Pioneer Woman at Heart

  I finally got a chance to join this again.  The tomatoes were exhausting this year, but we are thankful to have them. The tomato plants have all been yanked, and are done for the season.  That was a big job.  The yellow squash and the zucchini plants have been yanked. (that's just the zucchini plants) The plants were huge this year.  I had not had time to pull the plants earlier, and it appears that the bees cross pollinated the zucchini with the yellow squash plants.  I am still getting some nice yellow squash, but some plants are like in the photo above.  Either way, they are out now.  I'm trying to leave the acorn squash, spaghetti squash, and pie pumpkins in as long as I can.  We got more work done on "Chicken Castle" or otherwise known as the Hilton Hen House.  We still need to frame in the door (woohoo for a regular walk-in door for me), build the door,  frame in the windows (yay for ventilation on hot summer days), then sid...

  I have attempted to try this vegetable more than once (back between 2012 and 2015, but could not find it here locally.  Finally, we have found it at one store recently. I roasted it with olive oil and salt and pepper, to get an idea of the flavor we are working with.  I was told it would taste like a golden potato, by roasting it this way.  It did not, but it was delicious, and creamy in the center. I peeled it, diced it and tossed it in olive oil.  I sprinkled it with salt and pepper both.  I roasted it at 425°F for 40 minutes (stirring half way during roasting time).   A rutabaga is a cross between cabbage and a turnip.  It is a root vegetable.  Do you grow rutabagas in your garden?  We are considering it, as we have a terrible time finding it in our stores (or any farm stand) in our area. I have one more to experiment with, and I hope to return to the same store and get a few more. I did not get any answers about the bee k...

  This was not all in one day.  I do have a question at the end of this post today.  Actually two questions after someone stopped at our place yesterday evening. I made the breakfast bell peppers again this week.  I used up spinach and bacon, that we had leftover from our camping trip.  The top pieces of the bell peppers were saved for another meal. Roasted the first of our spaghetti squash for a chicken dinner casserole.  I saved some seeds, but gave the rest to the chickens.  It was not worth my oven time, to roast the last 1/4 cup or so of seeds. I roasted a second spaghetti squash to make this dish.  We love it.  It is a meatless dish, but pretty good, and easy to make when you still have tomatoes.  I have also used cherry or grape tomatoes from the garden in the past.  Not only is it delicious, it's very self sufficient.  You can grow everything for this (aside for the black olives), and you can make your own feta. ...

  I went out to pick a spaghetti squash for this week, and ended up bringing in 3 of them, and look what I found!  I do have acorn squash on the vines.  They were just hidden.  I saw that one apple tree was completely gone (except one), so I brought in a few from the other tree and sliced it for a taste.  Delicious, and ready to pick. Our homemade apple picker, ha ha!  I think it's time to buy some real tools for this job.  We planted the two apple trees in May of 2012. We planted granny apple trees later, but they did not make it.  I guess we never thought to replant.  Maybe next spring.  I have not weighed the apples yet. 

  I have never been good at keeping a rosemary plant alive during winter indoors.  It will not last outdoors in our climate, so they are dug up and brought inside. I took a cutting from my outdoor plant, and put it in water, changing the water daily.  I forgot to write the initial start date, but.... It began to get one root in June.  That root took off, and eventually it fell off, and then I checked again, and it had 4 roots.   I planted it indoors. Here's to hoping I can keep it alive all winter, and not have to buy new plants in the spring.  I figured, if I have a few extra plants, I have a better chance ha ha! Here it is in August, and it has new life showing.  So happy!  By the way, the top turned brown at the beginning of potting this, so I cut back on the water.  I also used soil specified for cactus type plants.  If I can keep it alive all winter, I can start my own plants in the spring again, and not have to buy them. Here ...

  I've gotten most of the jalapenos sliced and frozen for the winter/spring season.  I used a few to make another batch of fresh salsa as well.  There are a few more hot peppers to pick yet. I canned one batch of hot pepper relish, using up the hot banana peppers, two bell peppers and some jalapenos.  I am not getting enough hot banana peppers to make it twice.  I'm okay with that. We are still enjoying our slicer tomatoes for meals like tacos, breakfast side dish, topped on burgers, or in other meals.   I will do a re-check on our hot pepper jelly, but I honestly don't feel I will get enough hot peppers over all to can any this season.  The evenings are dipping to the 40's here, so unless we heat up again, the plants won't last much longer.  We never did get any fall planting done.  Life can throw a wrench in your plans once in a while. We hope to get back to the chicken coop this week, during evenings.  It's on the top of the list...

  It's nearing the end of our garden season.  The rain is arriving here, so I will wait for the garden to dry up before pulling some more plants/stakes. The hot peppers are doing okay this year, but some did not make it.  Oddly, I got one lonely Anaheim pepper from 3 plants I grew from seed.   I brought in another 15 green bell peppers as well. It's getting down to the 40's at night this week, which is perfect weather for camping.  Speaking of that, we got our very first camping trip in this year.  It was so nice and relaxing, and the campfire meals were delicious. One breakfast we made - omelets with garden bell pepper, onion, spinach, bacon and cheese.  The other breakfast contained spinach, feta, bacon, and topped with homemade fresh salsa (made with garden goodies). We took a walk, played cards, I brought handiwork along, and a book.  On the drive home, I pulled out my knitting project, only to find out that we must have accidently l...