Happy Halloween

This gave me a chuckle, hope your Halloween is fun!

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY ripening tomatoes - indoors?

Has anyone had the experience of ripening green tomatoes indoors and gotten tomatoes that looked like they were getting ready to go as mummies for Halloween? This is what happens to me, whether I use paper to wrap them or not. These tomatoes
ripened outside on the NW facing back porch. When we pulled the tomatoes (six weeks ago!), my DH left this pile of green tomatoes on the back porch. I decided to ignore them for a while,

and was surprised to see a few of them ripen up very nicely. We have had a very mild fall so far, but still, it is a pleasant surprise.

Footwear Friday - the Gangsta Gardener

Footwear Friday was started by Sassylime,
go see her fancy footwork, and feel free to join in and show us your favorites. I am not as much of a shoe-hound as she is, but wanted to show you my gardening shoes, and my usual gardening outfit -

Now, don't be jealous, I know you all wish you could be as stylin' as I am. The hat is for sun protection, of course, but is so horrible looking on me that I try not to look in the mirror on my way out to the garden. The dark blue sweatshirt has stains and rips you can't see, but it fits 'just right' and is soft. The shoes are some old sturdy gym shoes, and you can see my wonderful jeans have taken the hit with mud stains.

One of the great benefits of gardening is weight loss, as many of you know. I lost 15+ pounds this spring and summer, with some moderate exercise, regular gardening, and, yes, that unglamorous 'watching what I eat' strategy. I lost weight last summer, too, and then when fall hit and I decided to 'take a break' from my diet, all the weight came back. Probably because I wasn't out there slinging things around in the yard every day. So- this fall, my goal is to maintain that 15 lb. loss, and work on that last 5 pounds in the spring.

That said, you may have noticed the stylish elastic waistband on my jeans. As I lost weight, I started having problems with keeping my pants up! At one point, I had my cell phone in one pocket, the portable house phone in the other, and ws carrying pots across the yard. My pants were slipping down to teenage boy levels. Not a pretty sight! I did think that maybe I could try and intimidate some of my problem plants with a 'garden rap' to go with the outfit, but I am pretty sure they would laugh, if they could, before they would be afraid of their 'gangsta' gardener.

New banner for me!

Thanks to my daughter, Edge, for my new, fall banner. She put it together from a photo of my Japanese maple, and her technical wizardry. Thanks, dear!

In a related matter, I saw a fun and easy idea in my October issue of Sunset magazine- press fall leaves, then take photos of them on a color copier and frame them. Yesterday I headed off to my local copy center with my pressed leaves.

They were having a color copy sale, 35 cents each. I got ten prints made. Here are a few of the copies. I'll post when I get them matted and framed. I think I'll try this next spring with pressed flowers, too.

Pickled beets and pickled eggs

My last post reminded me of something I haven't made in a long time, pickled beets with hardboiled eggs. This was something I grew up with, it is simple, just put equal amounts of vinegar and sugar together, and add peeled beets and cook, then add peeled, hardboiled eggs and refrigerate for a day or two. The egg whites turn pink, and take on some of the 'pickled' flavor. I was surprised when my DH, who generally eats just about anything, said, 'what's that?' when I served him some, but he had not had them before. I guesss it is a bit odd, when you think of pink eggs and all. Tasty, though. I've heard of recipes with spices in them, too. Anyone else grow up with pickled eggs and beets? (how about fried mush w/ syrup??! yum!)

Green Thumb Sunday beet harvest

I harvested my mini crop of beets a few weeks ago, I planted golden beets and regular red ones. This pic shows the 'golden' ones, they are definitely lighter in color, and still tasty. Here are both kinds, the regular red beets are on the right. I have to be tougher about thinning my rows next year. Everything was tiny because I was too soft-hearted to thin out the beets or carrots. The carrots and parsnips are still in the garden. It's nice to have something that will 'stay' out there until I get a minute to get them in!

Happy GTS!

GARDEN BLOGGERS BLOOM DAY - October 2007

Well, it's hard to believe the month is half over. We have had a few frosts, and even two days of snow, but overall, lovely and moderate temperatures so far this fall.

Blooming in my yard today:

The ever faithful Iceberg roses,

bachelor buttons, petunias, and zinnias in my flowering pots (yep, I really need to pull these, but, they're blooming!),

pansies,
asters,
chrysanthemums,

cosmos,
two stella d'oro day lily blooms,
blue queen sage,
some type of Helichrysum,

lavender,

volunteer sunflowers, and a scattering of roses.

This yellow one (name? don't know, it was here when we moved in)
is one of my favorites.

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY Fall beauty

This is my view from my kitchen window. My husband usually rips out the red vine, urgh! I've forgotten it's name, but it does spread around a bit too vigorously. It has climbed up the pine tree and is a spectacular shade of red, don't you think? Here is a closeup-- somebody tell me what it is called, please. I am embarrassed that I've forgotten its name.

This is a closeup of the Japanese maple that you can see in the first pic, on the lower left. It gets more colorful and beautiful every day. I am thinking the sheer beauty of fall almost makes up for the fact that the next season is winter (i.e. too much snow, too cold to garden, etc.etc.).

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY The Mother Ship of Squash

I grew several different varieties of squash this year, this one was a fun surprise, it is really called Bennings summer squash. We have made UFO jokes all summer. Summer squash is really good at hiding under those big squash leaves, and so we had a variety of sizes, because I would miss one (or five!) now and then. Bennings has a milder flavor than other summer squashes; I'd have to say it is my favorite this year. Of course I grew zucchini, and Yellow Scallop, Sunburst Hybrid, which are very similar, and a lovely yellow zucchini called 49er.

Grape Juice

I decided a few weeks ago that I was not going to do any more canning without some help. So when a neighbor offered me free Concord grapes, I asked my 11 yr. old if she would like to help make grape juice, something I had never done before. Maybe some grape jelly or jam, but definitely juice. We don't eat as many pbj's as we used to around here, so grape jelly is not a high-use item. They make great gifts, too, but I decided we would start with grape juice (which is delish!) and see if we felt like doing anything else after that. We picked about 6 gallons of grapes, which didn't take long. The hardest part was taking the grapes off of the stems. Some people don't when they make juice, but our extension agent advised me that the juice would have some 'stem' flavor. So, we sat in front of the TV and stemmed those grapes. K, my 11 yr. old, enjoyed mashing the grapes most of all, I think. We cooked them, then let them strain and drain overnight in the frig. This is the finished product, it is tasty, and we didn't stain too many things with juice spills. We ended up with 8 or 9 pints. One didn't seal, and the other one? hmm? maybe some grape juice thief has been around?

I know another neighbor who has green seedless grapes- hmm, white grape juice is sooo yummy! I wonder if K is up for another batch???

Garden Blogger's Muse Day - Veggies Sing !

I hope I am not being too silly for blogger's muse day, but it is the month of Halloween. If you have never seen Charlotte and Vendetta, characters on makingfiends.com , then you are missing a good smile for the day. Here is a low-res pic of them.
Charlotte (the sweet one) has taught the vegetable 'fiends' to sing a song, much to Vendetta's horror:

'Eat vegetables with every meal

Or your lips will start to peel

And your eyeballs will fall out,

And your teeth will smell like trout.'

Happy Muse Day! Happy October!

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY Last of the tomatoes

These are the last of our tomatoes. We had a cold snap last weekend, and again today. The weatherman says it will warm up, with highs in the 60's through next week, but I am glad to be done with them. In year's past, I've covered my tomatoes and kept them into October. I am glad we pulled the plants last weekend. I still have pumpkins, beets, parsnips, carrots and summer and winter squash to deal with. Not to mentions that I am really tired of figuring out things to do with tomatoes.

I blogged earlier about which tomatoes I liked and would try again, I have also heard about a yellow cherry tomato called Sun Sugar that is supposed to be wonderful. Has anyone tried this variety? I think I will put it on my list for next year to try out.

Sun Sugar

Shoes! I bought new shoes!

I am an 'old' lady - I switched over to flats over ten years ago. My feet hurt if I'm not wearing tennis shoes with some good support in them. My mother and my sister have both had foot surgery, but not me (yet). Sensible shoes and I are like peanut butter and jelly.

These black, strappy heels are the only pair of heels I own, with an inch heel. They go nicely with a red, two piece outfit I own that has black bows as trim on the jacket (it really is nice, I promise!). I would never have bought them (I don't like to shop for shoes at all, really) except I was on a trip last year or so with my daughter, the Sassy Lime, and she talked me into these very cute (if uncomfortable) shoes. I wear them when I'm trying to look really cute. I have short, narrow heeled, wide at the top feet (one shoe salesman said I had feet like a duck), and there just aren't too many shoes in my size - 6 1/2 wide.

I've been very pleased to see that flats are 'in' now, and determined to stock up before they go out of style. So I went on a rare shoe shopping trip, to get some shoes for the 11yr old, K, and to look for some flats for myself. And I found a pair of dressy black flats (with some glitter on the sides that you can't see) and a pair of Barbie-pink shoes, with heart cutouts. I have to admit that I own a pink suit (it was on clearance!) and these shoes go with it perfectly.

I couldn't bring myself to buy the pink ones, so I bought K's shoes, and the black pair for myself. The next day I was still thinking about those crazy pink shoes, so I went back and bought them. They are a bit over the top, aren't they?

Edge and I are now challenging the true shoe hound of the family, Sassy Lime, to post about her lovely shoe collection and love of shoes - c'mon Sass, let's see it!

There's no place like home

I was visiting one of my favorite places on line, Our Little Acre, and enjoying the visit, as always, when I saw a familiar place, Bear's Mill, in Darke County, Ohio. I was raised in Darke County, and our family visited Bear's Mill often, my grandmother grew up near there, and Zion's Cemetery on St. Rt. 36 has several of our ancestors buried there. I am related to the Cromer family, one of the families that owned and ran the mill.

On one visit, my grandmother noticed an old tool on the wall, and said 'that one is ours! They borrowed it and never brought it back!' (I was afraid she was going to climb up and get it! Ack!) I have not written much about my love of genealogy and family history. I became interested as a teenager, and had some great experiences 'finding' my family. The fact that they had lived in the same county for 3 or 4 generations did make my search relatively easy. (bad pun).

My sister is a lot more computer savvy than I am. She put together a great website with our family tree on it at http://elizabethsattic.tripod.com/

Thanks, Kylee, for a great walk down memory lane!

This short clip (I couldn't find any .jpegs) shows my youngest daughter, K, in front of Bear's Mill.

Freezing Rain - no, Snow ! at 5,000 feet

I am glad we got half of the vegetable garden pulled on Saturday - this morning we have freezing rain,
which quickly turned to snow at our house. (We are at 5, 000 feet elevation here in Utah) I wonder if it will stick.

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY old reliables finish out the summer

Iceberg roses weren't my favorite for a long time. I wouldn't say they are now, either, but we have two neglected Icebergs just outside our bedroom door, and they have bloomed all summer, despite needed the grass pulled out from under them. Maybe it is because they have been around a few years, but they bloomed and bloomed this summer. I'm becoming more and more fond of them as time goes by. Rain and cooler temps came today, they are predicting a low of 40 degrees, and possibly snow in the mountains. We'll see.

Pansies and pumpkins

I saw this idea in a magazine, somewhere. I bought some black violas and orange pansies, and hollowed out the pumpkin from our garden (this little pumpkin was the result of a lumina pumpkin getting cross-pollinated with some of our squash, I think).
It took a few tries to get the flower pot to fit, but it wasn't too hard.

Then I took the pot out and planted some of the Halloween - colored pansies in it, and put it back in the pumpkin. I plan to make some for my daughters and friends for fall decorations.

Maybe I'll show some more when I get them potted up. I think I'll get some regular pumpkins, and try one of the Lumina pumpkins, too.

GREEN THUMB SUNDAY Purple Ruffles Basil

This was a volunteer in my veggie garden this year. It is not so tasty to me, but I love the color, and have used it in some flower arrangements for an unusual filler. I hope it self-seeds again next season.I grew lettuce leaf basil for eating, and I have enjoyed that variety ok, but am remembering a smaller leafed basil - oh - spicy globe basil- that I think I will grow next year. Any other recommendations for yummy -or beautiful- basil varieties?

Garden Blogger's Bloom Day - September 2007

I should take paper and pencil out so I don't forget what is blooming, but the sun was almost down and I was trying to throw some grass seed on some bare spots this evening. Some of the roses are still blooming. We have not had a frost here, yet, and so are still enjoying these beauties. The volunteer sunflowers are still going strong, and the hollyhocks, cosmos, valerian, gaura, a few perennial geraniums, snaps-

This little guy is some kind of wild onion that pops up now and then. It has been fun to watch it grow and bloom this summer.

The pots have petunias, etc, still going along very well. One aster has begun to bloom, but will take off later, I think. I think my disco belle Hibiscus are done for this season. I am looking forward to seeing what they do next year.

Pasta salad with fresh basil and tomatoes

I found this recipe in my files, it is pretty tasty, and I am also looking for other good recipes that use basil, so let me know if you've got a good one. This one has tasted good enough that I've made it two days in a row.

Pasta Salad

Cook pasta and drain – cheese tortellini or bowties
While hot pour (Paul Newman’s) Italian Salad dressing over the pasta and let cool
Prepare fresh snipped basil (a lot) , and a jar of marinated artichoke hearts, drained and cut into chunks.
Add to : pasta mixture and chill for 3 hours.
Just before serving drain salad dressing from the pasta.
Add to mixture quartered red tomatoes, and large black pitted olives.
Mix together and sprinkle with fresh Parmesan or Romano cheese, and coarse black pepper.