GARDEN UPDATE
Let me start this week's blog with an update on the garden, which is starting to consume more of my time. We have harvested quite a few zucchini now, most of which I have cooked on the grill. I also spiralized one and used it to make a very nice zucchini and cucumber salad, dressed with just oil and vinegar. I gave a few to a friend and one to my neighbor. So far we are keeping up with production, but I fear we will be overrun soon. Anybody want some zucchini? Funny thing, Monday was "National Sneak Some Zucchini Onto Your Neighbor's Porch Day". This is true, at least that's what Facebook says...so you know it MUST be true! Anyway, here is a picture of the harvest from yesterday and this morning.
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| All I can say is...YUM! |
I actually could have harvested a bucket full of various kinds of peppers, but I am holding out on most of them so they will turn red. That is when they have the most flavor (and heat if it's a hot pepper), and also when they look the prettiest! The two red Cherry tomato plants are really starting to produce. I just snacked on a small bowlful and they are so tasty, nothing like the tomatoes that you get in the grocery stores nowadays. I wouldn't really call those tomatoes, because they taste nothing like a real tomato. Local fruit and vegetable stands have far better produce in the summer than any of the grocery stores, so we try to go there if we need anything that we don't grow ourselves. One thing we don't grow ourselves is corn. I tried it a few years ago and it was riddled with bugs and didn't produce much at all. It was too much work for the yield, so I haven't grown it since. However, our local produce stand had corn on sale this past week, 4 ears for $1.00. The grocery stores have it 2 ears for $1.00, so we decided to get some at the produce stand here in Yakima run by
Jones Farm (click
here for link to their website). Since we wanted to put some in the freezer, I decided to smoke some of it. In the past two weeks I have smoked 29 ears of corn. After I smoke it I let it cool, then cut the kernels off the cob and pack it into sandwich bags, which we then put in big freezer bags. We did this last year and it was so nice to be able to have "fresh" corn in the middle of winter. Here is a picture of the corn going into the smoker.
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| Smoking Corn |
This little smoker is turning out to be one of my most favorite things. I used to have a bigger smoker, but I like this little one better. It is a better size for smoking something for one or two people. This smoker is electric and is so easy to use. I just plug it in, put the chips in the holder, fill up the water tray, load in the food and then close the door. I usually smoke the corn for around 1 1/2 to 2 hours at 250 degrees. On the last batch I used mesquite wood chips, which I haven't tried before. I really can't distinguish between the different flavors of wood chips, but I just like the smoky taste it imparts to food. If you are interested at all in smoking food, I highly recommend this little smoker that I have, made by
Masterbuilt (
here is the link to their website). Right now it is available on Amazon for around $99 and includes free shipping.
I got off track a little bit there, but I wanted to mention the smoked corn. Now, back to the update on the garden. Everything is starting to get big, although it isn't as big yet as it has been in past years by this same time. The only concern I have is that my little Hab will not have time to give me any peppers. This is the Zavory Habanero plant that I grew from seed and got a late start because it was so small. Right now it is doing very well but hasn't produced any flowers, as you can see in this picture.
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| The Little Hab |
I am hoping that it will still have time to produce a few peppers. It's just amazing what a little time, sun, and water can do. Below is a picture of the garden now.
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| The garden as of 08/08/17 |
The onions have already bent their tops over and the potatoes will soon be doing the same, which means they are done and can be harvested. Everything else is still busy growing! I must mention that I had a huge problem pop up in the garden the other day. While putting up fencing around one of our tomatoes (you can see it in the lower right-hand corner), I accidentally placed a stake on top of my longest soaker hose (see tear below). So now I have to either fix it (hello, duct tape), or else I will have to hand-water about a third of the garden. Keep your fingers crossed that I can get it fixed!
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| Hole in hose at top |
ANOTHER ANNIVERSARY
We had another anniversary recently, but this one was not a happy one. On July 28th we marked being one year without our little Precious Baby. We still both miss her terribly. I am hoping that as time goes by I won't miss her as much, but I don't know. She was such a special kitty and I know she will always hold a special place in my heart.
FROZEN GIN & TONIC
The recipe for this week is Frozen Gin & Tonic. I mentioned this recipe in my last blog two weeks ago. I tried it out that weekend and it turned out really good! So,
here is the link to the recipe on the
Kitchn website. This was a really refreshing drink, which was very much needed as we have had triple-digit high temperatures for the past two weeks.
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| Cheers! |
HOME IMPROVEMENT
The reason I didn't post a blog last week is because we were having carpet installed and we had to get all the furniture out of those rooms. This included the office where our computer is located. So, pretty much all last week our house was in disarray, with furniture everywhere it wasn't supposed to be. Things are back to normal now and we absolutely love our new carpet. Here is a before and after photo of the living room.
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| Old carpet on top, new carpet below |
PARTING SHOT
I still can't get my videos to upload to YouTube. I think the problem is that the videos were taken on an iPad and the file format is incompatible. So you will have to be content with just a picture of Summer Girl. I know it has been a long two weeks without a Summer Girl fix, but a picture of the Black Cat Ninja is better than nothing!
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| Her favorite place now...in the garden! |
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