Perennial Cabbage?

Can cabbage possibly be perennial? This is a picture of a cabbage plant I planted in the fall of 2009. It produced a head of cabbage, which I cut of and ate. The plant lived and put out a few more leaves. Then, it didn't die during last summer's heat. Hmmm. I left it alone and it began to thrive with this fall's cooler weather. Now, it is producing not one, but three heads of cabbage. Is this the hydra of the plant world? If so, cool. Now I am going to let all of my decapitated cabbage plants stay in the ground just to see if they will make additional heads for me.

In case you didn't know, broccoli will produce little baby broccoli heads after the first head is harvested, however, as soon as it get warm, mine always go to seed.

11 Ways to Stay Warm in Texas

I know, I know, I'm being a big baby. Everyone else has snow and freezing weather. All we are dealing with is a little cool, dreary weather here in north Texas. In our parts, snow is a catastrophe and ice, well if there is ice everything just comes to a grinding halt and nobody goes anywhere. Today is one of the grey days when I just don't feel like I can possibly get warm. My feet hurt, my hands hurt and I feel a little sad. Here are some of the ways I fix it when I get uncomfortably cold.

1. Put on two pairs of socks and a pair of fuzzy slippers. (I'm ready for you sock haters:)

2. Take a lap quilt and put it in the dryer to warm it up then wrap it around your shoulders.

3. Drink hot tea.

4. Place a little space heater near your chair.

5. Wear flannel pants

6. Wear knitted wrist warmers .

7. Put a pot of water and some good smelling herbs to simmer on the stove. (Helps the skin and hair).

8. Wear a large fluffy scarf around the neck and shoulders.

9. Enjoy a warm hobby like knitting, crochet or quilting. I find quilting to be the most advanced of these hobbies.

10. Own a barley bag. I know that sounds weird, but I don't know what else to call it. My boss made me one and I love it. She made a square bag out of heavy cotton fabric, put about a pound of barley in it and scented it with Origins "Peace of Mind." Then, she sewed up the bag and made a terry cloth cover for it. I put the bag in the microwave for two minutes on high and the thing stays warm for a very long time. It is in my lap right now.

11. Finally, don't like the weather in Texas, wait five minutes. I know, tired old saying, but still.

Now, picture me doing and wearing all of those things at the same time. hahahahaha...You're welcome.

How to get a Preschooler to Eat a Vegetable

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure of spending the day with my nephews, Jack and Ian. Jack is 3 and Ian is 4. We had a great day. These boys are perfect angels; I don't care what their mothers say.

They had waffles and milk for breakfast and played all morning. We visited my garden and checked out the Gulf Fritillary caterpillars. There was a bit of drama when Jack mistook a small bit of rope for a snake. I didn't know little boys could scream like that. Just little more shrill and only dogs could have heard it.

Knowing that little guys can be pretty picky eaters, I decided to see if I could get them to eat something straight from the garden. I asked them if they could find the broccoli. My broccoli plants are big and beautiful. To find the actual broccoli heads, you have to really get down in there and hunt for them. Ian was very excited, he apparently loves broccoli. After a few minutes of them digging around in the plants, I pulled back the leaves on one particularly large one and showed them the broccoli head. Ian picked that one and Jack found one just a few feet away smaller, but he was happy. Jack's love of broccoli is not as profound as Ian's love of broccoli. As we were heading back into the house to make their lunches, Jack saw that piece of rope, screamed and threw his broccoli at it. After a little reassurance that the rope was not an actual snake, we retrieved the broccoli, went on inside, made sandwiches and cut up the broccoli, some carrots and an apple. The little men enjoyed a healthy lunch of peanut butter sandwiches with fresh fruit and veggies.

All of my children eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. I believe the reason they do is because they did exactly what Jack and Ian did that morning most days of their lives. To this day, they will wander around out in the garden looking for something to eat. That, my friends, is how it is done.

While you are here, why don't you go over visit Anna's new site, Best Garden Blogs. Just click on the image of the little girl reading a book statue over there on the right.

Harvest

Over the last two weeks we have been bringing in the fall harvest. Wow, that sounds like I farm or something. Not at all, it is just a little harvest from my modest garden. We will also have an ongoing winter harvest, but I will get to that later.

As usual, I have way to many green tomatoes. Some of them will ripen on the counter. The rest will have to be canned in one way or another. There are also lots and lots of hot peppers. I have agreed to trade some of those peppers for handmade soap. I am grateful to have met a good many talented people in my life and Sylett, the soap maker, is one of them. She is warm, talented, wicked smart and has the most amazing speaking voice I have ever heard. Anyway, I get some soap, she gets some heat.

The remaining peppers are being put up in various ways. Some are being processed in brine, some dehydrated and powdered some pickled. The unripenable tomatoes are being pickled (both sweet and dill) and some made into jam. I have had one request for pepper jelly, which is so easy it is almost cheating. Well it is cheating, but who's going to tell.

We also have a small harvest of potatoes, one pumpkin, one acorn squash and two tiny Hubbard squash.

Over the winter we will bring in broccoli, collards, Swiss chard, carrots, beats, cabbage, snow peas, etc... I love my winter garden. It is like have a green grocer in the backyard.

I have discovered the joys of bartering - fresh eggs and soap are just the beginning. I'm also going to hunt down some honey. Gone are the days where I give everything away for free. I believe everyone has something to trade.

Freezer Burn

Two nights ago, it dropped below 30 and my warm weather plants are all melted. Really, they look melted. My beautiful zinnias are no longer pink, orange, white and red. They are now just brown and limp. The tomatoes and peppers appear to have been hit with a blow torch. It is funny how some things previously frozen often look burnt - freezer burn?

I have a slight earache right now, so I am going to leave the mess until it either warms up or my ear feels better. Hope the neighbors don't mind the mess. Shouldn't be a problem as I can pay them off with pickled peppers and green tomatoes. The kitchen table is covered in hot peppers and green tomatoes. There is plenty to go around.

If anyone has green tomato recipes they would like to share, I would love to have them. See, I didn't beg this year. Well, not yet anyway:)

Bartering

The fall garden is producing amazing amounts of veggies. I have tons of peppers, broccoli and greens. There is way more coming in than our family can eat. I've been offering it up for free to anyone who will come pick it up. A couple of days ago, a facebook friend offered to trade me fresh eggs from her hens for broccoli. I gave her two bags of veggies and she gave me sixteen brown, pink and green eggs. I am going to make a Thanksgiving breakfast feast featuring those eggs.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Day 10

Not much to say. Working on a giant pile of tree trimmings. Cutting the trimmings into little pieces burning them in the cheminea. Can almost walk through the back yard again.

The caterpillars are doing fine.

Have a great weekend.