Whirlwind

It has been a whirlwind around here. Harvesting, canning and Preserving is upon us. We have been getting corn, squash, zucchini and peppers. I'm loving filling up my freezers and pantries again. 

My sweetheart said he was here to make my life easier. Well, he did. He got me a food mill attachment for my Kitchen Aid so my process goes a little faster. 

We are turning tomatoes into sauce.  🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅🍅

This attachment is the bomb. It cuts my time down drastically.  I prefer running tomatoes that have been frozen and thawed out through it rather than fresh ones. I get more puree that way and they don't have to cook down as long. 

This stuff is liquid gold

 

One night I put my pressure cooker to work and made sweet and sour meatballs with fried rice and sauteed veggies. The sauteed veggies was all from our garden. 

My Aero Garden is doing great. I think I'm going to put it to use during the winter and see what else I can grow inside. 

We had a chance to have the girls over a weekend but we split them up to give them a break and they could have alone time with each of us. The first night we had Atleigh. However, she had fun with us but she cried for sissy. The next night we had Caroline. Atleigh did not want to leave. We had fun one on one time with each but they didn't like being without one another so we want do that again. We've done it before and they didn't mind and didn't do that. We did it because you know how siblings fuss and fight. But this time was different. So next time, they will both be here. 😁 Gmaw want let them fuss and fight. 😁  The girls did a switcharoonie on us though.  Atleigh who is usually my buddy, was a Poppies girl this time. And Caroline, which is a Poppies buddy, was attached to me this time. Lol. 

Just a girl and her Poppie.

 

 I had the best little helper in the kitchen. And when it was bedtime, we of course had to watch a movie with "nacks and juice". 

Cannot believe we have a Senior this year. My where has the time gone. Just yesterday he was my clingy, donut eating, kitchen baking, taste testing, football yelling, ride or die partner. Now, he's daddys buddy. After 9 mths and painful labor he ditches me. 😥 

Oh well, he will miss me when he leaves here next year. 

Got a whole year ahead of us. Let's do this Cool Terminator Cowboy Senior co 2021. 👨‍🎓👨‍🎓🕶🎓📚📒📃

He has to go two days during the grade rotation to get with all of his teachers and receive instructions for virtual learning. It will be called ReConnect. They will have access to their teachers should they have any questions or concerns or problems. They will set them up with emails, apps, links to websites and video calling so they can be a part of the class too. Some days he will be required to go to the school for his classes that requires hands on or dual enrollment like Welding. He is also signed up for a general medical class that will help him when he goes into the military. It's pretty much what they did at the end of the school year when this all started but they have worked out alot of kinks and revised issues and I think its going to work great. There will be ways the teachers can contact me too if there is ever any questions I have or any problems arise. Also, if they want to transition back into traditional school which means going to the classroom, it will be easy for them. They will have to rearrange some of his classes so that the days he does have to go onto campus that his classes will be back to back so he only has to make one trip to school and when he is done, he can leave. 

Jossie does not start school until the end of August and she is still learning how her classes will go. Some classes she will do online and some they will have to attend the classroom. They will do this on a rotating manner to keep class size down. It will be hard at first until they get a routine going and work out some kinks.

Well, I have to go pick some more veggies. Have a great day. 

Corn

Well, today was corn day. I am so glad it is not all coming in at one time. I love staggering our planting. I would not be able to keep up if it was.

We also need to eat good so we can keep our energy up to keep up.

Chicken chimichangas,  Spanish rise, and refried beans.

Work Hard, Play Hard

We have been working hard around here lately, but we have also learned to play hard and rest when we need to. We get up early in the morning and get some things done and then we make it a point to take a break around lunch and take showers and get some rest. After rest time, we go for round two. It may be going back outside to get more work done, which results in another shower when we're done or something else. I am so thankful for a husband and son who does alot of the hard labor around here. I really just can't hold up some days and I have to just say I can't take anymore right now.

 The laundry has to be done more in the summer due to several showers a day, but that is ok. Summer is our hardest working time and sweatiest.  When I say sweat, I don't just mean a little sweat. I mean a drench sweat to where when you come in, your clothes are soaked and you can literally wring them out. Our heat and humidity is brutal here. You can stand outside 2 minutes and start sweating and you can just breathe the humid hot air. We are in heat advisories now.

One day I declared a ME day. It was all about taking care of me. I pampered myself all day. Manicure and pedicure, because garden dirt hides in inconspicuous places. Then I just had a good day out in my little back yard oasis. Who says you can't have fun in a little pool. I packed me a picnic lunch,  grabbed a book and my tablet and my bluetooth speaker and just had some me time outside by my grandkids pool.

One day we had free and my momma came and spent the day with us. She is still a little leery about getting out into public unless she has to. So we just had the same thing here. I made us a big picnic lunch and we had the girls and Jossie and we just made a day of it. 

We're doing great in the garden too. I am putting up lots of zucchini and squash and we are getting tomatoes more frequently.  I am turning tomatoes into sauce today and canning it.

I also turned some purple cabbage into sauerkraut 

We have found a little watermelon growing and my DIL Jossie is so excited because she planted them. 

Look at this golly whopper of a tomato 

I thought my carrots were done for and bolted, but when I pulled some yesterday I was excited to see some had actually grown. The heat did get to them though, so I will let them reseed themselves and try for fall crop. My littlest granddaughter planted these. 

We have been using alot of our fresh veggies in cooking. Last night I made Broccoli Chicken Alfredo with some broccoli that we grew. It was delicious.  

I've been putting some squash and zucchini in some eggs for breakfast.  The possibilities are endless. 

I made a squash casserole one night with some of our fresh corn. 

We will clean up one end of the garden so I can plant some pumpkins.  

We are checking the corn everyday. All is not ready to harvest at the same time. This is good so we don't get overwhelmed.  We are having to start watering some because we are getting into our draught months. Planting and maintaining a garden is not for the weak that's for sure. You have to work it if you want anything. You can't just throw a seed out there and leave it to tend for itself. 

I am loving all my flowers blooming this year. The sunflowers are about 7 to 8 ft tall and the bumblebee bees are loving them. I plant them for the birds every year. The butterflies are loving the zinnas and marigolds.  

I have been dead heading flowers and saving seeds too.

It is the middle of July and my mum's are already blooming. 

My aero garden is sprouting herbs. 

When your hubby learns to use his clippers during a pandemic, you just keep rolling with the flow...

I got a hold of hubby's head after the clippers when he got done with the boys. Not bad if I say so myself.  This was my second time to do his hair. 

I love the sound of pinging jars...

As far as school goes, no one still knows anything yet. There are so many questions and no answers. I know this is hard on school boards and no one really knows what to do and there is not going to be any way that they can please everyone at the same time. Dallas and his girlfriend have decided to just go virtual.  Even if people go back and do traditional,  everything is going to be so confusing,  disorganized and chaotic. If one kid or teacher gets it then they will have to leave and quarantine and anyone who they have come in contact with. I can see students and teachers being in and out of school so much for absenteeism and etc. It will be one big mess. Then they still haven't got all the kinks out of the virtual learning. Some kids do not have internet access etc. Not to mention some classes are hands on like welding that Dallas is taking and FFA. 

This is all crazy right now.  

We will just have to make do and learn the best way we can this year. I know schools all over the US are concerned and trying to work things out. 

Well, I have really had enough for one day. I'm going to just relax and put my feet up. Goodnight all. 

Growing Tomatoes , Extending Your Season

I have a tutorial on our Gardening Page on how we plant our tomatoes. I will be adding this segment to it, but for now I'm going to make this as an individual post for today. 

By this time in the year, if you're in the South or hot climates with humidity, your tomato plants might be looking like this about now. They look kind of scraggly. Don't fret. You have to remember they just put all their energy producing their fruit. We had already been picking some tomatoes off these plants before we took these pic. They will look like they are dying and browning but I have discovered that there are some things you can do to get maybe one more picking or at least help them produce new fruits and new growth up until your first frost. Now let me say this, we live in the South and our summers and warm weather can go well into late October or early November.  So we can try to get as many as possible for our season. This is some things I do come this time of year. I try to keep all the dead leaves pruned off. This will help the nutrients get to the rest of the plant. 

Now this is where it gets tricky. I stress keeping the suckers pinched off during the growing process because they take away nutrients from the main stem and branches. Anything in this little 45 degree angle in the fork of a main stem and branch, is a sucker.  During the growing process, these have to be kept at bay and pinched off so they will produce the first fruits. Now, when your plants have produced their first set of fruits like above, you can actually start letting these suckers stay on the plant now to produce new growth and possibly second fruits.  Also, you will need them to replace all the dead leaves and branches you had to prune off. 

See the new growth and new blooms now? If you take very good care of these plants for just a little longer, you just might get a set of second fruit. You will once again have to baby your plants for the rest of the summer. When you start seeing new blooms, you can fertilize again with a little gentle homemade fertilizer. I use coffee grounds, epsom salt, and baking soda. Equal parts of each. I just sprinkle around the base of the plant and cover mulch back up. 

Now here is an idea with all those little suckers (no punn intended), do you see all those hairs on the suckers? Well, they actually create roots when you put them into the ground or into some soil. You can actually start a whole new plant. See those rough hairs at the end of this plant at the base. That's how tough they can get. They will eventually become roots. 

Now, one thing to keep in mind. If you live in a climate or zone where your fall season comes early, you might not be able to do this and have an extended season. Since our first frost or cooler weather doesn't come until October or November, we can extend our season. You can always experiment and  sacrifice a few plants and try this, or take some of the bigger suckers that you  had to pinch off and put in a pot with some soil and take it indoors to grow. It's worth a try. 

I hope you enjoyed this information and hopefully you will play around and have fun in your garden. You never know what you might come up with. 

Harvesting Is Upon Us

We have been getting alot of goodies from the garden. Happiness is   canned, fermented sauerkraut,  fresh corn and tomatoes from the garden.
The cabbage that I was fermenting into sauerkraut was ready to be put up for long term storage. We have been getting some tomatoes a little at a time. I am saving them up until I get enough to make a big pot of sauce. We harvested two of our rows of corn and got them pit up. We will have two more rows ready in two weeks.

We are getting lots of zucchini and squash too.

Please, everyone stay safe and hydrated during this summer heat. Take care of yourself.

Good Birthday Weekend

I've had a good weekend. Got to have my buddies with me too. Poppie took all of us to eat Friday night. Got up Saturday and swam in the pool, played on the splash pad, poppie fixed us lunch, rested and came back out and did it again. Poppie fixed me a bday meal of Shrimp Boil and then he fixed us girls some ice cream cones. Lots of playing and Bible stories at bedtime. Poor poppie has given up his bed two nights in a row to let us girls sleep in our princess bed and watch movies and eat popcorn and goldfish in bed. Then the next morning he stands in the pouring rain to cut me some fresh roses off of his rose bushes and gave them to me. Then I get to try my hand at growing herbs indoors all year. 🎉❤🤗🎂👑  thank you sweetheart.
That  morning when we woke up, Atleigh said,  "Happy Birthday Gmaw!" and smiles real pretty. Caroline looks up mischievously at me and said, "Stinky butt!" You gotta love kids different personalities.  ❤❤❤🤗🤗🤗
When it was time for them to go home they had a melt down and didn't want to leave. I'm glad our babies love us and want to be with us that they don't want to leave us.

Family Fun

Finally got to have a Grab Your Granny Day this year. I named it this because this is a day we take once a week or once every two weeks and I call my momma up and say, " Hey, you wanna go somewhere or do something?" Or I simply call her and tell her I'm coming to get her and be ready. She's always game for something. But this year this Covid stuff has threw us off. However, we got to get together yesterday for Grab Your Granny Day. We love to go swimming at one of our favorite places and we love to pack a picnic lunch. It was not crowded since it was the middle of the week.
 We had such a great time.

Great 4th of July

We had a great time with family and friends with food, fellowship and fireworks. 
We will always make sure freedom rings at our house.