Starting to garden for this year...

I was very happy today to be able to go and buy most of our seeds for our vegetable garden. We will be simplifying our plantings this year, emphasizing the things we really use, and not planting so many different things. Here is what I bought:

24 pounds of seed potatoes
3 pounds onion sets
2 varieties of tomato seeds
green bush beans
sweet corn
pickling cucumbers
winter squash
pumpkins
zucchini
yellow summer squash
Swiss chard

I also got 6 broccoli and 12 cabbage plants

I still need to find pepper seeds, but they didn't have any of those. I'll look elsewhere soon.

We hope all of this translates into an abundant harvest this year. I will start my own tomatoes, peppers and sweet potato plants in the greenhouse.

We have had lots of rain recently, for which I'm grateful. As soon as things dry out enough, we'll start getting the garden ready and put out the potatoes and onion sets.

It still remains to be seen if the rhubarb we put out last year survived the drought. The garlic is up and there is lots of it!

I'm looking forward to it! I would love to hear from some of you about your gardens and plans and hopes!

Brown Bagging It.

Pay no attention to what I spilled on the stove top. I grocery shop only about 6 times a year, so when I do it, it takes most of a day. Remember the soup I posted yesterday? I mentioned it would serve 3. There are only two of us here, so when I packed my lunch to take along today, I heated the last portion and put it in a thermos. I also took a small jar of homemade yogurt with a little maple syrup in it. Oh, it was all so good!



We have a membership in Sam's Club and there are some items that I buy there because the prices on them are the lowest I can find. I needed to get some of my husband's favorite bath soap (Irish Spring - I use homemade soap, but I'm not going to take his favorite soap away from him!) I went into that section of the store. There are long, double-sided isles, packed with all kinds of things from toothbrushes, to supplements, to diet aids, protein powder, power bars...etc. I got to thinking about how most of the stuff there is purchased by people who don't know how to eat in a healthy way. It's very sad.

I had a good trip. I even picked up a few items of clothing in a thrift store for myself. It is Wednesday. On that day, Senior Citizens get a 30% discount. There ARE some advantages to aging! :)

Oh, Deer...

Some time ago, a friend gave me a pint jar full of canned venison (deer meat.) It has been sitting on the shelf patiently waiting for me to think up a way to use it. For supper, I decided to make soup. Here are the ingredients I gathered. The venison, a pint of chicken broth, some of the basil that I preserved last year in raw apple cider vinegar, a small chunk of cabbage, two skinny carrots, some Swiss chard, a scallion and fresh kale from the greenhouse, and a garlic clove. You can also see in this picture a small bowl that contains 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour, combined with 1/4 cup yogurt:



I made this soup in the morning, and finished preparing it right before dinner time. During that time, I let the whole wheat flour soak in the yogurt.



To my cast iron Dutch oven, I added a Tablespoon of butter and a Tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil and heated that on low heat:



The scallion and garlic are minced:



and then sauteed for 2 minutes, stirring constantly:



The carrots were scrubbed and sliced:



I removed the ribs from the kale and then chopped up all the green things:



When the saute was finished, I added everything (including a teaspoon of the basil) except the flour to the pot:



I brought it to a boil, reduced to simmer, put the lid on and let it cook for 30 minutes:



I put the soup into the refrigerator to wait for suppertime and then added some of the juice from the pot to the soaking flour and stirred that well.

The cold soup was transferred to a stainless saucepot and I brought it back to a boil and gradually stirred in the soaked flour, then stirred and cooked it until the flour had slightly thickened the broth. I like my soups to have more "body." I then put in RealSalt and freshly ground pepper to taste.



It was delicious, and would serve 3 nicely.

Little Dresses for Africa

Not long ago, an internet friend who blogs here, mentioned that she had made "some of the little pillowcase dresses for Africa." I had never heard of it, so I looked online and found this wonderful charity! http://www.littledressesforafrica.org/blog/ For me, it is a perfect fit. I often have small lengths of cotton fabrics left from various projects, and I like to do some ongoing charity work. I used to knit and crochet things, but had to give that up because it hurt my hands too much. But I can still sew with no trouble! I've been working on the little dress project for a few weeks now, and here is the result:



You can find instructions on just how to make them here:http://www.nancysnotions.com/text/pdf/LittleDressesforAfrica_pattern.pdf

If you mail them here: http://www.nancysnotions.com/text/Landing/creative_kindness/little_dresses.html , Nancy's notions will see to it that they are shipped where they need to go.

They also ask for "britches for boys" which are little shorts. I plan to make some of those next and then start on more dresses. The dresses are very easy to make and I enjoyed it immensely thinking about the pleasure for the little girls.



Here they are, ready to go:

Day 1 - :)

Last night before I went to bed, in a saucepan, I put the following:

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
2 Tablespoons yogurt
2 cups water

I covered the pan and then this morning I added the following:

1/8 teaspoon RealSalt

Then I brought it to a boil, simmered and stirred for a little while until it was nice and thick and then served it up with:

butter
real maple syrup (from the maple syrup festival not far away!)
goat milk

YUM. My poor husband doesn't care for oatmeal, so I certainly don't make it every day, maybe once a week. But he does care for ME so he generally eats what I put in front of him.

This little post is hooked up with the Hearth and Soul Blog Hop!

It's That Time Again! :)

Laundry Day (Hip-Hip Hooray!)

“Laundry Day” is said with ease,

But I am moved to differ.

Because of e-lec-tri-ci-ty

Our joints are getting stiffer.

“What can we do?” My heart doth cry,

Are we all doomed to suffer?

With all our faculties awry

Because of power’s buffer..

Between us and the need for work?

We sit and use our thumbs,

For texting, email and the like.

We’re turning into bums.

“No! No!” I cry, it cannot be!

We need lots more activity!

Get up, get out, oh see it there?

There’s swaying clothing in the air!

The sun is out, it’s warm, it’s free!

I’m moved to tears..how can it be

This simple labor I have found

Is possible the whole year round?

My limbs and joints quite happily

Engage in this activity.

I reminisce and contemplate

Beloved Earth’s eventual fate.

If we are very circumspect,

And treat Her with devout respect,

Our grandchildren will join the throng

Of happy launderers who prolong

Their own lives, and the lives of friends.

We will accomplish the good ends

Of clean air, land and water too.

I think this is what we must do!

-Yolanda 2011

March in the Greenhouse

It's 47 degrees F. outside, but a beautiful sunny day here in southern Indiana. I knew it would be getting really warm in the greenhouse, so I went out to have a look around. Here is the view from the door:



And you can see the temperature inside of the greenhouse!



It is time to take off the floating row cover. Look at how lush the bed looks today!



The Mache (corn salad) is starting to go to seed. It is definitely a cold weather green:



See the rampant chickweed growing amongst the bunching onions?



One variety of kale:



The other variety of kale:



The Swiss chard is making a comeback.



There are a few green onions left:



Even one lonely leaf lettuce that survived!



A view from the other end:



We will use up what's left as best we can before it all goes to seed. I keep the Swiss Chard through the spring and early summer, just by cutting off anything that looks like it is trying to bolt. That works very well.

I cleaned out most of the Mache, and will turn that end of the bed into a hotbed to start vegetable and flower plants for the garden, very soon.