Harvest Monday 3.28.11

Happy Harvest Monday!
Linking in to Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday. Macke sure to stop by her place to check out everyones info on what they are harvesting and how they are using their harvests! It's spring and things are really starting to perk up.
My harvests are starting to diversify. This is good news. Even better news is this -
IT's RAINING! It hasn't rained here in a month, and I am so glad to say that not only is it raining today -there is a chance of rain ALL WEEK! Whoot! Of course after jsut a few days of rain I will be ready for the sunshine again. But, for now I am celebrating the rain, and so are my plants.
This weeks harvests includes a bunch of green onions, strawberries, english peas, lettuce, spinach, radish, broccoli, carrot (not plural HA!) and I'm pretty sure I've forgotten something - but here are the pictures that I remembered to take...

I also harvested this: A bowl full of tabasco babies. These were just the ones that were in with the tomato plants. Not all through the garden. These little gems are being saved. OK well, not all thousand of them are. 21 are claimed already and 23 are potted in cups and slated for the Tampa Plant trade. :-)  I ran out of dixe cups believe it or not. But, never fear, ANYONE who wnats them is welcome to them. My garden seems to have plenty for all who want them.

Here are some of the things I am doing to use my harvests:

Pizza Fresca

Breakfast Quesadilla's and fresh Coleslaw

I am wondering where the rest of my pictures went, but meanwhile these are what I have. Not everything managed to make it into the pictures, and low and behold I forgot to weigh most of the harvests. I've got to start remembering now that things are ramping up again.

Check in tomorrw- 'cause I've got a (small) project to unveil and a few pictures to share of what is blossoming in my garden this week.

Did I mention it's raining!? WHOOHOOO!!!!

'Till next time!

Barbie~

Ah, well...

A few of the things going on around here....
bug bites...

One of my children at any given time seems to have an allergic reaction to some type of bug.

Braces off..... (but not for good, and not for fun!)

But - dang, Ain't he just so handsome!

We had to go here:

 to All Children's for some tests that required his braces off.  We'll know more later. For now all we know is the poor kid has migraines, and tinnitus, and a significant hearing loss. It's one of the things that I was dealing with last week. He wasn't so thrilled about the IV part. Or the blood gushing out part.... LOL - but he made it. He did good.

Ack! So I guess That is just part of what is going on. I'm super slammed at work as well. That's good in a way because after all if I am busy it's 'job security' and all, right? Right. Just really bad timing for all of this. Not to mention seeing that beautiful smile cost me an EXTRA $650 in addition to his regular orthodontist fees.... *sputter, cough, choke, GAG*  But it will all be worth it to have him happy and healthy again.

Fundraiser weekend. Dinner Friday, Tournament for Hubby on Saturday. That only leaves Sunday for the garden. Guess that means I'm not finishing any big projects. Oh, but I've got my eyes on some smaller projects now since I know the larger one has to wait. I can't wait to reveal! WHOOT!

'Till next time!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 3.21.11

SPRING! (Officially!) Linking in this first SPRING day to DAPHNE'S DANDELIONS for Harvest Monday

I don't have much in the way of pictures to show for my harvest. But, each day a handful of strawberries, and a handful of spinach for my Bgirl. I also took 2 clippings form the lettuce. It made salads for dinner for all 5 of us and that is nice. Plus, we had lettuce for our burgers yesterday as well. Radishes for the salad of course. Oh, the last large head of cabbage - 4 pounds. I forgot to take a picture of it until I had already cleaned it, and had it ready for the pot.

Apologies for the cell phone shots. Life gets busy and I lose my one memory card sometimes. I figure one day I'll have to go buy 10 of the suckers. But, then I'll lose track of all of those, too! Ha.

Oh, I made strawberry syrup we ate on our blueberry pecan pancakes with blueberries and pecans from the freezer stash. I have only 1 cup of pecans left. No one in the house is happy about that! The good news is that the blueberries are turning blue again outside and I promised my girls to go picking this year so we'll have them in the freezer again soon! I sure wish Strawberries froze as well as blueberries do. Bummer, Man.  The Boy child finally ate one of these beauties. He was skeptical because they are all shapes and sizes. Boy was he surprised! He is now fighting with the girls over who gets to eat these little treats. Problem with that is dangit! I want more of them for me. *POUT*

I gotta tell you. That strawberry syrup> Yeah that stuff over there------> Yum. I have got to find a way to keep it from fermenting. I don't use enough sugar in the recipe to keep it from fermenting if I canned it. I suppose I could freeze it. Maybe I should start looking into better freezer storage. It irks me to no end to pull something out of the freezer that I worked hard on only to find out that it isn't usable.

Ack, I'm rambling.

HAPPY SPRING!

'Till next time!

Barbie~

Top O the Mornin'

Well – G’Mernin to Ye!

 

I’m enjoyin’  a nice green cookie with my coffee this morning, thanks to my little munchkins. I gotta say it’s not a half bad breakfast.

I can’t stand the smell of the cabbage cooking – but other than that – HAPPY ST. PATRICK’S DAY!

My little’s are fully mutt’s but their Great Grandma’s full Irish, and Proud!  I’m doing my part, wearing green and eating it, too. I draw the line there. No green beer for me, Thank you.

Enjoy your day, and do something GREEN!

 

‘Till next time!

 

Barbie~

Invasion!!

It’s the Invasion of the Garden Snatchers!

 

For the last 2 weeks I have been pulling hundreds if not thousands of little green gobblins out of my garden. This is the first year I’ve had this problem. This is the first year I’ve reused my mulch after growing those little bitty Tabasco peppers! Remember pounds and pounds of teeny tiny peppers last year? I made Tabasco sauce and hot pepper vinegar, I dried them, I gave them away and at the end of it all I was thoroughly ill of eating Tabasco peppers. All from one amazing plant.  Well. Teeny tiny peppers get lost in mulch, Don’tchaknow?!

And guess what happens when you then take said mulch and move it around your garden?

 

You get what we have here,

A failure to communicate.

 

I don’t WANT a hundred thousand Tabasco plants this year. Actually, I don’t even want A SINGLE Tabasco plat this year. Thought I’d skip that particular hot pepper this year. HA! Little did I know.  Just a few little pepper lost in the mulch and overwintered would turn into this. UGH> Lesson learned. Mulch is cheap and free. No reason to do this to myself. From now on new mulch. I’m thinking shredded paper actually. It’s something I do NOT have a shortage of around here.

I get the feeling I’ll be murdering another few thousand Tabasco plants around my house this spring and possibly for years to come. So, anyone who wants some – Come and get ‘em! Free for the taking. All you care for! (and then some)

 

‘Till next time!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 3.14.11

Once again joining in the fun over at Daphne's Dandelions for Harvest Monday!

This week I harvested nearly a pound of radishes, 4lb13oz head of cabbage, 3oz of broccoli, 2.5oz of lettuce, and 3 oz of spinach plus a few handfuls of strawberries...that never made it inside.

Small nod to the suddenly frantically prolific garden peas.
:-D the perfect blooms are making momma happy. The pods are popping out all over and I'm drooling just waiting for the peas to fill in the cases. MMMmmm like finding a jem!

Join on in on the fun. Link in to Harvest Monday's and show us what you are harvesting or how you are using your previous harvest!

Can you guess where the cabbage is heading? After all it's only 3 days until St. Patty's! Luck O' the Irish be with ya!



'Till next time!

Barbie~

Cruising

Heading out for a weekend ride.

Teehee...

Balancing Act



It's all a balancing act. Isn't it?

The sun shines brightly and it can be a beacon of hope, or a blinding light. We teeter like Kate here on the bricks a cool breeze on our backs. A good stiff wind might blow us over but we continue on balancing our lives like everyone around us.

Most of the time we don't even recognize that we are doing it. Much like the 'Cat in the Hat' with his dish, and his spoon, his cup and saucer, cake and candles and teapot with a fish. We've learned from an early age that we walk this way and when something knocks us off balance we blink our eyes a few times, shrug our shoulders, regain our composure and right ourselves - beginning again.

The good news is we aren't on this journey alone. We have our friends, our sisters to help us. To stand behind us.

I know I haven't posted a lot the last few days. I've honestly been kind of avoiding it. The kids have really needed me. I've needed me. I'm still dealing with a little grief. Not a loss of a person, thankfully. Medical issues. Things I feel somewhat responsible for. As if I could control anything like that. I suppose just because I have my own medical issues and now my kids have issues.

We are on a path, it's a narrow one and sometimes I feel like the sun is blinding me, and other times it guides me. The other day, I fell. My sisters helped me up. They stood beside me. Supported me. I'm so glad that even though I wasn't given true sisters that I was able to bond with and find my own, and I'm glad that my children have sisters, and brothers.



The next time she finds herself this way I know her sister and brothers will be there. I know the next time I find myself that way my sisters will, too.

This crisis is under my belt for the moment, but it is not hardly over. There will be more tests, and in the future it appears quite an adjustment. My spring garden plans are changing once again to accommodate this new venture I find myself on. I'm sure that as things firm up I'll be back to share more but for now I'm still on the bricks, all to aware of the balancing act that I am performing. I hope that the kids think of me the way that we see the great performers of the circus and don't see the reality of the heart thumping, teetering act that I am putting on and just pushing through. I'm stealing my legs, and calling on the strength of the Woman I know am.

'Till next time!

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 3.7.11

Harvest Monday, already? Linking in to Daphne's Dandelions once again. Stop on by her place to see how people are using their previous harvest, and what they are harvesting now!
I do believe I got all caught up in the bees and flowers and forgot to harvest much anyways. I had some thinning to do and made a nice salad of radishes and baby spinach and lettuces, but failed to take their portraits. I did however manage to take the photos of these behemoths.

Though they may not look that large the small one is the size of my thumb and the larger one like a small lemon. Such a pithy pity.  But also the only things I could really weigh. I spent my time this week attempting to fix sprinklers. That didn't work well. AT>ALL. I assumed that bigger was better as the smaller sprinklers were not covering enough territory and my poor little plum tree was suffering for it. Well. now my poor little plum tree is suffering for TOO much water, and it's watering the tree instead of the roots. It's also watering the neighbors yard and his oak tree. NOT my intentions by far. SO next week I'll be off to search for another set of sprinkler heads. Until then I simply have to pray that the plum can either withstand the massive sprinkler head or handwater. *sigh* Either way not ideal.

Hoping to have a better report next week. My row of radishes are going crazy and they are ready to come out of the ground so you are sure to see those at least. So come on back - ya'hear?!

'Till next time!

Barbie~

What a deal!

Now, I know they may not be a specific catalog brand, and they may not all be the exact type I was looking for, but at 25 cents a pack- even for the big packs? Well, that is a deal my little seed squandering soul could not pass up!
Besides a lot of the varieties are ones that frequent my garden. So for 9.50 I managed to get my version of gardeners nirvana. Can I get a Whoot?

Whoot!!!

'Till next time!

Barbie-

Spring Fever

Maybe it will help, and maybe it will hurt but in case you, like me suffer from an early case of massive Spring fever – some pictures of the goings on around my garden yesterday….Now mind you this is only one single bee. And that poor little lady bug. I felt like I should go hunting for it. There are no aphids in sight. I hope she still hangs around and finds my garden a good place to lay her eggs. In a few months I’ll be wishing she were around!

Hope you aren’t dial up!

‘Till next time!

Barbie~

Oh my, a shiny new award!

Thanks Cortina Creek Farms for passing on the blogger award. And now it is my turn to pass it around!
Apparently rules are meant to be broken Annie's Granny already made up her own but here are the ones put forth so far:
1.) Divulge 7 things about myself that most people may not know.
2.) Play the award forward to 15 other bloggers. Um, OK so I'm changing it to 5 so that I don't have to watch every single one of my blogidy friends get the award twice over. :-) Besides I'd rather watch how they all end up with it through the grapevine anyway! :-D

All about myself:

1.) I consider myself an medical oddity. I have had no less than 6 major surgeries in my lifetime. I can't tell you if I've had more because I've now lost track. I'm claiming senility even at this young age. I actually had to have the same surgery more than once. Go figure.  I also have been in the 'Less than 5% of the population' category more than once. So yep. Medical oddity.

2.) I am a true Southern Belle. I was born in the deep south. Transplanted to Hawaii (Army brat) where I lived a short stint through Kindergarten and learned how not to drown, and then moved back to the heart of the deep South. Please, please don't take offense to this next statement. I love to travel, but don't ever move me North of the Mason Dixon line. Heck, for that matter don't move me North of Southern Georgia/Alabama/Louisiana. My Southern soul would break in two. Don't get me wrong a Texas drawl or will make my heart leap, but the pounding of the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico in the sweltering heat - they make my world go round. The Pacific is way too cold for my blood!

3.)  got my first job at the ripe old age of 13 and I've had some really strange jobs. Never until the last 5 years did I only have one at a time! I was a....
Cashier
Pet Shop Worker (5 years)
Sub Shop chick (technical I know)
Veterinarian Assistant (7 years)
Dental Assistant (5 years)
Fish collector (live)
Aquarium Specialist (see above)
Florist
Wedding Coordinator
Warehouse stocker (Forklift operator)
Oil Sales Person
Wash/Dry/Folder
Housekeeper
Business Owner'
and I am now the Human Resource Manager/Environmental Manager for a large oil company in Tampa Florida. I also would like to point out that out of all of those jobs I worked with my now husband (of 16+ years) at 4 of them. :-) And we were not even going at at 2. HA!

Let's see what number am I on? Oh!

4.) I never dyed my hair until after I had my first child. When I was pregnant with him my hair changed colors and everyone asked me if I stopped dying it because of the pregnancy but it wasn't that at all. So, after I had him I started and I have never found a color I like. Now every time I color my hair I just grab a different box. I'm never happy with it, so I change it every time. If anyone has a suggestion other than to go to a stylist - I'm all ears, er - hair follicles?

5.) While I REALLY want to live a self sustainable life and have no problem now harvesting my own meat, I was a vegetarian for 6 years. During this time I was scheduling my wedding. After a lot of discussion I had chosen one simple (nearly smelless) meat that would be served to those that wanted it. MUCH to my horror at my wedding my (TO THIS DAY) most hated meat of all time appeared! The caterer apparently took it upon herself to take pity upon my meat eating guests. I'm still really ticked off at her. Can you tell?  My eye is twitching now.... I have to go lay down. *sigh*

6.) I commute. Like REALLY commute. Did I mention earlier that I've worked 4 jobs with my hubbers? Well - this is one of them! I hired him about 3 years ago. It's a decision I definitely do not regret. At least now I get to spend time with him even though I do not see him at work. We commute together most of the time. Currently there are a lot of big projects going on so our commuting together is out the window but it will get back to normal. Under normal circumstances we ride together for 3 hours a day 1.5 hours am&pm (but it's only 48 miles!!!) 4 or 5 days a week. It's really nice to be able to talk.

7.) I blog from work. But don't look down your noses at me! I blog via email! I only have to log in to move pictures around if I have more than just one or two. But, a post like this is something that I work on for a minute here or there and just hit send whenever I'm ready. No prep work and very little time spent not working. Usually I'm on hold on the phone. Elevator music....*joy* I also blog from my phone because it's just sending an email so sometimes I'm actually in the garden when I sna a pic and send a snippet in. Of course that is when I almost always have typos because I don't have (or maybe just don't use) spellcheck on my crackberry.


So that was WAY more long winded than it needed to be! Here are the bloggers to which I shall send the award to! Ready?
Hopefully you are still awake after all that!

Trailer Park Queen
Edible Yard Homestead
Big Oaks Farm
Life on a Southern Farm
The Corner Yard

5 great blogs to sink your teeth into. :-) enjoy!

Harvest Monday cont...

I completely forgot about the hardest part of my harvest week!
I harvested 2 fingers of ginger.
It took me over an hour to harvest those 2 fingers of ginger. The ginger is growing in lava rock and pine bark/fines. Now figuring how lightweight lava rock is you'd think this would be a cinch. HA! WRONG!  There is a reason that men harvest ginger. That stuff is TOUGH. Backbreaking work I tell ya!
And, I forgot to take pictures, sorry.

Since I'm posting and I wanted to post these pictures this is what my girls did while I slaved away slicing, dicing, chopping, shoveling, excavating and eventually giving up after only gleaning 2 fingers of ginger....

They ran this way.......

And that way........

They squealed, and shouted, and after about 10 minutes they even shivered. But, that didn't stop them!

And, after all was said and done they were all clean and dried and ready for their close up.

Actually, this was jealous little Miss Katie. She didn't like that the fruit behind her was getting attention and she felt that she needed her picture on the blog, too. She is after all the best harvest of Kate's I ever had. ;-)

So I think that the romping in the sprinklers makes it official. I went ahead and did it. I put the little tiny tomato seedlings in the ground. They had true leaves, actually 2 sets and at least this way I won't have to worry about their little pots getting knocked over and they are less likely to dry to a crisp if I accidentally forget to water. I still have seedlings to tend to but not as many. Most of the maters and peppers are in the ground. Next weekend I'll give them a little food and make sure they feel loved.

Sure feels good seeing the green out there where it belongs. I love knowing that things are the way they should be. Right as rain. Speaking of - sure hope it rains soon. This weekend would be good.

'Till next time!

Barbie~