"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
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