Wednesday, July 11, 2012

Summer Chores

Been busy trying to stay cool in our heat. We had 101 degree temps on Sunday and a wild electrical storm that night that lit up the sky and blew trees over on homes. I haven't wanted to transplant my tomatoes because we had such cold, wet, windy weather, but this morning I transplanted 17 tomato plants, 2 zucchini and 1 cuke. Most of my seedlings never took. No lettuce, spinach, cucumber (save one, and another that sorta sprouted but then stopped), no carrots, radishes, or peppers. Actually, I think I do have 1 or 2 pepper plants but they are only 1-2 in. tall. Strawberries are coming on and I got 7 small raspberries today. I'm not sure what is up with my strawberries. Some are shiny and sweet as can be, but others are dull and bitter. Ideas anyone?
Here are the tomato transplants. Sorry, they're the tiny specks of green in the middle of the pic.



Potato plants...doing well.


My raspberry bush is producing! Ha, ha, can you see how small these are? This is my abundant harvest I picked this morning. They are on a small saucer. Oh, earlier I said I picked 7 berries, I guess one must have slipped into my mouth.


So, I decided to make a snack out of them and added them to some yogurt I made this weekend. I made the yogurt in my crockpot this time, and it was easy because I just let it sit overnight all bundled up in a bath towel in the oven.


Two years ago I told my DH how much I wanted a clematis plant with the pretty flowers to put out in front of our porch. I saw them at Bi-mart the other day so we went to buy one. There was only one left. It was this tiny stick of nothing. I bought it anyway. Here it is two years later! I love it!


You can see it is even encroaching on the garage door to the right and DH had to build a second support trellis and put it on the other side of the plant because it had morphed into the clematis plant on steroids.

 The chicks are growing and I think around the end of the month I'll introduce them into the rest of the flock. Eggs anyone? I am making breakfast for dinner because now that I am off for the summer, I am not selling eggs to the teachers at the school where I teach and there are too many eggs. Hahahaha. Breakfast will be served at 6:00 p.m. and all are welcome to join us. Scrambled eggs or omelettes, fried potatoes, strawberries, and of course, BACON!  Please RSVP.

7 comments:

  1. Rose,
    I'm RSVPing,.....I'll bring the orange juice
    :-)
    On a serious note, I love your clematis plant. Its beautiful! Did you know you can freeze the eggs in ice cube trays. Once frozen, pop them out and place them in a freezer bag.

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    1. Thanks, Sandy,
      OJ is great! I love my clematis. I gently scrambled eggs last year and put them in muffin tins and they were so hard to get out of the tins. And they are still in the freezer! I gotta get to using them.

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  2. i wish i could tell you something that would help your poor garden...i am feeling for ya that is for sure..it may just be one of those years for you. our gardens are doing very well, although they have been extremely labor intensive due to the high temps of the current heat wave. we have had some rain every day now for five days straight..and today has been the kind of rain we all prayed for...just a nice slow drizzle all day long-the kind that really soaks into the ground and does a good job. hopefully tomorrow it will stop for awhile, but come back again when we need it. i am glad you chicks are growing into chickens and that you are collecting plenty of eggs..freeze them or better yet, make lots of freezer meals that call for lots of eggs.. feed the ones you dont want to your dog...his coat will thank you.

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    Replies
    1. It seems every year is a little bit different doesn't it? And what did so well last year is a failure the next. Go figure. Good idea for freezer meals. Maybe scrambles that can be put in plastic bags and boiled maybe- like for camping. Or thawed and then scrambled up. Do you have some other ideas?

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  3. i'm with Sandy and RSVPing....i will bring some home-made bread for toast. but can i have my eggs over easy? i love dippy-eggs - yummeh! and yes your clematis plant is just beautiful! good luck with your garden Rose!

    your friend,
    kymber

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    Replies
    1. Kymber,
      Oh, I am with you on the dippy yolks! Hubby not so much and DD17, well, she didn't even have any eggs tonight. Just gobbled up a ton of BACON! Hahaahaa. But I used up a whole, get this, SIX eggs tonight. Whew, I am so glad to have put a dent in my egg overabundance. LOL!

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  4. hi. egg preserving in water-glass: whole, clean, unshelled, raw eggs in jars cover with water-glass. i cannot find water-glass and don't know what it is but if you find sources and more complete directions for its use please publish.

    lebanese people boil, shell, and pickle eggs in large jars left from other pickles. they sometimes add beet juice for pretty. these eggs are not cAnned and i do not have a recipe so do not know ratio of vinegar to



    water. these ARE FOR EATING FAIRLY SOON AFTER PICKLING. YOU MIGHT ASK JACKIE CLAY IF SHE HAS A RECIPE, OR ANY LEBANESE LADY IN YOUR AREA.
    BEST NOT TO DEPEND TOO HEAVILY ON FREEZING IN CAse of prolonged power outages. a friend or two lost everything in freezers and fridges during recent power outage in West Virginia.

    djharvey

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Your thoughts are welcome!