Pantry Raids and School Starts

We do it every year on my first day of school – my first day with students. We call out for pizza. We’ve had that tradition for so long – how long? I don’t even remember. Maybe Amigo or La Petite can enlighten me.

But anyway, back to the first week of school. School starts for my students on Tuesday. That’s pizza, brought to my door fully cooked. The rest of the week, Monday included, will be raiding the pantry and the fridge. You see, friends and family and new readers, we didn’t feel the need (or the energy) to go to the grocery store this weekend. We picked up enough bunny food from the farmers’ market, brought home goodies from our Date Night dinner out, and we have any number of leftovers and basic foods in the refrigerator. Add to that the potential for fresh tomatoes any minute now and I think we’ll do quite well.

The freezers are stocked now, too. Asparagus, peas, beans, corn…and a few berries here and there, too, are always there for the taking – and the cooking. In fact, I had a percent off coupon on Italian sausage at the nearby meat market, and I let it expire. I already have at least one pound of Italian sausage in the freezer.

So the plan for the week is this: create something out of what’s already in the house each and every day except for Tuesday. No last minute grocery runs allowed unless we’re out of bunny food or milk for the cereal.

I think this will be fun.

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Lettuce Lately?

It feels unusual, but I’m not complaining. I brought in another batch of lettuce yesterday.

Lots of Lettuce!

Lots of Lettuce!

This awkward looking pile of rhubarb yielded almost 5 cups when cleaned up and diced. I pulled enough out of the freezer to make rhubarb barbecue sauce. I predict we’ll see this sauce in the crock pot over a pork roast or whole chicken.

There's more here than you might think.

There’s more here than you might think.

And last, but never least, I cut back the basil, the basil, and the basil. I’ll hang these bunches in the attic to dry.

basil, basil, basil

basil, basil, basil

I start school tomorrow along with several hundred other teachers. I miss my time in the dirt, but it helps to know I have all these goodies stored away for later when I’ll need a little taste of summer.

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August Harvests

For most teachers, Back to School means stocking up on notebooks, pencils, and other supplies for their classrooms. I teach online, and I don’t stock up on computers (thank goodness!). Instead, August gets me into a Stock the Pantry and the Freezer type of frenzy.

Last Wednesday while I was simmering tomato sauce in two crock pots, I harvested lettuce again. It’s been a strange year for lettuce, but I’m not complaining.

Roughly 1 1/2 pound of lettuce, mostly Romaine and red leaf

Roughly 1 1/2 pound of lettuce, mostly Romaine and red leaf

I’ve made two batches of applesauce with tart cherries. This is delicious. I may never buy applesauce from a grocery store again.

Tomatoes are driving me nuts because they’re almost ready to pick. They’ve been “almost ready” for days now. I’m almost salivating with desire for that first taste!

Not much of a harvest here, but there will be more. To see other gardeners and their weekly harvest. go to Daphne’s Dandelions. I enjoy seeing gardens from elsewhere in the U.S. every Harvest Monday!

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The Harvest

We had three rabbits visiting all weekend because La Petite was here. You know what that means: lettuce!

Fresh as it gets!

Fresh as it gets!

It’s been the strangest season for lettuce. Normally, the second batch of lettuce is done by mi-July, if not sooner. I’m harvesting the first crop of lettuces right now.

Still waiting!

Still waiting!

Even after harvest, there’s more to be had. I predict a lot of salads and BLTs this week.

Meanwhile, “Chuck” was busy relocating a peony that we’ve had in the backyard since we moved in. It meant a lot of digging on a hot and muggy day, and thirst quenching with strawberry lemonade.

Dig. Dig. Dig.

Dig. Dig. Dig.

The large peony is now beside the northwest corner of the house. It’ll get enough sun, and we’ll enjoy it more.

The new home!

The new home!

If you look closely, you’ll also see the sod from the peony’s new spot. It’s filling an area that had been weeds. If you look even more closely, you’ll see the little black dress, er, fence. I picked those up at a rummage sale a while back, and I knew we’d use them eventually. Chuck’s research (a la Google) told him that tomato cages would be good, but I haven’t used traditional tomato cages for years.

My harvest wasn’t big this week, but you can see other gardeners’ bounty at Daphne’s Dandelions.

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Harvest and Market Prep

Status

Green beans and Google Docs – market produce to prep, tutorials to watch, and a Google Site to create. A teacher’s work is never done, so I multi-task.

Multi-tasking Mama!

Multi-tasking Mama!

Here’s part of the actual harvest:

1 lb beans

1 lb beans and a handful of peas

I also brought in a large bucket of lettuce, but I had it washed and dried and stored in the refrigerator before I thought to take a picture. The lettuce looks great; it’ll be a week full of salads!

Meanwhile, check in with Daphne’s Dandelions for more gardeners and their harvests.

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Harvest Monday – beans

Beans! 3 pounds of beans. I started picking a few and then just kept on picking until the bowl was close to overflowing. I weighed it on my tiny kitchen scale and found my first official bean harvest to measure just over 3 lb.

Beans! All from my backyard kitchen garden!

Beans! All from my backyard kitchen garden!

As for other clutter in the picture, the tomatoes were “scratch and dent” at the farmers’ market, and I wanted to make a scratch tomato sauce. Perfect. The odd looking green thing next to the cutting board is a lettuce cutter.

Here's the lettuce.

Here’s the lettuce. 

This is from the market. There’s more outside, ripe for the picking – literally. I picked about a pound of various lettuces Saturday; I smell BLTs in our future.

For more Harvest Monday, visit Daphne’s Dandelions. She has all the links for a productive week in more ways than one.

Note: Voter’s Voice will take its place on Tuesdays from here on out while I post my harvests on Mondays. Tomorrow: get reacquainted with Grandma Daisy, my alter-ego from the future who reflects oh so well on the past.

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The Stories in the Rocks

When I started my rock garden, it was a vehicle for covering and smothering the wild mint that was taking over the world. Several years later, I haven’t gone back to planting in the space – at least not in the ground. The stones and the rocks and the miscellaneous curiosities are growing in variety and quantity.

Stone birdhouse

Stone birdhouse

The peas climbing the shepherd’s crook are temporary. By next year, the mini mums will have taken over the space all the way over to the rocks.

Fun - just cool and fun.

Fun – just cool and fun.

This seemed to be a perfect addition to the space. Maybe it’ll scare away the chipmunks that ate my spinach.

Big Basil

Big Basil

The basil has outgrown its pots in the puppy. I’ll consider a transplant sometimes soon. For now, the frog can entertain; plants grow better with music, don’t they?

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A Garden with a White Picket Fence

It started with a rummage sale or two. I hit the jackpot in a sale around the corner from my own house.

Chairs, "baby" gate, and plastic pieces of fence

Chairs, “baby” gate, and plastic pieces of fence

I bargained with the sellers, and they offered to include all the white fence pieces if I bought the chairs and the big circular collapsible “baby” gate. The gate is all one piece: there is no end to it. It collapses nicely, though, into very little space. I have it stored like that right now in the New Garage.

I’d turned up my nose a little when Chuck found a stack of this white plastic stuff at another sale. “It’s plastic! Ew!” I had to take back my words after buying a whole pile of the same junky plastic.

From a distance, it doesn’t look that bad.

Rather cute, almost.

Rather cute, almost.

You can admire the garage and its People Door (simple pleasures) or the rain barrels set up behind it.

Up close, it’s not so cute. However, If this white plastic discourages the wild furry ones from entering my green space, I’ll be happy.

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Market Monday

I’m not posting a Harvest Monday because, well, I haven’t harvested much of anything in the past week. I picked a bit of rhubarb to complete a batch of rhubarb-strawberry butter, but otherwise, it’s been a maintenance week for the gardens. In case you’re wondering, here’s the “harvest” from Saturday’s farm market.

This barely fit on the counter.

This barely fit on the counter.

Some of the goodies are for eating now, and some are for putting up – storing for later. From left to right: blueberries, now; strawberries, now and later; grapeseed oil and smoky sea salt, now and later; carrots, now; tomatoes, now; mushrooms, now; lettuces, now; peas, later; more lettuces, now; asparagus, later. Oh, I forgot the cheeses. Block of cheddar, for eating now. Cheese curds, for sharing with La Petite. We sampled a few to make sure they were tasty.

The Facebook comments on this picture got interesting. I joked (sort of) that I was prepping for the Walker Apocalypse. Many teachers I know are in a Cautiously Paranoid condition; we know the future of public education in our state is shaky, at best. We’re looking to provide for our families one way or another. My method consists (in part) of filling the freezer and the pantry with decent food, mostly organic, much locally grown.

If you want to see harvests that will make you hungry, visit Daphne’s Dandelions. If you want to see more of what’s happening in Daisy’ pantry and freezer, stay tuned. I’m simmering a batch of strawberry-rhubarb butter right now, as I type. The house smells wonderful.

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Container Gardening – a Pricey Trend?

We were picking up blueberry and raspberry canes to supplement what we’ve already planted. In the process, we saw some – oh how shall I say it? – creative mark-ups on planters and containers.

The simple box

The simple box

The simple box with decoration

The simple box with decoration

Pretty, right? And rather simple. Someone took the time to paint the boxes a nice neutral gray, and then they added a few decorative details to one box. Are you ready for the reveal? The price tag? Are you sitting down?

You read that right, people. $50 for the painted box.

You read that right, people. $50 for the painted box.

I found Chuck as he checked out and showed him the outrageous mark-up on the simple, no doubt inexpensive boxes. He was shocked, too. And on our way to the car…

The popular raised bed, unpainted

The popular raised bed, unpainted

These were on sale.

Ouch.

Ouch.

$250? Sale price?!? Give me a break, folks. This must be the new and trendy Container Gardening for Rich People. No one in my social circles would spend $50 on a wood box, much less $250 on a small wooden raised bed. Maybe I’m in the wrong field; I should be painting and repurposing my garage sale finds instead of planting in them. The profit margin would be amazing.

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