I harvested a whopping 49 lbs of food from the garden in July! (Ok, whopping for me.)
The breakdown:
garlic - 0.2 lb
lettuce - 0.5 lb
onion - 1.2 lb
peas (green) - 8.8 lb
peas (soup) - 1.9 lbs
potatoes - 25.3 lb
radish - 0.4 lb
strawberries - 10.8 lb
Officially, I've pulled all the garlic, and it's drying in the garage, so that number isn't in the total, nor are the herbs that were harvested and are hanging to dry in the kitchen. I tally those numbers when they're cleaned and stored, so they'll be added to August's tally.
But, I have harvested 21 lbs more than last July (a 75% increase)! And last July included all of the garlic, and most of the potatoes. Looking forward to August!
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Rainy Days
When the boys were small, my mom gave them a book called "Little Puppy Cleans his Room".
" 'Rainy days are good for cleaning,' said Little Puppy's mother."
And that's what I did today. With cool, showery weather, I cleaned the downstairs until it was presentable.
Yesterday and today, Thing 2 and I cleaned out his room. My little packrat has a really hard time letting go of things, and had a meltdown about the whole business yesterday. So we did a room purge and thorough dusting (my eyes are itching like crazy), and after it was all over, he spent quite a bit of time playing in his room with his Legos, using all the clean spaces as if they had never existed before.
Tomorrow is supposed to be cool as well, and another morning of cleaning should put the house in good shape. In the afternoon, I'm planning on getting rid of last year's blueberries in the form of blueberry muffins, and I promised Thing 2 some chocolate chip cookies.
I've been on a baking binge lately. On Slow Sunday I made the baps, a loaf of wheat bread, and a dozen hot dog buns. I've never made hot dog buns before, and they turned out delicious, although too big. The recipe said to make 12, but I think 16 or 18 would be better. Definitely worth another go. I'd love to make hamburger buns now as well. If I can make buns, then the only bread I'd buy is sourdough for Thing 1 and the occasional pugliese or french bread. How's that for removal from industrial bread?!
Tonight's dinner was "breakfast for dinner", with scrambled eggs, sausage, and homemade bread with homemade strawberry jam.
" 'Rainy days are good for cleaning,' said Little Puppy's mother."
And that's what I did today. With cool, showery weather, I cleaned the downstairs until it was presentable.
Yesterday and today, Thing 2 and I cleaned out his room. My little packrat has a really hard time letting go of things, and had a meltdown about the whole business yesterday. So we did a room purge and thorough dusting (my eyes are itching like crazy), and after it was all over, he spent quite a bit of time playing in his room with his Legos, using all the clean spaces as if they had never existed before.
Tomorrow is supposed to be cool as well, and another morning of cleaning should put the house in good shape. In the afternoon, I'm planning on getting rid of last year's blueberries in the form of blueberry muffins, and I promised Thing 2 some chocolate chip cookies.
I've been on a baking binge lately. On Slow Sunday I made the baps, a loaf of wheat bread, and a dozen hot dog buns. I've never made hot dog buns before, and they turned out delicious, although too big. The recipe said to make 12, but I think 16 or 18 would be better. Definitely worth another go. I'd love to make hamburger buns now as well. If I can make buns, then the only bread I'd buy is sourdough for Thing 1 and the occasional pugliese or french bread. How's that for removal from industrial bread?!
Tonight's dinner was "breakfast for dinner", with scrambled eggs, sausage, and homemade bread with homemade strawberry jam.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Slow Sunday
Lately it seems there have been a lot of groups asking you to set aside this day or that day to think about the Earth. We have Arbor Day and Earth Day. There's been Earth Hour, World Wetlands Day, International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer, and a host of others.
The latest is from the British Magazine Resurgence, called Slow Sunday. The idea behind Slow Sunday is to, in their own words,
"invite our readers to take part in simple actions that symbolise a rejection of commercialism, a passion for the planet and a desire for change."
For the first Slow Sunday, they're asking readers to bake their own bread. Most of our bread is made in factories, chock full of such wholesome ingredients as fungicides, dough conditioners, etc. Gone are the days, at least in the US, of the local bakery. When I travel to Europe, especially Germany, it's a real treat to have brotchen, hot from the oven, raced from the village bakery for breakfast. Crust so crispy, you can't help making a mess!
Resurgence's article Let's Have Some Decent Bread spells out the how and why of homemade bread. Truly slow, the recipe for "baps", a kind of roll, starts the night before. So Slow Sunday, will actually start on Saturday. Now that is slow!
My plan is to try "baps", and also make some sandwich bread as we're on our last loaf. Maybe some hamburger buns, too. I think Slow Sunday is going to keep me hopping!
In other news, the varmints are into the potatoes. I've found chewed through plant stems (I thought they were poisonous?) and many half-chewed potatoes. War has been declared. I'm starting the ground offensive, but where, oh where is the air force (owls, eagles, hawks)?
I dug up all of the Yukon Gold potatoes, 18 lbs in all, but the Yellow Finn aren't quite ready yet. They'll have to take their chances.
The latest is from the British Magazine Resurgence, called Slow Sunday. The idea behind Slow Sunday is to, in their own words,
"invite our readers to take part in simple actions that symbolise a rejection of commercialism, a passion for the planet and a desire for change."
For the first Slow Sunday, they're asking readers to bake their own bread. Most of our bread is made in factories, chock full of such wholesome ingredients as fungicides, dough conditioners, etc. Gone are the days, at least in the US, of the local bakery. When I travel to Europe, especially Germany, it's a real treat to have brotchen, hot from the oven, raced from the village bakery for breakfast. Crust so crispy, you can't help making a mess!
Resurgence's article Let's Have Some Decent Bread spells out the how and why of homemade bread. Truly slow, the recipe for "baps", a kind of roll, starts the night before. So Slow Sunday, will actually start on Saturday. Now that is slow!
My plan is to try "baps", and also make some sandwich bread as we're on our last loaf. Maybe some hamburger buns, too. I think Slow Sunday is going to keep me hopping!
In other news, the varmints are into the potatoes. I've found chewed through plant stems (I thought they were poisonous?) and many half-chewed potatoes. War has been declared. I'm starting the ground offensive, but where, oh where is the air force (owls, eagles, hawks)?
I dug up all of the Yukon Gold potatoes, 18 lbs in all, but the Yellow Finn aren't quite ready yet. They'll have to take their chances.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
