Complaint Day!

Today is complaint day!

1. My computer blue screened on me. Yes, I can restart in safe mode, but I am not a IT specialist and don't want to chance losing everything. I could take it to the shop, but I live 15 miles from town and just don't want to get dressed. So I am reduced to typing on the daughter's netbook!
2. The chickens got into my garden today. They free range everyday and finally found the garden today. They destroyed my lettuce and ate an eggplant. They trampled the squash and cucumbers. Hopefully the cukes and squash will recover. As for the lettuce, I saw my first sign of bolting and out it goes!
3. Did I mention that it's hot here? It's 95 here right now (8:45 PM). Too hot for me and too hot for my plants and livestock.
4. Rain? What's that? We have only had .5 of an inch of rain here since May 1st. We really need rain. The farmers and ranchers are suffering. PRAY FOR RAIN, please.

OK... I feel better now! How's your week been?

When Life Gives You Cucumbers, Make Pickles

Lesson 3: When Life Gives You Cucumbers, Make Pickles

Several years ago, I made sweet pickles. They were so much work. You had to soak the cucumbers in lime, change the water, rinse, repeat, etc... Needless to say, it was down right hard and a little unpleasant.  This time, I decided to try dill pickles. I am so glad. They are quite easy to make. Here's the recipe that I used for the first batch of green beans and cucumbers:

Dilly Beans:

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds fresh green beans
• 2 1/2 cups distilled white vinegar
• 2 cups water
• 1/4 cup salt
• 1 clove garlic, peeled per jar
• 3/4 tsp dill weed
•  1/2 jalapeno pepper per jar

Directions

1. Sterilize 6 (1/2 pint) jars with rings and lids and keep hot. Trim green beans to 1/4 inch shorter than your jars.
2. In a large saucepan, stir together the vinegar, water and salt. Bring to a rolling boil over high heat. In each jar, place 3/4 tsp dill, 1 garlic clove, and 1/2 jalapeno pepper. Pack green beans into the jars so they are standing on their ends.
3. Ladle the boiling brine into the jars, filling to within 1/4 inch of the tops.  Seal jars with lids and rings. Place in a hot water bath so they are covered by 1 inch of water. Simmer but do not boil for 10 minutes to process. Cool to room temperature. Test jars for a good seal by pressing on the center of the lid. It should not move. Refrigerate any jars that do not seal properly. Let pickles ferment for 2 to 3 weeks before eating.            

   
The recipe is for green beans, but I used had some brine left over, so I used the rest to pickle some cucumbers.

The jars on the far left and far right are the ones that I used for this recipe.

Here's another pic. These are white wonder cucumbers, a butterstick zucchini, and onions.  These needed to be packed tighter.

I used a different recipe on the second batch.

Here's the recipe that I used:

Kosher Dill Pickles:

• 3 1/2 lbs pickling cucumbers
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup vinegar
• 1/4 cup Ball Kosher Dill Pickle Mix
• 2 quart or 4 pint jars

Use the same procedures as in the recipe above.

I pickled cucumbers in this and green beans. I added a clove of garlic to each jar and 1/2 of a jalapeno. This was a little easier and made a small batch of brine. It would be good for days when you only have a few veggies.

Pickled green beans and onions 

Sliced Cucumbers

I'll let you know how they turn out in a couple of weeks!

Photo Update of Garden

These were taken 5/27... ENJOY!

Some of my daylillies that are blooming...

This is one of my favorites. It is deep purple with a bright yellow center.

 A white cuke is hiding in there.  These have really produced.

 The zukes have slowed down a  little.

The spaghetti squash have really grown this week.

 The banana peppers are starting to take off. Harvested one today.

 These are loaded with cherry tomatoes.

 Eggplants are starting to form.

 The lettuce is still hanging in there.The jalapenos are growing. Harvested 4 this week.

 Roma tomatoes are growing. Hope they turn red soon!

 Carrots are about the size of my little finger.

My purple queen beans have fallen over due to the weight of the beans.

Eureka beans just aren't quite ready yet...

These are 2 views of the garden. You can see the daylillies in front.

 Tuesday's harvest. My daughter took the picture. Notice that the veggies aren't stacked in straight rows...

 Lettuce for Tuesday's salads...

Today's harvest... purple queen beans, white and green cukes, a banana pepper, yellow squash, and butterstick and light green zukes.

Purple Queen beans that I cooked last night. The insides are green and they turn green when cooked. 

Hope you enjoyed!

Zucchini Recipe

I am overloaded with zucchini! Here's a recipe that uses zucchini and can be made ahead of time.

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 cup sour cream

1 packet ranch seasoning / dip

2 1/2 cups rotini pasta (I used the multi colored)

2  zucchini (I used 1 yellow butterstick and 1 green)

1  yellow squash

1 Vidalia onion (optional)

Boil pasta according to package directions. Cut vegetables in to matchsticks. Leave the yellow squash a little bigger than the zucchini. In a large bowl, mix sour cream, mayo, and ranch seasoning. Set aside. During the last 2 minutes that the pasta cooks, add the vegetables. Drain and rinse to cool. Toss ranch mixture and pasta / vegetable mixture together. Allow to chill before serving.

A couple of notes:

• Boiling the veggies for a minute just brings out the flavor. Don't cook them!
• You could also add crumbled bacon and tomatoes. I just didn't have any.
• If you use a regular onion, you may want to use less. Vidalia's are sweet, so I used a whole one.

Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance...

Lesson 2: Prior Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance

I took some photos of my garden yesterday. When looking at them on the computer today, I realized that I should have planned things out better.

These are my zukes. They are in a 6' X 12' bed. I planted a whole bed at one time. I am getting about 15 per day. Yes, there are 5 of us. There is no way that we can eat 15 a day though!

See what I mean? This is what I picked yesterday!

This bed is 6' X 12', too. It has Purple Queen bush beans in the back 1/2 and Eureka in the front. I planted them on the same day. In retrospect, I should have planted more of these and less zukes as beans freeze/ can well. If you look at the very back of this photo, you can see the tops of my yellow straight necks and speghetti squash.

This the is bed where I planted my lettuce, jalapeno peppers, eggplant, and way too many tomatoes! My  tomatoes are a tangled mess because I planted too many in one cage. They are full of fruit though, so we'll see how it goes! The lettuce was planted too late, but has produced well. I have cut it almost daily for salads.



 These are my cukes. No regrets here yet!

When we planted the garden, we also dug up all of the daylillies in the yard. We replanted all of them in front of the garden. We did a MASSIVE remodel on our house last year and destroyed the yards in the process. I love my daylillies and plan to replant them in my flower beds as we finish landscaping. For now, they're just hanging out! These are the first bloomers of the season!

Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can do today!

Lessson #1: Don't put off until tomorrow, what you can do today!

ZUKES!!!

Some of these are really BIG!! It happened so fast. These really needed harvesting Wednesday or Thursday!

My Garden

I officially started gardening on April 5, 2011.This is my first attempt at a garden. My garden is in Georgia in zone 8. Temperatures here have been HOT for the past month and we have had very little rain. My garden is planted in five raised beds that are 6' X 12'.

These pictures were taken on 5/15.

Yellow straight neck squash plants and a few carrots. The carrots were planted too late (4/5), but I decided to leave them anyway.

Butterstick Zukes planted 4/5 from seed.

More zukes. These are a dark green. Planted 4/5 from seed.

Yellow straight neck squash. These were planted from plugs in early May.

Lettuce planted from seed on 4/5. I don't know the variety. My brother in law donated the seed. It has produced well despite temperatures above 90.

Purple Queen bush beans planted on 4/5 from seed. They are just starting to flower.

Cukes planted from seed on 4/5. I also have a white variety planted. 

This is my harvest from 5/15- 3 dark green zukes, 2 butterstick zukes, 1 light green zuke, and lettuce! 

This a picture of another harvest. This is the bacon from a barrow that we showed and then harvested for fresh pork. Bacon from the farm tastes so much better than store bought!

 I also have peppers, tomatoes, and eggplant growing. I will try to post pics of them soon!