Posted on 07/21/2017 9:08:26 PM PDT by greeneyes
The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds.
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I was observing that it sure seemed like the swimming pool of 4000 gallons didn't last very long. So hubby fessed up - seems he had a few occasions that he turned on the water from the pool to his garden, went inside and got on the computer and forgot it - hence one of the reasons that the pool is already empty.
He said he needs a pump so that he can just go out and water the garden and get it over with - the gravity method is too slow. I agreed, but also suggested that setting a timer might work too-he didn't seem to care for that solution though. LOL
Well we got a few peppers most were shriveled, and had to have the bad spots cut off, but tasty in a stir fry. Hubby also got a few onions and some beets, and quite a few taters.
I steamed some beets, and then skinned them and sliced them potato chip thin with a mandolin, fried them in oil till crisp, drained, sprinkled some salt on them, and they were really good - best recipe ever - no earthy taste-just sweet and salty- what's not to love?
Speaking of bones - we actually had a store that was selling some beef ribs for barbeque recently. So I got a couple of packages. Now I always simmer the ribs in water for about and hour and half before grilling- usually put a little hickory smoke and soy sauce in the water, but this time I just used salt and pepper.
After they cooked for a while, I pulled the meat off the bones and put the soy, hickory smoke, and bbq sauce in with them in a small crock pot. Then I put the bones back in the stock pot broth along with the celery, onion, carrots, and some balsamic vinegar.
That is now cooling. I'll scoop off the fat tomorrow and can a batch and freeze the rest - Bone Broth - my favorite cold weather drink for lunch or supper.
I have some space in my garden now that the garlic is harvested, but I'm going to wait till later to plant stuff - making a list of short Days to Maturity items to plant this fall and next spring. Best to have a spring crop and fall crop and forget about July and August except for maybe a few buckets for tomatoes and cukes.
Hubby didn't get any cukes - makes me wish I'd planted one. Last year I got all the fresh ones we wanted and grew enough for 2 batches of pickles - all from one plant in a 6 inch pot - I never got around to repotting it into a bigger one. Just stuck a tomato cage in the ground around it - worked great.
Hope you are all doing well. Prayers up for all. Have a great weekend. God Bless.
Pinging the list.
Hot and humid here...the cherry tomatoes like it, but my dog and i don’t.
I over planted due to chipmunk attacks. Many things have come out with about the right spacing. The turnips overly succeeded and need to be thinned this weekend. The thinned ones are big enough to be used for greens.
Well, I don’t particularly like it either. On the other hand - I am finally warm. LOL
I seriously wish I liked greens. They are so good nutritionally. I keep trying new recipes, but so far yuck.
I once liked spinach that they served at our school - it was canned, but they seasoned it well, though I am not sure with what. I used to eat my spinach and everyone else’s including the teacher.
The bone broth sounds great. I like a good hot cup of beef broth in the winter so will have to try that. It’s been raining a lot here. I’ve been getting a lot to eat from the garden. I got a zuke so big I could have clubbed someone with it. The 3 foot high plastic fence has kept all the critters out too. My Indian corn in the tree planter is looking very nice. I dreamed up something I’m going to try. Hot Italian sausage in a stuffed pepper (tin foil) on the grill. Any suggestions, should I precook the sausage first. I broke down and bought a food dehydrator finally, lol. I’m getting all kinds of peppers, planning on drying most of them for my winter bean soup.
I would cook the sausage first - I take no chances with any kind of ground meat - even if it’s been cooked, and I don’t like mushy peppers-they got to be crisp tender for me.
I was making a big batch of bone broth, so I used the 12 quart stock pot. However, sometimes in the winter, we have shank bones, and I will put those in the crock pot on low for 24 hrs.
Those you roast in the oven for a bit, caramelize the onions etc. put some water in the roaster to deglaze it and add it to the liquid for the crockpot.
Our Walmart had some chicken feet here while back - already cleaned and ready to go - I put those in with the bones from a roasted deli chicken and it made the best chicken broth ever! So rich and gelatinous.
Hot and humid in Pittsburgh PA area. Hoping for rain. I’ll have to water my patio garden with the hose tomorrow morning. My coleus, lobellia, cedum and marigolds really soak up the water.
I have been trying to eat better lately. I got pretty sick a couple of weeks ago. A hunters breakfast of gravy, bacon, ham, and eggs had my blood pressure sky high for a week. It seems two of those breakfast burritos with egg, cheese, and a little bacon in them keep me from being hungry most of the day with no side effects. I tried something new this week for lunch. Fried Crab cakes with some fresh sliced cukes on the side from my garden. They were very tasty.
We don’t have any flowers to speak of that require water. Huge patch of day lilies and in the spring, we have tulips, daffodils and hyacinths.
When I was a teenager, a person didn’t have high blood pressure, unless it was higher than his age plus 100. So by that measure, I don’t have any problem as long as I take my medicine.
I track it at home, but in the office it is always way more. I take the device with me to calibrate it, so my cardiologist said he’s not concerned, and I don’t have to take another pill.
For years, I faithfully followed the AM. Heart Assoc. low fat diet. Well, my good HDL went too low. My bad LDL went too high, and my triglycerides went up up up. So I started to read Pub Med and did some researching, because I was gaining weight, even though I wasn’t eating much, and exercising like crazy, and I felt like I was starving to death with in an hour of eating anything.
So I did all this reading, decided I was becoming insulin resistant and redid my entire plan of eating. Within a month, I had my all my lipid numbers in the normal range for the first time in 20 years. Except for the total number - it was only a little high. Six months later, even more improvements.
What did I do? Well, I had already cut out soda pop and quit adding sugar to anything. So I cut my starches such as bread and potatoes-especially the bread - 50-100 grams is the max. I added good fats - nuts, olive oil, and butter from grass fed cows. I switched from Skim milk to organic whole milk and I use a cup of whipping cream per week - mainly in chia tea, or on berries for dessert. I also drink lemon or lime water.
I do make an effort to eat something green every day, but that’s a struggle, unless I make a smoothie and throw it in with the berries and cream.
Turns out that you need fat to make good HDL. Lard without additives is not bad for you and has a protective effect on the liver, but since I don’t make pie crust or biscuits, I don’t need to use lard. I do use coconut oil for stir fry sometimes or ghee.
It also turns out that you need vitamin K2 to prevent calcium buildup in the arteries and to get it to your bones. What are the sources of that? Egg yolks, butter from grass fed cows, and cheese - especially gouda. So I eat plenty of cheese, butter, and drink whole milk.
I am eating better too - I grow food - that’s bargain basement organic, and I buy organic when the store has it-avoid the pesticides etc.
I have often made the statement that the USDA food pyramid made no sense to me, based on the nutrition that I was taught in high school home economics. After all, when you want to fatten up the cows, you feed them grains.
But only after I started to read the “real” research that has been done, did I realize how accurate that observation was! The other thing was breakfast - always hated it. Was never hungry when I got up, and didn’t get hungry unless I ate.
So the research, once again, shows that if you are not hungry just don’t eat - it helps to repair your insulin receptors so that you become less insulin resistant. Your body will then produce less insulin.
Insulin is a powerful hormone that causes hunger and weight gain. So now you have it - my new plan of eating healthy. LOL
I told my docs that I wasn’t following the “guidelines” anymore, and they both said whatever you are doing - keep it up.
I have a bumper crop of basil so far this year. I wonder if fresh basil would be good in spinach? Have you ever tried poke salad? Try looking up the nutritional information on it, and you will really be amazed.
Do you make pesto?
When I used to batch preserve for pesto, I processed the pesto in the Cuisinart to a chopped paste. I Froze it in bags and when it was time for pesto I would process garlic then add oil, then pesto and parm. Tasted freshly made every time.
should be:
...then BASIL and parm.
The tomatoes are coming in ..... two roasting pans full in one picking & I need to get back out there and pick again! Tomato sandwiches, tomato pies are good for starters, but I need to start canning/freezing ... salsa will be the first project.
My jalapenos aren’t doing so well this year, but the Hungarian Wax Peppers are just fine. I picked everything & now have 4 cups of “mush” in the freezer for making Hot Pepper Butter at a later time. My SIL has jalapenos galore so I can get what I need from her for making Jalapeno Pepper Jelly.
The straw bale garden is doing well; however, it would be doing better if I hadn’t overcrowded it. I have lots of cukes, the eggplants are producing, I’ve gotten some yellow squash (the squash bugs just found the plants - boo hiss), and I have okra .... growing it for the first time. I’ll probably try some fried okra over the weekend. I’ll definitely do the straw bales again - a great way to extend my garden space without having to put in more raised beds, plus I’ll have great compost once the gardening season ends.
All is very dry now - watering the straw bales, but the tomatoes need a soaking today. I’ve put out water for the birds. A cute little doe has been visiting and eating all the hostas - gourmet salad. The crows were hanging out (flock is now up to 11), but as soon as the fences went up around the garden, they quit coming .... ‘funny’ how that works!
Found this recipe - something different: Lemon Summer Squash Bread. It’s made with yellow squash, although you could use zucchini.
http://www.creative-culinary.com/lemon-summer-squash-bread/
Nice to hear about your health plan. We eat and feel so much better during the gardening season. Our garden is just bursting now, just picked the first 2 tomatoes other than cherries. Grean beans almost ready, and we have a ton.
I also put up extra fresh basil in the freezer. I chiffonade chop it, and put it in a ziploc with enough olive oil to coat it all. Squeeze out any air. I don’t stuff the bags that full so when I want some I can break off a chunk. Great in pasta or any dish when you want fresh basil.
Bummer about you running out of water. I’m glad your hubby was honest about what he did, I’m sure he felt sheepish.
This reminds me of a question – how many of you water your garden is. I have been watering mind the last two years and I am sick of it! We use our well water, that has too much sediment in it for drinking. It also runs out after about an hour. So cast isn’t an issue. But I am sick of dragging a heavy hoes out there! I have a physical problems with my arms as it is, and just keeping up with weeding, staking, and the produce is probably at the limit of what I can do.
I’m thinking of just letting nature takes it’s course but then when I think of my little babies out there shriveling up...I give in
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