Pioneer Woman at Heart

One Flourishing, Frugal and Fun Family!

One family learning to live off the land, cut back on expenses, and to live a simpler and a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

Adopted Motto

"Eat it up,
Wear it out,
Make it do,
Or go without."
~A Pioneer Sampler, by Barbara Greenwood~

Saturday, August 19, 2017

Garden Bounty ~ King


More beets were picked, and washed outside.  They get brought in for me to scrub, and remove greens to blanch and freeze. 


The beets are boiled with skins on, then peeled, sliced and frozen.  I am thrilled to get more in the freezer.  The greens were all bug eaten this time around.  There are more out there, so the next rain should plump them up.

Carrots are looking very good.

Flower beds were tackled.  Or should I say "attempted." And quickly abandoned.  Very quickly.  Things have overgrown and it will just have to wait.



The herb garden looks like a jungle, but the swiss chard is doing nicely. This bunch was blanched for pizzas.  More on that later....



Tomatoes were picked, although not many.  

 I weighed our first picking.  A little over 15 lbs.  I need a lot more than that to make sauce.  We'll see what this rain brings.


This is one strange tomato.  It has about 4 growing out of one.  Very neat to find.


We are getting more pear heirloom and more grape as well.



My New England Pie Pumpkins are doing well. The other heirloom variety is doing the same it did last year - blossoms, and no pumpkins.  No wonder Baker Creek quit selling them.  I was looking forward to trying them too.  There is still a chance.



Popcorn is not even drying up yet (thankful for that).  It's still very green.

Another picking of grape tomatoes.

Green peppers are on but not ready.  Zucchini is the size of baseball bats, which I choose to ignore for a few days.  Cucumbers are overgrown and worthless (sadly).  I guess I am planting cucumbers next year again.

Don't worry Mama Pea and Susan.  I'm taking breaks often, and the girls are helping with the picking, carrying and what not.  Even if they don't like it, they are doing it because it needs done.

I also took time to crochet on the front porch.  I was tempted to sit on the back porch, but the recent rain made my cushions wet.  There was a nice breeze and it was very relaxing.

More rain is on the way.  Thankful to get another day to recuperate before more garden harvest work.  Or housework.  The girls are learning a lot these days. 


 King getting some love from Grad Daughter.  She kept teasing him and asking him if he was hungry.  He was barking up a storm and when she didn't get up, he gave up.  Poor thing.  I made her stop and get him fed.  Look at those pathetic eyes.  They say, "why won't you feed me?"

King is my best watch dog so far.  He told me when someone was shooting off a gun last night.  It didn't occur to me until this morning, we could have poachers out there.  I'll have to be on tip-top watch now.   Corn crops are still up, and the deer are on the move.  Hubby had to work midnight, so he'll be home sometime this morning.  He didn't like leaving with gun shots going off either, but I ensured him we'd be okay.  We were.  The rain put a halt to whoever was out in the woods. 

4 comments:

Mama Pea said...

You've got some nice produce coming in from the garden. And good for your girls for jumping up (well, maybe not that enthusiastically!) and helping when their help is needed. Gardening/harvesting activities may not be at the top of their list right now, but in the future knowing how to do such things could come in handy.

Glad to know you're taking advantage of your periods of rest to get some handwork done. I know you enjoy that so much and doing something that feels so good helps in the healing process, too.

Have you found out what the shots in the night were all about? Hope there's not a repeat of them.

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Mama Pea, we do not know why there were shots going off. I suggested to Hubby that we have poachers out back. He said to keep an eye out and watch for deer movement and for more shots. I don't want to walk out there while it's going on either, but need to make sure no one is trespassing as well. Or shooting at our property. We are surrounded by crops, so it's very unusual to hear these shots too.

Yes, I am so thrilled to do handiwork. Makes me feel so normal again. I do love the harvest we are getting, considering I lost my cucumber harvest.

RB said...

Wow!!! Your tomatoes are SOOO red and beautiful. About the odd shaped one, our Grandmother use to say those tasted the best, because the plant tried hard to make it right, so it put more energy and flavor into the odd ones.
Wish we'd get some rain. It's so dry here, the farmers are watering the soy bean fields, and I've never seen them have to do that since we moved out here a few years back.
Prayers everyone has a GREAT week ahead, and a safe one too.
God bless.
RB
<><

Pioneer Woman at Heart said...

Thank you RB, rain is on the way again, so we hope to get more tomatoes, beets and even green beans yet.