Pumpkin Blossoms are Good Eatin

I have let a bunch of pumpkins over grown the garden again.  I'm allowing it, not because I expect to get great pumpkins.  I'm allowing it because the pumpkin vines are great squash bug traps and I am eating the pumpkin blossoms. 

The pumpkin leaves seem to confuse the squash bugs.  They are mostly laying their eggs on top of the leaves instead of safely underneath.  I've just been cutting off the infested leaves and throwing them in fire pit to be burned.  One clutch of eggs did hatch.  I just lifted up the big leave and sprayed them all down with soapy water.  They were very dead very quick.  I'm hoping this activity will give my actual squash plants a fighting chance. 

I remember making fried squash blossoms last year and they were yummy.  Because of the diagnosis of MODY 2 diabetes, I have been on a very strict ADA diet for the past nine weeks.  I decided to try to fry the pumpkin blossoms with beaten egg whites instead of breading them.  The results tasted good, but were far to greasy.  I may make them with breading for Manly and the Monkeys, but I'll keep out of it myself. 

A better alternative for me was pumpkin blossom soup.  Just chicken stock, chopped up pumpkin blossoms and a little lemon juice.  Easy peazy.  I will put the soup through the food processor next time to smooth it out.  The texture of the blossoms was a little too spiky. 

Today I made a Noonday onion, pumpkin blossom, pepper, cheese and bacon frittata.  It was extra yummy.  The pepper and blossoms were from my garden, the eggs were from local chickens and the onions from Noonday, Texas.  The only things not local were the bacon and cheese.  I think I can find local sources for those for next time :)

Anybody else eating out of the garden yet?

Terrific Tomatoes

I'm having a wonderful year in regards to tomatoes.  In past years, they have been hit or miss because of the weather and rainfall.  This year, I switched the back half of the vegetable/flower garden to three large raised beds and two smaller side raised beds.  One of the side beds has large pots of citrus trees sitting in it instead of being planted.  We are in the middle of a deck demolition and I needed the storage worse than the vegetable planting space.

I read and saw pictures somewhere on the interweb about growing tomatoes in containers sunk into a raised beds.  I've tried every which way I can think of to keep the water near the roots of my tomato plants instead of running off somewhere useless.  There were a bunch of abandoned 3 gallon plant containers junking up my potting bench, so I decided to give the sunken container contraptions a shot.

First thing - Cut the bottom out of the containers.  This is hard.  My trusty Felco pruners got it started, but I ended up have to saw them out with a serrated steak knife.

Second thing - Dig a hole inside of the raised bed and sink a pot into the hole leaving about 3 to 4 inches of pot above the soil level.  Repeat until all pots are buried.

Third thing - Plant tomato seedlings in the pots with potting mix and compost.

Forth thing - Water each individual pot. Repeat as needed. 

Fifth thing - Fertilize once a week with liquid fertilizer.  I'm using fish emulsion this year, but prefer Hastagrow.  (Hastagrow doesn't stink as much).

The results have been stunning.  My tiny seedlings planted April 1st have already outgrown my very large tomato cages.  I've already eaten two ripe tomatoes.  The plants are healthy, disease free and covered in blooms.  The water stays right in their root zone and I believe the containers are helping keep soil from splashing up on the leaves of the plants. 

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Aunt Debbi Visits the Texas Triffid Ranch and Lives to Tell about it.

A couple of weekends ago, I took a trip with Baby Monkey to visit Paul Riddell at his home aka the Texas Triffid Ranch. We spent a lovely afternoon with Paul and his beautiful wife Carolyn who Paul sweetly refers to as The Czarina. My only regret of the afternoon was that I did not have enough time to check out Carolyn’s handcrafted jewelry. I did spy one very pretty piece on the dining room table and barely managed to fight off the urge to snatch it, kidding….sort of.

Paul’s obsession with knowledge of carnivorous plants is amazing. He showed us his greenhouse his other greenhouse, his composting bin, his container collection and his nemesis - The Arrogant Tree Rat (squirrel). Baby Monkey happily ran the squirrel off one time, but we are positive it will be back to dig in Paul’s containers.

The real stars of the show were the carnivorous plants. I can’t say that I remember the particulars about each variety, because the information was coming at me fast and furious. The man knows his flesh eating plants. Baby Monkey was mesmerized. I don’t think I have ever seen him that still and focused. We were lucky enough to come when some of the pitcher plants were blooming. The blooms are very interesting. They are shaped in a way that forces pollinators to come into them wander around a little, get pollen on them and then get back out, sort of like bug a maze.

Paul has graciously agreed to come speak to our young library patrons during our Summer Reading Program. After watching my little man completely enthralled by the descriptions of these fascinating plants, I know Paul will be a big hit with the library kids.

The purpose of my trip was actually to pick up a bag of bat guano. Bat guano is excellent plant fertilizer. It also smells funny. I am told it is a very bad idea to inhale any of the dust, so I won’t. Paul volunteers at Bat World, and scooped me up this bag of crap there. I’ve never been more grateful. Look at the print on the bag, cute right?

Fuzzy Picture of a Bag of Bat Guano

Keeping it Clean

I made my own dishwasher powder, liquid dish soap and laundry powder this morning.  I took the advice of a couple of friends, Cindy Wagner and Michael Nolan , and mixed up the concoctions.

The first thing I did was explode half a bar of Zote soap in the microwave.  This was very fun and much easier than shredding it.  Next time I will cut it into several smaller pieces to speed up the process. 

The dishwasher powder was 1 cup borax, 1 cup baking soda, 1/4 cup washing soda and a few drops of orange oil shook up together in a Mason jar. There is no actual soap in this recipe.  Worked great on my first load of dishes.  I do put white vinegar in the rinse aid dispenser in the dishwasher door.  This keeps the glasses and such from looking cloudy.  Love some sparkly wine glasses :)

The liquid dish soap was about a cup of exploded Zote soap 1/2 cup of borax and a tablespoon or so of washing soda dissolved in boiling water.  Next time, I am going to make it a little thicker.  It worked great, but  I am going to get used to the lack of suds.

The laundry powder was the rest of that bar of exploded soap, 2 cups of borax and 1/2 cup of washing soda all mixed up with a blender.  I put a little vinegar in the fabric softener dispenser.  The laundry came out nice and clean.  

What kind of earth friendly cleaners do you like?

Happy Earth Day 

Austin's Quilt

I started this quilt at 4:00 Friday afternoon. Just put the last stitch in the binding at 9:30 Sunday night.

ALL ABOUT THE CHICKENS!!!! Guest Post by Michael Middleton

 

I recently visited my grandparent’s chicken farm in Dallas, Texas. It was an exciting adventure that I would like to experience again. The chickens were a riot that weekend! I can’t get enough of them.

The names of the chickens are- Star, tepee, Sam, Bugger, and Wingding.





All of the chickens have their own personality in many different ways, just like people.

Star is the oldest chicken in the bunch and is also the dominant chicken. She tells the other chickens what to do by pecking order. Pecking order is like dog domination in chicken form. And how do they do this? You guessed it! Pecking. Now think of Star as the boss of them all. She decides everything.

Tepee has her own little story. It all started the chicken farm. Here’s how it goes. My cousins were out at the end of the small property when they found two chickens Star and Tepee. So, both of them took the chickens to my Grandparents. They looked for the owners, and didn’t find them. They thankfully decided to keep them. And they got more chickens. That’s how the farm was made.

Tepee does have a health problem. She is blind in one eye. But, that doesn’t make her unhappy. She is just like any other chicken.

Sam is the newest chicken at the farm. She makes a good addition to the farm. But, she refused to use the nesting boxes. I guess she wanted some privacy. So, one day my Granny caught the chicken in her tool shed! In return she got her own privet nesting box in the tool shed. It was a weird compensation but it worked out nicely.

Bugger is a Red Cochen that is at the moment is brooding. Brooding is when a chicken lays a clutch of eggs, and sits on them for twenty two days. This is a disaster for chicken farmers. So, on my visit all of us tried to let the other chickens nest while she couldn’t. It was complicated but, it all worked out. Bugger also has a crocked beak. She goes to the vet every month to get her beak trimmed down so she can eat.

There is not much to say about Wingding. She is a Blue Cochen chicken, and she is a wonderful fluff ball. Very kind, gentle, and great with people!

The Hen House is where all chickens do almost anything. They eat, sleep, and lay eggs! Where they sleep is very interesting. All of the chickens sleep on roosts on the higher ends of the house.








What do they eat? Many types of feeds, grass, and worms. The three types of feed my granny gives them is scratch, laying pellets, and shell.

My experience was amazing. Knowing what the chickens importance and purpose helped me know a better understanding of these little fluff balls. Now my best idea of taking care of chickens is: IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CHICKENS!!!

Baking Soda Magic Eraser

While setting up to take this picture, I noticed some icky greasy mess on the back of the stove top. I have asthma and cannot use harsh smelling cleaners or anything containing ammonia. Baking soda with orange oil has been the primary cleaner in our household. Recently, I discovered that baking soda and any liquid soap will clean just as well as baking soda and orange oil. This is good news because orange oil is expensive. Now I only use orange oil when I want the place to be clean and smell good - you know, company clean. Anyway, needing to clean the stove up quickly and take the picture, I just sprinkled some baking soda on a damp towel and started wiping the surface down. The baking soda basically erased the greasy mess. Aunt Debbi - doing more and more with less and less :)