stat counter

Friday, July 11, 2008

An Unusual Sight

The sun was shining. Streaks of lightning were splitting the sky. Thunder was booming and crashing. Rain was pelting down, pouring like a waterfall off the front porch. We've had TWO days with rain- good, soaking rain. I can almost hear the plants sighing in relief!
Sam and Monique, who usually retreat into the safety of the coop when the skies get dark and stormy, were evidently confused by the light. Sam decided to do a duet with the thunder by crowing loudly between the booms, insisting that he be fed immediately and let out into the yard to investigate. So there I was, at risk of being turned to cinders by a bolt of lightning, feeding chickens.

Wednesday, July 09, 2008

Silver Queens and Salsa

Here's today's meager haul from our little garden. I thought there was something wrong with the okra; it was white. Okra is supposed to be green or burgundy, isn't it? It probably has some disease and isn't edible, I thought. Then I remembered that I’d planted a new (to me) heirloom variety, Silver Queen. Well, duh! Why is it called silver? Silver Queen is NOT green, it’s kind of a pale creamy, almost white kind of green. The seed catalog says it’s supposed to be very tender when picked young, but this may have been on the plant too long. We’ll see.
There were only a few little tomatoes ripe today, and a few squash. This is probably the end of the squash. Squash- vine borers have been doing their dastardly deeds- they’ve already destroyed the zucchini and have begun work on the yellow squash now. With our long season, I may have time to plant more- I’m going to try, anyway. The beans are still doing nicely, as are the peppers, and we got a nice haul of roma and tip-top tomatoes over the week-end.

Most of the tomatoes went into the freezer, but I saved out a few to make salsa- it’s quite good. So good, in fact, that I ate nearly a whole jar all by myself. The jalapeno (seeds and all) give it a wonderful after-burn effect. I may regret my gluttony later...

Tuesday, July 08, 2008

Carrot Conundrum

Is this just an ordinary carrot that was planted in compacted soil and grew into a forked misshapen carrot?

Or is it an overly ambitious and slightly delusional carrot who thought it could turn into a carrot person if only it could grow legs and arms....

Sadly, it got yanked before the metamorphosis was complete, so we will never know for sure.