On my mind

Joining Rhonda at Down To Earth

I am enjoying the last days of fall before winter.

Maple trees make the best compost!

The lemon balm had a growth spurt so I'm making some wine from the leaves and white grape juice.

Have a great day!

This is on my mind

Linking with Rhonda's weekly "On my mind photo" over at Down To Earth.

A few weeks ago I drove past a house with birdhouses.  Painted gourd birdhouses.

No sign of birds, but I think these are meant to be purple martin houses.

On My Mind

Joining  Rhonda at Down To Earth .........

My Fall garden is on my mind

Siberian Kale

Green Onions

Lettuce

Beets

This is on My Mind

Joining Rhonda over at Down To Earth....

I recently borrowed "Wild Fermentation" from the local public library and since I had a surplus of kale I started a recipe from the book.  I can't remember what it is called exactly but it is Tibetan (gundruk?) and is made of nothing but smashed kale greens.  I followed the recipe but my kale wasn't as juicy as it should be apparently and I had to top it off with water.

This is after about 10 days.

As you can see it has some white stuff forming.  The first few days it oozed out of the bottle and I just tightened it.  The recipe called for it to be packed tightly in a glass jar and capped.  Nothing more in the way of instruction.

The odor was strong but not unpleasant.  I haven't taken to top off yet and I'm starting to wonder if it isn't ruined because of the air pockets.

Has anyone any thoughts or better yet, has anyone made this?  Or possibly something similiar? 

On My Mind

Joining Rhonda at Down to Earth

It is hot here!

And I have had hot tasks to do as well.  At least most of it is inside in the AC.

I ended up with 7 quarts of zucchini pickles, 5 quarts of bread and butter pickles, 9 pints of green beans, and 11 pints of kale.  I will relish it all this winter and think about the heat too!

Bobby

I got to work this morning and put out some birdseed and the bob tailed squirrel showed up!

He had been by a couple of times in the past few weeks.  I knew he was okay because a coworker on the other side of the building sees him.  I was very happy to see his  tail has healed up and he looks very healthy again.

Yes!  I have peanuts for you Bobby!

Check out his tail.  It is all bushy and his fur looks thick and shiny.

It's going to be a good day!

Thanks to Rhonda Jean over at Down To Earth for sponsoring this!

The Visitor

Sitting in my swing the other afternoon doing my usual crocheting and sipping a beverage I had a visitor.  She has been around quite a lot lately.  She has big brown eyes and I have been wanting to get a picture of her to show!    I've watched her fighting with the other neighbor gal a couple of doors down.  She must be very territorial.  So, I dashed inside and got my camera and I managed to get a few pictures before she dashed around the side of the neighbor's house.

I tried to get closer so you could see her lovely long ears.

But she ran.

 I look forward to seeing her again, and maybe her babies too!  I think she owns this yard and the next one over because it looked like the other rabbit won the fight.

I will be offline until early next week so everyone have a great weekend and I hope to have lots of pictures of random beauty to share when I get back.

Radishes and Strawberry Wine!

Linking with Rhonda over at Down To Earth :


Oddly enough this spring I've had an over abundance of radishes even though I planted late.  Usually I sow them in two week intervals hoping one crop hits the weather just right.  This year was cool and wet and both patches I planted produced lots of radishes.  So I decided not to let them go to the compost pile. 

As usual I sat in my swing with a cold beverage and prepped them.

I decided I would pickle them like I do jalapenos.  So sliced into the jar they go!

I put a solution of half water and half vinegar over them and some salt in each jar.  Boiling solution that is.  Then I put the tops on and called it good.

That was a couple of days ago and now they are a beautiful pink.

Well, trust me they are pink, it was dark this morning when I left the house and took this snapshot quickly on the way out the door.  I also stashed Baby Jar in my lunch bag to taste later today!

Remember the strawberry wine I started back at the first of the year?  I bottled it, and it is a very good batch!

I had some extra that didnt' fill the 5th bottle and I might just have to have a taste this evening.  Strawberry wine has a delicate flavor with just a bit of bite and an absolutely intoxicating bouquet of strawberries.  One of my favorites it is!

The June Garden

Joining Rhonda over at Down To Earth .

Just a few photos of  my little garden in the front yard.

I crammed all this in front of the beets, onions and spinach.  To the right of the beans (far right in the picture) are some collards.  I love collards and these babies will grow to be huge and a leaf or two will make a whole mess.

The cabbages look so much better out in the front garden where they get full sun!  That is a mustard plant to the right, my main bed is in the back which I will show you later.

I grow my taters in a bag and they do fantastic!  I grow Kennebecs.

This is the other end.  Scotch kale on the right, radishes left and black seeded simpson lettuce with a row of beans in the foreground.  The radishes need to be used or they'll get bitter in this heat.  I may pickle them, anybody have any ideas on how to preserve them?  I had a friend whose mother was Japanese and she made the best radish pickles!

A volunteer bachelor button.

Snapdragon!  My daddy used to put them on my ears as earrings when I was a little girl.

Dainthus!

The lamb's ears blooming with lemon balm behind.

That's Miss Margaret watching out for me.  She's a hoot.

My mustard bed covered to protect it from the hot sun.  The weather is unseasonably hot and dry and nothing is growing or coming up at the moment. I hope we dont' have a repeat of last summer when nothing would grow because our temperatures were above 90 degrees most of the time and we had a drought.  Anything below 90 and we are good to go here with the usual varieties of plants.

I picked the greens and froze about 3 pints.  I usually get at least 8 pints, but this spring stayed cold til may and now its hot.  These 30 degree changes in temperatures overnight make it challenging to garden!

A batched washed and ready to go!

Blanching, then next bagged and into the freezer they go.  I still have two pints from last May and I will plant more in August so I should have plenty for the winter.

For now we need rain!

I hope your growing adventures are moving along.  We had a great (but short) spring for growing cole crops but it ended suddenly.  Looks like the cucumber and beet crops will be nil if the heat doesn't break.  I haven't bothered to plant much in two weeks it has been so dry.  I still have quite a bit of room to plant and you didn't even see my back garden!  Maybe next time.

This is on my mind

I'm thinking about home this week.  It is Memorial Day weekend coming up and my thoughts have returned to where I was born and raised. 

Mules are quite popular there.  They don't founder and can easily leap fences without needing a running start so coon hunters like them alot.  This one was very friendly.

She's a real beauty don't you think?

This Is On My Mind

I ventured across this wild rose on my recent camping trip.  After the long cold winter and being cooped up I am finding such joy in the little delights nature has for me this spring!

And yes I did stop and smell the roses!  Have a great day!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Thanks to Rhonda over at Down To Earth  for hosting.  Today I have a photo of my mother to share!  She has been gone nearly 30 years but as you  all know she will never be forgotten.  A thanks to Melissa, a friend for scanning this picture for me.

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mommas out there!

This photo was taken in the early 1950's a few years before I was born.  Momma rarely posed for a picture and the next one is a bit earlier and apparently taken on the farm.  Oh, and I know what she was saying!  Don't take my picture!

Don't you love the dress?  This was back in the day when they made everything.

I won't be blogging for a week or so.  See you all soon!

The Kentucky Derby

If you live in Kentucky or are a fan of horse racing you cannot escape the hoopla surrounding the Queen of all thoroughbred races, The Kentucky Derby.   The small city where I live is surrounded by horse farms and this business is integrally intertwined in our economy and population.  When I first arrived I didn't like the city because it was NOT the country and the rich snobby folks didn't suit me either.  Now that years have passed and I have aged and mellowed out I find this place I live has the best of both worlds in many many ways.  We are small, yet very cosmopolitan (for Kentucky) and in a few minutes from downtown you can be sailing down country roads.

In the past I have remembered a couple of memorable Derbies.  My all time favorite running for the roses (the garland the winner accepts is made of red roses) was when Alysheba clipped the hooves of the horse in front, nearly fell to his knees then got up pissed off and ran to the finish line to win.  Another one was the year Winning Colors won.

This isn't Winning Colors, but a horse near where my brother lives.  I've always admired a gray horse and I nearly always bet on the gray.  Winning Colors was a gray and a filly!  It is always a treat when a filly wins the Kentucky Derby because she has to compete against the boys who are usually bigger.

The Derby is almost always the first Saturday in May but for some reason this year it is on May 9th, my father's birthday.  They may change the date, but they can't change the weather!  Rain, sleet, snow or sunshine the ponies run. 

There is a lot of fuss about Derby Pie around this time, but I favor strawberry pie.  The berries are usually ripe after the derby but now that we have supermarkets I can get pretty nice strawberries now.  I still make the pie like Momma taught me.  As you can see I cheated and bought the graham cracker crust, something she never did.  We crushed the graham crackers with a rolling pin and melted margarine and then packed them in this old old pie pan.  As you see sliced berries were added while the filling was cooked on the stove.

Its simple.  A bit of butter or margarine (or not) and some sugar.  Cook til the strawberries begin to break down and then thicken with cornstarch.

How much cornstarch?  Well add it til when it thickens and you stir you can see the bottom of the pan.  the liquid will suddenly turn very clear too.  Pour it over the sliced berries and that is it.

There is a secret ingredient that my mother put in all her fruit pies, but when I tell people they look confused so now I just keep it to myself.

I once upstaged the hostess at her party with this simple pie.  I felt terrible because you never should do that, and I had been asked to bring a dessert.  This wasn't as beautiful as her fancy cake, but I was informed later that everyone had eaten my pie first.  She was an elderly lady I dearly loved who made the most excellent pies.  I suspect it was a compliment but I respectfully hung my head in shame and blamed it on the whipped cream.  Southern manners you know.

I cleaned out the freezer and used all the old berries.  The end product was the pie and 3 jars of jam!

See the little half full jar on the end?  It used to have blackberry jam in it.  Wonder where it went?

;)