Patience

If this year has taught me nothing else it is patience. The candlestick tree in the photo was a gift from my sister. We dug it out of her butterfly garden early last summer. It was a tiny little seedling. Since all candlestick trees have died a horrible death every time I have planted them directly into the garden, this one was babied and kept in a container. It grew to about two feet tall last summer. I brought it in, took it out, brought it in and shook it all about - winter hooky poky anyone? This spring I transplanted it into a larger container. It is about four feet tall now. Finally, this week, it decided to bloom.

We have been dealing with a lot of things that take patience this year. Manly's medical situation, raising the Manimals and trying to make less money go much further. Since I am all about instant gratification, this has been hard. This little tree has taught me that perseverance pays off in the end.

"He that can have Patience, can have what he will." Benjamin Franklin.

HOT

We are into week three of 100+ temperatures. The garden and the gardener suffer every year at this time. I'm stuck inside and only go out to water twice a day. The ooze tube failed on the squash, but four tomato plants are still alive. I let the others die.

The only plants that are flourishing are basil, okra and peppers. This will be the last year I try to keep squash or tomato plants alive after July in hopes they will come back thriving and bring me a fall harvest. It will simply be cheaper to buy new plants in September or grow them from seed now than to waste all that water on them only to have them curl up and die anyway.

In about four weeks, when it cools off, I will start the fall garden with five new tomato plants and maybe three or four squash plants. The cool season stuff won't go in until the end of September. That gives me about six weeks to grow the broccoli for Thanksgiving. Just imagining the fall garden makes me feel better.

In the meantime, I am going to enjoy making salsa, Afterburner Sauce and George powder from my bounty of hot peppers. I do believe I could be a successful pepper farmer. Hot peppers seem to like me.

The First Peach Cobbler of 2010

Homemade peach cobbler from homegrown fresh peaches. The house smells like heaven. Baby Manimal said, "You know what I want to do right now?" Me, "No." Him, "Shove my face in that."

It's 106 outside so I think we will just stay inside and enjoy the cool of the AC.

Happy Summer y'all.

Bird Saved From Tailless Cat News At 11

One Big Habanero

Here is what happens when it rains a lot in Texas in June - giant habanero.

I noticed that Jenn was looking for a garlic tea recipe to repel mosquitoes. Simply put a whole garlic clove in a food processor or blender with some water and chop it up. Let it sit for a while, strain off the garlic bits, dilute with more water and apply to the mosquito infested area. I put it in a watering can and spin around like a crazy woman splashing it all over the place. This gives the neighbors something to talk about.

Linda wanted the pickled peach recipe. I didn't really follow a recipe, but here is how I threw them together. The brine is 2 parts white vinegar to one part water with enough sugar to make it slightly sweet (to taste) . Peel the peaches and cut into quarters. Add two cloves and one cinnamon stick to each jar and pack in the peaches. I packed the peaches gently because I didn't want them all mushy. Boil the brine and pour over the prepared peaches. Secure the lids on the jars and process in a boiling water bath for seven minutes. Make sure the lids pop down, if not refrigerate and eat sooner rather than later.

For safety's sake, please read some home canning instructions. I wouldn't want to accidentally poison anyone.

Pickled Peaches

Peaches pickled with vinegar, cinnamon, cloves and sugar.

Peach Liqueur

Here is the first of my peach preserving attempts - Peach liqueur. Just halve the peaches, pore Everclear over the top of them and seal. Once the peach flavor is infused into the alcohol, I am supposed to dilute it to 80% alcohol content and maybe add a little simple syrup if it needs to be sweetened. This is supposed to take about a month. Since I don't like sweet stuff or hard liquor, I have no idea what I am going to do with this stuff once it is ready.