Major Knitter

It's Still Alive?

I'm a murderer -- at least when it comes to house plants.  I used to have a wonderful green thumb, but when I moved to Connecticut in 2003, none of my plants moved with me and I never got back in the habit of having house plants.  My current house doesn't have great sun for houseplants anyway.  Anything that comes into my house quickly dies before the week is out.

Fast forward to April 12th.  I've had this orchid in my house for a month and it still looks gorgeous.  Even my good friend Linda is surprised every time she comes over and sees that it's still alive.  I have learned the ice cube trick.  I'm feeling the green love.  Maybe there's hope for me yet.

Summer Buzz Cuts in the Garden

I'm not much of a gardener.  I desperately want to be a master gardener, but right now I'm more of an elementary gardener.  I have the desire.  So at least that's a start.

Today, my gardening was screaming for attention.  It's been really hot and rainy - so the weeds have taken over.  Unfortunately, on one of those aforementioned hot days, I neglected to water my flower pots in my porch.  They perked up a bit after watering, but they look quite disheveled.  So I decided some "sheveling" was in order.

The buzz cut was very intensive.  I cut off the petunias that were at the end of some very long sad looking stalks.  Now I'm off to buy some plant food for my petunias because I'm told that they like that.

After the buzz cut, I transplanted a few geraniums into each pot for a bit of color.  Now I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I can revitalize these once beautiful annual pots.  Wish me luck.

Next up - I weeded the mulch along the side of the house where I walk.  With all the rain it was nothing but weeds.  I got a little tired, so I might have to go back tomorrow and finish weeding the crab grass between the sidewalk stones.  But tomorrow is another day.

 

Next up was my overgrown shrubbery blocking the entrance to my sidewalk.  I know nothing about trimming shrubs, so I hope I didn't just commit herbal-slaughter in my vigor to cut back these shrubs to a manageable size.

My little Black and Decker Hedge Trimmer made quick work out of the buzz cut.

They look a little scary right now - but at least we can use our sidewalk again.  I just hope that the leaves will regrow in the next few weeks.  Please keep your fingers crossed.  

Now that I know how easy it is (I'm so afraid to do anything that involves gardening equipment that can actually maim or dismember), I'll be keeping up with this in a much more regimented manner.  I'll post again in a few weeks to let you know how my little gardening experiment went.
 

 

But it's a Dry Heat

I had a lot of fun this week figuring out how to utilize that half bushel of leftover hot peppers.

On Friday, Maggie and I sliced them in half and put them on the dehydrator trays - sorry - no pictures.

They stayed in the dehydrator for 24-36 hours until they were quite crispy.

In small batches, I ground the dried hot peppers in the blender to turn them into a fine powder.

Granted, it's not chili powder, but it's pretty darned close.  I'm going to give it a try in exchange of chili powder and make up a small batch of homemade taco spices.  I use this for tacos, burritos and chili all year round.  With a quart of hot pepper powder I could have enough for gifts or for seasoning my favorite dishes for years to come!

 

 

Some Like it Hotter!

My friend and I purchased an extra bushel of tomatoes and a 1/2 bushel of hot peppers from our farm share this week for a big batch of salsa.

Plus we used six large onions, three large bunches of cilantro and some mixed bags of peppers from the last two week's farm shares.  We added a brine made of white vinegar, sugar, and kosher salt.

I washed all the farm fresh produce and got to work early this morning.

After washing the tomatoes, I sliced them in half and cut out the core and any bad spots.  I broiled them in the oven for about 10 minutes - roasting the skins right off!  After the cooled, I simply pinched the roasted skins and discarded them.

I was left with a cookie sheet filled with peeled deliciously roasted tomatoes.

Using a fork and knife, I sliced and diced all the roasted tomatoes to make a very nice homemade sauce.

Delicioso!

We added the diced peppers, onions, cilantro and brine and cooked them just perfectly while we sterilized the 36 difference jars.

It's a good recipe and the hot peppers are really hot.  My fingertips are on fire just from slicing and dicing them.

Now I've got enough salsa for the rest of the year.  It sure is fun to capture the freshness of the farm and savor it all winter long.

 

 

Put 'em Up Salsa

It's September and the farm shares are filled with an overabundance of tomatoes, peppers, corn and more each week.  It's more than my friend and I can eat or give away.  So this week I finally decided to make some homemade salsa.  I spent all morning in the kitchen.  My only regret is I didn't buy a bushel of extra tomatoes and peppers.  This was out of this world delicious.

 

A few hours of work and I only got four jars.  I think I'll be ordering more and creating a salsa factory this weekend.  

Half the jars have cilantro and half do not... to please all the palates in my household.

Another plus is that the chef and author of this Put 'em Up cookbook, Sherri Brooks Vinton, is a local Connecticut gal who is a fan of our local farms and CSAs.  There are plenty of delicious recipes and tips for the novice canner.

Tea Time!

It was a perfect day for a garden tea party.  Well, it was the perfect day for an indoor tea party, that is.  And we made it work.  We had 50 guests; 5 vendors; 6 Scout helpers, 3 staff; and 3 caterers and I can't even tell you how many hats!

Susan made the most elegant little teacup floral arrangements in a collection of varied teacups and saucers.  They were simply beautiful!

The goodies on the tea table were out of this world delicious.  They were so good in fact, that none survived the day.  Of course we had delectable little finger sandwiches - cucumber, egg salad, chicken curry and salmon.  

There were so many beautiful ladies and friends with gorgeous hats and fascinators.

We had a delightful array of hat shapes, sizes and colors.

And every lady was more beautiful than the next with such bright summery colors and lovely hats.

Allison and Ryan spoke about why Scouts is so important in their lives and the wonderful experiences they've had along the way.

It was a great day for a very good cause.  Thanks to everyone who came and helped make the day a resounding success!

 

Four Days

Four days to go until the big Mad Hatter Tea Party.  It's going to be such fun whether it's rainy or sunny.

Here's a great group picture from many years ago.  Doesn't it look wonderful?  Look at that sea of hats!

If you haven't purchased your ticket yet, please do so by visiting www.ctyankee.org/teaparty.  

I hope to see you on Tuesday!

Woe is Me

BF is the best.  He scared away a large deer that had jumped our poorly named deer fence and chose this week to chomp away all my hosta. 

Ouch!

This deer literally decimated my garden.

Nothing buy nubby stalks.  Seriously, he couldn't have waited one week to jump the fence?  Then the Mad Hatter Tea Party would be over.  Now my garden is looking a little, well, chomped.

Oh deer.

The Fruits of my Labor

I've had fun watching my square foot garden grow.  I decided it was time to enjoy the first fruits of my labor.  So for dinner I grilled chicken, made some mixed medley grains and picked some young collard greens.

 

I washed them thoroughly in the kitchen sink.

 

Then cut out the center vein and rolled up the leaves and cut them chiffonade style

I sauteed some onion in olive oil with salt and pepper just until cooked.

Sometimes I cook them longer than necessary because BF likes them toasty.

Here they are paired with our Trader Joe's harvest medley and waiting for the chicken to come in off the grill.  Of course, from time to time we opt to go vegetarian and have just these two items for a wonderfully light and flavorful dinner.  What are your favorite recipes from your garden?
 

 

Farm Day

Thursdays are farm days and I was delighted a few weeks ago to encounter this lovely four-foot rooster waiting for me

Maybe I should knit an oversized chicken and rooster to match?