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Independence Days Update

Independence Days Challenge Update. The original idea from Casaubon’s Book which can be found here. Link

You can find this weeks update here along with other updates in the comment section.

1.Plant something – more green beans, swiss chard

2. Harvest something – lettuce ( starting to bitter from heat), peppermint, cilantro, basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley, lemon balm, lemon thyme, chives, mexican marigold also known as (texas tarragon), dill, summer savory, lots of green onion, hot peppers.

The dill is starting to head.

We will soon have zucchini and cabbage. Nothing I like better than a cabbage stir fry.


3. Preserve something – chopped green onion for recipes in freezer. More dried herbs.

4. Prep something – I would think fixing our pond pipe, Link , would qualify as preparing since we must prepare to save our fish in that particular pond. Still weeding and watering.

5. Cook something – new! Lemon Tea Bread and Lemon Balm butter recipe from Cooks.com.

Turned out great! Read about it here.

6. Manage your reserves- Thinking about canning shelving to hold more canned goods in an extra closet, but haven’t done anything about it yet.

7. Work on local food systems - Neighborhood fishing, which we allow because ponds can get overpopulated just like forests. We do have to monitor how often it goes on though.

We had one neighbor that began to just come and take fish anytime he wished and we finally had to tell him not to come without permission. Funny but he hasn’t been back since. That was several years ago too.

Our community is great. We have had neighbors fix our lawnmowers and patch our roof totally free of charge. All they want in return is to fish every now and again.

We also swap out garden veggies, like if our potato harvest is great but our green beans don’t fair so well, we will give certain neighbors potatoes for green beans and the likes of that. Just an example of the wonderful neighbors we have.

8. Manage waste- Still trying to remember to throw on compost heap and donated some old furniture to charity.

9. Learn something new – About Rhubarb diseases, mine has what is called Ascochyta leaf spot. See what that looks like here.

Independence Days Update

I don’t have a lot to update.

You can view Sharon’s update and many others in the comment section here.

Planting – I did finally plant my cilantro babies, and I am letting some go to seed for next year.

cilantro blooms aren’t they pretty? delicate like.

Harvesting - I am still harvesting the same things from last update…OH yeah, I harvested some pitiful excuse called garlic.

pitiful excuse for garlic

I learned something new..don’t plant garlic in the same place next year!

Cook something new and manage reserves -Trying to use up my crabapple jelly from last year I added vinegar to some of it and found out it made a nice salad dressing.

Squash and cucumber are in bloom. Tomatoes and potatoes are getting ready to bloom.

squash blossom

Everything is a little late this year because of the weird weather we had April/May.

Still weeding and watering the gardens and trying to remember to throw stuff on the compost “heap”. I say “heap” because hubby is too covered up right now to build a bin.

Maybe I need to learn some hammer skills?

Parsley – WHB

Weekend Herb Blogging is being hosted by Paulchen’s Food Blog this week.
Link to roundup.

WHB is a great way to learn about vegetables, herbs, new recipes and ideas. To learn the WHB rules and participate,visit founder Kalyns Kitchen.

Parsley is coming along in Virginia, so I wanted to blog about it.

I have had problems growing parsley, so last year instead of growing it from seed I got plants. It was a good thing that I grew from plants last year because they bolted and seeded the ground. Parsley came back full force on it’s own this year.

Nature did on her own what I seemed unable and parsley is thick in my garden at this time.

Parsley is one herb that when microwave drying keeps its color so well .

You can read about microwave drying here , but I never use the paper towels in the microwave. I almost caught it on fire like that one time.

What I do is lay the herbs on a plate and microwave for one to 30 second intervals, remove and blot dry with a paper towel and replace and micro another one to 30 seconds, repeating the process until dried and brittle.

I must have dried parsley on hand at all times because my favorite vinaigrette mix uses dried and not fresh parsley in it.

I usually wing it, but here are approximate proportions for the vinaigrette.

My favorite italian vinaigrette mix – 2 Tablespoon dried onion, 2 Tablespoon dried parsley, 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 3/4 teaspoon garlic salt , pinch of sugar. Grind well in a spice grinder then add entire mix to 1/4 C vinegar, 3 Tablespoons water and enough oil to bring it to a cup. Mix well.

After I microwave dry my parsley I store it in baggies or my favorite spice rack. I am continually refilling my spice rack jars and won’t toss them away because the rack and jars were a gift and are sentimental in value to me.

It is also handy to just refill the jars, although someone looking at my rack might think the stuff outdated.

The main feature in my WHB post is a salad I love. I use special ingredients. Those ingredients are fresh parsley and honey.

I started making salads with parsley and honey last summer on a whim. If you have never tried fresh parsley and honey in a salad, I urge you to give it a try. It is also great with some fresh berries tossed in, although I didn’t have any berries on hand for my WHB post.

Just throw together a salad of mesclun and black seeded simpson or whatever other lettuce you may prefer (thats what I have growing right now). Top that with some feta cheese. Use your favorite vinaigrette on top of that and then sprinkle with chopped fresh parsley. The final touch is a drizzle of your favorite honey.

It is easy and a family pleaser around here.

Junk Food

I am up feeling ill tonight because we went to the lake today.

Here is the reason I feel sick.

Look at that junk we ate on the boat!

Anyway I have always wanted to ask someone this. After looking at the picture below.

Can someone tell me what kind of fool would try to ski above this bridge?

When I ask hubby that question, he just looks at me weird.

Jamie At Home

I am totally falling in love with Jamie Oliver’s new show on Food Network, ” Jamie At Home”.

I love his rustic from the ground to the table type cooking, and he even wears a sock cap while in his kitchen!

He has made quite the stir with his free range chicken and animal welfare issues, yet viewed as forked tongue with his representing certain supermarket chains that go against his views.

You know how people are when one comes under the public microscope.

That is why I would never tell someone to go totally organic or local..I mean gee what kind of prison one puts the self in when telling others what to do.

Just do the best you can, and hope you never get under the microscope yourself.