Afternoon in the garden

[George Shirley]

We spent about an hour in our small garden picking green beans (third time), yellow squash, eggplant, and sweet chiles. Haven't gotten a ripe tomato yet. I suspect it's due to all the rain we've been getting and very little sunshine. We have zucchini plants nearly three feet tall, the climbing beans are almost two feet taller than the four foot tall netting, and the eggplant are nearly past five feet tall. With all that water and lots of good compost mixed into the bed before planting they are going wild.

The brown crowder peas aren't climbing yet but have leaves as big as saucer and some even larger but no blooms yet. The Hopi red lima beans are making beans now and still blooming like crazy so it won't be long before we pick those.

My old Ames Garden Buddy has bit the dust, my daughter gave it to me at Christmas about ten or twelve years ago and it just can't handle my big behind any more. Bought a deluxe tractor scoot from Amazon and it came in today so I put it together. Hope it lasts at least as long as the Garden Buddy. As a matter of fact I hope I last that long.

Looks like rain again.

[The Cook]

Wish we would get some more rain. Have had to water some of the plants. The summer garden is getting off to a late start. Tomatoes were set out 5/7, the peppers on 5/15 and the cukes and zukes yesterday. Still have to set out acorn and butternut squash and watermelon. I may plant some green beans in one of the raised beds

The asparagus and rhubarb are still going, as are the weeds. Strawberries have started ripening. Some of the fruit trees look like they will having a good crop. My Petit Pois are blooming and setting some peas, finally. Blueberries are almost ripe and plentiful. Must get them netted before the birds find them.

Heading to the Farmers Market later this morning. Hope to find something interesting to eat. If not, will stop at the curb market and see what they have. DH bought a cantaloupe there yesterday that is huge and smells almost ripe.

[George Shirley]

We hit the supermarket yesterday and they had some huge white, wrinkled skin cantaloupes for sale. We didn't buy one because it was way to big for two people but we saw them going out of the store in pairs. I asked the lady ahead of us in line for check out what they tasted like. She didn't know as it was the first one of these she had bought and she bought two of them. These things were almost as big as a soccer ball so there must be plenty of meat in them.

Supermarkets here in Houston area get fruit from all over North, Central, and South America so the cantaloupe could easily be an import. I am old as I remember in the forties my Dad going down to the docks when the banana boats came in and buying a stalk. Mom wouldn't let him in the house with it until he checked it for snakes and spiders. The whole stalk hung in a dark closet so they wouldn't all ripen at once and we devoured them until they were gone. Seldom say any fruit in local grocery stores, most of which were owned and operated by European immigrants who came there in the teens and twenties and had little hole in the wall stores. About the only other fruit we got was figs, pears, muscadines, and satsumas, which grow well in SE Texas as do most citrus fruit. My grandparents would be astounded at modern supermarkets if they were still around. Heck, I'm often astounded at the plethora of foods they stock and I read labels too. There a few countries that we don't eat food from there.

Big birthday party this afternoon, DW hit 75 this week and two great grands hit 12 so a family birthday party. I just baked a cake for DW and yesterday made a large Anasazi bean casserole with sausage, rice, sweet chiles, onions, and garlic. We had a small bit of it for dinner and I like the Anasazi beans, they're a small pinto but very tasty.

I'm also prepping to can another four pints of green beans.

[songbird]

i'm glad to hear things are coming right along down there.

:) you never know these days. :) do you have four wheel drive, a reverse gear and mud flaps?

lucky for the drought in Texas finally getting a break from all of these storms, with reserviors filling up again.

we've not seen much rain for the past few weeks, an inch or so in three weeks is well behind normal. the ditch out back is quite low for this time of year. i could almost get in there and do some needed work on cutting brush back and cleaning up a few things that have washed down from upstream, but the water is still too cold...

songbird

[The Cook]

Where do you find Anasazi beans?

[George Shirley]

The front wheels swivel so I can steer it, reverse gear is pushing backwards with your feet and no need for mud flaps. I do like the pneumatic tires versus solid tires, they will probably last longer. We have a steel wagon with pneumatic tires that is 20 years old and the tires are still good. We store such things in the garden shed, may get hot in there but not direct sunshine.

Our cold water runs hot in the house for about two or three minutes when turned on. Even with reflective foil under the roof and lots of insulation the attic gets very hot.

Put up the four pints of green beans this morning, waiting for the pressure canner to cool down now. Made a birthday cake for Miz Anne, got side dish ready for family birthday for Miz Anne and two great grands. Gonna be noisy and lots of baby kisses.

[George Shirley]

Amazon carries them as does Walmart, the local Kroger Marketplace here has them in stock also. Sometimes if you ask your grocer they will stock them. Reportedly they give you 25% less gas than regular pinto beans. I'm encouraging my middle grandson to ONLY eat Anasazi beans.

Finished the green beans at 1000 and then took a nap, had another bad night with my shoulder spurs giving me trouble. I guess I'm going to have to have surgery but will put it off again if possible. I already have enough surgery scars that people think I've been in a knife fight. Getting old is hell but it sure beats the alternative.

[songbird]

...

i thought mudflaps'd fit nicely with the dawg and the gunrack... :)

i spray the tires on the wheelbarrows with some UV protectant and that seems to help keep them from degrading quickly.

sounds like some passive roof venting would help there?

aww! congrats to you all on being happy and holding together after all these years.

nothing put up here lately. friend said rhubarb was good in the crumble and that she added apples and cherries to it. i'd give it a whirl... haven't met a crumble i didn't like.

songbird

[George Shirley]

Lots of that up there but still insufficient. I may put in a larger solar vent soon.

As usual it was a very noisy party. Daughter, her husband, wife and I, two neighbor kids, three grandkids, six great grands, one dog. Lots of laughter, birthday songs, presents to open, baby kisses, and a very large amount of good food including three birthday cakes. Granddaughter's significant other has joined the Navy reserve and is going to boot camp in August and he had to work today so didn't make the party. One birthday each month until September when there's three more. I think we have to many kids. Naw, we love them all.