Time to Braid the Garlic

Our garlic crop this year is measly, but it's our own fault.  We didn't get it planted in time last fall and the ground froze.  So we started it in sand inside and while some of the cloves sprouted, some did not.  Jamey planted what sprouted in the early spring, but this left us with about a third as much garlic as last year.  We're kicking ourselves.  But, everyone makes mistakes and I can tell you one thing.  We are NOT forgetting to plant garlic this fall.  Mistakes can make you clearer minded in the end.

About 2/3 of our garlic crop this year.  You don't know how hard it is for me to say that.  The rest lost their stems and are hanging out in a brown paper bag in the pantry until they're needed.

Thankfully, we have about one full braid left from last year that has held up incredibly well, having lived in my kitchen since last summer.  I'm thinking I'm still going to need more garlic- think salsa, tomato sauce, etc.  If any of you local folks have an abundance of garlic, I'd love to barter.

To braid garlic, pull it out of the ground when the stems are half green and half brown.  Let them cure outside (keeping them dry) until the stems have just turned all brown, then braid.  Go here to check out our braiding garlic post from last year.  It's my most visited post via google search.

May we all be blessed with garlic breath!

Not to change the subject but, can anyone guess what this is?

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Chocolate Lovers Beware

I celebrated my 35th birthday recently.  What was I so scared of?  Thirty-five is no big deal.  It's very much like thirty-four and thirty-three actually.  There were many things that made this birthday special.  I wanted to share one of those things with you- my most favorite brownies.  This is my sister's recipe, but this year my sister-in-law and brother made them for me (and cooked me dinner!).  Before I share the details, we need to go over a few things...the pros and cons to these swoon and coma-inducing brownies...

Cons (some may consider these Pros as well):

1) There is a lot of sugar in these brownies.
2) There is a lot of butter in these brownies.
3) You may not be able to eat just one.  Or just two.
4) Other family members will try to eat them all if you don't hide them well enough.

Pros

1) The recipe calls for a lot of eggs (Major Pro if you've got 11 dozen eggs in your fridge).
2) The recipe calls for Peppermint Patties. Yes, it does.
3) These brownies are chewy.
4) They're majorly chocolaty.
5) Anyone you feed them to may fall madly in love with you.  Hence, you have to be careful with these brownies.
6) They look like this...

York Peppermint Patty Brownies (recipe from my sister, Emily)

24 small York Peppermint Patties, unwrapped
1 1/2 cups (yes, 3 sticks) butter, melted
3 cups sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
5 eggs
2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in a large bowl.  Add eggs.  Beat well.  Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Blend well.  Reserve two cups of batter.  Spread the remaining batter in a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.  Arrange peppermint patties evenly on top of the batter.  Spread reserved batter over the top.  Bake at 350 degrees (for a metal pan) or 325 degrees (for a glass pan) for about 40 minutes or until set and a sharp knife comes out relatively clean.  Cool completely before cutting into large squares.  These freeze beautifully. Pin It

Swimming in Green Beans and Eggs

The title of this post says it all.  Green beans are pouring in from the garden and eggs are pouring in from the hen house- so fast I can barely keep up with either of them.

We've been eating green beans for supper every night (on the side) and the rest are chilling out in the freezer.  The eggs are filling up our fridge, laughing at me every time I open the door, saying, "Ha!  And you thought you'd found enough people to buy us."  For the first time, I am attempting to freeze eggs.  I've been told it can be done and that not only can they be thawed and used for baking, but also for omelets, scrambled, fried, you name it.  I'm using my trusty ice cube trays and will pop them out and into bags once they're frozen.

Last winter our hens slowed down to the point that we actually had to buy a couple dozen eggs.  That seems ludicrous to me in light of our surplus.  The frozen eggs will be saved in case we have another sparse winter egg-laying-wise.  Tell me.  Have you tried this?  Please tell me it worked splendidly.  Okay.  You can tell me if it didn't, too.

Freezing Green Beans

Rinse your beans well.  Snap (with your finger) or trim off (with a knife) the end of the bean that was attached to the plant.  It's your choice if you want to leave the little tail on at the other end or not.  We leave ours on.  Now you have another choice.  You can leave your beans whole, or you can cut them or french them.

I remember helping my mom use a green bean frencher/slicer.  It was a little contraption that attached to your counter top.  You fed the green beans through (a few at a time) while turning a crank.  The frencher cut your beans long-ways, so you had bean strands coming out the other end.

We cut our beans.  They're just easier to eat this way and also easier to pack into bags.  Leaving them whole looks elegant, but with little kids, the less cutting of food you have to do at the dinner table, the better.

Once you have your beans trimmed and how you want them, set a large pot of water to boil on your stove.  There should be enough water to completely cover the beans.  Bring it to a full boil, then add your beans.  Blanch them (leave them in the boiling water) for 4 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon or sieve (if you don't have a pot colander) remove the beans and place them directly into a large bowl of cold water with ice cubes.  You can save your hot water and re-use it several times before getting fresh.  The rule of thumb is to leave the green beans in the cold water for as long as they were in the hot.  When they've cooled down, drain them well and transfer them to freezer bags.  We like quart size.

The next step is crucial.  Take your sweaty self outside and sit down in your children's kiddie pool.  The neighbors might wonder about you, but you know what?  They probably already do.

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How to Survive Zucchini Season

Let's make a pact.

Let's not let any zucchini grow to baseball bat size.  Or watermelon size.  Or small child size.  Let's stay on top of this prolific vegetable, putting it to good use and stopping short of loathing them.  I'm going to offer a few tactics and then I want to hear yours.

1) Pick your zucchini on the small side.  We need to heed our own advice on this one.  If you do, you'll avoid largely seedy zucchinis that you end up scooping the center out of anyway.  You won't be as overwhelmed by them if you keep them from turning into behemoths. Unless you want behemoths, of course.

2) Incorporate them into everything you eat.  Make suppers with zucchini, muffins, cookies, rolls, whatever you can think of.  Think of the fiber.  Who can say anything bad about fiber?  I'll post my favorite zucchini recipes as I make them.  One from the other night was a hit (see below).

3) Freeze zucchini for later use.  Many folks are familiar with shredding and freezing zucchini for use in bread, rolls, soups, etc.  But, did you know you can also freeze them in chunks?  No blanching or special treatment required.  Just chop them up (after cutting off the ends) into bite size pieces and throw them into freezer bags.  They are perfect for casseroles like this one and soups like this one. 

4) A good friend once told us, "It's okay to compost zucchini."  Did you hear me?  If you've come to your wit's end...if you cause your neighbors to high-tail it in the opposite direction when they see you carrying a green (or yellow) beast...if you begin to cry at the sight of another one, just throw it in the compost.  I said it's okay.  Okay?

When it comes to zucchini, we can use all the options we can get.  What do you do with zucchini?

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Penne with Zucchini and Feta (adapted from Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2003)
A light, tasty meal that can be served hot, warm or room temperature.  It was a hit with our kids as well as us.  This recipe does not call for salt.  If your chicken or vegetable broth is not sufficiently seasoned, you will need to add salt to taste.

12-16 oz. penne (or other short pasta)
2 tbsp. oil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
3 medium zucchini, sliced into short spears about the same size as the penne
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cup chicken or vegetable broth
2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
4 ounces feta cheese

Cook the pasta according to directions, drain and transfer to a large serving bowl.  While the pasta is cooking, saute garlic, zucchini and oregano for about 5 minutes over medium high heat.  Add broth, lemon juice and black pepper.  Cover and cook over medium heat until the zucchini is tender.  Pour mixture over drained pasta, add feta and toss.  Serve immediately. Pin It

Berries: Freezing & Making Babies

Our red raspberries are coming in now- yippee! If you are looking for a variety to buy, check into Heritage.  They bear early and late summer- so you can enjoy them twice a year.  I love berries of all kinds- blueberries and raspberries being at the top of the list.  The raspberries that don't get eaten straight from the bushes by Sam and Sadie, that don't get fed to Miriam or popped into our grown-up mouths go into the freezer.

They are lovely in baked goods, smoothies, or eaten while still frozen on a hot summer day.  You can also freeze a bunch, let them thaw and turn them into jam when you have more time.  Like, in January.

Freezing Berries (Raspberries and Blueberries)

I'm sure you are aware of the freezing berry technique- placing rinsed berries on a cookie sheet (not letting them touch) and setting it into the freezer.  Once they're frozen, they can be transferred to plastic bags.  I skip the washing step (for both raspberries and blueberries) because they come from bushes I know are not sprayed.  Unless they have visible dirt on them, I skip the washing part.  I know this may freak out some people, but we tend toward the relaxed when it comes to cleaning food we grow ourselves.  This country is over-sterilized.  My pharmacy-student-husband feels even stronger than I.

That said, if you don't wash your berries, you can put them directly into containers and freeze them.  When you're ready to use them, they come out of the container beautifully- one by one if you wish.  There's no moisture to make them cling together and you can save your cookie sheets for cookies.

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Making Baby Strawberry Plants

Remember in our garden photo post I told you about how we only bought a portion of the strawberry plants we actually want for starting our new strawberry bed?  Jamey's trying a little something to multiply plants.  It's not rocket science- many others have done similar things.  I'm a visual learner, so pictures come first.

As the new strawberry plants establish themselves, they send out runners and spread.  Every few inches, these runners send down roots.  We want to turn these rooted runners into new plants (to plant at the end of your row, for example), so we are coaxing them into pots to ready them for transplanting.  As they began to send out roots, Jamey set a little pot of dirt right under the roots, leaving it attached to the mother plant.  Once the baby establishes itself well in the little pot, we're going to sever the cord (so to speak) and then transplant the babies- dirt and all- at the end of the row where we want more plants.

This should save us some money and give us all the strawberry plants we want.

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Weeds. Weeds. Weeds.

A lovely reader named Leigh suggested I post about weeds.  Weeds do occupy quite a bit of every gardener's thoughts and time.  If I say something, do you promise you won't hate me or never come back and read me again?

I like to weed.

There.  I said it.  I'm not crazy.  I promise.  It's for the same reason I love vacuuming.  You start out with something visibly messy and you make it clean and pleasing to the eye (and bare foot).  My favorite time of the day to weed is in the evening after I've put Miriam to bed.  Jamey is playing with and putting the other two kids to sleep.  It's quiet outside.  The day is cooling off, the sun is sinking.  I'm alone with my thoughts.  I'm alone!  Maybe that's another reason why I like it.  Can I say something else?

It's okay to have weeds in your garden.

There.  I said that, too.  Of course, you don't want so many weeds that they are choking out your plants and you don't want to let the weeds get so big that they go to seed, scattering baby weeds all over your garden, but some weeds are okay.  I repeat.  Some weeds are okay.  Please don't think your garden has to look perfect for you to be a good gardener.  For most of us, there is more to life than our garden.  Our garden has never been weed free (photos can be deceiving) and we manage to grow plenty of good food.

Now that I've possibly caused you to fall out of your chair (twice?), I'd like to talk about how we deal with weeds.  As I'm sure you've noticed, we use straw, grass clippings and shredded leaves to mulch our garden.  The bulk of the mulch is straw.  In order for straw to help with weeds, you must put it on THICK.  It should be 3-4 inches thick when you're standing on it.  A light coating of straw will look nice and keep your paths from getting too muddy, but it will not deter weeds.

When you use straw for mulch, you cannot hoe.  When you use straw for mulch, some weeds still come through.  This means, you have to get down on your hands and knees and pull weeds.  Thankfully, the straw also keeps the ground moist, so many weeds slip out easier than they would otherwise.  If you prefer hoeing, straw for mulch may not be for you.

As far as killing weeds (safely for those animals, vegetables and people about), the only way I know of that actually works is to use boiling water.  I do not lug vats of boiling water to the gardens to kill weeds.  Instead I use woman-power there, but for around the back of the house, in a few flower beds and between the cracks of our old, brick patio, I use boiling water.  It works.  You can boil water in your teapot for spot-killing.  Usually, after I've canned or blanched something, I very carefully carry my canner or pot outside and pour boiling water over the weeds.  Be so careful you do not pour water on your toes or legs!!  Also, be careful not to pour boiling water on your flowers or vegetables.  It can't tell the difference.  The weeds will be obviously on their way out by the next day.  If they come back, hit them again when they're small.  By doing so, you've stressed that weed out twice in close succession and there is a good chance it's not coming back.

Here's the part of this post I've been looking forward to...your turn.

Tell me about your relationship with weeds- do you chase them around in your dreams with a blow torch or do you respect them as part of creation?  What methods have you found to be successful when it comes to killing weeds?  Let's keep sharing our wealth of information, folks.  I bet we'll all learn something. Pin It

What To Do With Mint

I offer three ideas.  Then, I'd very much like to hear yours.

1) Make tea.  Either dry your leaves and crush them to use this fall or winter OR make a cold mint tea by pouring boiling water over tea leaves and letting them steep for several hours, then add more water and sugar to taste.  (I will be experimenting with stevia in mint tea later this week.  I hope.)

2) Make mint tea concentrate and freeze it so you can drink mint tea in the fall and winter if you like.  Here's how you do it...

Mint Tea Concentrate (recipe from Janice Wyble via my mom)

1 quart water
1 cup sugar (1 cup is pretty sweet- we prefer 3/4 cup)
3 cups packed fresh tea leaves, rinsed well

Place water and tea leaves in a pot and bring to a boil.  Remove from heat and let steep overnight.  Remove leaves, using a sieve.  Add sugar and stir until it is dissolved.  This is your concentrate- you will end up with about a quart.  Pour into pint-sized freezer containers and freeze.

When you're ready to make tea, add three pints of water to one pint of thawed concentrate to make 2 quarts of tea. Or, use half a pint of concentrate and 1 1/2 pints water to make 1 quart of tea.

3) Make Mint Jelly.  A very intelligent reader named Judi, asked me if I had ever made mint jelly. I wondered what was wrong with me because I hadn't.  I changed that and this is now my most favorite recommendation seeing as I just made some last week and am totally in love with it.  I tasted it (to make sure I did everything right) and it transported me outside into my mint bed in the blink of an eye.  To think that I can experience this in the middle of winter makes me giddy with excitement.

It's so very different than the store bought mint jelly I've had before.  My mom used to make a Christmas cookie that had a tiny dollop of mint jelly on the top of each one.  They were called Thumbprint Cookies.  You roll the cookie dough into a ball and then roll it in nuts.  Using your thumb, you press an indentation into the top of the ball and fill it with mint jelly.  They were delicious the way they were, but with the real stuff?  Oh, my.

Also, just look at the jelly.  It's so pretty.  I am hoping to make another batch soon and will be passing it out as thank you gifts in the year to come.  If you don't like mint jelly, please tell me if I hand you a jar.  You may break my heart, but it would hurt my heart worse if I knew this lovely green confection was going to go to waste.

Mint jelly is often paired with lamb.  We don't eat lamb.  We do eat fresh rolls with jelly when we have company and the kids eat PB&J (and love it with mint jelly).  Another great use for it is if you need to take an appetizer somewhere.  Buy a block of cream cheese (the fuller the fat, the creamier, which in this case is the better).  Place the entire block on a large plate, top with a generous amount of mint jelly and surround the block with crackers.  Friends can dip right in with a cracker or spoon some on their plate.  It's very easy and very delicious.

Mint Jelly ( The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving)
I figured if I was going to give you the exact instructions, I might as well take a picture of the instructions instead of retyping them all.  Follow them to the letter with one exception.  I doubled the recipe (you can see my markings) and only used 3 drops of green food coloring (total) to achieve the color you see.  I'm not a fan of food coloring, but 3 drops amidst the 10 half-pints didn't freak me out and made the color lovely.

This is another great opportunity to get the kids involved.  Chopping mint leaves with a knife can be tricky, but cutting them with kitchen shears is a cinch.

Instructions continue below. Please ignore my pencil markings, unless you, too, are making a double batch.

Isn't it beautiful?  Okay.  I know I'm being a bit ridiculous here, but I can't stop looking at these jars.

Now, what do YOU do with your mint?  I am waiting with bated {minty} breath. Pin It

Still Swagging Strong

 (Occasionally, I blog about swag bucks on Saturdays.  Feel free to ignore me if you want.)

Swagging sounds a little like swaggering to me and that makes me feel a little tough.  Like, hey, look at me, tough girl that I am... I'm earning free amazon gift cards. Take that.

Now, if you search with swag bucks, this is what you love to see...

I've been so busy with the produce coming in from the garden, the kids, the laundry, etc., that I barely have time to give swag bucks a thought.  You know what?  I don't even have to!  I just go about my normal daily business checking email, looking up things I want to learn about, recipes I want to try and I am pleasantly surprised by these little boxes that pop up now and again and tell me I've won swag bucks.

I am fully in the habit of searching with swag bucks for everything, even having bookmarked swag buck searches that lead me to my favorite sites.  By doing this, I'm really not even thinking about swag bucks until I'm faced with a win.  Talk about easy.  I do try to remember to do the daily poll, but I've given up looking for codes for now.  Not because it's hard- just because there is not enough room in my brain right now.  It fills to capacity fairly quickly.

So, there you have it.  Thanks to swag bucks and thanks to all of you who have signed up with me, I have $125 in Amazon gift cards to use towards Christmas gifts so far.  Not too shabby indeed.

Being too busy is no excuse not to earn swag bucks.  I'm living proof:-).

Sign up here.

Want to learn more about swag bucks?  Check out my previous posts where I explain how it works and tips for searching.

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Drumroll Please...

Without further ado, the winner of the $60 e-gift card from CSN Stores is #26...

Cindy in WV

Congratulations, Cindy !!!!  

Please email me (thyhand123@gmail.com) so I will have your email address to pass on to the folks at CSN Stores (so they can send you your e-card).  Enjoy your shopping spree.  You've got a lot of merchandise to choose from!!

Great news for the rest of you:  CSN Stores wants to do a giveaway every couple months here (whoohoo!).  So stay tuned.  Pin It

Sour Cherries: Can Them

I know for some of you sour cherry season has passed and I apologize.  There is so much going on it's hard to keep up and post about it all.  I'll file this on the Preserving page and maybe you can try it next year.

Two years ago, when we were swimming in sour cherries, I canned some in addition to freezing them.  I just wanted to try it and fully expected to use the canned cherries for pies and desserts.  Then, one day as I was making the kids lunch I realized I didn't have any applesauce thawed for them.  I went into the pantry and eyed those cherries.  They wouldn't eat sour cherries, would they?  Especially since I used extra light syrup, right?  Well, I gave them some and they gobbled them up.  Gobbled.  Them.  Up.  I just stood there with my mouth wide open.  Sour cherries are sour, but they didn't seem to notice.


So, now I can sour cherries for my kids.  And since I use extra light syrup I don't feel bad about it.  Cherries are very good for you, you know.

Canning Sour Cherries
If you're new to canning, please read this post about canning prep and method before you even think about beginning.  I'm just looking out for you.

8-10 pounds sour cherries, washed and pitted (8 pounds makes about 5 quarts)
1 batch of syrup, made of sugar and water (sugar amount will depend on which syrup you make- see the chart below)

The method is quite simple and very similar to canning other fruits, like peaches and pears.  Ready your fruit. 

Make a syrup which consists of water and sugar by bringing the two to a boil together in a large saucepan, stirring it until the sugar has completely dissolved.  You get to decide how sweet you want your syrup to be by following this chart.  Each row is considered one batch.  If you find you don't have enough syrup for some reason, just half or quarter the syrup recipe and mix up some more.

Please ignore my pencil markings.  Particularly where my math is wrong.  This chart comes from The Ball Complete Book of Home Canning.

Pack your ready jars with the cherries, making sure to tap the jar on the counter to help the cherries settle (so you can add a few more).  Add the hot syrup, making sure to leave an inch of head space at the top of each jar (this means that there are no cherries and no syrup in that top inch of space- just air).

Wipe, lid and ring your jars and process them in boiling water for 25 minutes.

Then try them out on your kids.

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My Kind of Cookbook & Two Recipes

Most cookbooks frustrate me.

But I understand it's my own fault.  When you choose what to eat based on what's in season, looking for recipes in a regular cookbook can be discouraging.  For example, I looked up snow peas the other day in the index of one of my cookbooks.  Two of the dishes I found were Barley Pilaf with Roasted Peppers and Snow Peas and Corn and Sugar Snap Pea Salad.  I don't know about you but I don't have bell peppers or corn ready to come in from the garden, do you?

That's not to say that I don't use all these non-season organized cookbooks.  I do.  It just takes a lot of effort to not only look at the index titles but also scan the recipes themselves because an out of season ingredient might show itself.

When Simply In Season by Mary Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert came out five years ago, I was thrilled.  The timing couldn't have been more perfect.  We were learning to garden and learning to eat exclusively from it (where vegetables are concerned).  The cookbook is divided by SEASONS- spring, summer, fall and winter.  Each season is then divided further into predictable cookbook fashion- Breads and Breakfasts, Soups, Salads, Sides, Main Dishes, Desserts, and Extras.

When you cook in season a cookbook like this quickly becomes your best friend.  If you don't own a copy yet, put it on your birthday or Christmas list.  You'll be so glad you did.

Two of the dishes I made for dinner this past week came from Simply In Season.  I flipped through the spring section and chose two recipes based on what I had on hand.  I didn't have to worry that one of them may call for tomatoes or butternut squash.  No sirree.




By the way, both dishes are delicious to boot.

Chicken or Tofu Stir-Fry (Simply In Season)
We made the chicken version.  If you like your stir-fry a little saucier, double the sauce portion.  That's what I'll be doing next time. My notes are in italics. 
Serves 4-6

3/4 cup broth
3 tbsp. soy sauce
2 tbsp. brown sugar
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. sesame seeds
1 tbsp. cornstarch
2 tsp. ginger root, peeled and minced (or bottled ginger)
1 1/2 tsp. garlic, minced
1/2 tsp crushed dried chilies or Tabasco sauce (optional)

1 pound boneless chicken (cut in cubes or thin strips) or the equivalent amount of cooked and shredded chicken  OR
1 block firm tofu, cubed
1 cup snow peas or sugar snap peas, cut in 1-inch pieces  (I used two cups and left them whole)
12 ounces fettuccine, spaghetti, buckwheat soba noodles or rice noodles, cooked (I used cooked brown rice)
1/2 cup green onions, chopped

In a bowl, combine the broth through Tabasco sauce ingredients and set aside.  In a large fry pan over medium-high heat saute the (raw) chicken or tofu in a small amount of olive oil until the meat is cooked through or tofu is lightly browned.  Remove the tofu.  Add the peas to the fry pan along with the sauce you set aside.  Bring it to a boil, stirring.  (Add the cooked chicken)  Reduce heat and simmer until sauce thickens, 3 minutes.  Mix in the noodles (or rice) and green onions.  Top with browned tofu if using and serve immediately.

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Veggie Burrito Bake (Simply In Season)
This is a favorite at our house (the kids love it, too).  It's a great company meal because the burrito filling can be assembled ahead of time and thrown in the oven for 20 minutes or so when company arrives and assemble the burritos at the table.  I sometimes increase the amount of beans or rice to make the dish last several meals.  My notes are in italics.
Serves 4

1 large clove garlic, minced
1 medium onion, minced
3/4 cup uncooked rice (white or brown)
3/4 tsp. turmeric
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
16 cups loosely packed fresh spinach, torn
1 1/2 tsp. garlic, minced
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups cooked black beans
1 tbsp. chili powder (optional)
1 cup Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
flour tortillas

Saute the 1 minced garlic clove, onion, uncooked rice and turmeric in a saucepan until the onion is tender.  Stir often.  Add the broth and mix well.  Simmer covered, until liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes for white rice, 40 minutes for brown rice.  Remove from heat, fluff with fork and set aside.  While the rice is cooking, heat 1 tbsp. oil in a fry pan on high heat.  Add remaining garlic and the spinach, one handful at a time as it wilts, adding a little water as needed to prevent sticking.  Spinach should be moist, with loose leaves, not all clumped together.  In a bowl, combine black beans and chili powder.

Layer the ingredients as follows in a 2-quart baking dish: half of the spinach, all of the rice, all of the beans, remaining spinach.  Sprinkle the shredded cheese on top.  Cover and bake until sizzling 45 minutes (mine has always heat through in 20 minutes).

Serve by spooning into warm tortillas.  Optional garnishes include: salsa, sour cream, chopped fresh cilantro.

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Another Giveaway: This Time YOU Choose

 This giveaway is over- Congratulations, Cindy in WV!!  See here.

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Remember back a few months when CSN Stores helped me give away two hand blenders?  Wasn't that fun?  Well, those nice folks emailed me the other week and offered to help with another giveaway.

At first I thought I'd do a little poll in the right hand column asking you all what you'd like to win, thinking that I needed to choose an item again to give away.  NOT the case.  This time, as a way to promote their 200+  on line stores, including their lighting store, CSN Stores is giving away...are you ready...really, you're ready?

A $60 e-gift card that you can use...are you ready...really, you're ready?  On ANY of their 200 + websites.  It's a shopping spree, I tell you!

Here are only a handful of things you could choose to spend your $60 on IF you win....

Can you tell I like neutral colors?  They do sell items in brighter colors.  I promise.

How to Enter:  The instructions this time are two-fold, so pay close attention!

1) You need to hop on over to CSN's lighting store here and find a piece of lighting you would love to have in (or outside of) your home.  Then, come back to this post and leave me a comment telling me about the lighting item you love.  One entry per household and per person.  If you comment anonymously, leave me some initials for identification purposes.  Please keep reading....

2)  This is the new part. Some blogs, in an attempt to gain new followers, ask you to "follow" their blog for an extra entry.  Personally, I don't like that.  I want you to read my blog because you like it, not because you want to enter a giveaway.  Some blogs offer multiple entries for giveaways if you blog about their giveaway to give the company (and themselves) more exposure.  I don't like that either.  What if you don't have a blog?  I want everyone to have an equal chance at winning, so everyone enters only once.  But, I do want to generate some traffic for the nice people at CSN Stores since they were so kind as to initiate this giveaway.  SO....

We're going to use the honor system here and as a part of your entry, please email the link to this giveaway to at least one other person- your best friend, your mom, your sister, neighbor, whomever.  Choose one person that you'd love to see win this $60 e-gift certificate and tell them about it.  That's it!

I'll randomly choose one lucky winner sometime on Friday.  Happy Tuesday and good luck!

All photos courtesy of CSN Stores.

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It's About Time

Well, I've been so busy posting about what you can do with your produce I haven't been posting about how ours is coming along.  I'm going to make up for it, yes indeed.  You thought there was a momma of a canning post last week, well, today I present a momma of a garden photo post.

Below is our main (fenced in) garden.

Above is our lettuce and spinach.  Much of it has gone to seed, but we have been adding plantings and covering the poles with sheets to give the younger lettuces shade.  Because of this, and making sure to pick it young, we still have salad to eat.  Garlic is on the left, onions on the right.

From right to left, a row of jalapeno peppers, carrots, and Swiss chard.

On either side of the plastic (left there from long ago when we had to occasionally cover plants due to frost) is our strawberry beds.  These plants were the original ones (or the children of the originals) that we planted here 5 years ago.  This year's crop wasn't that great- both in quantity and quality, so we've bought new plants and have started a new strawberry bed for next year (see down the page bit).

Bell peppers part way back right side, tomatoes line the rest of both rows.

To the right are the peas we planted en masse as an experiment.  Things were going along swimmingly until we went away for a weekend.  While we were gone, there were either strong winds or the weight of the pods caused the plants to lean all the way over.  They look pretty pathetic, but the peas are still good.  Next year we will be trying bush peas.

To the left and toward the front are two half rows of stevia.  Behind the stevia and beside the peas is a half row of basil.

In front are the new strawberry plants that will become our new strawberry bed.  There doesn't look like there are many plants there now, but these plants are already sending our runners that we will transplant behind these plants, hopefully extending the rows (eventually- after the plants behind them are done) all the way to the fence.  Behind the strawberry plants are 5 zucchini plants and the broccoli.

To the right are our sweet potato hills and the little slips that are taking root.  Before long, you won't even be able to see the straw- the sweet potato vines will cover everything.  To the left, another row of tomatoes. To the left of those, snow peas along the fence.

These guys don't really belong in the garden, but the red raspberries we planted outside the garden fence thought being inside the garden would be lovely.  We don't really mind.  We love raspberries.  I ate the first ripe one a few nights ago.  Shhh.

Next, is the back (unfenced) garden...

Potatoes.  Sam is ready for those potato beetles.  He's saving up for a lego set and knows we pay per beetle.

Green beans.

Various stages of corn.

Sunflowers, leeks, cantaloupe, butternut squash, and pumpkins in the back. This section is next on my weeding rotation.

Next we have some miscellaneous shots from around the house...

Pears.

The lovely egg layers in their run that connects their house to their yard.  Yes, I know.  One had gotten out.

Mint bed.  Want some?  It's free.

My brother's sunflower patch beside our house.

Some of the many wild black raspberries that grow around the property (not yet ripe).

Wineberries (also wild).

Close up of wineberries (you can't see the berries yet- they are inside those little pouches).  A note about wineberries.  They are pretty seedy, so making jelly is tedious.  I toss them in with the raspberries and freeze them- they're great in muffins, oatmeal, on or in ice cream, cobblers, etc.

There are peaches on our peach trees!!  Two or three years ago, we planted two or three year old peach trees (sorry I can't be more specific).  This year is the first year we might get fruit.  On each of our four trees, there are about 4-5 peaches.  At the same time, we planted six apple trees, but they were only a year old at the time, so they're still tiny.

There you have it- our garden in June.  I'll leave you with a picture of day lilies beside the smoke house with the blooming Mimosa tree in the background.  Isn't this time of year lovely?  By the way, I'm realizing that you really can't talk about gardening without talking about weeds, so keep your eyes peeled for a weed post coming up soon.

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