Archive | September, 2008

Slowing down

There hasn’t been much garden to blog about and it makes me sad. I wish I was able to plant my fall/winter garden and be working with that and blogging about it. Hopefully in spring we’ll have another one going where ever we may be. The tomatoes are still producing and I’ve just been making tons of salsa, because these guys are eating like there’s nothing else in the house :lol It only stays in the freezer for a week at most! I’m kinda glad I planted so many now.

The pumpkins continue to grow. I can’t wait to see how well they do for the contest :bounce We’ve gotten a lot of rain and everything is greening up so nicely. It’s funny, in Idaho, everything dies and stops growing in the winter and here, the grass turns yellow and plants slow growth in the summer, but grow most of the winter.

The herbs are really the only other things growing/producing now. The strawberry plants and threatening to take over the neighborhood, I think next year if we were here, we’d see a ton of fruit from them. We only got a tiny bit this year.

I got a deposit from Google Adsense for $307. I’d like to tell the person on that message board that tried to screw me up, to go bugger off, but I won’t. Or did I? It comes at a great time – I had planned on it helping with moving costs, but I have enough web design clients that that will cover the move, so this money will pay for badly needed kid’s clothes. I was starting to think they’d have to wear sheets soon :lol Thank you to all my visitors!

Hurry, voting is almost over!

I had an incredible hard time voting but I finally did it…

don’t forget to vote now before it ends!

2008 Blotanical Awards

Contest: Guess the weight

New posts continue below this post

This is going to run for a few weeks because we won’t pick and weigh the pumpkin until it’s time to decorate it for Halloween.

Comment this post with your guess on the weight of our biggest pumpkin. The guess that is closest to the weight of our biggest problem without going over, will get a gift certificate from Territorial Seed, with a minimum amount of $10. I won’t post the comments with guesses though, until the contest is over! The only hint I can give you is it’ll be over 5 pounds.

Another one time only post (run, it’s politics)

When America elected Bush the 2nd time the world cried “How can 59 million people be so stupid – again??” and it’s scaring me to think there will be a repeat.

No child left behind is a travesty.

The ongoing, unending wars, are a travesty (here’s a fact for you: At the turn of the 20th century, civilian casualties of war were 5% of the total. … At the end of World War I, the number of civilian casualties was 15% of the total. By the end of World War II, civilians accounted for 65% of total casualties. By the 90′s, they amounted to 75% of total war-related deaths. In Iraq now, the percentage of civilian to military deaths is over 90%  Link)

I’m all for sustainable hunting – hunting for food and supplies, only hunt what you need. You’re welcome to enjoy the hunt, but only kill it if you need it. Sarah Palin makes my husband look like a freaking anti gun pansy and he’s the biggest gun and hunting nut I know. She also is against abortion even in the case of a child being raped. http://www.grizzlybay.org/SarahPalinInfoPage.htm I do not want this woman in any office in this country, let alone the White House.

John McCain cheated on his first wife with his current one (I can’t say much about that, I did the same, but then I’m not running for prez am I? My moral fiber has no bearing on the direction of this country!) Not only that, but he’s on camera called her a cunt. And he’s got a horrible temper. I am not impressed by this man! He scares me, like my abusve ex scares me. He’s unstable and will have so much power if he wins :( I need to at least on some level look up to my prez and I can only look on him with disgust.

Obama has problems, I know. He’s policies aren’t perfect, but at least he genuinely loves his wife and daughters and would never call a woman a cunt.

I’d take inexperience over unstable and abusive any day.

Please resume your gardening reading :)

What is this plant?

I know I haven’t had many readers lately mostly due to Blotanical’s (really Google’s) feed problem. Hopefully it’s fixed and this is picked up and displayed!

This weird yellow fruit is getting huge, please help me identify it :treehugger

http://www.garden-of-eatin.com/2008/09/11/identify-this-pumpkin/

Farming Part 2

Farming won’t happen any time soon. The USDA Rural Development farm loan program requires 3 full years of verifiable farming experience. Kinda silly, but there’s ways to do it. I am however looking at a regular single family loan…I don’t think my credit will let it go through ($9k in medical bills), but there’s always hope.

I’m sending the application off tomorrow, keep your fingers crossed!

A little wordy?

Apparently, I like blogging about zucchini, onion and bacon a lot.

Thanks to outerbanksmom for the link to Wordle, I made this one using my blog feed. Very cool :thumb

Farming

I really want to farm. Run a CSA, have a big ol’ Kubota, have to worry frantically and obsessively about the weather, risk my livelihood on my crops. Tiny Farm Blog has a set up very close to how I want to do it. Financing is the problem, specifically credit. So I got a little glint of hope when I found out some people can get help with it through the USDA Rural Development. I doubt I have a snowball’s chance, but it’s something to wish for someday.

Identify this pumpkin!

I planted 2 kids of pumpkins, both Burpee, one is a “Prizewinner Hybrid” and the other 2 plants are supposed to be “Jack O Lantern”.

There’s 2 plants, both supposed to be Jack O Lantern, planted inches from each other (both were coming in so well I couldn’t bear to pull one :lol)

One is coming in like what I think a normal pumpkin should: green and round:

(The Mystery Plant)
The other came in yellow from the very start and is a little more oval:

What is this thing?

This is the “Prizewinner” for clarification, it came in green like the first picture:

Chat with me!

Workin’ on a forum at http://www.garden-of-eatin.com/forum/index.php

I’d love for it to being a crazy fun forum that gets out of my hands so I have to have moderators and stuff to keep up :eat Join in!

So the zucchini pickles

using that recipe….they’re kinda scary. :hide The house still smells like mustard. I’m going to try pickling them like cucumber slices and see what happens.

While searching for something to make for dinner tonight, I found this recipe for Zucchini “Crab” Cakes (I hope my typo of “crap” isn’t a sign…… )

INGREDIENTS

Makes 4

  • 2 1/2 cups grated zucchini
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 cup bread crumbs
  • 1/4 cup minced onion
  • 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning TM
  • 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil for frying

DIRECTIONS

  1. In a large bowl, combine zucchini, egg, and butter or margarine. Stir in seasoned crumbs, minced onion, and seasoning. Mix well.
  2. Shape mixture into patties. Dredge in flour.
  3. In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium high heat until hot. Fry patties in oil until golden brown on both sides.

The ironic part of this is we just cleaned out all the cupboards and I threw away a bunch of spices we never use or were old. Once of them being a 2 year old can of Old Bay that I used once :lol Doh! Even funnier, a reviewer mentioned using Emeril’s Essence and I ALSO threw it away! So I’m off to see what I can use as a substitute….

I’m also on the lookout for a zucchini relish recipe if anyone has one to share! Thanks for the suggestion Jessica =)

Pickled Zucchini

Yes, I’m going there :help I went in search of things to do with the 3 more monsters I just pulled from the garden and found this:

Pickled Zucchini

  • 1 pound zucchini
  • 1 small yellow onion
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 cups cider vinegar
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons crushed yellow and/or brown mustard seeds
  • Scant 1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1. Wash and trim the zucchini, then slice them one-sixteenth-inch thick; a mandoline works best. Slice the onion very thin as well. Combine the zucchini and onions in a large but shallow nonreactive bowl, add the salt and toss to distribute. Add a few ice cubes and cold water to cover, then stir to dissolve the salt. Alternatively, transfer the salted zucchini and onion slices to a Japanese pickle maker and screw down the top; do not add any water or ice cubes.

2. After about 1 hour, taste and feel a piece of zucchini — it should be slightly softened. Drain and pat dry.

3. Combine the vinegar, sugar, dry mustard, mustard seeds and turmeric in a small saucepan and simmer for 3 minutes. Set aside until just warm to the touch. (If the brine is too hot, it will cook the vegetables and make the pickles soft instead of crisp.)

4. Return the zucchini to a dry bowl and pour over the cooled brine. Stir to distribute the spices. Transfer the pickle to jars, preferably ones that have “shoulders” to hold the zucchini and onions beneath the surface of the brine. Seal tightly and refrigerate for at least a day before serving to allow the flavors to mellow and permeate the zucchini, turning them a brilliant chartreuse color.

From the LA TImes of all places. I’ll let you know how it turns out if I survive the process :lol