Landscaping...er...gardening

Much to the chagrin of some of my neighbors, my yard is very quickly turning into a garden. I am waiting to see how much I can get away with before I'm turned in to the "association". This year, things seems to be working pretty well. We've had 2 meals of our own green beans, countless salads, 3 cucumbers, 5 tomatoes and LOTS of jalapenos. 3 of my tomato plants are so heavy that the cages are falling over! I hope to take pictures, but my camera is currently MIA.

I cannot wait to make salsa and spaghetti sauce, with an eye toward preserving enough for part of the year. We are trying to wean ourselves from processed food, but it's so much easier in the summer, when fresh produce is bountiful.

So what for next year? Another raised bed, some blackberries, strawberries, and possible some elderberries for wine. Anyone have some land available???

Tree Climbing

Last night I had a sweet tooth attack of mammoth proportions, and we HAD to go to Graeter's for some ice cream. The one in Dublin has some trees in the back surrounding the patio, and the kids love to climb them. Sarah is finally learning that she can climb pretty far if she takes her time. So after ice cream, she's up about 3/4 of the way up a tall white pine, and says "Wow! I can see half of the universe from here!" She then turned around "Yep, and there's the other half!" I love moments like these.

Sour Cherries

I think perhaps I was a bit misguided, or ill informed anyway, when I ordered 2 buckets of sour cherries at the local farm. I assumed that they'd be small buckets. Well, each is 10 pounds of cherries, already pitted. Did I mention that I've never made ANYTHING with a sour cherry? No time like the present, I guess. I plan to make some preserves, at least, and we'll see where else this goes. One step toward eating more locally...learn to use the ingredients available to you when in season!

Zubin and Lola

Okay, I was informed by my friend that I have not kept up to date with my dog postings! Lola is now 5 months old. She is ALMOST as big as Zubin! (Not weight, just height) She is pretty much house trained, but if I leave water out, she'd drink it all, and just stand there peeing. She loves water! I even asked the vet if she might be diabetic, but they said she's just addicted to water. I need a little of that.

RIP

It seems I am saying goodbye to many things, tangible and intangible, and so I will say farewell to some of my plants. Rhubarb, for which I had to quest high and low, has been eaten by a creature of 4 legs, either rabbit or dog. Same goes for ALL of my basil, except the one in my raised bed, which just isn't growing. Oh, and one pepper plant, which the dog ate. And two tomato plants, from which Danny decided to pick all of the green tomatoes.

I built a tripod for my cucumber plants. That blew over in the thunderstorm today. NOT A GOOD DAY!!!

Strawberry Preserves - and the Winner is....

The clear winner of my preserves "war" was the basic recipe with pectin and nothing else. I made 3 batches. #1 and #2 are described previously, #3 used pectin but also a little bit of lemon juice. Both 2 and 3 are too runny to really use on sandwiches. I have found that #2 makes a great strawberry yogurt when combined with plain yogurt, so that's a consolation. The taste of the second is very cooked, even though I pulled out the berries to cook down the liquid. I will not make it again, or at least I don't think so. Again, KISS.

Booky Party

Danny had his 3rd birthday party the other day, which consisted of our neighbors and us. The catch was that everyone had to look spooky at Danny's request. Perhaps an odd request in the summer, but hey, I wasn't going to tell him no!

It was so nice to pare down and have something small. Now we don't have a bunch of toys that we don't need, and we could really enjoy each other. Dan had a blast, as usual, with the girls from next door. He got a super soaker, so I'd better watch out for the rest of the summer!