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Monday, June 29, 2009

If Not For My Gardening - I'd Always Have To Barter For Joy

It’s just not one of those good days, today. Once again – Dwayne goes back to work and – the only time I got to leave this house was to go to Wal-Mart. He needed to pick up his glasses. Might as well kill two birds with one stone. Needed to pick up more stuff for his lunches and the usual staples like bread and milk. Just looked at the clock. 9:44am and I am just now eating breakfast. Been up since 4am. Got his lunch ready. Got him off to work. My kitchen is spotless. My tomato plants have been fed. The dog has been fed and let out to do his daily business. Vacuuming is next. Picking beans follows that. Zucker needs his bath. Cleaning the refrigerator is the only different highlight of my day that I will see. Beyond that – more cleaning and cooking. And the truth of the matter is – my heart wants to initiate a full-frontal protest and move forward to nowhere beyond my butt resting on a chair. And I can’t even manage to do that. Dirty houses drive me nuts. And when I’m frustrated and angry – the only thing I’ve got for a savior in my life is – cleaning. If it weren’t for cleaning and my garden – what the hell would I do with myself? Nice weather is coming. Where do I get to go? Fishing. Dwayne likes to go fishing. Dwayne doesn’t like to go anywhere else. Teresa is beginning to hate fishing. Why do I get into gardening so much? It’s been the number one entity in my life that gives me something I need most of all. I can feel the return of its unconditional love when it comes back to me with a gift ten-fold in return for what I put into caring for it. Most of the time it’s more than I even hope for. And I don’t have to ask for it. That only makes me feel even more appreciated. I can walk out to my garden every day and find change – something new – something different. Even the bad events where something goes wrong with a plant is change – something different. I’m able to do something to fix it – exercising a genuine piece of my heart. And the unconditional love comes again – gratitude of a gift ten-fold in return. Only wants me wanna give more to caring for my garden. Dwayne helps me with the garden. He helps with the tilling and a few of the major projects that come up. It puts food on the table. It helps save money. He doesn’t have to do the canning or freezing. He doesn’t have to look after it on a daily basis. The help I get from him is bartered. It’s one of those things that’s practical and falls under the blanket of basic need and saving money. If you think he does it for pure joy – think again. There’s no hole anywhere in the garden – holding water – and fish. There are no huge numbers painted on the side fence of the garden. Bambi doesn’t come around – so there’s no need for a blind. And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let HHH step foot inside. The conversation in the media over the death of Michael Jackson has been enough to drown a hump-back whale – twice. Stepping back to give overview to the big picture of all that’s been summed up about his life in a matter of a few days has proven one solid fact about humans and life. You can have all the money in the world. You can be the most famous. You can be the most talented. You can be surrounded by multitudes of people every minute of your day. And you can STILL be the loneliest person on this earth. If I could have one wish come true – I would wish I didn’t have to barter for joy coming only as compromise from means of necessity – and without having to ask for something. I’d be lost without my gardening in my life.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Hey, Y'all! I've lost 5 lbs.!

Woke up this morning just whooped. We worked our butts off yesterday. There’s no way of getting around the fact that there is just always something to do around here. A lot of folks exist with that one. Having a place like this only compounds that fact ten-fold. I headed out the door yesterday morning around 8am. I gave it up around 3pm – after Dwayne came out to put his foot down. We get the worst heat around that time of day. He was aware of something I’d completely forgotten. I hadn’t had anything to eat! I had a glass of orange juice – about a half a cup of coffee – and loaded up with iced tea during the rest of the day. Those who know me well enough know one thing. For me to only have a half a cup of coffee during an entire day – you know it’s hot and miserable! So I became the submissive wife and obeyed. Yeah – right! LOL Naww… I went inside and had one of my favorite treats with another big glass of iced tea. If the heat is pissing you off – you should try my little treat. I buy the store brand of yogurt with different fruits. I get the kind that are already blended. I don’t recommend just throwing them in the freezer in the same packaging. Anybody know what happens with a plastic gallon jug full of water that’s put into the freezer? Yeah – trust me. You don’t want the mess. Ball Manufacturing now makes a plastic container with a lid for freezing. Great investment for freezing sauces and other liquids – not to mention being a good size for little kids to drink from! I just dump the yogurt into one of those and throw ‘em in the freezer. It’s perfect for when you’re so hot and you’re hungry – but anything you think about seems too heavy on your stomach. We got a lot done yesterday. Had to face that dreaded moment of gardening – the first deep watering. Dragging 300 feet of hose around is no easy task. But everything in the garden just had this slumpy – poopy appearance. And I had even spent a couple hours spray watering the evening before. Dwayne has been fighting with the grass. We have this stuff up here that just stays soaked forever. The ground will be dry. But this grass will stay wet until late in the afternoon in 90* temps. And it's thicker than San Augustine. It took a total of three days. And we never let it get over four inches. I'm just not into the snakes moving in - ya' know? He set the mower level to 3. Went over it all the second time around at 2. And he got NINE wheelbarrows full raked and piled - just out of the side yard. I'm gonna hit it, again on Tuesday, while he's at work. Maybe if we keep going at it - the Bermuda seed we threw will kick in and the established Bermuda will kick butt! We had to wait until Dwayne had a day off before driving three large metal posts into the ground. The tomatoes had over-grown their wooden stakes and things were caving inward. I managed to get one row half-way cleaned up the next day. Got forced inside by the mucky weather. We’ve had air quality warnings going on for the past week now. Friday was a really bad one. Come yesterday morning – the plants were still too wet from the spray watering the evening before to mess with. While I waited for the sun to dry those puppies I filled up the sprayer with grass/weed killer. Managed to get the rock barrier at the drive – all around the underside of the back porch and one side of the house – and most of the barn. I ran out of chemical and needed to get back to the garden and start in on the tomatoes. Dwayne came out and finished the spraying. He finished the far side of the barn and then – I hear the mower start up. I hear him take off to the hay pasture. Wasn’t too long before I realized the mower was sitting with the engine idling for some reason. Went to check on him and – just laughed! He rode the mower while he was spraying all around the fence of the hay pasture. Then he came back to one corner and left the mower running while he went down and sprayed an area in the back corner of the front pasture. I would imagine some other something with four wheels will be on the list after we get the tractor – Gator – golf cart – something! Don’t know why but as soon as I realized what Dwayne was doing – I thought of the guy that went to jail for driving drunk when he headed to buy more beer on his tractor mower! My tomatoes were a nightmare. I had to do some serious sacrificing. And let me tell you something about messing with tomatoes. Those things can mess you up worse than grass stains. My hands went from green to black. Getting that stuff off is no easy task. I finally broke out the scratch pad and the Barkeeper’s Friend. They don’t make Bon-Ami anymore. Even after scrubbing and a shower – my hands look like absolute Hell this morning! Remember me showing this to you last time? Well… look what we found this morning! I’ll keep taking more photos as it comes along so you can see how cool it is to watch ‘em grow! Now – I haven’t staked this one. So – let’s see how macho this one comes out! I picked our first handful of green beans this morning! Looks like my zucchini squash are happy, again. Have a handful of those coming along. And same goes for the yellow hook-neck. And just look at the Butternut Squash! It’s become impossible to get inside and count. Those puppies are going nuts. The plants have taken over the two rows of carrots on each side. They’ve gone into the corn. And now they’re threatening the tomatoes and even moving into the green beans! They keep spreading – they keep producing. Who am I to kill a good thing?! I guess there better be a lot of jet mechanics that like Butternut Squash! I don't even know how to describe this mess! I could go to any side of these plants and get the same picture. They're just - EVERYWHERE! There's more than two dozen - and more coming! They're already averaging about 9 inches long - 6 inches at the base and 4 to 5 inches at the neck. Just like Bambi - they're beginning to lose their stripes and turn that pretty orange-tan color! Tried to get a picture of a baby. Almost fell into the whole mess. LOL but the flower in this shot is only about 4 inches long. You see the baby squash behind it. Here's a 'Junior' and a 'toddler'. LOL That flower is huge! It spreads out the size of my hand. Right now - that 'toddler' is only about 3.5 to 4 inches long. I'm just so exicted about 'em! I've never grown these before! Tried one of the carrots this morning. Not as bitter and acidic as the rogue that ended up between rows that I tried a week ago. Very flavorful. But they still need more time to sweeten up. Dwayne and I thought twice and decided this morning not to plant okra this year. We still have fried okra packed in the freezer from last year. I wasn’t too impressed with last year’s crop – the way it grew, nor the way it came out on the plate. But then – I didn’t get to go up to The Old Mill to pick up the ground cornmeal, either. That’s just how much difference there is in the taste from the cornmeal ground at that old mill. And that’s just how spoiled I’ve become – I guess. Oh – shaddup! Well… I’m taking a lighter day today. Whatever I absolutely had to do out in the yard today has been completed by noon. I was up until 2am trying to work on my virtual farm. Finally called it quits - after the Foxfire browser crashed on me one more time - and headed to bed. Some of you may remember my childhood friend, Debbie Utley. Well, she’s Debbie Utley-Homann today! Debbie and I are addicted to a game at FaceBook called Farm Town! And don’t hold that against us. Trust me – we are in a healthy dose of company! It has been a lot of fun! Don’t think the game developers had enough confidence in how popular it would become. They’re having a lot of hell with it! Too many users – not enough servers! I’ll go for now! Time for lunch. Y’all have a great day! Ohhh.... by the way - see the little bitty blue words right below this? There's the word 'comments'. Go leave me a few words just to let me know ya' came by! Hey - go figure! Came in to do some editing on my sour grammar and guess what... it's raining cats 'n dogs 'n fat babies!

Friday, June 26, 2009

It's My Flowerbed and I'll Concoct It If I Want To...

Concoct it if I want to... Concoct it if I want to... and I have! I don't care what anyone says. If you have some dirt you can do whatever you want with it! Face it. You have no plans for inviting Martha Stewart to your house so - just have at it and make yourself happy! Although - I could be tempted to invite the woman to my house - just to make her skin crawl. ;) As much as we love living here and feel so grateful to be blessed by all that we do have around us - there comes a limit. When you have this humongous covered porch that extends the full length of your house and stretches 10 feet deep - you wanna enjoy the views all you can. Right? Well - whattya' do when you have this monster of a barn sittin' sideways only about 50 feet from your eyeballs? You move it - which is what we've decided to do. Yeah - I know. But whattya' do in the meantime? I mean - we sit out here and look all around at so much gorgeous area. But when we turn our head to look one way or the other - it's like having a knat land in our eye every time that thing hits the corner of sight! Well - we all have enough going on during each day to drive us nuts. I decided to knock one of those little demons out of the way. Made no sense having this gigantic blank wall of barnwood stuck in the middle of our picture until we get the barn moved. It was time to break out the tiller! We made a peanut-shaped flowerbed. Well, okay - so the backside is flat. Whatever! And of course - me being me - can't have just your normal Martha Stewart "flowerbeds are only for flowers" crap going on. Besides - we're out in the country. As Alexis says - "Get over it, Martha!" This is MY flowerbed - and you can eat half of it! Well - she can eat it all if she don't like it. Ohhhh... did I say that? Okay - check this out. It's a picture story! It would be a heck of a lot easier if all of y'all were actually standing right here so we could whip this in a lot less time. But - your happy butts haven't made it up here! So, this is what you get! And remember - click on the photos to see larger views. Does that look like a barn? I think not! That's a view from the backside of the bed. The Blue Hibiscus wanted to say "Hello!" He's grown about two more feet already - after being released from his jail of a pot he's lived in since 2004! He's about the same height as me now! Knowing how tall he is - you see his neighbors from here. Well - the taller ones, anyway. The pot on the left has my Night-blooming Jasmine. I had one of these in Manteca and fell in love with it! So did the garbage man - but that's another story. I had to pot it because it'll have to come in during the winter here. But I cannot wait until we start smelling all that powerful sweet scent around August! My white Butterfly Bush is at the front. That' puppy is still in a pot - one of the projects for next year. In between the blue Hibiscus and the Jasmine you can see the 'torso' of one of my Sunflowers! Here's the one sitting on the other side of the jasmine. I've already had to stake two of these guys. Only one of the four are shorter than me! This is just a flower 'bud' that's about to bust open! These puppies are gonna be huge! That bud is already over 3 inches wide! Now we get into the edible parts. I have Cilantro growing down in front of the blue Hibiscus. Sweet Margaram is growing in front of that - kinda hard to see that. Immediately to the right of the Hibiscus I have Arugula growing. See the little flowers? This is one of the new fads being put into all those fancy salads. The big green blob of leaves is Basil. And that's Lavender on the right! Standing behind the Hibiscus - the three mounds are Savory. You see the Arugula in the right bottom corner - two mounds of Lavender and a bit of the Basil. See that pot of 'uh-oh' in the middle? That's a struggling nightmare. I gave up on trying to get Dwayne to help me get all of my potted plants into the ground this year. I'm having to keep them fed and pray until next year. But this little puppy is - Horseradish. He can be a problem and will require a very controlling bed of his own. They are extremely invasive - depending on how much of the root you harvest for your sauces! Best way to keep control is to hand over pieces to friends and neighbors. But ya' might have to fix up a sauce or spread and con 'em, first! The three little green spots beyond the pot of Horseradish are white Vinca. I just planted those about a week ago. Even looks 'country', huh! Wait 'till you see the other side view. LOL See the potted thing hiding behind one of the Sunflowers and the Evergreen tree (can't even remember what those are called!)? That's one of the two Patio Peach Trees that I've had since they were tiny saplings. Dwayne and I snagged them up from the bed at a transmission shop in Maryville back in 2004! Hey - we asked for permission, first! They put out the most beautiful flowers in spring. And they will put out peaches. But they're considered ornamental because the fruit is nil compared to its seed. So we pinch all those off after the flowers die off. Check this out... It's one of my Jalapeno bushes in the flowerbed. I have four more out in the garden. One of the storms we had last week blew it over and I didn't have anymore stakes. So - I improvised. Used a dead twig I found. Ta! Hey - it works! Yeah - I told you it looks 'countryfied'! Just ignore that mess with the pots in the back. More of next year's projects. This is the left side of the bed. I've got two dwarf... - crap! I can't remember what they're called. But they're two more lucky enough to escape their pots this year. That's a 'Black Knight' Butterfly bush on the left. Three more white Vincas that were planted last week. Hot pink Vincas in the bottom left corner. See the hairy little mound to the right of the sunflower? That's Thyme. That one came out of it's pot this year, too. I've had it since 2006. Went to prune it after I got it planted and missed picking up a couple of the cut sprigs. I now have Freebies. They took root! Go figure. Had I tried planting them deliberately - they would have croaked. Oh - and the little pink thing in front of it is a Geranium I had left over after planting the bed under the Georgia Belle Peach tree! I don't waste nuthin'! Heck - I even sent Dwayne to work with a few Tomato plants because I had more than enough and didn't wanna kill 'em! That's a bright red Pentas that I planted last week in your face! That Dwarf something-or-other to the right. And the second Jalapeno plant in the bed. And then there's this little surprise. The only thing that survived in this pot from last year was the Chives. So I thought, anyway. Got out there yesterday to trim up the Chives - something I had neglected to do until now. What I find is the two different kinds of Basil and new sprouts of the Texas Tarragon coming back - all from last year's plants. Now - here's the pisser. Had I bought the seed and tried to do this - Mother Nature would have burned me just for a good laugh. So now - here's the view from the porch! It's not the perfect manicured little flowerbed with the brick or the rock border. But what the heck! We're in the country!! Either way - it just goes to show you a simple fact. If you have any amount of dirt at your place - you can do anything you want with it. You can grow flowers and food at the same time! With the way prices and chemicals are going with the food supply in this country - it only makes sense to leave the grass for the parks and use your dirt to grow your own food! If you live in an apartment and don't have a yard - you can still get it done. And by all means - don't spend your money on expensive pots to grow your food. Go to a hardware store - Tractor Supply or Co-Op and buy those big round galvanized tubs that we all think of being used for bathing dogs. Get someone to drill at least 3 holes in the bottom and you're good to go. The guys at Tractor Supply and the hardware stores will usually do it for you if you ask! Lowes and Home Depot are usually good about stocking those things, as well. It's not too late to grow your own food. But NOW is the time to start getting ready. We are zone 6-7 here and we are to have our fall gardens planted no later than August 15th this year. You can go to www.parkseed.com to punch in your zip code and find out your zone number. Call a local garden shop and ask them when fall gardens should be planted in your area. The cheapest and most helpful way to go at it is to buy seed. Decide on what kind of fall/winter veggies you like and BUY THE SEED. Pass leftover seed to friends and family and get them to grow their own. One pack of spring mix lettuce seed cost me less than $2.00. I planted one row of lettuce. I've got lettuce coming out my ears. I'm sending Dwayne to work with Wal-Mart bags loaded with the stuff - sending it home with the gang at the hangar. It's the same stuff we're paying $4 per bag for in the grocery stores!!! Actually - it's so much better. The stuff I'm growing blew my mind first time I tasted it. I never knew lettuce could actually have so much flavor. I've always said - "Pennies add up." I will tell you this. Not only could you be saving money at the grocery store. You could be improving your health enough to save you the cost of going to the doctor. Think about it!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Lemon Creamed Honey.... mmmmmmmmmm!!!

Walked outside and brought in a big bowl of fresh cilantro yesterday evening. I love it when I can bring some into the kitchen – even for the heck of it! Just a few sprigs rinsed off under the sink and set somewhere to catch a draft – drives everybody crazy! Next thing ya’ know – somebody starts up the round of decision making with a suggestion of something to make – like Pico De’ Gallo! Before Jen moved out to learn about life – LOL – this house had a furious non-stop Mexican Standoff going on around here for years. Three human beings under the same roof with their own preferences and ideas for how one recipe should be made. It wasn’t pretty. But the one fact that never failed – the stuff never survived around our house for more than two days. And it just didn’t matter who the chef was! The trouble I’m having at the moment is this. The cilantro is going crazy. Heck – I’ve even got a couple of Jalapeno peppers out in the garden I could pick. Have a really nice red onion in the crisper. And wouldn’t ya’ know – the tomatoes aren’t ready. And by the time they finally get out of bed – I’ll have had to seed another round of cilantro. One of my struggles is being so far from my favorite place that I just love to go this time of year – Horn O’ Plenty in Maryville! Oh, my goodness! They have it all in this really tight and tiny corner shop that all the main traffic in town passes. You can be walking through all their selection of flowers and plants outside on the lot when the light turns red on Broadway – and get a bit of a comedy show for free. It actually makes me wonder, sometimes, about the wrecks that happen at that intersection. But when you look up at all the cars waiting in line at the red light from either side – you can count back a minimum of five or six on each side with eyes staring and/or necks stretching. Everybody’s checking out the lot at Horn O’ Plenty to see if they’ve gotten any new stuff in for that day! The majority of the produce they sell during this time of year comes from local individuals and small farms. They’re a great supporter of Grainger County Tomato Farmers, too! That’s where I go to get my tomatoes for making my fried green tomatoes! Baskets and baskets of ripened tomatoes are lined all around the store during the season. Many folks without gardens come in to buy cases of the tomatoes to take home for canning. Same happens with the Georgia Peaches that show up each year. But my sense of respect is so deep for many of the individual gardeners that enjoy growing uncommon varieties of beans and other vegetables brought in for sale. Some of those folks are actually raising treasures from saved seed of heirlooms that have been passed down in their family! One of the other fun treats that can be found are the fresh–baked-from-scratch breads and pastries! There’s a lady up around Sevierville that bakes and delivers her breads every day. She uses recipes passed down from descendents that settled in Cades Cove and surrounding areas of the Great Smoky Mountains. One other lady brings in home-made fried pies! And, Darlin' - let me tell you - Hostess has nothin’ on her! I have to be really careful. I only allow myself to buy one and call it my special treat for my trip to Horn O’ Plenty! If I buy more for later – I’m as good as a dead dog. Later will never come. I buy my jars of Sourwood Honey from there to do my pickling, too. I love that Honey. But I began buying a new find for myself, a couple years ago! The one I buy is the Lemon Creamed Honey. And there are several other flavors, as well. It’s made by Smokey Ridge Aparies and Crafts. You have to chill it to harden it – or – warm it to soften it up. I love putting this stuff on a piece of celery! But I am in my absolute glory when I warm it for spreading on a piece of buttered toast! And it has a creamy taste - sort of along that same line as the creamy Lifesavers. Hmmmmm….. Dwayne begins his round of days off tomorrow. And I’m getting one day out of my cage to go mingle around the human race – for a change. He never likes to go where I want to go – despite the fact that I never refuse to go where he wants to go. So – I’m taking a day to go off and run around doing something I enjoy doing and hardly ever get to do! I’ve never been to the Knoxville Museum of Art. This summer heat gives the perfect reason for that choice – something inside with air conditioning! I think I’ll go ahead and just make a circle – head to Maryville and make one of those favorite stops at Horn O’ Plenty! OHHHHH….. I heard the interview, yesterday, about the Headliners for this year’s Foothills Fall Festival! Two of the big names – Rodney Atkins - Alan Jackson! Others are Kansas – Little River Band – The Trailer Choir and Justin Moore! The organizers seem concerned that they may have a sell-out before the early ticket sales period of time ends. Go check out www.foothillsfallfestival.com for more details. This is one event in East Tennessee that keeps growing and growing and growing. Folks plan vacations for attending this festival!
Okay… time to go plant my stuff at Farm Town! Have a great day, everybody!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

e.Coli in Cookie Dough... NEVER Happened at Grandma's House

I laughed when I heard about the Nestle’s Cookie Dough Re-call on the news, yesterday. Is this what we’ve come to – all for the sake of – convenience? Ya’ think??? Just one more business venture luring in sheep – depending on the fact that nobody really knows just exactly what is in the recipe. Anybody that does real baking can almost tell you – just by opening the package. Right off the bat – no butter – just grease. Ohhhh…. Yummmm! All these years of growing up have carried the memory of my own realization about the change in a Hershey chocolate bar. It’s the first thought that has come to mind when I even think about the treat. I was just a kid. It was back in the 1960’s. I remember hearing about the company making changes to the candy bar on the news. Reason given was due to cocoa and sugar prices going up in the economy back then. That candy bar left its original form that gave you reason to smile – almost overnight. I remember my first bite of the new version. My response was no smile – more like a verbal, “ewwwww.” The smoothness of the chocolate was gone. There was a grit to the texture. Every kid born after the 1960’s is totally ignorant and unknowing to what a Hershey chocolate bar really tasted like when Milton Hershey had control over his own creation. Best way to describe it is by using candle wax for example. You know how you can take a flat piece of melted candle wax and snap it into two or more pieces? You could open up a Hershey bar and get the very same effect before they ruined the recipe. Since then – it’s more like snapping that same piece of melted wax while it’s still warm. You could freeze the original version and have a fight on your hands when trying to snap off a piece! Today – you have to freeze it just to get that memorable snap of the original. Who remembers what the very first package of instant or processed food was to come out on the market? And Jello does not count. I think it’s safe to say – everybody knows the difference between the two versions of the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. One has the powdery crap and the smaller pasta. The other has the pack of soft cheese and elbow macaroni. Yeah – well… the taste and texture of the box with the powdery crap even went south. Hard to believe, but – that stuff actually tasted better when it came out, originally. And I won’t even start on Hamburger Helper. I haven’t bought a box of that junk for over twenty years. I once wondered with concern over why it just seemed like so many people were coming down with cancer. The medical community and the FDA blame it on certain foods. The irony of that is – they blame it on whole foods. For a person who does math about everything in life – things have never jived with me. My grandparents lived long lives. My great-grandparents lived even longer. And I was very well aware of their eating habits. My Grandpa Casteel was born and raised on a Dairy farm. They ate a lot of cheese – real butter – whole milk – buttermilk. It was used in a LOT of their baked and cooked foods. So was bacon grease! People in his generation and earlier weren’t coming down with all the cancer that’s killing people today. Now some in the family will remind me of the conditions that took my Grandpa’s life. He ended up having open-heart surgery that included six by-passes. He was over-weight and had cancer when he past away in his sixties. Very true. But his parents lived into their eighties and nineties after living on the Dairy farm with the same eating habits he experienced during his childhood - for much longer than him. And they both passed due to nothing more than natural causes. The difference between my Grandpa and his parents – Grandpa was an excessive beer drinker up until about the last ten or fifteen years of his life. He smoked TWO cartons of non-filter Camel cigarettes every week until the last five years of his life. His eating habits consisted mainly of one big meal at the end of the day during his adulthood. And I remember the consistency of those meals. That man would sit in his recliner in front of the television that was only about three feet away and eat on a tv tray. He always had two large plates of food that were just piled. He drank one or the other with every meal – beer, milk or buttermilk. He would put down a quart of canned jalapeno peppers – at the least – with every meal. And before he would go to bed – he would do in half of a half-gallon tub of Bluebell Vanilla ice cream - or - two 16oz. glasses of buttermilk and cornbread. This went on every night of his life for as long as I can remember – until he went through that open-heart surgery. All the convenience of buying packaged instant foods today is the killer. I can even remember when all the ingredient labels began changing. I can remember when we started seeing all the “artificial ingredients” showing up on the labels. And when you choose to throw your money away by buying it and bringing it into your home – you are responsible for your cancer just as much as all those product manufacturers. You pay more for less than what it would cost to make it by scratch. But then – paying more and getting less has been the trend for quite a while with everything – period. The reality is only becoming worse and the practice has reached the Full Monte. There is not one food or cleaning product you can think of that sits on the shelves in WalMart today that hasn’t become minimized to the extent with the ingredients. And they have learned that sheep just reach and throw their money away on anything with the right kind of slogan on the package to make you think you’re getting something fabulous! What do they care that so many now die from cancer? Look at the jobs it creates in the medical field! And that just keeps the colleges fed. Taking control over your own life and how long you wish to live is very simple. Remember back to what your elders ate way back when. If you were born after the sixties – go ask your elders. Go to the web or the library and do your research! Learn about history of life back in the early days. There is a reason why certain folks live to reach 100 years old and die of natural causes – even those that smoke that last cigarette the day before they pass away in their sleep the next night. You just have to close your eyes and ears to all the crap being put out there by all the wolves long enough to focus on that fact. And then you take control of your own shelves in your house.

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Garden is Growing

We have struggled with our new garden. We’re winning. But it has come with a strong fight – and the latest efforts have included a little bit of cheating. The heat and humidity that began pounding us over the past week has put a stop to my spending hours and hours of biting away at the weeds and grass. Expecting Dwayne to get out there and help with double manpower is ridiculous. We have other things on the list and time is flying. So – we cheated. (click on photos to see larger view) Dwayne went through the alleys between rows and scalped the monsters with the weed-eater. And the two of us covered the entire garden with about six bales of hay to choke and smother as much as we can. Our conservative hope is that it will minimize the re-growth. At the same time, all the vegetables are showing us that they seem to appreciate the help with the moisture retainer, as well. So – we’re winning that one - so far! All three squash mounds have gone nuts and taught me a fast lesson. First – the growing conditions in this region have a wild variance between areas. I’m amazed at how differently things grow here, compared to how they grew for me in Maryville – only 30 minutes driving distance! Next year – there will be more mounds and only two plants to a mound. That third plant has caused chaos. The Butternut squash has spread over the rows on each side and into the corn rows, as well. And we have well over two dozen squashes coming. They won’t be ready for harvesting until near fall. The zucchini squash has all but mushed every squash on its own with all the leaf growth that was beginning to choke all the air circulation and sunlight. Same scenario for our yellow hook-neck squash. I put up with all the stings from the hairy little pricks on the plants enough to get things overhauled and under control. And now they all know who’s boss and what the orders are! Believe it or not - all three mounds of squash - nine plants total. Yellow hook neck in front. Zucchini in the middle... And the Butternut is crawling over rows of carrots on both sides! I’m late on letting my tomatoes keep their blooms. Once again, we tried something different with staking the tomatoes. I also decided to have them grow more bush-like, versus climbing to heights over my head. But the blossoms are many and we already have tomatoes the size of golf balls! The corn has ears and the silk is coming in. Actually, we’ve been blessed – well, it looks that way, anyway. This variety has put out additional side stalks and a few have ears on them, as well. We could end up with corn plants bearing as much as five ears. Had to call Park Seed to ask about the situation and they told me that it’s been known to happen and help with pollination. I was asked to take photos during growth when I mentioned the ears and silk showing up on the side stalks. Pole beans are absolutely loaded. Can’t wait until they’re ready to harvest for dry beans! The bush beans are flowering and top-heavy. The verdict is still out on them. But there are no bad bugs!!! That’s a good sign! The weather here has been absolutely sultry. We’re in the mid 90’s with equal humidity. The thunderstorms have been in and out on a non-stop basis for the past several days. The grass can’t even dry out. It’s impossible to sit out on these huge porches of ours until late in the evenings. If I had a swimming pool right now – I would be living in that thing during the day – period. It’s so miserable that I really don’t even want to eat. Can’t get enough iced tea and water. But all I can really handle eating is the yogurt with fruit that I keep frozen in the freezer. Salads are good. But the tomatoes bought at WalMart suck. They have no flavor, whatsoever. Obviously – they forced the Grainger County farmers to deliver them green and way before they were ready. Kind of a half-hearted effort by WalMart to support the local farmers – I’d say, anyway. Another view of the squash mounds. Pole beans - these are an Italian variety called "Borlotto Solista". This year, they will be left until the leaves, vine and pods are completely dried before harvesting. We'll be putting these away as dry beans. Look at those pods! They are HUGE! They have a really pretty purplish random striping going on throughout the pod. These are the bush beans - "Derby" variety Our onions - "Texas Sweet" variety - aka "Vidalia" in some parts. Our Spring lettuces - "Summer Glory Blend" - I had just harvested this half of the bed yesterday evening. Cleaned and CRAMMED two WalMart bags with only two-thirds of what I harvested. Dwayne took those to work this morning - one for the girls at work and the other for Charlotte to stop by and pick up after work! Our potatoes - "Yukon Gold" variety Ya’ know – I really don’t care where you live – LOOK for your local farmer’s market. Just lock the date into your calendar and GO. You cannot beat the difference in the flavors of anything you buy from the local farmers. Everything is required to be grown organically. And everything has strong restrictions of window time for when the produce is picked before coming to market. You’re getting it fresh. More importantly – you are getting it after it has truly had time on the plant, vine or tree that nature requires. You’re getting more than your money’s worth!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Overwhelming List for Life

I was sending off an email reply to Heidi and Monica this morning when I decided on one more task I could take on that would help make time more efficient for myself. Normally, I use my blog for only posting my latest digital scrapbook layouts. It was killing two birds with one stone, allowing me a fun way of sharing photos with friends and family, as well. I’m going to be posting more regular updates on how things are going here on my blog for Dwayne and me. These days, the two of us need to kill as many birds as we can with one stone. To describe the scenario for Dwayne and I at this time in one word – Overwhelming. And that can even be considered an understatement. Already, we have succeeded in several brick walls that we’ve chewed through to get anything accomplished. As I was telling Heidi and Monica this morning – reality is proving that it will take us, at the very least, three years to get a handle on things here. Time is burning to a crisp by Mother Nature. Dwayne will be going back to graveyard shift soon – which has now been increased from four months to FIVE months… grrrrr…. The situation with the economic turmoil going on in this country doesn’t help at all. And I’m sure we’re not the only ones facing the pressure. But almost on a daily basis – our plans are changed to add more efficiency in managing to accomplish all our goals. Quite a bit has taken place over the past week, alone. The war with our garden is coming to a lull. I pulled up the spring spinach. It was just beginning to bolt. Dwayne cleaned the row before distributing the dirt between the potatoes and onions. The watermelon seeds planted in the bed with the blackberry bush startings have sprouted. I got hay spread in that bed yesterday. Dwayne had to change out the fuel pump on the pickup. We’ve had to mow the property twice this past week – in between the storms. We begin power-washing and re-sealing the logs on the outside of the house - the porches, as well - during the next round of days off. In the meantime – we’re trying to save up for a tractor, wood-burning stove and building materials. And my putt-putt has to be repaired and running before Dwayne goes back onto graveyard shift. Next on the list will be preparing for installation of a wood-burning stove. After we get the wood-burning stove installed – we begin projects that will be done during late fall and winter. We’ll begin with framing in and insulating the basement. All the windows upstairs in the house come after that. The trim will be removed – insulation will be put in and the trim will be cut down to proper proportions. Sounds so simple in type. But there’s all the other stuff in between. We’re beginning to harvest. Canning is coming up very soon. We still have to plant okra this month. And come July – we get to start preparing for the fall crop that has to be planted no later than August 15th! The bi-weekly mowing is here. We have to continue spraying the fruit trees. The house has to be cleaned – laundry – grocery shopping – cooking – bathing and grooming the dog. All that normal stuff has to be dealt with, too! The barn will have to wait until next year. And there has been a huge change of plans there. The so-called pond is a pain in the butt – which also created problems with the far side of the barn. That entire area of the property creates a slope for all the rain to make its way right for our house. We’ve decided to move the barn. We already had plans for gutting it down to the frame. Completely moving it won’t make much more difference there. But it will make a huge difference in many good ways by moving it. We’re relocating it to the fence at the back pasture. Dwayne wants to set the barn up between the fence and make the alley wide enough for driving through to get to the back pasture. It will be out of our face, for a change. And actually – that will even increase the views from the back porch! The ground is much higher where the barn currently sits – versus where the house sits. The slope has all the rain coming toward the house. We will be moving a LOT of dirt - once the barn is moved. We’re going to fill in the so-called pond. We’re going to level the dirt between the new location of the barn and the house in ways that will encourage excess water to run towards the small ravine with all the trees. But we will be setting up water storage tanks on each side of the barn. They’ll be hooked up to the gutters on the barn to catch and store rain run-off for watering the garden. The small retaining wall at the driveway will be extended higher and dirt will be moved to level out that area. It will stop the current run-off of water and dirt from under the back porch. And the RV awning is coming down. The roofing from that will be used on the barn. The cement pad will be busted up. None of that was constructed properly when the previous owners had it done. Oh – and the chicken coop will be built! There’s a whole lot to get done before winter arrives to drive us nuts. But then – you would be thinking about this coming winter. I’m already looking at next winter - and shaking my head!

Monday, June 15, 2009

And like... Overnight... Summer Comes Before It's Invitation

Well, WE sure jumped from spring to summer, overnight! Man, alive. Being outside has been better than sitting in a sauna. And I can't say I'm really happy about that. The humidity here has been exceptional this season. The air stays dampened due to all the abundant rain that has fallen in the East Tennessee Valley. Efforts to accomplish anything around our home has been frustrating and challenging - between a rolling work schedule and Mother Nature's schedule. Go figure - the rain would sock us in the eye during Dwayne's days off. I'm not even sure we can consider the weeds in the vegetable garden as 'weeds' at this point. Currently - I haven't quite made up my mind. Either way - we're spending the next round of days off cutting the heads off of everything not welcome in the garden. Then, one or the other - breaking out the tiller to rip into the soil, again. Or - taking the bucket full of grass/weed killer and sponging it where we want it to go. Honestly - I'd rather go ahead and till without using the chemical. I reach my goal faster. And we have plenty of bales of hay in the barn to suffocate anything we don't manage to yank out of the dirt. I spent over seven hours in the garden, yesterday. At one point - I attempted to take a break and start mowing the acreage. Ran into a slight - mishap. I took the mower to places where I've never been before - like the slopes around the driveway that sit about four inches above the ground. Ohhhh, yeaaahhhh...! No more downhill slopes on that thing for this wench. That poor blade box was hating me. That puppy was trapped by the edge of the drive and under all the weight of that tractor mower. And it wasn't going anywhere! Dwayne had to play Hero after he got home from work - again! He finished off the area around the drive before putting the mower away. By the time I stood up and yelled, "I can't do anymore, today," it was 5:45pm. I was filthy. But I did manage to make a dent. After making another pitcher of sweet tea and having a light supper - I headed for the shower. Even after a nice hot shower - my body was killing me. Felt like I'd been loading those 70lb. totes into the bin of an XR - all day long - for masses of church groups. Inside joke there - Dennis will get it. LOL I'm so sore this morning - even after taking a muscle relaxer before going to bed last night. Pushed myself through all my stretches this morning. And today's agenda is very light. I will be mowing. Now - some of you may be laughing at the idea of mowing about five acres being light work. But compared to yesterday, alone - sitting on my butt and canvassing five acres is light work - trust me. However - I am dreading the challenge of making trips up and down the stairs to the basement so I can get some laundry done. Did I tell you my body is killing me? Anyways - here's the latest layouts of photos. These are the last two about the current situation with the garden. Next one coming starts a few layouts about baling the hay in the back pasture. That was a booger I thought we'd never get to accomplish - Thank You, Mother Nature! Remember - click on the layouts to see a larger view! Journaling on the left reads - "My first planting of carrots was washed away by all the torrential rains. Now we have extra carrots popping up everywhere. Somebody found a safe place between the squash!" Journaling on the right reads - "So many rocks. But we made use of them by lining them along the garden fence to keep wild bunnies from digging their way in to rob us!" Kit - Garden of Weedin' by Kimberly Stewart at www.scrapbook-elements.com Well - off to get started on the inside of the house. Have to wait for the grass to dry before I can mow! Hope everyone is doing okay and having good times in good weather!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Still Bustin My Butt!

This past week has been wild. So much is kicking into gear around here - now that Mother Nature, finally, decided to give us all a much needed break from all the constant rain. Our vegetable garden is showing color and loads of promise! The Hay has been cut - raked - baled. And believe it or not - at this very moment, they're out there loading the last bit in the dark! This is just that kind of work. When you've made it this far - and you only have two-thirds of the field to stack - "Git 'er Done!" You just wanna get it over with and go home! My body is killin' me. Even today - I was out there at 7:30 this mornig. Everything needed watering, especially the last section of corn that I just planted a few days ago. That was about a two-hour job. Next in sight was the blackberry bush bed. The weeds were laughing at me - until around 1:30pm. Took about a half-hour break with Zucker. That dog is like a Bloodhound. No matter how worn out or hot he may be - he refuses to let you leave him behind if you're heading out the gate on the porch. He trotted right to his half-full water bowl and dried it up. And then - he turned around and finished up the refill! Headed for the rug in the living room - laid down and just panted for a while - until he saw me heading for the door, again. And right now - Dog is more like Pig. He is absolutely filthy - belly coat full of cocker burs, too. So, guess what I get to do in the morning! Anyways - headed back outside after my break. By then the garden had dried off and the water had soaked down enough to walk around. It was time to run twine to support the new height of the tomatoes and get them cleaned out and stabilized, again. Just as I was finishing up and piling all the debris to take to the compost bin - here comes Pat Townsend's son! He was ready to rake the hay! Pics of that are coming soon! But for now - here are three layouts I've done for what I'm calling my own version of "Veggie Tales" that we're experiencing here! Look closely - there's a recipe in there somewhere! And I've included it at the end of this post so you can steal it! Remember - click on the layout to see a larger view!
I have had a blast with this brand new kit called Garden of Weedin' by Kimberly Stewart at http://www.scrapbook-elements.com/! I've got more photos of things going on around here and the layouts should be coming shortly!
We get up at 4am around here. Can't get much yardwork done when we're still a few hours away from the sunrise! So - I take that time to get a layout done - and a little bit of housework, as well! But once that sun pops up - time to go chase the weeds and all the other stuff there is to do outside before the moon takes its place!
Spicy Lime Grilled Chicken Kabobs
I never really measure anything in this recipe by any other way than personal taste. So, here's a guessing game you can play with to suit your own tastes!
6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Filets
1 cup fresh Cilantro
6 - 8 Tbl. Lime Juice
1 Bottle Regular Italian Dressing
5 Cloves of fresh Garlic (or 1 Tbl. garlic powder)
1 heaping Tbl. Course-ground Sea Salt
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
2 Zucchini Squashes
3 Yellow Hook-neck Squashes
1 Pkg. fresh Mushrooms (either kind, button shape)
1 Pkg. large wooden skewers
1. Cut chicken filets into 1" chunks. Cut squashes into 1/2" slices. Cut of the very bottom of mushroom stems without removing. Dice fresh garlic. Cut fresh cilantro into small pieces - but do not mince. (Best way to judge is to imagine one of the leaves resting on a bite of chicken.) 2. Throw all ingredients into one-gallon size ziploc bag. Marinate in refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours.
Here's the messy part! Make sure you're near the kitchen sink and have plenty of paper towels around!
3. Grab some older kids (or a husband) to help. One sets up the grill. The other begins skewing items. (Skewing not a job for small kids. Too easy to poke their hands and fingers while skewing the chicken.) Skew items in consecutive order. 4. Once the grill is ready, set skewed kabobs laying in the same direction as the grill wire; otherwise, food may slip between the wires and stick, or, fall off skewer during cooking. 5. Everybody's got their own way of determining when the food is done! So, just use common sense. But you want to turn the skewers every five minutes, or so, to make sure the kabobs fully cook on all sides.
Remember - this recipe gets you started. But you can adjust measurements of all the spices to fit your own tastes! This should make enough to feed about 4-5 adults.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Working My Butt Off!

These days are full of wear ‘n tear on my body! I’ve been so busy for the past couple of days that I haven’t spent much time inside the house. This year has brought a season of spring that has worked very hard to catch up on rainfall we’ve lacked in this area of East Tennessee for a few years, now. Has its good points – and maybe some not-so-good points. If only we could enjoy all this rain after everyone gets all those things taken care of that Mother Nature carries a time-clock for with stern demand. My days now begin at 4am with getting Dwayne off to work. Yesterday was no exception. I was on a full run mode until we headed off to bed. And we were even up past our bedtime of 8:30pm because of the NASCAR Nationwide race. Dwayne tried staying up to watch it. I was drying lettuce and - no… you don’t understand. I had three large dish drain boards piled with lettuce from the garden that had to be washed – dried – and stored! Did the same for a sink full of spinach before blanching it and setting it up to freeze before bagging it to put away in the freezer, too. By the time I headed to find my pillow – I had completed a digital scrapbook page; loaded the dishwasher with a few things that filled it completely and enough to get it going. Dealt with the cat and dog’s usual morning routine. I sent about six buckets of weeds to an early demise and laid mulch of some kind over those areas I worked. Made a cake! Picked spinach and lettuce. Supper was ready about a half hour after Dwayne got home from work. Dealt with the spinach and lettuce before cleaning the kitchen – getting the coffee set up – and double checking to see if I had forgotten anything. Weeds have been the greatest issue! Bugs are coming in second – credit goes to all the rain! Dwayne took two of his days off to help me with the fight I was losing out in our veggie garden. Poor thing – that male ego got taken for a challenge. He really had trouble keeping up with me. But I think he got a good taste of all I’ve been going through while trying to deal with it all by myself! Amazing how you discover muscles that went to sleep during winter! As for myself – the only relief I get is by getting up and getting out there to work all the pain and stiffness out as soon as the dew has dried from all the foliage! Making the pitchers of iced-tea have moved from one each day to two. And that’s only when Dwayne’s working at the hangar; otherwise – at least, three! We’ve begun buying a few bags of cedar mulch each payday. Six bags looked good in the bed of the truck when we loaded them at Home Depot. Somehow – the load just seemed to shrink down to half as impressive once I began preparing areas to get it all laid down. But I think two more trips like the first one should get us set. As for the veggie garden – I spend each day tackling the weeds in areas before spreading thick blankets of hay for mulching all the hills and mounds. It all sounds so simple, easy and hardly any work at all when you lay it all out in print. But let me tell you – I have been busting my butt! I’m carrying a kitchen towel around with me by 1:30pm – to catch all the sweat just pouring down my face and neck. I keep hoping the good in that will be losing a couple more pounds each week. Ta! If I had to compromise – I’d be happy if all the aches and pains would just go away. We have been trying to get hay cut for over three weeks now. We’ve been doing one or the other – waiting on the rain to quit – or – waiting for everything to dry out! Yesterday was finally that big day of relief! The hay’s been cut and now drying. Hopefully – the weather will allow it to be raked and baled within the next few days. Either way – I’m looking at another day of doing much of it – all over again!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Beauty in the Wild of an Unknown Tree

Something has been driving me crazy for the past few months - a tree. I have watched these young trees appear out at the corner of our property since the onset of Spring. I guess the little clusters of scented yellow flowers caught my attention. Of course - after a gut full of winter and cabin fever any sweet scent from outside would catch anyone's interest! We know they weren't planted by anyone. Obviously, they must be a native tree growing wild here in the Loudon County, TN area. I noticed many just like this blooming all around here in untouched places. I'm posting these photos with hopes that someone will recognize this tree and give me some information about it. I've got several of them clumped together along a fence line that we plan on clearing to secure the fencing for feeder steers next year. I've already tagged a few baby Dogwood trees found along the fence. Dwayne and I will be balling them up for transplanting closer to the house after they go dormant. If I find out this tree is a treasure - Dwayne will have his hands plum full with me! I have three that will be coming to the yard closer to the house - if he wants peace to remain under our roof! If you know what this tree is, please reply in the comment section for this post. Your help will be appreciated more than words can say! Larger views of the photos can be seen by clicking on each one. Thanks! {Hugs!} Teresa These shots were taken sometime in March, 2009
This one here is the tallest of the three I'm interested in. It stands about 20' plus tall right now.
This is one of the smaller ones. The larger leaves are only about 4 inches long. Bark looks odd in these photos because the shots were taken late in the day, just as the sun was hitting the setting horizon.
Just took these two shots Wednesday, June 3rd, while we were watching the guys rake and bale hay

Monday, June 29, 2009

If Not For My Gardening - I'd Always Have To Barter For Joy

It’s just not one of those good days, today. Once again – Dwayne goes back to work and – the only time I got to leave this house was to go to Wal-Mart. He needed to pick up his glasses. Might as well kill two birds with one stone. Needed to pick up more stuff for his lunches and the usual staples like bread and milk. Just looked at the clock. 9:44am and I am just now eating breakfast. Been up since 4am. Got his lunch ready. Got him off to work. My kitchen is spotless. My tomato plants have been fed. The dog has been fed and let out to do his daily business. Vacuuming is next. Picking beans follows that. Zucker needs his bath. Cleaning the refrigerator is the only different highlight of my day that I will see. Beyond that – more cleaning and cooking. And the truth of the matter is – my heart wants to initiate a full-frontal protest and move forward to nowhere beyond my butt resting on a chair. And I can’t even manage to do that. Dirty houses drive me nuts. And when I’m frustrated and angry – the only thing I’ve got for a savior in my life is – cleaning. If it weren’t for cleaning and my garden – what the hell would I do with myself? Nice weather is coming. Where do I get to go? Fishing. Dwayne likes to go fishing. Dwayne doesn’t like to go anywhere else. Teresa is beginning to hate fishing. Why do I get into gardening so much? It’s been the number one entity in my life that gives me something I need most of all. I can feel the return of its unconditional love when it comes back to me with a gift ten-fold in return for what I put into caring for it. Most of the time it’s more than I even hope for. And I don’t have to ask for it. That only makes me feel even more appreciated. I can walk out to my garden every day and find change – something new – something different. Even the bad events where something goes wrong with a plant is change – something different. I’m able to do something to fix it – exercising a genuine piece of my heart. And the unconditional love comes again – gratitude of a gift ten-fold in return. Only wants me wanna give more to caring for my garden. Dwayne helps me with the garden. He helps with the tilling and a few of the major projects that come up. It puts food on the table. It helps save money. He doesn’t have to do the canning or freezing. He doesn’t have to look after it on a daily basis. The help I get from him is bartered. It’s one of those things that’s practical and falls under the blanket of basic need and saving money. If you think he does it for pure joy – think again. There’s no hole anywhere in the garden – holding water – and fish. There are no huge numbers painted on the side fence of the garden. Bambi doesn’t come around – so there’s no need for a blind. And I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let HHH step foot inside. The conversation in the media over the death of Michael Jackson has been enough to drown a hump-back whale – twice. Stepping back to give overview to the big picture of all that’s been summed up about his life in a matter of a few days has proven one solid fact about humans and life. You can have all the money in the world. You can be the most famous. You can be the most talented. You can be surrounded by multitudes of people every minute of your day. And you can STILL be the loneliest person on this earth. If I could have one wish come true – I would wish I didn’t have to barter for joy coming only as compromise from means of necessity – and without having to ask for something. I’d be lost without my gardening in my life.

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Hey, Y'all! I've lost 5 lbs.!

Woke up this morning just whooped. We worked our butts off yesterday. There’s no way of getting around the fact that there is just always something to do around here. A lot of folks exist with that one. Having a place like this only compounds that fact ten-fold. I headed out the door yesterday morning around 8am. I gave it up around 3pm – after Dwayne came out to put his foot down. We get the worst heat around that time of day. He was aware of something I’d completely forgotten. I hadn’t had anything to eat! I had a glass of orange juice – about a half a cup of coffee – and loaded up with iced tea during the rest of the day. Those who know me well enough know one thing. For me to only have a half a cup of coffee during an entire day – you know it’s hot and miserable! So I became the submissive wife and obeyed. Yeah – right! LOL Naww… I went inside and had one of my favorite treats with another big glass of iced tea. If the heat is pissing you off – you should try my little treat. I buy the store brand of yogurt with different fruits. I get the kind that are already blended. I don’t recommend just throwing them in the freezer in the same packaging. Anybody know what happens with a plastic gallon jug full of water that’s put into the freezer? Yeah – trust me. You don’t want the mess. Ball Manufacturing now makes a plastic container with a lid for freezing. Great investment for freezing sauces and other liquids – not to mention being a good size for little kids to drink from! I just dump the yogurt into one of those and throw ‘em in the freezer. It’s perfect for when you’re so hot and you’re hungry – but anything you think about seems too heavy on your stomach. We got a lot done yesterday. Had to face that dreaded moment of gardening – the first deep watering. Dragging 300 feet of hose around is no easy task. But everything in the garden just had this slumpy – poopy appearance. And I had even spent a couple hours spray watering the evening before. Dwayne has been fighting with the grass. We have this stuff up here that just stays soaked forever. The ground will be dry. But this grass will stay wet until late in the afternoon in 90* temps. And it's thicker than San Augustine. It took a total of three days. And we never let it get over four inches. I'm just not into the snakes moving in - ya' know? He set the mower level to 3. Went over it all the second time around at 2. And he got NINE wheelbarrows full raked and piled - just out of the side yard. I'm gonna hit it, again on Tuesday, while he's at work. Maybe if we keep going at it - the Bermuda seed we threw will kick in and the established Bermuda will kick butt! We had to wait until Dwayne had a day off before driving three large metal posts into the ground. The tomatoes had over-grown their wooden stakes and things were caving inward. I managed to get one row half-way cleaned up the next day. Got forced inside by the mucky weather. We’ve had air quality warnings going on for the past week now. Friday was a really bad one. Come yesterday morning – the plants were still too wet from the spray watering the evening before to mess with. While I waited for the sun to dry those puppies I filled up the sprayer with grass/weed killer. Managed to get the rock barrier at the drive – all around the underside of the back porch and one side of the house – and most of the barn. I ran out of chemical and needed to get back to the garden and start in on the tomatoes. Dwayne came out and finished the spraying. He finished the far side of the barn and then – I hear the mower start up. I hear him take off to the hay pasture. Wasn’t too long before I realized the mower was sitting with the engine idling for some reason. Went to check on him and – just laughed! He rode the mower while he was spraying all around the fence of the hay pasture. Then he came back to one corner and left the mower running while he went down and sprayed an area in the back corner of the front pasture. I would imagine some other something with four wheels will be on the list after we get the tractor – Gator – golf cart – something! Don’t know why but as soon as I realized what Dwayne was doing – I thought of the guy that went to jail for driving drunk when he headed to buy more beer on his tractor mower! My tomatoes were a nightmare. I had to do some serious sacrificing. And let me tell you something about messing with tomatoes. Those things can mess you up worse than grass stains. My hands went from green to black. Getting that stuff off is no easy task. I finally broke out the scratch pad and the Barkeeper’s Friend. They don’t make Bon-Ami anymore. Even after scrubbing and a shower – my hands look like absolute Hell this morning! Remember me showing this to you last time? Well… look what we found this morning! I’ll keep taking more photos as it comes along so you can see how cool it is to watch ‘em grow! Now – I haven’t staked this one. So – let’s see how macho this one comes out! I picked our first handful of green beans this morning! Looks like my zucchini squash are happy, again. Have a handful of those coming along. And same goes for the yellow hook-neck. And just look at the Butternut Squash! It’s become impossible to get inside and count. Those puppies are going nuts. The plants have taken over the two rows of carrots on each side. They’ve gone into the corn. And now they’re threatening the tomatoes and even moving into the green beans! They keep spreading – they keep producing. Who am I to kill a good thing?! I guess there better be a lot of jet mechanics that like Butternut Squash! I don't even know how to describe this mess! I could go to any side of these plants and get the same picture. They're just - EVERYWHERE! There's more than two dozen - and more coming! They're already averaging about 9 inches long - 6 inches at the base and 4 to 5 inches at the neck. Just like Bambi - they're beginning to lose their stripes and turn that pretty orange-tan color! Tried to get a picture of a baby. Almost fell into the whole mess. LOL but the flower in this shot is only about 4 inches long. You see the baby squash behind it. Here's a 'Junior' and a 'toddler'. LOL That flower is huge! It spreads out the size of my hand. Right now - that 'toddler' is only about 3.5 to 4 inches long. I'm just so exicted about 'em! I've never grown these before! Tried one of the carrots this morning. Not as bitter and acidic as the rogue that ended up between rows that I tried a week ago. Very flavorful. But they still need more time to sweeten up. Dwayne and I thought twice and decided this morning not to plant okra this year. We still have fried okra packed in the freezer from last year. I wasn’t too impressed with last year’s crop – the way it grew, nor the way it came out on the plate. But then – I didn’t get to go up to The Old Mill to pick up the ground cornmeal, either. That’s just how much difference there is in the taste from the cornmeal ground at that old mill. And that’s just how spoiled I’ve become – I guess. Oh – shaddup! Well… I’m taking a lighter day today. Whatever I absolutely had to do out in the yard today has been completed by noon. I was up until 2am trying to work on my virtual farm. Finally called it quits - after the Foxfire browser crashed on me one more time - and headed to bed. Some of you may remember my childhood friend, Debbie Utley. Well, she’s Debbie Utley-Homann today! Debbie and I are addicted to a game at FaceBook called Farm Town! And don’t hold that against us. Trust me – we are in a healthy dose of company! It has been a lot of fun! Don’t think the game developers had enough confidence in how popular it would become. They’re having a lot of hell with it! Too many users – not enough servers! I’ll go for now! Time for lunch. Y’all have a great day! Ohhh.... by the way - see the little bitty blue words right below this? There's the word 'comments'. Go leave me a few words just to let me know ya' came by! Hey - go figure! Came in to do some editing on my sour grammar and guess what... it's raining cats 'n dogs 'n fat babies!

Friday, June 26, 2009

It's My Flowerbed and I'll Concoct It If I Want To...

Concoct it if I want to... Concoct it if I want to... and I have! I don't care what anyone says. If you have some dirt you can do whatever you want with it! Face it. You have no plans for inviting Martha Stewart to your house so - just have at it and make yourself happy! Although - I could be tempted to invite the woman to my house - just to make her skin crawl. ;) As much as we love living here and feel so grateful to be blessed by all that we do have around us - there comes a limit. When you have this humongous covered porch that extends the full length of your house and stretches 10 feet deep - you wanna enjoy the views all you can. Right? Well - whattya' do when you have this monster of a barn sittin' sideways only about 50 feet from your eyeballs? You move it - which is what we've decided to do. Yeah - I know. But whattya' do in the meantime? I mean - we sit out here and look all around at so much gorgeous area. But when we turn our head to look one way or the other - it's like having a knat land in our eye every time that thing hits the corner of sight! Well - we all have enough going on during each day to drive us nuts. I decided to knock one of those little demons out of the way. Made no sense having this gigantic blank wall of barnwood stuck in the middle of our picture until we get the barn moved. It was time to break out the tiller! We made a peanut-shaped flowerbed. Well, okay - so the backside is flat. Whatever! And of course - me being me - can't have just your normal Martha Stewart "flowerbeds are only for flowers" crap going on. Besides - we're out in the country. As Alexis says - "Get over it, Martha!" This is MY flowerbed - and you can eat half of it! Well - she can eat it all if she don't like it. Ohhhh... did I say that? Okay - check this out. It's a picture story! It would be a heck of a lot easier if all of y'all were actually standing right here so we could whip this in a lot less time. But - your happy butts haven't made it up here! So, this is what you get! And remember - click on the photos to see larger views. Does that look like a barn? I think not! That's a view from the backside of the bed. The Blue Hibiscus wanted to say "Hello!" He's grown about two more feet already - after being released from his jail of a pot he's lived in since 2004! He's about the same height as me now! Knowing how tall he is - you see his neighbors from here. Well - the taller ones, anyway. The pot on the left has my Night-blooming Jasmine. I had one of these in Manteca and fell in love with it! So did the garbage man - but that's another story. I had to pot it because it'll have to come in during the winter here. But I cannot wait until we start smelling all that powerful sweet scent around August! My white Butterfly Bush is at the front. That' puppy is still in a pot - one of the projects for next year. In between the blue Hibiscus and the Jasmine you can see the 'torso' of one of my Sunflowers! Here's the one sitting on the other side of the jasmine. I've already had to stake two of these guys. Only one of the four are shorter than me! This is just a flower 'bud' that's about to bust open! These puppies are gonna be huge! That bud is already over 3 inches wide! Now we get into the edible parts. I have Cilantro growing down in front of the blue Hibiscus. Sweet Margaram is growing in front of that - kinda hard to see that. Immediately to the right of the Hibiscus I have Arugula growing. See the little flowers? This is one of the new fads being put into all those fancy salads. The big green blob of leaves is Basil. And that's Lavender on the right! Standing behind the Hibiscus - the three mounds are Savory. You see the Arugula in the right bottom corner - two mounds of Lavender and a bit of the Basil. See that pot of 'uh-oh' in the middle? That's a struggling nightmare. I gave up on trying to get Dwayne to help me get all of my potted plants into the ground this year. I'm having to keep them fed and pray until next year. But this little puppy is - Horseradish. He can be a problem and will require a very controlling bed of his own. They are extremely invasive - depending on how much of the root you harvest for your sauces! Best way to keep control is to hand over pieces to friends and neighbors. But ya' might have to fix up a sauce or spread and con 'em, first! The three little green spots beyond the pot of Horseradish are white Vinca. I just planted those about a week ago. Even looks 'country', huh! Wait 'till you see the other side view. LOL See the potted thing hiding behind one of the Sunflowers and the Evergreen tree (can't even remember what those are called!)? That's one of the two Patio Peach Trees that I've had since they were tiny saplings. Dwayne and I snagged them up from the bed at a transmission shop in Maryville back in 2004! Hey - we asked for permission, first! They put out the most beautiful flowers in spring. And they will put out peaches. But they're considered ornamental because the fruit is nil compared to its seed. So we pinch all those off after the flowers die off. Check this out... It's one of my Jalapeno bushes in the flowerbed. I have four more out in the garden. One of the storms we had last week blew it over and I didn't have anymore stakes. So - I improvised. Used a dead twig I found. Ta! Hey - it works! Yeah - I told you it looks 'countryfied'! Just ignore that mess with the pots in the back. More of next year's projects. This is the left side of the bed. I've got two dwarf... - crap! I can't remember what they're called. But they're two more lucky enough to escape their pots this year. That's a 'Black Knight' Butterfly bush on the left. Three more white Vincas that were planted last week. Hot pink Vincas in the bottom left corner. See the hairy little mound to the right of the sunflower? That's Thyme. That one came out of it's pot this year, too. I've had it since 2006. Went to prune it after I got it planted and missed picking up a couple of the cut sprigs. I now have Freebies. They took root! Go figure. Had I tried planting them deliberately - they would have croaked. Oh - and the little pink thing in front of it is a Geranium I had left over after planting the bed under the Georgia Belle Peach tree! I don't waste nuthin'! Heck - I even sent Dwayne to work with a few Tomato plants because I had more than enough and didn't wanna kill 'em! That's a bright red Pentas that I planted last week in your face! That Dwarf something-or-other to the right. And the second Jalapeno plant in the bed. And then there's this little surprise. The only thing that survived in this pot from last year was the Chives. So I thought, anyway. Got out there yesterday to trim up the Chives - something I had neglected to do until now. What I find is the two different kinds of Basil and new sprouts of the Texas Tarragon coming back - all from last year's plants. Now - here's the pisser. Had I bought the seed and tried to do this - Mother Nature would have burned me just for a good laugh. So now - here's the view from the porch! It's not the perfect manicured little flowerbed with the brick or the rock border. But what the heck! We're in the country!! Either way - it just goes to show you a simple fact. If you have any amount of dirt at your place - you can do anything you want with it. You can grow flowers and food at the same time! With the way prices and chemicals are going with the food supply in this country - it only makes sense to leave the grass for the parks and use your dirt to grow your own food! If you live in an apartment and don't have a yard - you can still get it done. And by all means - don't spend your money on expensive pots to grow your food. Go to a hardware store - Tractor Supply or Co-Op and buy those big round galvanized tubs that we all think of being used for bathing dogs. Get someone to drill at least 3 holes in the bottom and you're good to go. The guys at Tractor Supply and the hardware stores will usually do it for you if you ask! Lowes and Home Depot are usually good about stocking those things, as well. It's not too late to grow your own food. But NOW is the time to start getting ready. We are zone 6-7 here and we are to have our fall gardens planted no later than August 15th this year. You can go to www.parkseed.com to punch in your zip code and find out your zone number. Call a local garden shop and ask them when fall gardens should be planted in your area. The cheapest and most helpful way to go at it is to buy seed. Decide on what kind of fall/winter veggies you like and BUY THE SEED. Pass leftover seed to friends and family and get them to grow their own. One pack of spring mix lettuce seed cost me less than $2.00. I planted one row of lettuce. I've got lettuce coming out my ears. I'm sending Dwayne to work with Wal-Mart bags loaded with the stuff - sending it home with the gang at the hangar. It's the same stuff we're paying $4 per bag for in the grocery stores!!! Actually - it's so much better. The stuff I'm growing blew my mind first time I tasted it. I never knew lettuce could actually have so much flavor. I've always said - "Pennies add up." I will tell you this. Not only could you be saving money at the grocery store. You could be improving your health enough to save you the cost of going to the doctor. Think about it!

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Lemon Creamed Honey.... mmmmmmmmmm!!!

Walked outside and brought in a big bowl of fresh cilantro yesterday evening. I love it when I can bring some into the kitchen – even for the heck of it! Just a few sprigs rinsed off under the sink and set somewhere to catch a draft – drives everybody crazy! Next thing ya’ know – somebody starts up the round of decision making with a suggestion of something to make – like Pico De’ Gallo! Before Jen moved out to learn about life – LOL – this house had a furious non-stop Mexican Standoff going on around here for years. Three human beings under the same roof with their own preferences and ideas for how one recipe should be made. It wasn’t pretty. But the one fact that never failed – the stuff never survived around our house for more than two days. And it just didn’t matter who the chef was! The trouble I’m having at the moment is this. The cilantro is going crazy. Heck – I’ve even got a couple of Jalapeno peppers out in the garden I could pick. Have a really nice red onion in the crisper. And wouldn’t ya’ know – the tomatoes aren’t ready. And by the time they finally get out of bed – I’ll have had to seed another round of cilantro. One of my struggles is being so far from my favorite place that I just love to go this time of year – Horn O’ Plenty in Maryville! Oh, my goodness! They have it all in this really tight and tiny corner shop that all the main traffic in town passes. You can be walking through all their selection of flowers and plants outside on the lot when the light turns red on Broadway – and get a bit of a comedy show for free. It actually makes me wonder, sometimes, about the wrecks that happen at that intersection. But when you look up at all the cars waiting in line at the red light from either side – you can count back a minimum of five or six on each side with eyes staring and/or necks stretching. Everybody’s checking out the lot at Horn O’ Plenty to see if they’ve gotten any new stuff in for that day! The majority of the produce they sell during this time of year comes from local individuals and small farms. They’re a great supporter of Grainger County Tomato Farmers, too! That’s where I go to get my tomatoes for making my fried green tomatoes! Baskets and baskets of ripened tomatoes are lined all around the store during the season. Many folks without gardens come in to buy cases of the tomatoes to take home for canning. Same happens with the Georgia Peaches that show up each year. But my sense of respect is so deep for many of the individual gardeners that enjoy growing uncommon varieties of beans and other vegetables brought in for sale. Some of those folks are actually raising treasures from saved seed of heirlooms that have been passed down in their family! One of the other fun treats that can be found are the fresh–baked-from-scratch breads and pastries! There’s a lady up around Sevierville that bakes and delivers her breads every day. She uses recipes passed down from descendents that settled in Cades Cove and surrounding areas of the Great Smoky Mountains. One other lady brings in home-made fried pies! And, Darlin' - let me tell you - Hostess has nothin’ on her! I have to be really careful. I only allow myself to buy one and call it my special treat for my trip to Horn O’ Plenty! If I buy more for later – I’m as good as a dead dog. Later will never come. I buy my jars of Sourwood Honey from there to do my pickling, too. I love that Honey. But I began buying a new find for myself, a couple years ago! The one I buy is the Lemon Creamed Honey. And there are several other flavors, as well. It’s made by Smokey Ridge Aparies and Crafts. You have to chill it to harden it – or – warm it to soften it up. I love putting this stuff on a piece of celery! But I am in my absolute glory when I warm it for spreading on a piece of buttered toast! And it has a creamy taste - sort of along that same line as the creamy Lifesavers. Hmmmmm….. Dwayne begins his round of days off tomorrow. And I’m getting one day out of my cage to go mingle around the human race – for a change. He never likes to go where I want to go – despite the fact that I never refuse to go where he wants to go. So – I’m taking a day to go off and run around doing something I enjoy doing and hardly ever get to do! I’ve never been to the Knoxville Museum of Art. This summer heat gives the perfect reason for that choice – something inside with air conditioning! I think I’ll go ahead and just make a circle – head to Maryville and make one of those favorite stops at Horn O’ Plenty! OHHHHH….. I heard the interview, yesterday, about the Headliners for this year’s Foothills Fall Festival! Two of the big names – Rodney Atkins - Alan Jackson! Others are Kansas – Little River Band – The Trailer Choir and Justin Moore! The organizers seem concerned that they may have a sell-out before the early ticket sales period of time ends. Go check out www.foothillsfallfestival.com for more details. This is one event in East Tennessee that keeps growing and growing and growing. Folks plan vacations for attending this festival!
Okay… time to go plant my stuff at Farm Town! Have a great day, everybody!

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

e.Coli in Cookie Dough... NEVER Happened at Grandma's House

I laughed when I heard about the Nestle’s Cookie Dough Re-call on the news, yesterday. Is this what we’ve come to – all for the sake of – convenience? Ya’ think??? Just one more business venture luring in sheep – depending on the fact that nobody really knows just exactly what is in the recipe. Anybody that does real baking can almost tell you – just by opening the package. Right off the bat – no butter – just grease. Ohhhh…. Yummmm! All these years of growing up have carried the memory of my own realization about the change in a Hershey chocolate bar. It’s the first thought that has come to mind when I even think about the treat. I was just a kid. It was back in the 1960’s. I remember hearing about the company making changes to the candy bar on the news. Reason given was due to cocoa and sugar prices going up in the economy back then. That candy bar left its original form that gave you reason to smile – almost overnight. I remember my first bite of the new version. My response was no smile – more like a verbal, “ewwwww.” The smoothness of the chocolate was gone. There was a grit to the texture. Every kid born after the 1960’s is totally ignorant and unknowing to what a Hershey chocolate bar really tasted like when Milton Hershey had control over his own creation. Best way to describe it is by using candle wax for example. You know how you can take a flat piece of melted candle wax and snap it into two or more pieces? You could open up a Hershey bar and get the very same effect before they ruined the recipe. Since then – it’s more like snapping that same piece of melted wax while it’s still warm. You could freeze the original version and have a fight on your hands when trying to snap off a piece! Today – you have to freeze it just to get that memorable snap of the original. Who remembers what the very first package of instant or processed food was to come out on the market? And Jello does not count. I think it’s safe to say – everybody knows the difference between the two versions of the Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. One has the powdery crap and the smaller pasta. The other has the pack of soft cheese and elbow macaroni. Yeah – well… the taste and texture of the box with the powdery crap even went south. Hard to believe, but – that stuff actually tasted better when it came out, originally. And I won’t even start on Hamburger Helper. I haven’t bought a box of that junk for over twenty years. I once wondered with concern over why it just seemed like so many people were coming down with cancer. The medical community and the FDA blame it on certain foods. The irony of that is – they blame it on whole foods. For a person who does math about everything in life – things have never jived with me. My grandparents lived long lives. My great-grandparents lived even longer. And I was very well aware of their eating habits. My Grandpa Casteel was born and raised on a Dairy farm. They ate a lot of cheese – real butter – whole milk – buttermilk. It was used in a LOT of their baked and cooked foods. So was bacon grease! People in his generation and earlier weren’t coming down with all the cancer that’s killing people today. Now some in the family will remind me of the conditions that took my Grandpa’s life. He ended up having open-heart surgery that included six by-passes. He was over-weight and had cancer when he past away in his sixties. Very true. But his parents lived into their eighties and nineties after living on the Dairy farm with the same eating habits he experienced during his childhood - for much longer than him. And they both passed due to nothing more than natural causes. The difference between my Grandpa and his parents – Grandpa was an excessive beer drinker up until about the last ten or fifteen years of his life. He smoked TWO cartons of non-filter Camel cigarettes every week until the last five years of his life. His eating habits consisted mainly of one big meal at the end of the day during his adulthood. And I remember the consistency of those meals. That man would sit in his recliner in front of the television that was only about three feet away and eat on a tv tray. He always had two large plates of food that were just piled. He drank one or the other with every meal – beer, milk or buttermilk. He would put down a quart of canned jalapeno peppers – at the least – with every meal. And before he would go to bed – he would do in half of a half-gallon tub of Bluebell Vanilla ice cream - or - two 16oz. glasses of buttermilk and cornbread. This went on every night of his life for as long as I can remember – until he went through that open-heart surgery. All the convenience of buying packaged instant foods today is the killer. I can even remember when all the ingredient labels began changing. I can remember when we started seeing all the “artificial ingredients” showing up on the labels. And when you choose to throw your money away by buying it and bringing it into your home – you are responsible for your cancer just as much as all those product manufacturers. You pay more for less than what it would cost to make it by scratch. But then – paying more and getting less has been the trend for quite a while with everything – period. The reality is only becoming worse and the practice has reached the Full Monte. There is not one food or cleaning product you can think of that sits on the shelves in WalMart today that hasn’t become minimized to the extent with the ingredients. And they have learned that sheep just reach and throw their money away on anything with the right kind of slogan on the package to make you think you’re getting something fabulous! What do they care that so many now die from cancer? Look at the jobs it creates in the medical field! And that just keeps the colleges fed. Taking control over your own life and how long you wish to live is very simple. Remember back to what your elders ate way back when. If you were born after the sixties – go ask your elders. Go to the web or the library and do your research! Learn about history of life back in the early days. There is a reason why certain folks live to reach 100 years old and die of natural causes – even those that smoke that last cigarette the day before they pass away in their sleep the next night. You just have to close your eyes and ears to all the crap being put out there by all the wolves long enough to focus on that fact. And then you take control of your own shelves in your house.

Monday, June 22, 2009

The Garden is Growing

We have struggled with our new garden. We’re winning. But it has come with a strong fight – and the latest efforts have included a little bit of cheating. The heat and humidity that began pounding us over the past week has put a stop to my spending hours and hours of biting away at the weeds and grass. Expecting Dwayne to get out there and help with double manpower is ridiculous. We have other things on the list and time is flying. So – we cheated. (click on photos to see larger view) Dwayne went through the alleys between rows and scalped the monsters with the weed-eater. And the two of us covered the entire garden with about six bales of hay to choke and smother as much as we can. Our conservative hope is that it will minimize the re-growth. At the same time, all the vegetables are showing us that they seem to appreciate the help with the moisture retainer, as well. So – we’re winning that one - so far! All three squash mounds have gone nuts and taught me a fast lesson. First – the growing conditions in this region have a wild variance between areas. I’m amazed at how differently things grow here, compared to how they grew for me in Maryville – only 30 minutes driving distance! Next year – there will be more mounds and only two plants to a mound. That third plant has caused chaos. The Butternut squash has spread over the rows on each side and into the corn rows, as well. And we have well over two dozen squashes coming. They won’t be ready for harvesting until near fall. The zucchini squash has all but mushed every squash on its own with all the leaf growth that was beginning to choke all the air circulation and sunlight. Same scenario for our yellow hook-neck squash. I put up with all the stings from the hairy little pricks on the plants enough to get things overhauled and under control. And now they all know who’s boss and what the orders are! Believe it or not - all three mounds of squash - nine plants total. Yellow hook neck in front. Zucchini in the middle... And the Butternut is crawling over rows of carrots on both sides! I’m late on letting my tomatoes keep their blooms. Once again, we tried something different with staking the tomatoes. I also decided to have them grow more bush-like, versus climbing to heights over my head. But the blossoms are many and we already have tomatoes the size of golf balls! The corn has ears and the silk is coming in. Actually, we’ve been blessed – well, it looks that way, anyway. This variety has put out additional side stalks and a few have ears on them, as well. We could end up with corn plants bearing as much as five ears. Had to call Park Seed to ask about the situation and they told me that it’s been known to happen and help with pollination. I was asked to take photos during growth when I mentioned the ears and silk showing up on the side stalks. Pole beans are absolutely loaded. Can’t wait until they’re ready to harvest for dry beans! The bush beans are flowering and top-heavy. The verdict is still out on them. But there are no bad bugs!!! That’s a good sign! The weather here has been absolutely sultry. We’re in the mid 90’s with equal humidity. The thunderstorms have been in and out on a non-stop basis for the past several days. The grass can’t even dry out. It’s impossible to sit out on these huge porches of ours until late in the evenings. If I had a swimming pool right now – I would be living in that thing during the day – period. It’s so miserable that I really don’t even want to eat. Can’t get enough iced tea and water. But all I can really handle eating is the yogurt with fruit that I keep frozen in the freezer. Salads are good. But the tomatoes bought at WalMart suck. They have no flavor, whatsoever. Obviously – they forced the Grainger County farmers to deliver them green and way before they were ready. Kind of a half-hearted effort by WalMart to support the local farmers – I’d say, anyway. Another view of the squash mounds. Pole beans - these are an Italian variety called "Borlotto Solista". This year, they will be left until the leaves, vine and pods are completely dried before harvesting. We'll be putting these away as dry beans. Look at those pods! They are HUGE! They have a really pretty purplish random striping going on throughout the pod. These are the bush beans - "Derby" variety Our onions - "Texas Sweet" variety - aka "Vidalia" in some parts. Our Spring lettuces - "Summer Glory Blend" - I had just harvested this half of the bed yesterday evening. Cleaned and CRAMMED two WalMart bags with only two-thirds of what I harvested. Dwayne took those to work this morning - one for the girls at work and the other for Charlotte to stop by and pick up after work! Our potatoes - "Yukon Gold" variety Ya’ know – I really don’t care where you live – LOOK for your local farmer’s market. Just lock the date into your calendar and GO. You cannot beat the difference in the flavors of anything you buy from the local farmers. Everything is required to be grown organically. And everything has strong restrictions of window time for when the produce is picked before coming to market. You’re getting it fresh. More importantly – you are getting it after it has truly had time on the plant, vine or tree that nature requires. You’re getting more than your money’s worth!

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Overwhelming List for Life

I was sending off an email reply to Heidi and Monica this morning when I decided on one more task I could take on that would help make time more efficient for myself. Normally, I use my blog for only posting my latest digital scrapbook layouts. It was killing two birds with one stone, allowing me a fun way of sharing photos with friends and family, as well. I’m going to be posting more regular updates on how things are going here on my blog for Dwayne and me. These days, the two of us need to kill as many birds as we can with one stone. To describe the scenario for Dwayne and I at this time in one word – Overwhelming. And that can even be considered an understatement. Already, we have succeeded in several brick walls that we’ve chewed through to get anything accomplished. As I was telling Heidi and Monica this morning – reality is proving that it will take us, at the very least, three years to get a handle on things here. Time is burning to a crisp by Mother Nature. Dwayne will be going back to graveyard shift soon – which has now been increased from four months to FIVE months… grrrrr…. The situation with the economic turmoil going on in this country doesn’t help at all. And I’m sure we’re not the only ones facing the pressure. But almost on a daily basis – our plans are changed to add more efficiency in managing to accomplish all our goals. Quite a bit has taken place over the past week, alone. The war with our garden is coming to a lull. I pulled up the spring spinach. It was just beginning to bolt. Dwayne cleaned the row before distributing the dirt between the potatoes and onions. The watermelon seeds planted in the bed with the blackberry bush startings have sprouted. I got hay spread in that bed yesterday. Dwayne had to change out the fuel pump on the pickup. We’ve had to mow the property twice this past week – in between the storms. We begin power-washing and re-sealing the logs on the outside of the house - the porches, as well - during the next round of days off. In the meantime – we’re trying to save up for a tractor, wood-burning stove and building materials. And my putt-putt has to be repaired and running before Dwayne goes back onto graveyard shift. Next on the list will be preparing for installation of a wood-burning stove. After we get the wood-burning stove installed – we begin projects that will be done during late fall and winter. We’ll begin with framing in and insulating the basement. All the windows upstairs in the house come after that. The trim will be removed – insulation will be put in and the trim will be cut down to proper proportions. Sounds so simple in type. But there’s all the other stuff in between. We’re beginning to harvest. Canning is coming up very soon. We still have to plant okra this month. And come July – we get to start preparing for the fall crop that has to be planted no later than August 15th! The bi-weekly mowing is here. We have to continue spraying the fruit trees. The house has to be cleaned – laundry – grocery shopping – cooking – bathing and grooming the dog. All that normal stuff has to be dealt with, too! The barn will have to wait until next year. And there has been a huge change of plans there. The so-called pond is a pain in the butt – which also created problems with the far side of the barn. That entire area of the property creates a slope for all the rain to make its way right for our house. We’ve decided to move the barn. We already had plans for gutting it down to the frame. Completely moving it won’t make much more difference there. But it will make a huge difference in many good ways by moving it. We’re relocating it to the fence at the back pasture. Dwayne wants to set the barn up between the fence and make the alley wide enough for driving through to get to the back pasture. It will be out of our face, for a change. And actually – that will even increase the views from the back porch! The ground is much higher where the barn currently sits – versus where the house sits. The slope has all the rain coming toward the house. We will be moving a LOT of dirt - once the barn is moved. We’re going to fill in the so-called pond. We’re going to level the dirt between the new location of the barn and the house in ways that will encourage excess water to run towards the small ravine with all the trees. But we will be setting up water storage tanks on each side of the barn. They’ll be hooked up to the gutters on the barn to catch and store rain run-off for watering the garden. The small retaining wall at the driveway will be extended higher and dirt will be moved to level out that area. It will stop the current run-off of water and dirt from under the back porch. And the RV awning is coming down. The roofing from that will be used on the barn. The cement pad will be busted up. None of that was constructed properly when the previous owners had it done. Oh – and the chicken coop will be built! There’s a whole lot to get done before winter arrives to drive us nuts. But then – you would be thinking about this coming winter. I’m already looking at next winter - and shaking my head!

Monday, June 15, 2009

And like... Overnight... Summer Comes Before It's Invitation

Well, WE sure jumped from spring to summer, overnight! Man, alive. Being outside has been better than sitting in a sauna. And I can't say I'm really happy about that. The humidity here has been exceptional this season. The air stays dampened due to all the abundant rain that has fallen in the East Tennessee Valley. Efforts to accomplish anything around our home has been frustrating and challenging - between a rolling work schedule and Mother Nature's schedule. Go figure - the rain would sock us in the eye during Dwayne's days off. I'm not even sure we can consider the weeds in the vegetable garden as 'weeds' at this point. Currently - I haven't quite made up my mind. Either way - we're spending the next round of days off cutting the heads off of everything not welcome in the garden. Then, one or the other - breaking out the tiller to rip into the soil, again. Or - taking the bucket full of grass/weed killer and sponging it where we want it to go. Honestly - I'd rather go ahead and till without using the chemical. I reach my goal faster. And we have plenty of bales of hay in the barn to suffocate anything we don't manage to yank out of the dirt. I spent over seven hours in the garden, yesterday. At one point - I attempted to take a break and start mowing the acreage. Ran into a slight - mishap. I took the mower to places where I've never been before - like the slopes around the driveway that sit about four inches above the ground. Ohhhh, yeaaahhhh...! No more downhill slopes on that thing for this wench. That poor blade box was hating me. That puppy was trapped by the edge of the drive and under all the weight of that tractor mower. And it wasn't going anywhere! Dwayne had to play Hero after he got home from work - again! He finished off the area around the drive before putting the mower away. By the time I stood up and yelled, "I can't do anymore, today," it was 5:45pm. I was filthy. But I did manage to make a dent. After making another pitcher of sweet tea and having a light supper - I headed for the shower. Even after a nice hot shower - my body was killing me. Felt like I'd been loading those 70lb. totes into the bin of an XR - all day long - for masses of church groups. Inside joke there - Dennis will get it. LOL I'm so sore this morning - even after taking a muscle relaxer before going to bed last night. Pushed myself through all my stretches this morning. And today's agenda is very light. I will be mowing. Now - some of you may be laughing at the idea of mowing about five acres being light work. But compared to yesterday, alone - sitting on my butt and canvassing five acres is light work - trust me. However - I am dreading the challenge of making trips up and down the stairs to the basement so I can get some laundry done. Did I tell you my body is killing me? Anyways - here's the latest layouts of photos. These are the last two about the current situation with the garden. Next one coming starts a few layouts about baling the hay in the back pasture. That was a booger I thought we'd never get to accomplish - Thank You, Mother Nature! Remember - click on the layouts to see a larger view! Journaling on the left reads - "My first planting of carrots was washed away by all the torrential rains. Now we have extra carrots popping up everywhere. Somebody found a safe place between the squash!" Journaling on the right reads - "So many rocks. But we made use of them by lining them along the garden fence to keep wild bunnies from digging their way in to rob us!" Kit - Garden of Weedin' by Kimberly Stewart at www.scrapbook-elements.com Well - off to get started on the inside of the house. Have to wait for the grass to dry before I can mow! Hope everyone is doing okay and having good times in good weather!

Monday, June 8, 2009

Still Bustin My Butt!

This past week has been wild. So much is kicking into gear around here - now that Mother Nature, finally, decided to give us all a much needed break from all the constant rain. Our vegetable garden is showing color and loads of promise! The Hay has been cut - raked - baled. And believe it or not - at this very moment, they're out there loading the last bit in the dark! This is just that kind of work. When you've made it this far - and you only have two-thirds of the field to stack - "Git 'er Done!" You just wanna get it over with and go home! My body is killin' me. Even today - I was out there at 7:30 this mornig. Everything needed watering, especially the last section of corn that I just planted a few days ago. That was about a two-hour job. Next in sight was the blackberry bush bed. The weeds were laughing at me - until around 1:30pm. Took about a half-hour break with Zucker. That dog is like a Bloodhound. No matter how worn out or hot he may be - he refuses to let you leave him behind if you're heading out the gate on the porch. He trotted right to his half-full water bowl and dried it up. And then - he turned around and finished up the refill! Headed for the rug in the living room - laid down and just panted for a while - until he saw me heading for the door, again. And right now - Dog is more like Pig. He is absolutely filthy - belly coat full of cocker burs, too. So, guess what I get to do in the morning! Anyways - headed back outside after my break. By then the garden had dried off and the water had soaked down enough to walk around. It was time to run twine to support the new height of the tomatoes and get them cleaned out and stabilized, again. Just as I was finishing up and piling all the debris to take to the compost bin - here comes Pat Townsend's son! He was ready to rake the hay! Pics of that are coming soon! But for now - here are three layouts I've done for what I'm calling my own version of "Veggie Tales" that we're experiencing here! Look closely - there's a recipe in there somewhere! And I've included it at the end of this post so you can steal it! Remember - click on the layout to see a larger view!
I have had a blast with this brand new kit called Garden of Weedin' by Kimberly Stewart at http://www.scrapbook-elements.com/! I've got more photos of things going on around here and the layouts should be coming shortly!
We get up at 4am around here. Can't get much yardwork done when we're still a few hours away from the sunrise! So - I take that time to get a layout done - and a little bit of housework, as well! But once that sun pops up - time to go chase the weeds and all the other stuff there is to do outside before the moon takes its place!
Spicy Lime Grilled Chicken Kabobs
I never really measure anything in this recipe by any other way than personal taste. So, here's a guessing game you can play with to suit your own tastes!
6 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Filets
1 cup fresh Cilantro
6 - 8 Tbl. Lime Juice
1 Bottle Regular Italian Dressing
5 Cloves of fresh Garlic (or 1 Tbl. garlic powder)
1 heaping Tbl. Course-ground Sea Salt
Pinch of Cayenne Pepper
2 Zucchini Squashes
3 Yellow Hook-neck Squashes
1 Pkg. fresh Mushrooms (either kind, button shape)
1 Pkg. large wooden skewers
1. Cut chicken filets into 1" chunks. Cut squashes into 1/2" slices. Cut of the very bottom of mushroom stems without removing. Dice fresh garlic. Cut fresh cilantro into small pieces - but do not mince. (Best way to judge is to imagine one of the leaves resting on a bite of chicken.) 2. Throw all ingredients into one-gallon size ziploc bag. Marinate in refrigerator for a minimum of 3 hours.
Here's the messy part! Make sure you're near the kitchen sink and have plenty of paper towels around!
3. Grab some older kids (or a husband) to help. One sets up the grill. The other begins skewing items. (Skewing not a job for small kids. Too easy to poke their hands and fingers while skewing the chicken.) Skew items in consecutive order. 4. Once the grill is ready, set skewed kabobs laying in the same direction as the grill wire; otherwise, food may slip between the wires and stick, or, fall off skewer during cooking. 5. Everybody's got their own way of determining when the food is done! So, just use common sense. But you want to turn the skewers every five minutes, or so, to make sure the kabobs fully cook on all sides.
Remember - this recipe gets you started. But you can adjust measurements of all the spices to fit your own tastes! This should make enough to feed about 4-5 adults.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Working My Butt Off!

These days are full of wear ‘n tear on my body! I’ve been so busy for the past couple of days that I haven’t spent much time inside the house. This year has brought a season of spring that has worked very hard to catch up on rainfall we’ve lacked in this area of East Tennessee for a few years, now. Has its good points – and maybe some not-so-good points. If only we could enjoy all this rain after everyone gets all those things taken care of that Mother Nature carries a time-clock for with stern demand. My days now begin at 4am with getting Dwayne off to work. Yesterday was no exception. I was on a full run mode until we headed off to bed. And we were even up past our bedtime of 8:30pm because of the NASCAR Nationwide race. Dwayne tried staying up to watch it. I was drying lettuce and - no… you don’t understand. I had three large dish drain boards piled with lettuce from the garden that had to be washed – dried – and stored! Did the same for a sink full of spinach before blanching it and setting it up to freeze before bagging it to put away in the freezer, too. By the time I headed to find my pillow – I had completed a digital scrapbook page; loaded the dishwasher with a few things that filled it completely and enough to get it going. Dealt with the cat and dog’s usual morning routine. I sent about six buckets of weeds to an early demise and laid mulch of some kind over those areas I worked. Made a cake! Picked spinach and lettuce. Supper was ready about a half hour after Dwayne got home from work. Dealt with the spinach and lettuce before cleaning the kitchen – getting the coffee set up – and double checking to see if I had forgotten anything. Weeds have been the greatest issue! Bugs are coming in second – credit goes to all the rain! Dwayne took two of his days off to help me with the fight I was losing out in our veggie garden. Poor thing – that male ego got taken for a challenge. He really had trouble keeping up with me. But I think he got a good taste of all I’ve been going through while trying to deal with it all by myself! Amazing how you discover muscles that went to sleep during winter! As for myself – the only relief I get is by getting up and getting out there to work all the pain and stiffness out as soon as the dew has dried from all the foliage! Making the pitchers of iced-tea have moved from one each day to two. And that’s only when Dwayne’s working at the hangar; otherwise – at least, three! We’ve begun buying a few bags of cedar mulch each payday. Six bags looked good in the bed of the truck when we loaded them at Home Depot. Somehow – the load just seemed to shrink down to half as impressive once I began preparing areas to get it all laid down. But I think two more trips like the first one should get us set. As for the veggie garden – I spend each day tackling the weeds in areas before spreading thick blankets of hay for mulching all the hills and mounds. It all sounds so simple, easy and hardly any work at all when you lay it all out in print. But let me tell you – I have been busting my butt! I’m carrying a kitchen towel around with me by 1:30pm – to catch all the sweat just pouring down my face and neck. I keep hoping the good in that will be losing a couple more pounds each week. Ta! If I had to compromise – I’d be happy if all the aches and pains would just go away. We have been trying to get hay cut for over three weeks now. We’ve been doing one or the other – waiting on the rain to quit – or – waiting for everything to dry out! Yesterday was finally that big day of relief! The hay’s been cut and now drying. Hopefully – the weather will allow it to be raked and baled within the next few days. Either way – I’m looking at another day of doing much of it – all over again!

Friday, June 5, 2009

Beauty in the Wild of an Unknown Tree

Something has been driving me crazy for the past few months - a tree. I have watched these young trees appear out at the corner of our property since the onset of Spring. I guess the little clusters of scented yellow flowers caught my attention. Of course - after a gut full of winter and cabin fever any sweet scent from outside would catch anyone's interest! We know they weren't planted by anyone. Obviously, they must be a native tree growing wild here in the Loudon County, TN area. I noticed many just like this blooming all around here in untouched places. I'm posting these photos with hopes that someone will recognize this tree and give me some information about it. I've got several of them clumped together along a fence line that we plan on clearing to secure the fencing for feeder steers next year. I've already tagged a few baby Dogwood trees found along the fence. Dwayne and I will be balling them up for transplanting closer to the house after they go dormant. If I find out this tree is a treasure - Dwayne will have his hands plum full with me! I have three that will be coming to the yard closer to the house - if he wants peace to remain under our roof! If you know what this tree is, please reply in the comment section for this post. Your help will be appreciated more than words can say! Larger views of the photos can be seen by clicking on each one. Thanks! {Hugs!} Teresa These shots were taken sometime in March, 2009
This one here is the tallest of the three I'm interested in. It stands about 20' plus tall right now.
This is one of the smaller ones. The larger leaves are only about 4 inches long. Bark looks odd in these photos because the shots were taken late in the day, just as the sun was hitting the setting horizon.
Just took these two shots Wednesday, June 3rd, while we were watching the guys rake and bale hay