Strawberry Season

 

Today I'll be freezing most of these bad boys.  We have already had a cold strawberry pie, but there is one more frozen one I would like to try.  It's been hot, hot, hot here, so frozen sounds great.

We got lots of rain yesterday, but it stopped shortly after dinner time and the sun came out.  Our road almost flooded, but this year, a farmer's son came out and cleaned the drain that goes from his field to a branch of the river and then out to the river.  Thankfully it drained.  However, more rain is in the forecast.

I feel like my to-do list keeps getting bigger and bigger ha ha!  I am trying to balance some indoor jobs based on when the rain is going on outdoors.

My additional grow bags finally arrived, so we'll be busy filling those this week.  Our mower quit on us.  We had to borrow a trailer an haul a borrowed mower in for our "mower guy."  Hopefully we can get ours fixed.  

The garden work has put a huge limit on my handiwork time.  Heck, reading a book has been on halt for a long time too.  

Sigh....me inwardly groaning about what I need to get done today, ha ha!  Oh boy.  

Blooms ~ Household Tip

 

My comfrey bloomed for the first time ever.

More bell flower blooms

Household tip:  It took almost a dozen purchases, to find the sink strainer basket replacement that actually fit the sink.  I'm not kidding either.  I finally found one that fit, so the label with part number is being taped inside my cupboard under the kitchen sink.

Happy Homemaker Monday

I hope your weekend was fantastic!  We had a fabulous getaway to our favorite island, and it was much needed.  We noticed that we feel so much better mentally after a getaway.

Every marina on the island was packed with all types of boats.  The weather was great for our getaway.  We listened to live music on the waterfront, had good food (but expensive this year), went to two beaches and visited with our friends over there.

A one scoop waffle cone that our one daughter wanted, was $8.00 (cash only).  All food overall was higher in price, and one restaurant is not making their famous wings this summer (due to lack of supply from their personal supplier).

Today I'm joining Sandra at Diary of a Stay at Home Mom.

I will link up when she posts today.  I have to get outside to water the garden and flower beds early.  It's going to be a hot one today.

The weather . . .

80's, sunny, slight chance of rain

On my reading pile . . .

On my TV . . .

Heartland

On the menu . . .

-grilled brats, camper potatoes

-sheet pan fajitas

-grilled marinated steak kabobs

-have no idea, ha ha

On my to-do list . . .

-water the garden (unless it rains)

-run to town for errands

-take stuff to donate

What I am sewing, crocheting, knitting or creating . . .

Still working on crocheted water balloons (just soak and toss - eco-friendly).  I haven't had time to work on anything much.

Looking around the house . . .

Daughter K told us she would clean up her messes.  We shall see if that happens.

From the camera . . . 

A few new blooms on the homestead.

Something fun to share . . .

My husband bought me one of these tools from a school fundraiser.  I have had it almost 10 years and used it once.  Didn't like it.

Last week, I was watching a cooking show and learned something new.  The good ol' potato masher works better at working ground meat than the tool I used to have.  I tried the cook's tip out on some ground sausage and it worked so much better.  Why haven't I ever thought of this?  Ha ha!

On my prayer list . . .

No requests right now.

Kitchen-ness and Tidbits

 

Crockpot Queso

8 oz. organic pepper jack cheese, shredded

8 oz. organic Monterery Jack cheese, shredded

8 oz. organic cream cheese

1 4-oz. can organic green chilis, drained

2 herb garden green onions, sliced thin

1/2 cup organic whole milk

1/2 tsp. homemade garlic powder

Stir together all ingredients in a crockpot.  Cook on low for 4 hours or until melted.  Note:  Some organic canned chili's may differ in size, and you could cube the cheese too, but it will take a bit longer (block cheese makes a creamer dip vs. buying already shredded cheese).  Sorry for the bad photo, but my husband was gobbling it up, ha ha!  I do think it needs maybe a jalapeno next time.

Not sure if this is the reason my biscuits are flaky with layers, but it may be.  I watched a cooking show and if you "shred" the butter vs. cube you get a better rise with the biscuits.  I cube, but them use a butter blender to cut the butter chunks up a bit more.

I baked up some whiskey sticks for snacking.  I needed to use up some organic pretzels I had.

Not the best photo, but I finally got around to making biscuits and gravy for dinner one night.  I could not find my recipe for "fried" apples, so I used a new one and love it.  It's a "copycat" recipe and baked in the crockpot.

So thankful for the rain we got.  My garden and flower beds got a nice soaking.  The rainy days have also helped me get caught up with laundry and other indoor tasks.

One dose of Mother Nature's rain and the garlic ramps were one.  Now, if my radishes come up fast, I see some dip in the making.

I hope everyone is doing well.  I seem to see such a lack of blogposts lately.  Our state is back to normal thankfully.  All restrictions have lifted.  It has been so nice to see people's faces and beautiful smiles again.  I hope your weekend is fabulous!

Pie Pumpkins ~ Interesting Tidbit ~ Stocking up and Preparedness

(2018 photo, the last time we grew them on the homestead)

There was a point when organic butter at the grocery store became horribly high priced.  It's still high, but I try to stock up when they have coupons or a sale.

However, I learned something new!  I have not tried it yet, but I have pie pumpkins planted this year.  

There are concerns all over this country dealing with certain foods, shortages, price hikes and the like.  

Most people are aware you can substitute unsweetened applesauce for oil when baking, but this next tidbit is new to me.

You can substitute pumpkin puree for oil or butter when baking, using 1 to 1 ratio.  Meaning if your recipe calls for 1 cup oil, use 1 cup pumpkin puree.

At harvest time, I roast the pumpkins (cut in half as shown in the photo), and let them cool down.  I scrape out the pumpkin, puree it in the food processor and freeze it in freezer containers.

Of course there are many other uses for pumpkin puree, and we even make a macaroni dish with pumpkin and sage.  

I hope you enjoyed this tidbit, and I hope to learn of many more as our country attempts to heal all the massive damage that was done to it.

Providing we have a  nice garden year and a nice harvest, we'll have them this year.  

My blogger "featured post" gadget is not working.  I will only pick up most recent posts, so that's frustrating.  I'm trying to update it. 

Garden is almost in. . .

Yesterday was a busy day for me.  Although late this year, I got some things planted in the vegetable garden - green beans, wax beans, zucchini, yellow squash, pie pumpkins, beets, carrots, radishes, sweet potatoes, red potatoes, green bell pepper plants, and mullein.  

I have more to plant.  Popcorn will go in next, and when my grow bags arrive I'll get my swiss chard, collards and kale planted.  We have resorted to putting down layers of cardboard topped with soil filled grow bags in place of building raised beds this year (to avoid high cost of lumber).

However, I have something digging in my grow bags that are already out there, so it'll be interesting to see how this goes.  I may need to put up a scarecrow this year again.

Our resident ground hot almost crossed the road the other day.  Our county pest picker-upper will no longer pick up.  It's up to us to trap and release.  I just may have to, if I can locate a release location.  I have eaten ground hog (at a historical festival roasted over a pit and seasoned), but .....

Our mower guy has been showing up again and taking that all day task off our list.  Thankfully too.  It's freeing up my husband's time to help with the garden and other things still on the long to-do list here.

Tuesday Tidbits

The weekend weather really put a damper on garden work and our motorcycle ride plans.  I however, was back to extreme cleaning in the utility room.  It's a big room - coat storage, school supply, canning supply, DIY supply and other storage.  It's 98% done now.

The weather was awful.  Cold, early mornings in the 40's, windy and rain.  The wind was so bad there was flooding up by the lake shore and the ferry shut down for 2 days.  The wind blew the chicken gate open and they were out happily free ranging for a bit ha ha!

I lost 10 tomato plants to the cold weather too.  Ugh. So far, I am unable to locate any plants to replace them.  I sure hope this is not a sign of how the year will be.

I am happy to see my cherry bomb seeds are sprouting.  They'll be a bit behind the other hot pepper plants, but I'm happy to find the seeds.