Happy April — hope you’re fully recovered from your cold, with no lingering after-effects! :-)
Good morning! Happy April!
After the storms that blew through Sunday evening, yesterday was cold and chilly by comparison. We got to freezing temps and below again. Today, however, looks sunny and pretty again, maybe into the mid-50’s by the afternoon, so I hope to get outside and inspect the damage from the storm, which I didn’t do yesterday.
Total reset in the sand garden after the storm last September. In the ground now is corn, collards, turnips, radishes, 4 kinds of water melon, banana melons, cantaloupe, black beans, garlic, green onions, leeks, maters, peppers, peanuts, a slew of new Glads, lilies galore, and sunflowers everywhere (7 or 8 different kinds).
I still have to replace some fruit trees now that I know the ones that are dead dead, and not just mostly dead. If the tree has no green when the Plumeria leaf (they’re last of the deciduous to leaf), it’s prolly dead dead and has to be replaced.
The bright side is I have a lot more knowledge and a better plan than last time I started. My food jungle gone be lit.
Fire Cider & soup day!
My batch of fire cider was going to be 4 weeks on the 4th, but I strained it today & had my first taste- yup, works for me! I ran out of the ‘15 minute’ fire cider about a week ago & was missing my daily dose. I had the time to fool with it this morning. I had to buy half gallon jars because the ingredients take up so much room, but the final yield after straining is slightly over a quart.
The church is having Lenten dinners every Wednesday night. Tonight is soup & sandwiches. I signed up to make a chicken corn chowder & I am taking split pea with ham, too. I did all the cooking Monday & just need to warm it up. For sure the split pea is better in the days after making it & I believe the same will prove true with the other soup.
It’s a gray & very chilly day at 54°, feels like 51°. Wind & showers are due to arrive in the afternoon. Tomorrow will be near 80 with 40% rain. The grass has finally decided it’s ‘spring’ for sure & I will have to mow the rest of the lawn this week. Some of the daffodils are past peak, but we still have a pretty good patch growing near an old stump. No buds on the peonies yet - they have shot up about a foot since I gave them some fertilizer about a week ago.
The birds are happy because the bugs are out so they are dining well. I have seen a couple of flies, so I made a DIY fly trap - if it works, it will save about $20/month buying commercial traps. The commercial traps attract flies by smelling like rotten poultry. I have some chicken carcasses in the freezer that are old - will use them for a bait source .... should work!
We have 2 ancient redbuds that are mostly rotten & need to come down, but by golly, they have bloomed this spring! I am giving them their last hurrah - won’t cut them down until the spring blooms are gone.
Actually, it’s not safe to crouch during a lightning storm
"As storm season gets underway in much of the United States, the National Lighting Safety Council is spreading awareness about some outdated safety information. “The crouch”—where you sit in a crouched squatting position with your hands over your head—is not the best course of action during a thunder and lightning storm" ...Snip... More at link
‘When thunder roars, go indoors.’
Summer Green Beans with Spicy Peanut Sauce / Homemade Chili Oil
Ing 9 oz cold cooked green beans, Sauce 1 tbl p/butter 1 tsp ea light soy sauce, rice wine vinegar Chili oil 1 1/2 tbl chili flakes 1/2 tsp Sichuan peppercorn 1 star anise 1 tbl white sesame seeds 4 tbl peanut oil (or veg oil) 4 cloves garlic , minced
Peanut Sauce Mix peanut butter, light soy sauce and vinegar and set aside.
Chili Oil add chili flakes, peppercorn, star anise and sesame seeds to bowl on heat resistant mat (or cutting board). Heat oil hot, when just starting to smoke. Turn off heat immediately. Carefully ladle oil into bowl of mixed spices; oil will bubble for a few seconds and cook the spices. When oil stops bubbling, immediately spoon/stir gently, mix everything well.
Plate green beans; top with peanut sauce and garlic. Gradually add spicy oil,
tsp at a time, mix well; add more chili oil for spicier dish. Serve at room temp.
I planted 3 test toms already 3 days ago, doing fine so far. I may plant many this week, God willing, thank Him.
