We have a bucket at the top of the stairs to the basement (doesn't everybody?)   Into this bucket we put things that need to go to the basement, the next time somebody goes down there.  

 

Well, this morning I started to drop in a wet dish towel, and I saw this!!!  Surprise!!!  I nudged the bucket, and it moved!!!  JON!!!

 

We see them a lot, but they move so slowly that you have time to think about how to catch them and put them outside.  I don't like to kill critters, but I don't want them inside my house.  So I just report the incident to my hero, and he takes care of it.  Don't know if he squished it or just relocated it;  don't care.  Just so it's not in the bucket, or inside a wet dish towel.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

 

 

On our walk the other day, we noticed this Cardinal-flower down by the creek.  We looked for them on the trail, but saw none this year.  

 

My Wildflowers in Color book identified it as Lobelia cardinalis.  Most Lobelias are blue and purple;  this is the only red species.  It also says that it grows along streamsides, roadside ditches, in marshes and wet meadows.  Yep, that's exactly the habitat in which we have seen it.  

 

Look for Cardinal-flowers on your walks, especially in wet places.  It is blooming now.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Nothing here from the garden;  just another fun cooking project.  Nothing like rainy days to get our kitchen hopping.

 

This is a roasting pan full of Chex Mix.  I know there are tons of recipes out there, but ours is definitely the best, to us!!!  Momma didn't particularly like it, cause we use "too much" Old Bay, but we like it this way.  

 

I'll add this version to the recipe section.  

 

HAPPY COOKING!!!

 

We can really make a mess in the kitchen.  But we have so much fun doing it, that we don't mind the clean-up process.  

 

This is just the stove part.  I'm not even going to show you the island.  It is a total wreck.  Don't care!!  

 

We love this part of gardening:  preserving the best of our efforts.  Come winter, we will have forgotten about all those hours planting, watering, and weeding, and will be grateful for our time spent preserving.  And enjoying our delicious tomato soup.

 

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Look at all these beautiful tomatoes from the garden.  We are running out of room on the dining room table.  

 

So, what's next?  Canning.  What a perfect activity for a rainy day.

 

We blanched and peeled the tomatoes, sautéed onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic.  Then dumped it all into a great big pot, added dried oregano, basil, thyme, and some fennel seeds, all from the garden.  No, wait!  Everything but the celery and onion were from the garden.  Cooked it all down for a couple hours:  now, we have a great big pot of tomato sauce!!!

 

Now the fun starts.  We washed and heated up pint jars to 180 degrees.  Then filled them and put them in the pressure canner.  Jon has the job of watching the gauge, because I tend to walk away from stuff, and that's not a good plan with a pressure canner, (or many other kitchen projects.)  Our canner holds 9 pints, so we had to do it twice.  

 

We ended up with 16 pints of delicious tomato sauce.  Now I know what you are going to say.  Why didn't you just use 8 quart jars?  We have done that in the past, but have found that it takes us too long to USE a whole quart of sauce, and a pint jar is just the right amount for many of my recipes.  I have a great tomato soup recipe that I will add to the recipe section.  It uses 2 pints of tomatoes and a pint of tomato sauce.  

 

HAPPY DAYS IN THE KITCHEN!!!

 

 

 

Look at this beautiful squash. It is a Cushaw squash, a winter squash.  That means it has a tough skin and is harvested when the seeds are mature.  Most winter squashes keep well in a cool, dry place into the winter.  Think of zucchini as summer squash, and Butternut and pumpkins as winter squashes.

 

A couple of years ago, my sister took me to a farm in Gloucester VA.  I saw a gorgeous big green squash and had to bring it home to NC.  It weighed about 6 pounds, and being a grocery store shopper as opposed to a farmers' market girl, I figured they sold them by the pound.  I'm thinking 12 bucks.  And trust me on this: it was so gorgeous I would have paid that.  When the nice couple added up Linda's purchase, they charged her 2 dollars for that fabulous squash.

 

It made it home to North Carolina, and when we cut into it in the winter, it was delicious.  So we saved some seeds.  

 

This year I planted a whole bunch of squash seeds.  The tags got a little mixed up, so I just put the extra plants into my new happy garden.  This one really took off.  The vines are sprawled all over the place, and the last few days this fruit has doubled, nay, tripled in size!!!  There are two more baby squashes on the vine, so I cut this big one, to allow the plant's energy to focus on the next one.  That way we get two medium, rather than a big one and a little one.  We'll see how they do.

 

Oh!!  Did I tell you that it weighs 6 lbs, 9.5 oz.  I love it!!!

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

Wow!!!  We were walking the loop last week and looked up into this Maple tree.  We walk past it all the time, but somehow this thing grew without our noticing it.  Julia told Jon about it, so he was on the lookout.  

 

It is on Stonebriar just above Al's house, about 10 feet up in the tree.  This nest is about 18 inches across, and a couple feet long.  We could see the wasps coming in and out, not bothered by us at all.  Good, we don't want to bother them.  There must be a couple hundred residents.  

 

Seek told me it is the nest of the Bald-faced Hornet.  So I went to Wikipedia and, sure enough there is a picture of the nest that looks just like this one. Go there and read about these hornets.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolichovespula_maculata  Very interesting.  

 

Beautiful to look at...from a distance.

 

HAPPY TUESDAY!!!

 

Here is an excellent source for Heirloom seeds:  https://www.rareseeds.com  They have a fabulous catalog with pictures, descriptions, and lots of other interesting information.  There is also an online catalog for free.  

 

We order seeds from them every year.  I save as many seeds as I can, but sometimes you just have to start fresh, or maybe try something new.  

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

Woohoo!!!  Look at that!!  That is one BIG tomato.

 

I love this heirloom variety. We planted seeds last year and saved some seeds to plant this year.  The great thing about heirloom tomatoes is that they reproduce true to the variety.  That means you can be sure to get the same characteristics every year.  Some heirlooms date back more than a hundred years, still producing the exact same plant and fruit.

 

On the other hand:

 

Hybrids are tomatoes that are cross-pollinated to capture the best characteristics of both the parent plants.  Maybe strong plants, disease resistance, flavorful fruit, etc.  Hybrids are great, but it doesn't work to save their seeds.  When you save the seeds and replant hybrids, often you get only the characteristics of one or the other parent.  Problem is, you don't know until you get fruit.  By then it is too late to replant your crop.  I don't like taking that chance.  I want to know what I'm going to harvest.  So we stick with the heirloom tomatoes we like.  

 

This is Pink Brandywine; we also save seeds and plant Pineapple tomatoes, which are yellow with red stripes throughout.  They are really good too.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!

 

 

 

I love when the Crape Myrtles bloom.  In China, they are called the "flower of one hundred days," because they bloom that long.

 

Crape Myrtles, or Lagerstroemia indica, are small trees that grow to 30 feet, and come in lots of colors:  from white through pink and lavender, all the way to dark red.  The white ones are called Natchez, and you can see those planted in large groups all around.  There are some beautiful ones at the United Community Bank in Blairsville.  Many cities plant them in the medians and other public places.  Nice city trees.  

 

The one in this picture isn't a tree;  it's more of a bush.  It has multiple trunks and is only about 5 feet tall.  But look at that color!!!  I love the lavender ones.  I also love the peeling bark of Crape Myrtles, revealing creamy shades of tan, and twisted, muscle-like wood.  Gorgeous trees and shrubs.

 

Look for them in your travels.

 

HAPPY GARDENING!!!