Toad Up Pant Leg, No I am Not Kidding or Copying Silence

Over the past eleven days I have been working in my garden in the evening from about 7:30 til dark. I have managed to get a lot done. I have also seen a lot of cool things such as lady bugs, lady bug larva, fire flies (way too cool), assassin bugs (also cool), and baby bunnies.

During this time, I have been crawled on by a lot of bugs. Fortunately, I am not afraid of bugs. I kind of think they are cute, unless they sting. I let pretty much any bug crawl on me and I sort of like it. Unlike Silence and her hilarious post on a bug up her skirt, I am pretty much at one with the bugs. Not in the house though, I don't like bugs in the house either, Silence.

Well, anyway, the bugs are not the only things hanging around the garden. We have toads, which is great as they eat some of the bugs (hopefully mostly bad bugs). We are organic around here and do not spray or bait. We do squish. We squish the squash bugs.

Much like Silence, I like to garden in long cotton skirts. I also like to garden in loose cotton pants. They look like pajama pants. Well, maybe they are pajama pants. Just don't look over my fence, okay.

Tonight I weeded until almost dark. Unfortunately, I did not water until it was almost pitch black outside. The moon was helping a little. I was carrying a watering can through the garden gate towards the tomato plants at the back of the garden when I startled a toad. Well, I was moving pretty quickly, trying to save daylight, and the toad and I intersected.

That stupid toad jumped right up my pant leg. The encounter did not last more than a few seconds, but I think I jumped about a mile. Fortunately, no plants were trampled during my toad extraction. I don't know who was more upset, the toad or me. I do not like to touch or be touched by toads. Monkeys laughed at me. I am plotting my revenge.

Isn't This the Cutest Thing?

Look What I Found on the Fennel

I counted five black swallowtail caterpillars on my fennel this afternoon. They made it to their last instar. The wasps didn't see them until it was to late. Looks like they will make it.

Remember the exploding cabbage. This is it's cousin the murdered watermelon.

This Just Makes Me Happy

Thanks to my first born. He makes me happy. He has a wicked sense of humor. I hope he feels like that pizza more often than not.

Tastes Like Summer

I have been buying vegetables and fruit from roadside stands for about a week. We took a trip to Ham's Orchard over the weekend and bought peaches, tomatoes (yes tomatoes), and zucchini. Yellow squash came from a card table vegetable stand near my mom's house, and a watermelon came from a truck farmer set up at a local restaurant. We are pretty full of locally grown veggies and fruit. Here are a few ways I have prepared them.

Squash Casserole#1
4 Large Yellow Squash steamed and mashed.
2 Medium onions chopped
2 Eggs
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Stick of Butter melted
1 Cup of Soft Breadcrumbs
Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix the squash, onions, eggs, sugar, half the bread crumbs, and half the butter in a mixing bowl. Spread the mixture into a baking dish, pore remaining butter and sprinkle the remaining breadcrumbs over the squash mixture. Bake at 350 for thirty minutes.

Squash Casserole#2
4 Large Yellow Squash steamed and mashed.
2 Medium Onions chopped.
2 Cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1 Teaspoon Curry Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Coriander
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
5 drops Chili Pequin Sauce (Tabasco also works).
Salt and Pepper

Mix squash, onion, 1 cup of cheese, and the remaining ingredients in a mixing bowl. Spoon into a baking dish, sprinkle the remaining cheese on top of squash mixture. Bake at 350 for twenty minutes.

Friend Zucchini and Yellow Squash - Not a recipe more like a set of instructions.
Cut squash in thin slices
Dip in egg white water mixture (1 egg white 1/4 cup water)
Dip in Cornmeal type Fish Fry Mix
Fry in vegetable oil until golden brown
Sprinkle with season salt.

Zucchini with Tomato
2 Chopped Zucchini
2 Chopped Onions
2 Chopped Tomatoes
1/4 Cup Tomato Sauce
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce
1 Teaspoon Cider Vinegar
Salt and Pepper

Saute onion in olive oil until clear add the remaining ingredients and simmer until the zucchini is soft. Add more tomato sauce if needed.


Baked Tomato
Cut tomatoes (As many as you need), sprinkle with chopped basil (we use lemon basil), sea salt, and pepper. Drizzle the tomato halves with olive oil and bake at 350. Sprinkle on some Feta or Parmesan cheese before serving.

Tomato Salad
Chopped tomato
Chopped Basil
A little Balsamic Vinegar
A little Olive Oil
Sea Salt to Taste

That's all I have right now. Anyone have some recipes to share? I could really use a few more ways to cook squash.

Garden/Pizza/Sleeping Monkey

Here is the garden after the major clean up. It is not perfect, but it is much much better. Note the garden cart with more veggies to be planted. Those are peppers, cucumbers, and dill.

To entertain us, Teenage Monkey did this to some pizza. Comedy and Tragedy in pepperoni. My kids are weird.

This Monkey falls asleep in random places. To torment him, Teenage Monkey takes his picture.

Hot Compost and a Rainstorm

Hip-hip-hooray. My compost pile heated up to 120. I was hoping for 140, but I can live with 120. It is working and should make good compost in three weeks. I know I should let this go and just live with a cold pile, but the competitive streak in me is strong almost as strong as the stubborn streak. I want to dominate the compost pile. I want the compost pile to yield to my will. I want the compost pile to obey me. Pretty sure a bunch of microbes could care less what Aunt Debbi wants.

We had rain today. Unfortunately, we did not get the rain barrel installed, maybe next time. It felt so good outside. The temp dropped into the 70's from the 90's. There was a little thunder and lightening, but nothing major. It was a nice rainstorm, unlike those that have been drowning other parts of the country.