Posted on 08/01/2025 6:03:57 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
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I use sweet onions in so many dishes, but I never thought to just BAKE one on its own!
I use sweet onions in so many dishes, but I never thought to just BAKE one on its own!
Baked Vidalias are a nice side, but can even be a meal
for onion lovers served w/ crusty bread or bruschetta.
You need Minions! They work cheaper than Elves, but it does take FOREVER to get anything done. ;)
“After all, it’s only been 26 years since I installed it.”
I give Beau SO MUCH CREDIT for the BEAUTIFUL job he did in restoring This Old House. It had sat empty for five years before he started the remodel - you could see the SKY from the upstairs landing! He said it was easier once he moved the raccoon family OUT...
That said, we have this conversation all the time:
Me: Beau? We really need a new water heater.
Beau: But I just installed one!
Me: Babe! That was 35 YEARS ago!
I planted some minions but what the turned out to be was strong onions
While we’re looking at a pretty warm weekend, the temperatures will be moderating a LOT starting Monday, thank God.
Now, about that rain.
I’ll be canning up stewed tomatoes starting Monday. They’re coming in nicely. Planted some beans and zucchini and have a few zucchini to keep an eye on so they don’t get away from me.
Got some Brussel sprouts in and am fighting those blasted moths and cabbage loopers. The Spinosad seems to be helping.
Always read the packaging carefully! ;)
Thanks! Mom is a ‘champion’ pruner. She can’t pass any bush without ‘snipping’ away to get them into a ‘controlled’ rounded shape. She often prunes when she shouldn’t & cuts off future blooms. At the old house, the azaleas & pomegranate bush didn’t bloom due to being pruned at the wrong time. I have threatened to bury her with a pair of Fiskar pruners on her chest. I am going to print off the pruning guide & see that she sticks to it!
These bushes get 6-10’ wide, per the card that came with them. We are allowing 9’, which should be sufficient space.
You’ll be surprised at how quickly they grow and how big they can get!
I REALLY need some Hydrangea around here! They’re my favorite shrub and I had six varieties at my other farm. Time to hit some end-of-season nursery sales! :)
Now that the corn-borers have left, died out or been eaten by predators after destroying my sweet corn plants, the assorted-color bell peppers seem to have gotten a new lease on life. No more holes eaten in them, and I harvested a tiny, bright-red one last week. Found 2 more (also bright red and tiny) this morning,
Also, my Early Girl tomato plant, which hadn’t done squat throughout the spring and summer, suddenly has many clusters of blossoms on it. The lower leaves are crispy and dead, but new leaves are beginning to come in. Might have a fall crop after all.
This whole year has been flat-out weird.
Good Morning! 🏍
Here’s an anti-itch trick I learned many years ago — heat. I had an odd little rash that itched like mad. Anti-itch creams don’t work, so I went in search of a better solution. I found it on a discussion forum for psoriasis and eczema sufferers. When they have terrible attacks, they’ll take a long, hot shower, as hot as they can stand it. The heat gives them a couple hours’ relief. The trouble is that, aside from being a waste of water, it washes away precious oils and skin biome. A better solution is a hand-held hairdryer. You put it on “high” and sort of wag it back and forth over the itchy spot, backing off a bit when the heat is too much. The heat causes the skin’s histamine-producing cells to “degranulate” — to give up all their histamines at once. The resulting sensation is hard to describe. There’s the slight pain from the heat (don’t burn yourself!) mixed with the overwhelming itch from all those pesky histamines. Once the itch subsides and all you feel is the heat, you’re done. The itching will be completely gone for hours. I used this technique on several mosquito bites just yesterday evening before bed. Worked like a charm! I have a cheap little old hairdryer stashed in the bathroom that I use just for this.
Authentic Pozole / recipe direct from Mexico.
Very delicious. Don't forget to garnish. Can add lots of lemon juice, dash of salt.
Ing for 10 1 1⁄2 lbs pork shoulder, cooked in advance for its broth 2 gar/cl, 1 tbl cumin 1 onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped 2 tablespoons oil 1⁄2 teaspoon cayenne 2 tablespoons california chili powder 1⁄4 teaspoon oregano 4 cups canned white hominy, drained and rinsed 3 -5 cups pork broth, from cooking pork shoulder 1 cup canned diced green chilis salt 2 whole fresh jalapenos, chopped 3 whole ancho chilies, seeded and stemmed (garnish)
Requires a simple prep. Chop onion, peel and chop the 2 garlic cloves, chop the green chilies and jalapenos if you are using them and drain and rinse hominy. Boil ancho chilies in a separate pot for the garnish (read below). Now you are ready to cook.
Cover meat in pan with lightly salted water. Add 1/2 chopped onion, 2 cloves peeled garlic, pepper, cumin, and oregano. Btb on med, skim off foam that rises, reduce heat, cover/ simmer 45 min. Remove meat and broth, reserving both. Saute the remaining chopped onion and garlic in oil until translucent. Add the remaining spices, stir a min.
Add reserved pork cut into inch cubes. Stir in hominy, pork broth (if there is not enough, add chicken stock; or add it anyway for flavor, about 2-4 cups, eyeball the amount you like), green chilies and jalapenos (optional). Simmer, covered, 45-60 min til meat and hominy are tender. If necessary, cook for up to an additional 60 min til the chilies and onions are well blended into the broth. Degrease, taste for salt, and serve in soup bowls.
Garnishes that must be served: lime/lemon wedges. sliced radishes. chopped cilantro. Shredded cabbage(not red). fresh/ packaged fried corn tortillas.
Chef's note: Put ancho chilies soft from boiling (takes about 15 min), in blender w/ 1 1/2 c water, gar/cl and about 2 tbl diced onion, s/p. Blend thin, then strain. Add pulp to soup for heat. The liquid can be served as a side or saved. Beware! It's HOT!
And from a neighbors yard, planted by permission:
https://i.postimg.cc/90zF6xHJ/Butternut-08-16-2025-PTL.jpg
Meanwhile, this is what has been the main summer physical activity, A ministry, literally by the grace of God - not a business.However, I am not sure how much longer I will be able to do it (lots of stair steps, etc.)
Glory to the God of mercy and grace (and correction) for what is good, despite my protests over what is sometimes required in service.
Thanks. I know someone who used hot water for itching - he was a surveyor so in woods/brush a lot & despite taking precautions, would often end up with bites of one kind or another.
Ping to another way to deal with itchy bites.
There are many Rose of Sharon bushes on our road and I’m sure they are quite old .... a couple of them are huge! We won’t let ours get that big ... 6-10’ wide will be big enough :-)
I love hydrangeas. My granny in NC had them on both sides of the door where you came into the house from the ‘back’ which was the door they used all the time. These were blue hydrangeas and very large. That side of the house had perfect conditions - I think it got morning sun. The blooms were some of the biggest I’ve ever seen & very blue. I’ve always wanted hydrangeas like that, but never had the right spot and evidently, deer will munch on them, so we never really tried planting any. Mom had two that were given to her in pots as gifts & she did put them in the ground. She had them in a bad spot - they didn’t grow very much or bloom. I transplanted them the year before we moved and they pretty much took off & grew quite a bit & were blooming. Without care, I doubt they did much this past year.
Now that’s interesting! I’ve got a little batch of poison ivy in a couple of spots. A bit of a nuisance, and usually at night when I’m trying to go to sleep. I’ll try this idea. Thank you!
A question for the “Nursery Manager”!
The RoS are in gallon buckets & the lilac is in a 3 gallon bucket. I am guessing the RoS need daily watering & maybe every other day for the lilac? I don’t want to drown anything, but it’s hot here & I don’t want to lose any plants or stress them too much.
The RoS were not really wilted when they arrived, but slightly droopy. They were well-packed & each had a cone of plastic with a panel of something in it like row cover. Some of the plastic had tiny holes in it. I know they were hot, even with big holes in the boxes. They were mostly dry when I checked the soil. I didn’t move them off the front porch for about an hour and even without water, they had noticeably perked up - fresh, cooler air, I would guess.
We have a concrete pad near the shop so I moved them there & watered them late afternoon. Around noon today, it’s quite hot & I think the concrete makes it worse, so I moved them to one of my metal raised beds - they are sitting on top of pine straw mulch. They will be getting some shade around 3:00. I watered them again when I moved them. Hopefully, this spot will suit them (at least 6+ hours sun) until I can plant them. It’s too hot for me to be digging holes!
While they’re all still in pots, it’s best to water them 2x a day, am & pm. They should have good drainage in a pot, and they’ll need a drink 2x a day in the heat of summer.
Once planted, I would give them an initial good soak (a ‘trickle’ from a garden hose for 15 minutes or so per plant to make sure there are no air pockets around the root ball in your planting hole. If you need to water from a can, give them a gallon of water each, to do the same.
Then - dependent upon rain, treat them like any other planted thing - 1” of water PER WEEK.
Don’t panic if they look ‘droopy’ once planted. It will take a week or so for them to get adjusted, and while you’ll THINK they need a drink - they don’t! Over-watering them will also make them look ‘droopy.’ It’s a vicious cycle! ;)
Also, when planting, make sure you break up the root ball - you may need to score it with a box cutter, which is always my tool of choice for that job. You won’t hurt it - I promise!
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