a little dirt and some crippled chickens

We've been doing a bit of garden prep, me and the husband... oh yes, and the chickens.  Now that the nights are promising to stay above freezing we are eager to get things in the ground.  I'm always a little bit late planting because I don't have any confidence until I'm warm.  It seems reasonable to me that if I'm not comfortable, the seeds and seedlings couldn't possibly be alright.  So after adding a few yards, the soil level is acceptable, the tomato plants are being hardened as we speak and the final deed has been done... we clipped the chickens wings as seen on this 35 second Youtube post so that we can control their coming ins and going outs.  They'll be allowed to free range without supervision again after the plants grow large enough to handle intrusion because the chickens... they will intrude!

Mr. Grill did a fine job with the marinated elk steak, mushrooms and zucchini.  It was a beautiful day and within the next few, the beans, tomatoes, peppers, cilantro and basil will be up and running... well, they will be in and growing.  

Now, I'm off to add a few more rows to the Maile before heading to bed.  

Blessings, Debbie      

a birth announcement

Larry and Debbie are proud to announce the arrival of the FIRST of their first fruits of the summer.

Name:  Tomato P.

Born:  August, 28, 2011

She's finally here!  My firstborn.  All pink (o.k., orange) and baby smooth.  Don't tell me she's not perfect because after all of the time spent awaiting her date...

Isn't she lovely?


Blessings, Debbie

welcome to the jungle

It's no secret that I've been a bit off this season.  Not to mention that so has the weather... Thus, this years tomato's are having to fight it out with the foliage.  I literally filled one of my 2 raised beds with them this year and missed my opportunity to prune the suckers (that's not slang folks, I'm talking about the shoots that grow from the main stem)!

I'm trying to figure out why I bother with them every year seeing as, left to themselves I've never had a healthier harvest.  Well, they haven't been harvested yet.  As you can see they are still green, but they are going gangbusters!  I can just sense the energy they are exuding trying to be red.  When I walk by I can hear a gentle murmur... "I think I can, I think I can..."

The plants are covered with beautiful fruit, and buds.  If we could just hope for an extended summer I think we could eat tomatoes well into the next harvest.  So, I'm hoping to catch a gentle murmur on the summer's breeze, "I think I can, I think I can."

I am so eager for these green devils to be ripe.  I've been thinking about recipes like the ones below all summer...

ElizabethD's Roasted heirloom tomatoes
Jane's Oven roasted spaghetti sauce
Gumbo Lily's Tomato Salad with Croutons
Patti's Interesting recipe

O.K., Patti's recipe has nothing to do with tomatoes.  Just wanted to see of you were paying attention and have a bit of fun!  Patti actually gives me wonderful recipes and ideas.  But I have informed her that this is one I am NOT trying...

Blessings, Debbie

out to pasture

I get my frugal ways from my parents.  It's how I was raised.  There may have been times when I thought I was deprived.  I think every young person feels that way at some time, doesn't matter how much they are given.  But the older I got, the more I appreciated the waste not attitude I was raised with.  Now that I'm really old...

The less that we can survive on the better.  Clarice at Storybook Woods describes this attitude toward frugality so well that I'll just direct you there.  I'm curious about one thing.  Which comes first, the chicken or the egg?  Does frugality lead to creativity, or are the creative drawn to frugality...  I'm sure it's a bit of both.

So, dad and mom hit a yard sale last weekend and found a prize for me.  While I was putting it in the backyard today my dad called.  I thanked him (mom brought it over so I hadn't had a chance to let him know how much I loved it) and he proceeded to tell me that he had 'just' taken it home and made it stable.  He wasn't out any money.  "If it falls apart just throw it on the junk heap"... yea right!!

I got to thinking about how much I love old things that were used for a purpose.  I'm not big on fussy adornment.  I like things that are useful now or were useful and have been 'put out to pasture'.  Some of my favorites are pieces that show where they were mended with bailing wire or solder, extending their work life. So, thanks mom and dad.  This old workhorse has found its final resting place.  I'm not letting anyone sit on it and if it does start to fall apart, I'll mend it with baling wire and move it further out to pasture...

Blessings, Debbie

heaven or hail

What say we sit in the backyard and enjoy this beautiful summer respite?  Umbrellas required...

Blessings,  Debbie

compost compote anyone?

I greet you this fine day with another recipe.  This is a little something that I've actually gotten quite adept at.  I am considering writing a book on the finer art, but I'm not sure of the market.  Is there anyone else out there who whips up a batch of this daily?  

I have to say that this really was kind of funny.  It happened quite randomly with additions throughout the day. When I ended up with the strawberry ends that looked marvelous balanced on top, I realized that I had a Dish De Jour.

The deal was sealed when my husband came in and I saw his eyes light up, then get quizzical, then he turned around with kind of a nasty expression and asked, "what's that?"  Hee hee.  Dinner babe. 

COMPOST COMPOTE

First:
         mound coffee grounds upside down, coated with filter

Add:
        1 corn cob
        3 egg shells

Top with:
        ramen noodles and strawberry ends

Serve with:
        side salad and green onion garnish

Taunt the hubby and after you've had a good chuckle, feed to compost bin... (the compote, not the hubby :).

Blessings, Debbie  

a sudden death

Overnight we went from this:

To this:

all because of this:

in the hands of this:

When I spotted ant holes on the leaves of my young sunflower plants my superguy came to the rescue.   Unfortunately he only read on the can, "kills ants."

The moral to this sad story is ~ Read all of the information.  If it says "do not use on or near plants... DON'T!"


Blessings, Debbie 

garden tour

I may still be waiting for my vegetable garden to produce, but spring has definitely brought the rest of the yard to life.  I planted a few buckets, but everything else is the result of years of intentional neglect or unintentional attention. 

Such as how I purposefully disregard the way the honeysuckle inhibits ease of entry through the back gate. 

~A perfect example of intentional neglect.  

Or the way my husband accidentally pulled the clematis along with the elm starts in a maniacal effort to clean things up a bit.  

~A perfect example of unintentional attention.  

  (It really wasn't as terrible as it sounds as the clematis was barely existing.) 

I have a few seeds planted; sunflower,sweet peas,morning glory and columbine.  I've described this process in a previous post.

feverfew

these yellow roses are prolific in and around the bunny pen and the chicken coop~they are just about to burst

hawthorn tree, yellow roses, and pansies

we have 2 varieties of purple lilac and our whites are tall trees creating a green fence down one side of the yard

violets and mock orange and four 'o clocks

euphorbia, violets, red wild roses and a dandelion :)

the golf balls do not fall into any of the aforementioned philosophies

Thanks for coming.  Y'all come back now. Ya hear!


Blessings, Debbie

our tree swing

This is the swing that hangs in the giant weeping birch that has shaded our yard for the past 20 years. Well, it's been here much longer than that.  We are the ones who have only been here for 20 years.  I once saw a picture of our home from the 1940s in the museum archives.  It was built in 1936.  There stood our tree, right where it belonged, only it was hardly more than a sapling.  In fact it wasn't much taller than the people who were smiling in the front yard ~ certainly not  big enough for a swing.

This is where I like to sit with a glass of iced sun tea and read the mail when the days are hot.  This is where I like to sit when I feel like the walls are closing in, or the decibel level is acceptable to everyone in the house but me.  This is where I sit with a friend, sharing an afghan and eating marionberry pie while watching the 'boys' set off the 4th of July fireworks in the street.  This is where for the past 18 years we have photographed the smiles of the A. kids with our P. kids while they are visiting for the 4th.  Not only do the children grow in each years photo, but so does the number of kids change.  We started with 3,  grew to 7 and now have dwindled to 5.  

Every time I have a yard sale someone invariably asks, "would you consider selling me your swing?" Hmmm...no, no I won't.  It's part of the family.  It's making history... 

Blessings, Debbie

find your way

Enter through the narrow gate.  

For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.  

But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

Linking with Spiritual Sundays

Blessings, Debbie

intentionally unintentional

When I plant my outdoor planters I use a style I've claimed as my own.  I've dubbed it 'Intentionally Unintentional'.  Now, it may just look haphazard, but you must understand that it takes real effort to make things seem like you don't know what you're doing.  If you want things to look as if they are just popping up all willy-nilly you need to do some planning!  And so this next week I'll be digging through my flower seed packets, sorting, and ordering my disorder.  Which ones will get to fight with the Delphinium for room in the whiskey barrel ?  What might I drizzle along the fence line so that people think the birds are responsible?

Oh, I just love planning my chaos...

Blessings, Debbie