be Big Boys. I'll be pleased no matter what they all turn out to be and now you and I have something more to look forward to. Woo Hoo - just like Christmas morning!
Wally watered them for me one night because I was fixin dinner (yes, I said fixin - it sounds better) and they were looking sad. After that, it's rained so we haven't had to water them. I do have to get out there and hoe up a mound of dirt in the middle of my row of tomatoes though. When it rained, I could see how low the ground was and the water was standing around two of the tomatoes. That's not a good thing. Guess what I'm doing tonight? LOL I don't mind, it's good to get out there and work in the garden. Even if you have just one potted plant that you nurture and tend to, it gives you a good feeling to see it thrive. Too bad the kids weren't that easy... just stick them in the ground, give 'em some food and water every day or so and off they go! ha ha ha ha ha
Other than a little too much water, the plants looked fine. They're standing upright even after being pelted with rain drops and blown around in the wind. All the squash/cucumber plants have blooms on them and one has a big fat bud on it. I'm thinking that's the cucumber but we'll see. The question is whether to make pickles or let them get cucumber size or both... the dilemmas never end.
Amazingly enough, the horses haven't stepped in the garden even once. No hoof prints at all. I don't know how they know but they do. Can't say the same for the dogs. They were drinking out of the mud puddle instead of going to their water trough. They have to walk across the tomatoes to get to the water so I was really watching closely and even tried to run them off. They didn't listen to me at all - apparently they've never seen the vein...
We're going to put up a string around the garden area and hang aluminum pie plates from it. From what we see and hear, this keeps the deer out. You would think the dogs would have that duty but they aren't interested in chasing deer in their old age and since it's not hunting season, I'm not allowed to shoot them. As far as the crows go, the corn on the fishing hook didn't work. We have another plan for them. Dennis & Debbie Hall gave Wally a motion detector with an alert sound on it. It was intended for use at the gate but we're thinking it might serve us well to keep the animals out of the garden. It lights up and it makes noise - daylight or dark problems solved. Hopefully - keep your fingers crossed. We won't know until the plants get bigger and animals actually notice them.
My Lily of the Nile hasn't bloomed yet and still shows no signs of even thinking about it but if there's one thing I've learned about the garden here in this zone, you just have to wait and see. There's plenty else blooming while you wait on another. I found Butterfly Weed in the yard and along the driveway so I'm kept busy watching the butterflies drink from them, especially seeing as how my hummingbird feeder has proved to be a flop. Maybe I just need to move it so they have more privacy. It's hanging right on the front porch which I thought would be perfect since the sun shines on the red juice all day long. Hummingbirds must feel differently though because I haven't see a one and believe me, I'm watching.
I tell myself they must be coming to drink while I'm at work and I just miss out on the view but the water level tells me different. It's right up there where it started. :( :( Patience? With me it comes and goes.
So now we're on to bats. We are looking at either buying or constructing a couple bat houses. They are priced anywhere from $34.99 to $50.00 if you buy them on-line. There are a couple of websites that offer free plans so I'm going to show those to Wally so he can see if he prefers to build them himself. Bats are a very good source of mosquito elimination - each bat can consume upwards of 3,000 mosquitoes a night. That's some serious chowing! We don't have a mosquito problem yet but summer typically brings them. Or so I hear... Aunt Karen and Uncle Dee had a bat when they lived in the Longwood house, his name was baseball...LOL Baseball BAT, get it? ha ha ha ha ha
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BEVERLY!!! I meant to get on here yesterday if only to say that but work was so busy I didn't have a free minute to do it. If you see her, please give her a birthday hug for me! Bev, I hope you thoroughly enjoyed yourself and having done so, I hope your hangover doesn't last too long. You still have to party this weekend you know!
Dinner was too good not to mention, besides I know you all look forward to this part so you can whet your appetites for lunch :) I made salmon patties, yellow rice and green beans. I know that doesn't sound so awesome but the salmon patties were lightly seasoned with Old Bay, salt & pepper. I added just a little bit of finely chopped onion (so small even Rebecca wouldn't notice...) and a little bit of bread crumbs and an egg (thank you Mom). They were pan fried on medium heat until both sides were lightly browned and the insides were juicy and tender. I've said it before, if yours come out dry - you're doing something wrong. The yellow rice was from a bag but the bag never has enough seasoning for my tastes. I added two cilantro bouillon cubes, a couple splashes of hot sauce and a few saffron threads. Now that was some good rice. We don't normally eat rice because of the starch so this was a treat. Since I was treating us, I really kicked it up! The green beans had been canned by Sherry Daugherty's dad a long time ago. I still had them in the pantry and decided to break them out. They tasted just like they were fresh from the vine. They were so much better than store bought, I just can't describe it. I didn't even need to butter them if that tells you anything. I know Mom - you would butter them anyway... but really, they were that good.
So guess what? I'm going to grow some green beans too...Teri said I can plant them now, reap the harvest and still have time to plant another round. Off to Ace Hardware I go for some Bush Beans :) just as soon as I get out of work.
On another night I made a smothered okra dish that we really enjoyed. I got the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (of course) and it was super easy. You can use either fresh or frozen okra and it really doesn't matter. There isn't much difference in the taste of this vegetable either way. It has chopped tomatoes, onions and bell peppers. The okra will get slippery and sticky but if you keep letting it cook, that will go away and you'll find this dish to be quite varied in its flavor compound. If you don't have the cookbook (though I'm not sure how you live without it) and would like the recipe, let me know. I'll email it to you. Don't be surprised if it takes me a week or so, sorry Lizzard!
Yes, we're planning a trip to FL. The dates aren't set in stone so I can't tell you when. As we get closer and I'm more definite on the plan, I'll update the blog. Hopefully we'll have time to fit in a visit to all of you but you know how that goes. We'll be at the Oriole's for most of the visit... Tell Marcia to get her tape ready!
By the way, Rebecca ratted herself out this morning. Apparently there are those of you who know better than to let a child of mine have the "soda of her/his choice," and yet you still went ahead with allowing it. It seems you were even somewhat encouraging of this deliberate disobedience... I know who you are and I will be sure to make mention of it when I get there. LOL!
On a sad note, we say goodbye to a very sweet man, Dennis Harmon. I know he had his ornery, curmudgeonly ways but who doesn't when you get to be his age? We enjoyed Dennis' "set in stone" attitude and his boyish smile all at the same time. Not too many people can pull off being somewhat opinionated while still giving you his sweetest smile. That was Dennis. Our thoughts are with those close to him.
The U-verse thing didn't work out for us this week. We'll try again for next week so we can have internet access at the house and no long distance on the phone. If that makes you feel like I'll be more accessible, please don't get too excited. While you are welcome to call me anytime, when I'm home, there's always so much to be done that I barely have time to sit down. I will promise to try getting on the internet though, especially as it pertains to pictures. I want all of you to see the beauty I'm exposed to every waking moment. Today I was up around 2am and couldn't get back to sleep. I watched a couple hours of tv and finally got up at 4. The fog was heavy and the moon just a sliver but it was quiet,cool and very calm. The peacefulness makes for the best way to start a morning. You'll see one of these days.
Well I hope this makes up for my couple of days being out of touch... enjoy your day!
"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon." ~Doug Larson
Needless to say I have some free time while the people in India escalate my ticket to the people in, "who knows where," who take our IT calls...
Gosh, I haven't been up to much but the days surely do get filled up quickly. I have an update on the vegetable garden (thank you Teri). While I thought I had all squash and tomato plants, I'm told I have cucumbers too. I have butternut in addition to summer squash and we're not 100% sure on the tomato variety. I may have yellow heirloom or Roma tomatoes or both. I may not have either, they could all be Big Boys. I'll be pleased no matter what they all turn out to be and now you and I have something more to look forward to. Woo Hoo - just like Christmas morning!
Wally watered them for me one night because I was fixin dinner (yes, I said fixin - it sounds better) and they were looking sad. After that, it's rained so we haven't had to water them. I do have to get out there and hoe up a mound of dirt in the middle of my row of tomatoes though. When it rained, I could see how low the ground was and the water was standing around two of the tomatoes. That's not a good thing. Guess what I'm doing tonight? LOL I don't mind, it's good to get out there and work in the garden. Even if you have just one potted plant that you nurture and tend to, it gives you a good feeling to see it thrive. Too bad the kids weren't that easy... just stick them in the ground, give 'em some food and water every day or so and off they go! ha ha ha ha ha
Other than a little too much water, the plants looked fine. They're standing upright even after being pelted with rain drops and blown around in the wind. All the squash/cucumber plants have blooms on them and one has a big fat bud on it. I'm thinking that's the cucumber but we'll see. The question is whether to make pickles or let them get cucumber size or both... the dilemmas never end.
Amazingly enough, the horses haven't stepped in the garden even once. No hoof prints at all. I don't know how they know but they do. Can't say the same for the dogs. They were drinking out of the mud puddle instead of going to their water trough. They have to walk across the tomatoes to get to the water so I was really watching closely and even tried to run them off. They didn't listen to me at all - apparently they've never seen the vein...
We're going to put up a string around the garden area and hang aluminum pie plates from it. From what we see and hear, this keeps the deer out. You would think the dogs would have that duty but they aren't interested in chasing deer in their old age and since it's not hunting season, I'm not allowed to shoot them. As far as the crows go, the corn on the fishing hook didn't work. We have another plan for them. Dennis & Debbie Hall gave Wally a motion detector with an alert sound on it. It was intended for use at the gate but we're thinking it might serve us well to keep the animals out of the garden. It lights up and it makes noise - daylight or dark problems solved. Hopefully - keep your fingers crossed. We won't know until the plants get bigger and animals actually notice them.
My Lily of the Nile hasn't bloomed yet and still shows no signs of even thinking about it but if there's one thing I've learned about the garden here in this zone, you just have to wait and see. There's plenty else blooming while you wait on another. I found Butterfly Weed in the yard and along the driveway so I'm kept busy watching the butterflies drink from them, especially seeing as how my hummingbird feeder has proved to be a flop. Maybe I just need to move it so they have more privacy. It's hanging right on the front porch which I thought would be perfect since the sun shines on the red juice all day long. Hummingbirds must feel differently though because I haven't see a one and believe me, I'm watching.
I tell myself they must be coming to drink while I'm at work and I just miss out on the view but the water level tells me different. It's right up there where it started. :( :( Patience? With me it comes and goes.
So now we're on to bats. We are looking at either buying or constructing a couple bat houses. They are priced anywhere from $34.99 to $50.00 if you buy them on-line. There are a couple of websites that offer free plans so I'm going to show those to Wally so he can see if he prefers to build them himself. Bats are a very good source of mosquito elimination - each bat can consume upwards of 3,000 mosquitoes a night. That's some serious chowing! We don't have a mosquito problem yet but summer typically brings them. Or so I hear... Aunt Karen and Uncle Dee had a bat when they lived in the Longwood house, his name was baseball...LOL Baseball BAT, get it? ha ha ha ha ha
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO BEVERLY!!! I meant to get on here yesterday if only to say that but work was so busy I didn't have a free minute to do it. If you see her, please give her a birthday hug for me! Bev, I hope you thoroughly enjoyed yourself and having done so, I hope your hangover doesn't last too long. You still have to party this weekend you know!
Dinner was too good not to mention, besides I know you all look forward to this part so you can whet your appetites for lunch :) I made salmon patties, yellow rice and green beans. I know that doesn't sound so awesome but the salmon patties were lightly seasoned with Old Bay, salt & pepper. I added just a little bit of finely chopped onion (so small even Rebecca wouldn't notice...) and a little bit of bread crumbs and an egg (thank you Mom). They were pan fried on medium heat until both sides were lightly browned and the insides were juicy and tender. I've said it before, if yours come out dry - you're doing something wrong. The yellow rice was from a bag but the bag never has enough seasoning for my tastes. I added two cilantro bouillon cubes, a couple splashes of hot sauce and a few saffron threads. Now that was some good rice. We don't normally eat rice because of the starch so this was a treat. Since I was treating us, I really kicked it up! The green beans had been canned by Sherry Daugherty's dad a long time ago. I still had them in the pantry and decided to break them out. They tasted just like they were fresh from the vine. They were so much better than store bought, I just can't describe it. I didn't even need to butter them if that tells you anything. I know Mom - you would butter them anyway... but really, they were that good.
So guess what? I'm going to grow some green beans too...Teri said I can plant them now, reap the harvest and still have time to plant another round. Off to Ace Hardware I go for some Bush Beans :) just as soon as I get out of work.
On another night I made a smothered okra dish that we really enjoyed. I got the recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (of course) and it was super easy. You can use either fresh or frozen okra and it really doesn't matter. There isn't much difference in the taste of this vegetable either way. It has chopped tomatoes, onions and bell peppers. The okra will get slippery and sticky but if you keep letting it cook, that will go away and you'll find this dish to be quite varied in its flavor compound. If you don't have the cookbook (though I'm not sure how you live without it) and would like the recipe, let me know. I'll email it to you. Don't be surprised if it takes me a week or so, sorry Lizzard!
Yes, we're planning a trip to FL. The dates aren't set in stone so I can't tell you when. As we get closer and I'm more definite on the plan, I'll update the blog. Hopefully we'll have time to fit in a visit to all of you but you know how that goes. We'll be at the Oriole's for most of the visit... Tell Marcia to get her tape ready!
By the way, Rebecca ratted herself out this morning. Apparently there are those of you who know better than to let a child of mine have the "soda of her/his choice," and yet you still went ahead with allowing it. It seems you were even somewhat encouraging of this deliberate disobedience... I know who you are and I will be sure to make mention of it when I get there. LOL!
On a sad note, we say goodbye to a very sweet man, Dennis Harmon. I know he had his ornery, curmudgeonly ways but who doesn't when you get to be his age? We enjoyed Dennis' "set in stone" attitude and his boyish smile all at the same time. Not too many people can pull off being somewhat opinionated while still giving you his sweetest smile. That was Dennis. Our thoughts are with those close to him.
The U-verse thing didn't work out for us this week. We'll try again for next week so we can have internet access at the house and no long distance on the phone. If that makes you feel like I'll be more accessible, please don't get too excited. While you are welcome to call me anytime, when I'm home, there's always so much to be done that I barely have time to sit down. I will promise to try getting on the internet though, especially as it pertains to pictures. I want all of you to see the beauty I'm exposed to every waking moment. Today I was up around 2am and couldn't get back to sleep. I watched a couple hours of tv and finally got up at 4. The fog was heavy and the moon just a sliver but it was quiet,cool and very calm. The peacefulness makes for the best way to start a morning. You'll see one of these days.
Well I hope this makes up for my couple of days being out of touch... enjoy your day!
"Life expectancy would grow by leaps and bounds if green vegetables smelled as good as bacon." ~Doug Larson
Monday, June 7, 2010
Monday dawned sunny and 69 degrees...
"Oh What a Beautiful Day" is the song that comes to my mind today. The sky is clear and the sun is doing its job of burning off any lingering fog across the mountains. The hillsides I pass are full of grazing cows and horses and old farm trucks are the only traffic I see. The guy on the radio asks "Ain't it great to be alive and be in Tennessee?" Well, to that I say , "it sure is!"
Our weekend was productive even if uneventful. While Friday night used to be the night I would go out, meet my friends at the Oriole's, have a few beers and maybe even a steak dinner, these days I'm perfectly fine just staying home at the cabin with Wally. The phone rarely ever rings and unless we know about it in advance, no one comes down the driveway. I can get so much done under these circumstances!
We took our evening stroll around the front yard and my garden area and we talked about what we needed to get done first thing Saturday morning. For the most part our focus was on the garden. Teri sent me squash and tomato plants that needed to go in the ground and I had all those flower seeds to sow. We made a list of things we would need from Lowe's and probably changed our plans 6 or 8 times before we finally nailed it down. Of course, Saturday morning the plans changed again lol but we did make it to Lowe's :).
I had made pork chops with gravy, biscuits (gotta cut back on these), and butter beans seasoned with Vidalia onions (the brand is Allen's by the way, not Glory as originally stated) for dinner and we couldn't eat it all so we had the leftovers for breakfast sans the beans. That out of the way, we got ready to leave the farm. Since neither of us really wants to leave, it takes us a while to get going. While Wally loaded up the garbage to take to the dump, I took pictures of the mystery plant and then fed the dogs the bones from breakfast. After about 20 minutes or so we were on our way.
We got some potting soil, some herbs, some seed packets of Sweet Peas, radishes, and peppers and we traded propane tanks. Wally picked up some plumbing supplies and we headed to Food Lion. Well, we made our way back towards the meat department because they always have something good on sale and low and behold, they had ribeyes on sale for $5.49 lb. These were not quite the same as the ones I found before, a little more pricey but every bit as pretty. Nice red coloring, just enough marbling and even a bone for the dogs. Not that there's much left on the bone after I get to it but they're happy nonetheless.
We were in search of a plastic wheel barrow like the one I have in Florida (we forgot it when we loaded the truck but we will have to get it one day) because Wally has one of those metal ones with just the one wheel. I'm not real strong, nor am I very coordinated so it's just not working out for me. It's heavy, I stumble and it rocks back and forth and threatens to fall over and to top it off I'm on a rocky driveway. That's before I even put anything in it... LOL Yeah, you would laugh hysterically if we could get it on tape! Don't hold your breath.
I think we were back home by noon. So much for not leaving the farm all weekend. I made a light lunch, tuna fish on whole wheat and sliced tomatoes and we chilled out watching tv in the living room. After a little while, we decided to go on the hunt for a couple of big stones Wally had seen in the creek. He wants to use them on the posts at the outdoor kitchen. We loaded up in the black truck and off we went again. We weren't sure the roads would be open but as luck would have it, they were. There were some washed out spots but we were able to make it through. He showed me the "swimmin hole" and a couple other cool places to hang out and then we got to where the rocks were supposed to be. Unfortunately, the flood had swept them away so even though we came back empty handed, our eyes were full of the beauty of the land and water.
We came back home and chilled out for a little while. I can't sit still for long so I started cleaning out the refrigerator. I found some boiled peanuts left from when Debbie was here so I took those outside to give to the horses. I didn't know whether or not they would like them but apparently they are a favorite! Rebel came right up so I gave him one. HE LOVED IT! He came at me like he was going to knock me down but he just wanted more. I couldn't get them out of the bag fast enough. He was nudging me with his nose and nodding his head up and down. I was giving him 5 or 6 at a time and he was inhaling them. He even licked the juice that I poured out of the bag. All I can say is Rebecca better watch out when she comes up! LOL Smokey never even showed himself so he really missed out on that treat.
I picked the grapes off the stems and cut up the cantaloupe for my lunches this week and took out the salmon we planned to have for dinner. I found a 1.5 lb piece of Wild Caught Pacific Salmon at Food Lion for $7.59. It looks like about one whole side of fish. Anyway, Wally had some cedar wood that we put in the sink to soak and I made the marinade for the salmon. McCormick's Baja Citrus is the marinade of choice for the salmon. Although neither of us had ever tried the marinade, nor had we ever tried cooking salmon on cedar, we had seen it done on tv so we thought, what the heck?
Okay, I know I always say it but this is another keeper. The grill does get very, very smokey but that's the idea. We sat outside and marveled at how pretty the view was while the fish and peas cooked. The fish was juicy, tangy, smokey and cooked just right. Lots of people don't like salmon because they say it is too dry. Trust me, you're cooking it wrong if it comes out dry. To go with it, we had smoked baby peas (Wally's idea and a good one at that) and a combo of squash steamed, buttered and with a light dill seasoning on top. Healthy, filling, easy and thoroughly enjoyed. Salmon is one of the best sources of Omega 3 oils that you can get. If you haven't had it in a while, try it again with this marinade. You won't be disappointed. We finished off our night cleaning up the kitchen and cleaning up ourselves. Off to bed before dark as usual :)
Sunday we had work to do...first we called the horses over to their feeding area so we could tie them up. Wally can't mow the driveway with them free to roam. We gave them some sweetfeed and sprayed them with pine-sol to keep the flies away. In hind sight I should have sprayed me too... lol
I got all my plants and equipment ready and got to farming, which I now call digging. Wally got the tractor running with the bush-hog attachment (see, I did learn the difference) and started mowing around the property at the edge of the woods and up the driveway. The horses can't get up there because of the gate, otherwise, we wouldn't need to mow it. I planted 10 squash plants and 9 tomato plants (thank you Teri) in the garden, then I potted the herbs; sage, thyme, dill and sweet basil in a long planter.
I have only ever used a post hole digger once in my life and now I remember why. It's not easy! It's heavy and it's awkward (or maybe it's me?) but I managed to dig all the holes for the veggies. The soil had been tilled but it was still rocky and hard. Nothing at all like what I was used to in FL. There, I could dig a hole with my hands and have all the plants in the ground within about 2 hours. Four and a half hours later I was soaked with sweat, had a gnat stuck to my eyelid, I was covered with dirt and every muscle in my arms and legs was sore. I still had seeds to sow and watering in to do. I'm pretty sure Ray Romano's dad said it perfectly when he came out with "holy crap." That was pretty much my motto for the day.
I know the payoff will come when I have my very own, fresh from the garden, squash and tomatoes and herbs to top them with but as of yesterday that was some of the hardest work I had done in a long, long time. Even placing the rocks around the daylilies and mums wasn't this hard and it was a chore! You try sticking a shovel in the ground here and it jars your teeth. One attempt with that thing and it was leaned up against the tree. I went back to the post hole digger to get the job done. If you're going to garden here, it should be your second purchase after the tiller.
Wally had finished mowing and came to help me with the flower seeds. I put out Sweet William, Calendula, Alyssum and Zinnias. I have the Marigolds, sweet peas, radishes and peppers yet to plant but trust me all that I did was all that I could do for one day. It was 12:30 when we were done with our showers and back in the cabin. Wally said it felt like 4:30 or 5:00 because of all the work we had done. He was right too.
I sat on the couch, looking out at the mountains through the front door while reading my gardening books and comparing what I had with what I wanted. That list is never ending...We had the a/c on and the race on tv and were quite content to do absolutely nothing else. Not to mention being too sore to barely even move! Wally was a little sunburned but he wasn't sore like I was.
We didn't do anything else all day except for I did some laundry - it's so pretty hanging out there on the line :) and we cooked dinner out on the grill again. We had the steaks with mushrooms and onions, sweet potatoes and a big salad (including beets, pepperoncini's and black olives). I made up some Good Season's Italian dressing to pour on top - my favorite! We finished watching the race and I cleaned up the kitchen and made my lunch for today.
It was really good to finally get some food in the ground and I'm sure you're glad it's done so you don't have to read about me doing it anymore :) The yard looked nice and smelled freshly mowed, the horses were fat and happy and the dogs were chomping away on their steak bones. Don't you want to come see me? C'mon...
What a great weekend. The pictures I added are of the mystery plant and Rebel. The bumble bees love the mystery plant as you can see and Rebel stands over the a/c unit so the fan will blow on him. The spots you see aren't on him, they're on my window. Wally won't let me clean them until after he stains the cabin. He said he has to tape the windows so there's no point cleaning them until after the tape comes off. Okay, I'll give it another weekend or so but then that's it.
One last thing...
"If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn't organic produce just be called "produce" and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective?" ~Ymber Delecto
Our weekend was productive even if uneventful. While Friday night used to be the night I would go out, meet my friends at the Oriole's, have a few beers and maybe even a steak dinner, these days I'm perfectly fine just staying home at the cabin with Wally. The phone rarely ever rings and unless we know about it in advance, no one comes down the driveway. I can get so much done under these circumstances!
We took our evening stroll around the front yard and my garden area and we talked about what we needed to get done first thing Saturday morning. For the most part our focus was on the garden. Teri sent me squash and tomato plants that needed to go in the ground and I had all those flower seeds to sow. We made a list of things we would need from Lowe's and probably changed our plans 6 or 8 times before we finally nailed it down. Of course, Saturday morning the plans changed again lol but we did make it to Lowe's :).
I had made pork chops with gravy, biscuits (gotta cut back on these), and butter beans seasoned with Vidalia onions (the brand is Allen's by the way, not Glory as originally stated) for dinner and we couldn't eat it all so we had the leftovers for breakfast sans the beans. That out of the way, we got ready to leave the farm. Since neither of us really wants to leave, it takes us a while to get going. While Wally loaded up the garbage to take to the dump, I took pictures of the mystery plant and then fed the dogs the bones from breakfast. After about 20 minutes or so we were on our way.
We got some potting soil, some herbs, some seed packets of Sweet Peas, radishes, and peppers and we traded propane tanks. Wally picked up some plumbing supplies and we headed to Food Lion. Well, we made our way back towards the meat department because they always have something good on sale and low and behold, they had ribeyes on sale for $5.49 lb. These were not quite the same as the ones I found before, a little more pricey but every bit as pretty. Nice red coloring, just enough marbling and even a bone for the dogs. Not that there's much left on the bone after I get to it but they're happy nonetheless.
We were in search of a plastic wheel barrow like the one I have in Florida (we forgot it when we loaded the truck but we will have to get it one day) because Wally has one of those metal ones with just the one wheel. I'm not real strong, nor am I very coordinated so it's just not working out for me. It's heavy, I stumble and it rocks back and forth and threatens to fall over and to top it off I'm on a rocky driveway. That's before I even put anything in it... LOL Yeah, you would laugh hysterically if we could get it on tape! Don't hold your breath.
I think we were back home by noon. So much for not leaving the farm all weekend. I made a light lunch, tuna fish on whole wheat and sliced tomatoes and we chilled out watching tv in the living room. After a little while, we decided to go on the hunt for a couple of big stones Wally had seen in the creek. He wants to use them on the posts at the outdoor kitchen. We loaded up in the black truck and off we went again. We weren't sure the roads would be open but as luck would have it, they were. There were some washed out spots but we were able to make it through. He showed me the "swimmin hole" and a couple other cool places to hang out and then we got to where the rocks were supposed to be. Unfortunately, the flood had swept them away so even though we came back empty handed, our eyes were full of the beauty of the land and water.
We came back home and chilled out for a little while. I can't sit still for long so I started cleaning out the refrigerator. I found some boiled peanuts left from when Debbie was here so I took those outside to give to the horses. I didn't know whether or not they would like them but apparently they are a favorite! Rebel came right up so I gave him one. HE LOVED IT! He came at me like he was going to knock me down but he just wanted more. I couldn't get them out of the bag fast enough. He was nudging me with his nose and nodding his head up and down. I was giving him 5 or 6 at a time and he was inhaling them. He even licked the juice that I poured out of the bag. All I can say is Rebecca better watch out when she comes up! LOL Smokey never even showed himself so he really missed out on that treat.
I picked the grapes off the stems and cut up the cantaloupe for my lunches this week and took out the salmon we planned to have for dinner. I found a 1.5 lb piece of Wild Caught Pacific Salmon at Food Lion for $7.59. It looks like about one whole side of fish. Anyway, Wally had some cedar wood that we put in the sink to soak and I made the marinade for the salmon. McCormick's Baja Citrus is the marinade of choice for the salmon. Although neither of us had ever tried the marinade, nor had we ever tried cooking salmon on cedar, we had seen it done on tv so we thought, what the heck?
Okay, I know I always say it but this is another keeper. The grill does get very, very smokey but that's the idea. We sat outside and marveled at how pretty the view was while the fish and peas cooked. The fish was juicy, tangy, smokey and cooked just right. Lots of people don't like salmon because they say it is too dry. Trust me, you're cooking it wrong if it comes out dry. To go with it, we had smoked baby peas (Wally's idea and a good one at that) and a combo of squash steamed, buttered and with a light dill seasoning on top. Healthy, filling, easy and thoroughly enjoyed. Salmon is one of the best sources of Omega 3 oils that you can get. If you haven't had it in a while, try it again with this marinade. You won't be disappointed. We finished off our night cleaning up the kitchen and cleaning up ourselves. Off to bed before dark as usual :)
Sunday we had work to do...first we called the horses over to their feeding area so we could tie them up. Wally can't mow the driveway with them free to roam. We gave them some sweetfeed and sprayed them with pine-sol to keep the flies away. In hind sight I should have sprayed me too... lol
I got all my plants and equipment ready and got to farming, which I now call digging. Wally got the tractor running with the bush-hog attachment (see, I did learn the difference) and started mowing around the property at the edge of the woods and up the driveway. The horses can't get up there because of the gate, otherwise, we wouldn't need to mow it. I planted 10 squash plants and 9 tomato plants (thank you Teri) in the garden, then I potted the herbs; sage, thyme, dill and sweet basil in a long planter.
I have only ever used a post hole digger once in my life and now I remember why. It's not easy! It's heavy and it's awkward (or maybe it's me?) but I managed to dig all the holes for the veggies. The soil had been tilled but it was still rocky and hard. Nothing at all like what I was used to in FL. There, I could dig a hole with my hands and have all the plants in the ground within about 2 hours. Four and a half hours later I was soaked with sweat, had a gnat stuck to my eyelid, I was covered with dirt and every muscle in my arms and legs was sore. I still had seeds to sow and watering in to do. I'm pretty sure Ray Romano's dad said it perfectly when he came out with "holy crap." That was pretty much my motto for the day.
I know the payoff will come when I have my very own, fresh from the garden, squash and tomatoes and herbs to top them with but as of yesterday that was some of the hardest work I had done in a long, long time. Even placing the rocks around the daylilies and mums wasn't this hard and it was a chore! You try sticking a shovel in the ground here and it jars your teeth. One attempt with that thing and it was leaned up against the tree. I went back to the post hole digger to get the job done. If you're going to garden here, it should be your second purchase after the tiller.
Wally had finished mowing and came to help me with the flower seeds. I put out Sweet William, Calendula, Alyssum and Zinnias. I have the Marigolds, sweet peas, radishes and peppers yet to plant but trust me all that I did was all that I could do for one day. It was 12:30 when we were done with our showers and back in the cabin. Wally said it felt like 4:30 or 5:00 because of all the work we had done. He was right too.
I sat on the couch, looking out at the mountains through the front door while reading my gardening books and comparing what I had with what I wanted. That list is never ending...We had the a/c on and the race on tv and were quite content to do absolutely nothing else. Not to mention being too sore to barely even move! Wally was a little sunburned but he wasn't sore like I was.
We didn't do anything else all day except for I did some laundry - it's so pretty hanging out there on the line :) and we cooked dinner out on the grill again. We had the steaks with mushrooms and onions, sweet potatoes and a big salad (including beets, pepperoncini's and black olives). I made up some Good Season's Italian dressing to pour on top - my favorite! We finished watching the race and I cleaned up the kitchen and made my lunch for today.
It was really good to finally get some food in the ground and I'm sure you're glad it's done so you don't have to read about me doing it anymore :) The yard looked nice and smelled freshly mowed, the horses were fat and happy and the dogs were chomping away on their steak bones. Don't you want to come see me? C'mon...
What a great weekend. The pictures I added are of the mystery plant and Rebel. The bumble bees love the mystery plant as you can see and Rebel stands over the a/c unit so the fan will blow on him. The spots you see aren't on him, they're on my window. Wally won't let me clean them until after he stains the cabin. He said he has to tape the windows so there's no point cleaning them until after the tape comes off. Okay, I'll give it another weekend or so but then that's it.
One last thing...
"If organic farming is the natural way, shouldn't organic produce just be called "produce" and make the pesticide-laden stuff take the burden of an adjective?" ~Ymber Delecto
Friday, June 4, 2010
Getting caught up on work and the blog...
I'm so glad this was a short week - too bad they can't all be 4 day work weeks, right? I feel like Friday got here so quickly that I must have forgotten to do something. With me that's not unusual, I'm always forgetting to do something. You would laugh at my list of things to do... Today's list is too long to post if that gives you any idea lol.
We have no real plans for the weekend but you and I both know that will change. I wouldn't have anything to write about on Monday if it didn't. Wally got the black truck running a few days ago so we'll likely have to take it on an outing. It's an adventure no matter what. We load up the cooler and the tool bag (never leave home without it) and a garbage bag or two and off we go. We hit the dirt roads and slowly plod along looking at the beautiful scenery and picking up other people's trash as we go. We usually end up with at least two bags full - people are pigs to do that to someone else's property. Some of the best roads have been closed off by the owners because of people trashing the area. Never, ever litter.
I have to check on the blackberry bushes because it's supposed to rain on Sunday. If it rains, I'll be doing some canning! I so hope the blackberries are ready and that it rains. We might even saddle the horses and try to get down the holler. Wally says it's so bad he's not even sure the horses will make it. We won't risk it if it doesn't feel right.
The mystery plant just keeps on blooming and I just love looking at those flowers every morning when I head off to work and in the afternoons when I get home. In the morning it's usually dark still so my headlights shine on them. The lavender color is holding out even in the hotter temperatures we've been experiencing lately. I thought they would have faded by now but that's not the case. I guess the bloom will stay for as long as it took to actually open up. From the time I first noticed that they had blooms on them until the bloom time came seemed like forever. Probably it was closer to about 3-4 weeks. That's okay with me. Most of the gardens I drive by have very little in bloom right now so it was worth the wait to have them last this long.
There were hollyhocks coming up by the mailbox but the guy who lives in the first house on the left mowed them down. I don't know if he just didn't know what they were or if he didn't care but they're gone. I know it was him because his is the only yard that got mowed. One of the plants had a couple of buds on it too... :( I'm going to go dig up what is left of the stems and roots and see if I can get them to go again. He cut down some day lilies too and they were even in bloom. I don't think he wants to be my friend.
I made up a recipe last night. I felt like having Mexican food but I didn't really want tacos. I browned some hamburger meat and added a packet of taco seasoning and a little water. I took a cake pan and sprayed some non-stick spray in it then lined it with corn tortillas. I added a layer of the meat mixture and then a layer of Mexican cheese. I mixed some enchilada sauce with some chopped green chilies (from a can) and poured that on top. I made one more layer of tortillas, meat, cheese and sauce then topped it with the remaining tortillas and lots more cheese. It went into a 350 degree over for about 25 minutes and viola! It came out piping hot, cheesy-gooey and smelling like a little Mexican restaurant. We dug right in. Wally put hot sauce on his but quickly decided it didn't need it LOL. For his second helping, he left the hot sauce off.
I was finally able to take my little back road short cut. It had been washed out by the rain this whole time. The other day I decided to try it and was so delighted to see the barricades were gone. The road must have been very badly damaged because on either side of the bridge, it's all brand spanking new. Going over the bridge I can see probably 20 or more trees just laying there all jumbled up on the side of the river banks. Some are half in the water still. It's nice to have that route available again. It's the one I plan to take pictures of whenever I get a camera :) ha ha ha that's on the list!
The farm stand that I like finally opened too. It was in the very worst area of the flood and I really didn't think their garden had survived. Wally took me by the farm a week or so ago so we could see what it looked like. We couldn't get in but we could see where the water had risen to. Thankfully, they did survive. They had a plot of land that was on higher ground so all their peppers, squash and onions came through. The tomato plants, however, were all washed away. She showed me where they have replanted two huge areas with "Bradley" tomatoes (for which this farm is famous) but said it's going to be a while before they're ready. The little plants are probably no taller than 5 or 6 inches. That's how all the farmers had to do - start over with all that planting. She did have tomatoes to sell - they had been shipped in from Florida ha ha ha go figure!
I bought some yellow squash, some green pattypan squash, some onions and green peppers. The green peppers still had the dried mud on them where the water had washed through the garden. I much prefer to buy the vegetables fresh from the farm rather than at the store. I know sometimes we have no choice but when we do, we should always support local agriculture. The food is healthier (it's been studied and documented) and tastier and you're helping the community by contributing to the farms in your area. I'll get off my soapbox if you'll promise to at least give a local farm or farmer's market a try...
You can Google Farmer's Markets and find a listing to choose from. You can also Google CSA Farms for a listing in your area. It's a great concept and gaining recognition at a very fast pace. Okay - that's it for that.
When I got home with the goodies, I sliced up the squash and put it in the steamer. We sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese, butter and black pepper and gobbled it all down. There was nothing left for dog or horse. We had other stuff to go along with it but the squash was best :)
This life suits me well, can you tell?
I got my hummingbird feeder hung up on the rafter of the front porch. It hangs directly in my line of vision when I'm sitting in my rocker or on the couch either one. I haven't seen a hummingbird yet but I'm keeping a close watch out for them to appear. When I was at the grocery store the other day I picked up a bottle of red food coloring. They sell the red by itself in a big bottle most likely just for the purpose of putting it in the hummingbird feeders. It should last me through the summer. If you want to know what I'm doing later on this afternoon, I'll be sitting in my chair on the front porch watching out for little teeny, tiny birds to come drink of the sweet nectar that is sugar water colored red... :) :) :)
Sorry you won't be here to hang out with me but it's not like you weren't invited... hmmmm?
Have fun of some sort this weekend...
Who knew Edgar Allan Poe could be so prophetic?
"If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered." ~Edgar Allan Poe
p.s. Mom, wouldn't it work just as well to say it three times? LOL!
We have no real plans for the weekend but you and I both know that will change. I wouldn't have anything to write about on Monday if it didn't. Wally got the black truck running a few days ago so we'll likely have to take it on an outing. It's an adventure no matter what. We load up the cooler and the tool bag (never leave home without it) and a garbage bag or two and off we go. We hit the dirt roads and slowly plod along looking at the beautiful scenery and picking up other people's trash as we go. We usually end up with at least two bags full - people are pigs to do that to someone else's property. Some of the best roads have been closed off by the owners because of people trashing the area. Never, ever litter.
I have to check on the blackberry bushes because it's supposed to rain on Sunday. If it rains, I'll be doing some canning! I so hope the blackberries are ready and that it rains. We might even saddle the horses and try to get down the holler. Wally says it's so bad he's not even sure the horses will make it. We won't risk it if it doesn't feel right.
The mystery plant just keeps on blooming and I just love looking at those flowers every morning when I head off to work and in the afternoons when I get home. In the morning it's usually dark still so my headlights shine on them. The lavender color is holding out even in the hotter temperatures we've been experiencing lately. I thought they would have faded by now but that's not the case. I guess the bloom will stay for as long as it took to actually open up. From the time I first noticed that they had blooms on them until the bloom time came seemed like forever. Probably it was closer to about 3-4 weeks. That's okay with me. Most of the gardens I drive by have very little in bloom right now so it was worth the wait to have them last this long.
There were hollyhocks coming up by the mailbox but the guy who lives in the first house on the left mowed them down. I don't know if he just didn't know what they were or if he didn't care but they're gone. I know it was him because his is the only yard that got mowed. One of the plants had a couple of buds on it too... :( I'm going to go dig up what is left of the stems and roots and see if I can get them to go again. He cut down some day lilies too and they were even in bloom. I don't think he wants to be my friend.
I made up a recipe last night. I felt like having Mexican food but I didn't really want tacos. I browned some hamburger meat and added a packet of taco seasoning and a little water. I took a cake pan and sprayed some non-stick spray in it then lined it with corn tortillas. I added a layer of the meat mixture and then a layer of Mexican cheese. I mixed some enchilada sauce with some chopped green chilies (from a can) and poured that on top. I made one more layer of tortillas, meat, cheese and sauce then topped it with the remaining tortillas and lots more cheese. It went into a 350 degree over for about 25 minutes and viola! It came out piping hot, cheesy-gooey and smelling like a little Mexican restaurant. We dug right in. Wally put hot sauce on his but quickly decided it didn't need it LOL. For his second helping, he left the hot sauce off.
I was finally able to take my little back road short cut. It had been washed out by the rain this whole time. The other day I decided to try it and was so delighted to see the barricades were gone. The road must have been very badly damaged because on either side of the bridge, it's all brand spanking new. Going over the bridge I can see probably 20 or more trees just laying there all jumbled up on the side of the river banks. Some are half in the water still. It's nice to have that route available again. It's the one I plan to take pictures of whenever I get a camera :) ha ha ha that's on the list!
The farm stand that I like finally opened too. It was in the very worst area of the flood and I really didn't think their garden had survived. Wally took me by the farm a week or so ago so we could see what it looked like. We couldn't get in but we could see where the water had risen to. Thankfully, they did survive. They had a plot of land that was on higher ground so all their peppers, squash and onions came through. The tomato plants, however, were all washed away. She showed me where they have replanted two huge areas with "Bradley" tomatoes (for which this farm is famous) but said it's going to be a while before they're ready. The little plants are probably no taller than 5 or 6 inches. That's how all the farmers had to do - start over with all that planting. She did have tomatoes to sell - they had been shipped in from Florida ha ha ha go figure!
I bought some yellow squash, some green pattypan squash, some onions and green peppers. The green peppers still had the dried mud on them where the water had washed through the garden. I much prefer to buy the vegetables fresh from the farm rather than at the store. I know sometimes we have no choice but when we do, we should always support local agriculture. The food is healthier (it's been studied and documented) and tastier and you're helping the community by contributing to the farms in your area. I'll get off my soapbox if you'll promise to at least give a local farm or farmer's market a try...
You can Google Farmer's Markets and find a listing to choose from. You can also Google CSA Farms for a listing in your area. It's a great concept and gaining recognition at a very fast pace. Okay - that's it for that.
When I got home with the goodies, I sliced up the squash and put it in the steamer. We sprinkled it with Parmesan cheese, butter and black pepper and gobbled it all down. There was nothing left for dog or horse. We had other stuff to go along with it but the squash was best :)
This life suits me well, can you tell?
I got my hummingbird feeder hung up on the rafter of the front porch. It hangs directly in my line of vision when I'm sitting in my rocker or on the couch either one. I haven't seen a hummingbird yet but I'm keeping a close watch out for them to appear. When I was at the grocery store the other day I picked up a bottle of red food coloring. They sell the red by itself in a big bottle most likely just for the purpose of putting it in the hummingbird feeders. It should last me through the summer. If you want to know what I'm doing later on this afternoon, I'll be sitting in my chair on the front porch watching out for little teeny, tiny birds to come drink of the sweet nectar that is sugar water colored red... :) :) :)
Sorry you won't be here to hang out with me but it's not like you weren't invited... hmmmm?
Have fun of some sort this weekend...
Who knew Edgar Allan Poe could be so prophetic?
"If you wish to forget anything on the spot, make a note that this thing is to be remembered." ~Edgar Allan Poe
p.s. Mom, wouldn't it work just as well to say it three times? LOL!
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