Photo Update

I just don't know how you bloggers do it.  I simply cannot get the photo and the post together at the same time! Here are photos that go with some recent posts...

Here are the homemade Fig Newtons in progress (I forgot to get a photo of them already baked and sliced).

Here are the pears from making pear sauce:

This has nothing to do with anything but I thought I'd introduce you to my very fancy high-tech kitchen compost bin.  Every evening one of the dc feeds the daily kitchen scraps to the 'worm tower'.  Behind it you can see my Zone breakdown on an index card that I taped to the counter backsplash.  Yes, I have to overcompensate.  The zones are in 4 groups and they correspond with the week of the month.  During afternoon chores we try to concentrate on the zones for that week.  That's always the plan anyway.

When I harvested my basil several weeks ago I "hung" them inside (reusable!) paper lunch sacks.  I used twisty ties to connect the top of the bag and the stems together (Thanks, J, for teaching me how to do this last year!).  The schoolroom sure smelled nice during the week that they were drying.

There was a parade in our town recently and the poignancy of it all sort of hit me mid-parade.  As I watched the Color Guard, the military vehicles and Veterans, the farmers on their antique tractors, covered wagons, the children parading past, and even the promotional people advertising their businesses (representing free enterprise to me in the scope of it all), I thought, "Wow, THIS is the United States in the past, present, and (hopefully) future.  THIS is what is holding our country together and what makes it strong - all in one place for a moment in time."

 

Here are some photos of the raised beds.  After I took the pictures I cleared out the bed on the far right.  I took the cukes off of the trellis and cleared all of the squash, etc that was done.  That left the oregano, a few beans that never did anything over the summer, and the cantaloupe/sweet potato that are creeping over.  Then I planted a tomato, basil, sage, bush beans, lettuce, and kale in that bed with a sweet pea plant by the trellis.  We'll see how they do.  I'd like to also get a few more plants for that bed.  Some ideas: lettuce, spinach, swiss chard, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, beets, peppers or more sweet peas. 

I think more herbs will be a must... maybe some thyme to make up for the lost thyme that was in the container next to the black widow I doused with poison Friday.  It was too close for comfort so the mint and thyme are a loss (sigh).  I wasn't taking any chances with disturbing the spider before I could catch or spray it though.

You can also catch a glimpse of the cantaloupe on the back side of the trellis.  Another is of the basil coming back after harvesting.  The hummingbird vine on the tepee trellis is finally growing and starting to cover it.  It's fun to train the vine up and down to cover the sides.  One side is open for the door.  The last picture is of a lonely cantaloupe in a flower bed. 

I've been sick and just love my crockpot.  When I knew I was down for the count I tossed a big bone in there from the freezer, filled it with filtered water, added a few generous shakes of Real Salt and a splash of Apple Cider Vinegar (I alternate between Spectrum and Braggs.  I was able to drink hot broth any time day or night (and did many times around 3am last week!).