First Horse Riding Competition

My 16 year-old daughter came home with several ribbons from her very first horse riding competition.  The ribbon in the center is from winning Grand Champion in ground pole division!

Meet Tiger ~ The Ferocious Jungle Cat

Turnip Turkey Burgers ~ Another Way to Cook with Turnips

I experimented with turnips again.  The kids loved what I did and they could not taste a strong turnip taste.  I didn't have a recipe.  I took 3 lbs of quick sale ground turkey, lean, and mixed it with:

1/2-3/4 cup italian bread crumbs (I just had some that needed used up)  You could make your own.

1 egg, farm fresh

2 turnips, garden fresh, grated finely (peeled first of course)

1 med. or 2 small garden onions, chopped

1 garden fresh green pepper, chopped

1 tsp. or more of dried thyme and oregano from the herb garden

Salt and Pepper to taste

I cooked these in a cast iron skillet with olive oil for about 5 minutes on each side (made our burgers pretty good sized).  The kids topped them with garden fresh lettuce and homemade pickles.  I may try these again with a different version, maybe with garlic or a small handful of cheese.  Either way, we discovered a delicious way to use turnips in our meal. 

I'll never forget reading Little House books with my daughter.  It was those books that influenced us to eat turnips and keep them in our diet.  Now we grow them every year in the summer garden.  I will also be trying a pickled turnip/beet recipe. 

Kids Baking ~ Easy Tiramisu

My older two girls got fancy with a boxed angel food cake (a cake which we plan to make from scratch from now on).  Instead of adding shaved chocolate to the top, they just tossed on chocolate chips.

Writing Burnouts ~ Stuck in a Rut

I started writing for another Web site, called Bukisa.  I can't seem to get my writing mojo going on that site.  I've managed to squeeze out 8 articles since June 2010 and have made a a whopping $.07.   I also noticed that with my articles on Helium, that the rating score doesn't always mean a low earning article.  Many of my lower rated articles have earned more than higher rated articles. 

With so much physical work outside this summer, I've been too tired to concentrate on what I'm writing.  Mixing up my routine doesn't seem to help either.  I've tried writing before/after exercise, and before/after working in the garden, and way before the kids are out of bed.  I just need to find that avenue I need to get back to where I was before summer. 

Back to the Garden ~ Peppers Frozen for Winter

I spent a few hours cutting away the end rot on all of our squash, only to notice some type of white beetle crawling around on dead squash leaves (only on the crookneck squash).  I have yet to identify them.

It wasn't easy working in a stooped position, carrying a bag alongside me, to remove all the end/wet rot.  I had talked to my husband, who in turn talked to his co-workers, who gave us a few tips.  First, the bees will start to carry the fungus around, so it must be removed as soon as you see it.  Most of his co-workers have, or are experiencing this with their squash.  They also mentioned the calcium solution and to spray the leaves once a week.

 (Look in the center of the photo to see the fungus on a dead blossom)

I've heard 2:1 solution and I have read to mix it 1 cup with 9 cups of water.  I've also read you can make a solution with baking soda.  We are mixing our solution 1 cup milk to 9 cups water.  Despite all that work, I did manage to make 2 more quarts of refrigerator pickles and picked about 30 cayenne peppers, which were frozen for winter.

Now, if I could just learn to have ripe tomatoes and ripe green/poblano peppers, when I have cilantro in the herb garden.  It seems that once the tomatoes are ripe, my cilantro has already gone to seed.

Garden Woes ~ Wet or End Rot

Today's dinner plans had to change.  The collard greens are all bug eaten and the squash, most of it, has wet or end rot.  I will have to research on a way to treat the collards next year, so they are not bug eaten.  As for the squash, we are treating it with a milk/water solution, and will continue to do that once a week.  If it works well, I'll be sure to post an update. 

I'm heading back out to remove all the fungus/mold pieces in an attempt to save the garden. 

Now I know what the pioneers felt like when they lost a crop to nature.  I wonder what the calcium levels were in the ground back in the 1800's?  Did they have this problem?  Our soil today lacks many vital ingredients to a healthy garden.