Name This Concoction

I make a hot sauce every year that can peel the hide off of your tongue. It contains chili pequino peppers, habanero peppers, Serrano peppers, good cider vinegar and sea salt. It comes with a laundry list of disclaimers so that no one blames me when they have a horrible out come the day after eating too much of it. With that in mind, Nancy of Nancy's Garden Spot named my sauce After Burner.

This spring I bought my pepper plants like always. The tags that said Serrano pepper lied. Those peppers were Tabasco peppers and I can’t use them to make hot sauce. I hate it when the nurseries mislabel the plants. I spend all that time nurturing the plant only to discover that you have been taking care of an imposter.

Not to let this mistake get me down, I needed to find a use for these thin skinned peppers. I dried them and then crushed them into a powder with my mortar and pestle. Then I got a wild hare and added dehydrated garlic, coriander seeds and sea salt. This stuff smells great. I’ve never had anything quite like it. I added a couple of tablespoons to my last batch of jambalaya. Manly said it was my best ever.

So here is what I need from you. This spicy mixture needs a name. So far there are no disclaimers because there is no reason to use enough of it to do bodily harm. It smells wonderful. The coriander adds a lemony scent.

Anyway, leave me a comment with your ideas for a name.

First Workday on The Farm

First Workday on the Farm

Today was the day. I began working on the community supported agriculture farm, Eden’s Garden. I worked with Marie, the farmer, and Anise another work share member. I will work a couple of hours each week in order to receive my share of the farms produce.

We mulched and pulled weeds talking the whole time. Marie used to work at the same nursery I used to work at. We just worked there at different times. Anise is a comptroller for a local ministry. They are interesting, fun ladies. This should be very enjoyable.

When the weather cools off, I will switch to working Friday afternoons and take the monkeys with me. Hopefully, they will learn just a little more about where their food comes from. They will thank me some day. Don’t laugh, they will.

Today I brought home purslane and lambs quarter. I put them in a bowl of water to rinse and didn’t think anything else of it. I intended to look up some recipes and do something with them for dinner. I gave a sprig of purslane to Teenage Monkey and he loves it. He just keeps eating it. Turns out the stuff is really good food both the taste and the nutrition. He can have all he wants.

Next week, we will spread more mulch. I need to find some newspaper to put down under the mulch. We don’t take the paper, so it looks like I maybe dumpster diving in a nearby recycling box. Wonder if I can get arrested for that?

Have a great weekend everyone.

The Naked Ladies are Here

 
 
 
 

If my garden keeps it up, the blog is going to totally lose it’s PG-13 rating. Since the butterflies are getting it on, the naked ladies decided to show up. The lycoris is beginning to bloom. This is my first year for the pink, and as you can see, it is a little pitiful. The red lycoris are also called school house lilies (but that’s not as much fun is it?). They are called naked ladies because the blooms show up before the foliage. There foliage grows all winter here and then dies back in early summer when it begins to get hot. Then in late summer or early fall the blooms pop up. Now I know that fall is really on it’s way. I believe this is my favorite time of year because of all the blooms and all the butterflies.

The other blooms pictured are Turk’s cap and a sun flower. They have nothing to do with naked ladies. I just think they are pretty.

Garden Orgy

 
 
 
 

There is an all out orgy going on in my garden. When Middle Monkey came to me and said, “I just saw two butterflies fused. Maybe they are Siamese twins.” Er…hum. Did I shy away from my duty to education my son on the sex lives of butterflies? Nope, I thought it was funny asking if they were stuck together by their butts. Then told him it was all about making babies. Poor kid, I have probably damaged him for life.

Tonight, while watering the pitiful pepper plants and admiring the gulf fritillary butterflies, I noticed something sad. The passion vine is a disaster. Most of the leaves are gone. The caterpillars have destroyed it. All of those beautiful flying orange creatures have made millions of spiky, scary looking, black and orange babies. There were at least thirty adult butterflies circling each other like they were speed dating. I hope my passion vine survives.

Do Your Know Your Watershed?

If you read this blog very often, you might know we have water issues. Our bills are outrageous. I try very hard to use as little city water as possible. I never really gave storm water much thought other than being grateful that rain fills my rain barrels. All that changed today.


I spent eight hours in a watershed stewardship workshop today. So what the heck is a watershed? Is it the shed where you keep the water? Nope. Is it the outhouse? Nope, not so much. A watershed is an area of land where all of the water that is under it or drains off of it goes to the same place.

This workshops was focused on the Cedar Creek Watershed. It turns out I don't actually live in that watershed. We are in the Trinity River watershed. This is confusing as the Trinity river is part of the Ceder Creek Watershed. Confused yet?

I learned a lot. Looking at charts and maps, it seems that the biggest polluters are farming and ranching operations. Guess what the pollutants are? If you guessed sediment, fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides you would be right.

I also found out that compost can be bad for our watershed. If it is washed into the rivers and eventually to lakes, the nutrients can cause algae blooms and water plant overgrowth. In order to keep that compost in my garden and not washing out into the ditch, I am going to plant ornamental grasses all along the fence above the ditch. This should be pretty and functional. I just love it when being good ecologically speaking gives me an excuse to buy more plants.

Eight hours in a classroom setting is just too long for me. I felt like my head was going to explode. They covered a ton of information. If you have an opportunity to go to a workshop or lecture of this type, take advantage of it. It will change the way you think about water.

Got to give credit to Texas Agrilife Extension for putting on such a great program.

Voice Double

I'm back.

I survived a night with three of my nephews, two monkeys, my oldest niece and a giggle of her teenage friends. There is also a snake in their house AND a cat who wants to give hickies. The youngest child is just shy of three and the oldest is the niece at `16.

There is a funny thing about me and this sister who made these nephews and that niece. We don't look anything alike, but we sound alike. I've been messing with the heads of people who know her since we were teens. She was in high school and I was in college when she met her first boyfriend. If he happened to call the house when I was home and I answered,I wouldn't tell him I wasn't B. The ruse would go on until I answered a question wrong or became hysterical with laughter. That boyfriend truly hated me.

Sister's loving husband, who took her to Boston for her big 4-0, has never ever mistaken me for her or her for me.

Last night the niece brought home that giggle friends. They couldn't see me in the kitchen, but I could hear them coming in the front door. I asked the niece a question and one of the boys said, "I thought your mom wasn't home." The niece and I explained that I am not her mom, just her aunt. This kid says, "I've got to see her." He must have been shocked. Again, we look nothing alike.

I think I might be able to play this game all the way until we are very old women.

Fun times.

And The Winners Are

And the winners of the string bags are............Monica of Gareden Faerie's Musings and Judy Low of Diggin It. Sorry I will get the links corrected tomorrow. I am at my sister's house watching about 15 billion children and teens. They have a Mac and I don't know how to copy link locations on it. Silly machine. Thank you all for the sweet comments. I will get an email out to the winners tomorrow to arrange to send the bags once they are complete.

Curmudgeon will also receive a bag because she commented before I decided to give some away.


Have a great weekend everyone.