my garden runneth over, my cup runneth over

 The garden is producing, and I am a dirty mess.  

 And I am loving it!!

   

 

Isaiah 58:11

 The Lord will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

To all of you, happy gardening! If you don't have a garden, happy farmer's market! 

I am so grateful to all of you that stop by my blog. Especially considering that I took a few months off and left this space quiet and lonely. I am happy to be back and I am working to reconnect with all of you.

my funny facebook status

Hi! I thought I'd share with you, my most recent facebook status. It's pretty humorous, and I thought you could use a laugh.

"ok, another funny garden story...at my expense!! picked 9 zucchini and put them in a big mixing bowl just inside of the garden, next to the wire electric fence. picked about 8 cucumbers...time to go inside, as my nephew Lucas keeps running away behind the house where I can't see him and it's lunch time anyway. I put Lucas in the house, run outside to plug in the electric fence, start heading back towards the house when I glance over to see the bowl of zucchini....oh, I think to myself, I better get that instead of leaving them lay in the hot sun. I am aware the fence is on....I carefully stretch and reach over the fence, bend down and pick up the bowl, clearing the fence with ease. Wait, a huge ant crawls over the zucchini, I stop to flick it off so I don't take it in the house with me. Now, I am distracted. The ant crawls under the zucchini, I look for it for one second, oh well, forget it. I pick up the bowl but forget to keep my arms extended out away from the electric wire. BA HAHAHAHA!! I catch the fence on the fatty, soft skinned, sensitive part, of the upper arm, on the under side. I have no clue what has happened to me until it is over lightening quick! I screamed, out loud, kinda like a "YOWWWWWL" sound...pretty loud! The jolt of electricity went down my arm out my finger tips...and completely down my body and out my right foot and toes!! Did I mention I was barefoot???!!! Much worse! If I had rubber flip flops or tennis shoes, I may not have been shocked or may have been mild! Of course, I truly did think it was pretty funny and I laughed out loud! Also, I laughed out loud so my neighbors would think I meant to do that! hahaha! or so they would think I thought that was just plain old fun! Oh yes, anything to avoid embarrassement! I just love getting shocked up and down half of my body on a Wednesday afternoon! Once again....circus act! LOL"


Oh my, I seem to always have a gardening story for my facebook friends! Hope you enjoyed it!

a day in the garden

I spent hours stringing up tomatoes today. I'll be back at it bright and early tomorrow morning. I have really been enjoying my time in the garden this summer. Therapeutic!

F r i e d * * Z u c c h i n i * * B l o s s o m s

Zucchini blossoms.

They are completely edible.

I've only recently learned they were such a delicacy to the palate. 

Of course, I have always admired the glorious, gigantic blooms amongst my bountiful squash plants, but I  never anticipated they would show up on my dinner plate . . . let alone, be battered and fried. 

Fried zucchini blossoms . . . what a wonderful concept . . . yet so foreign a concept to me . . . as I have never been tempted by the eating of flora. Somehow, someway, I had the courage to try such a thing, and I am oh-so-glad I did. Is it NOT fun to step out of our comfort zone once in a while? 

I say yes!

I am ever so grateful that Kretchmann's Farm put these tender, young blossoms in our little wooden crate, as I would have never ventured forward to trying this if not given a little push! Such an easy thing really. Searching the net, I found a simple recipe for batter . . . laden with beer, that is . . . well, just a 1/2 cup of beer . . . not so much laden . . . just enough to give a magnificent, yet subtle infused flavor. 

Well, it was now or never. Another day contemplating the eating of flowers would have surely been the demise of the blossoms! I gently wiped each with a lightly dampened towel . . . careful to not tear. I whipped up the creamy batter, scooped many a dollop of Crisco into my cast iron skillet over a medium high  flame....melting it down and rising it to temperature. I plucked the stamen from the center of each flower,  then dunked each into the batter. Gently, one at a time, placing each coated blossom into the sizzling oil . . . cooking a minute or two on each side.  Once they were light golden and crisp, I plucked each blossom from the hot oil and let them rest and drain on a torn piece of paper grocery bag. A sprinkling of salt and pepper and wa-laa, they were ready for devouring. 

Wow, don't they look delicious!! 

I let them cool a couple minutes and then bravely . . . well, brave for me . . . took a bite.

And . . .

I really liked it!

I found most of the flavor to be at the base of the flower.

It tasted just like zucchini!

I will  definitely make these again!

I am hooked now!

If you find yourself eager to fry a few of these babies . . . you may find them at  farmer's markets or your own garden, of course. There are male and female flowers and both are edible. You'll want to pick them when they are tender and young and have barely blossomed. Just be careful you aren't picking female flowers before they've had the chance to bear fruit. The male flowers are safe to pick because they will not bear fruit. They will have a thinner, longer stem. The female flowers will have a thick stem and a tiny bulb at the bottom of the flower . . . which then grows into a zucchini. I have read that once the zucchini is sufficiently growing, it is safe to pick the blossom without worry of halting it's growth. 

I hope I have inspired you to give this summer-time delicacy a go! 

Some of you may be old pros at cooking zucchini blossoms.

Some of you may even have fond memories of your grandmother cooking these.

Whatever the case, let me know.

I am very interested to hear about it!

Recipe for batter:

1/2  cup water

1/2  cup beer

2  beaten eggs

1  cup flour

Mix well and dunk blossoms in batter and fry in oil.

Drain and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

growing alfalfa sprouts

You cannot imagine how GOOD,  freshly grown alfalfa sprouts taste! They are so crisp and sweet and fresh! And . . . they take hardly ANY effort at all to grow.

Like, no effort people!

Really! 

It's so easy! 

Well, they do take a teeny bit of effort, but I promise you, it's no big deal!

Okay, first off, let me tell you about a sandwich I made the other day. Hang tight, we're still talkin' sprouts here! This sandwich was the sandwich to end all sandwiches. It was the bomb! I'm telling you, I was not even expecting it to taste this good. I cannot wait to make another, and another and another!

Here's the ingredient list for the sandy-sandwich:

whole wheat bread

ham lunch meat

turkey breast lunch meat

slice of provolone/mozzarella cheese

very large handful of alfalfa sprouts

sweet pickles

Hellman's mayonnaise

Yep.

That's it.

And it was to die for!

Trust me on this one!

I swear the sprouts were the star of the show! The slight crunch you get from the freshness of the sprouts is like . . . I don't know . . .it's just good! The flavor of the sprouts is a little . . . earthy . . . and sweet. I cannot describe it any other way. You are just going to have to taste for yourself!

Here's what ya do and how ya go about doin' it!

Grab a 1 quart jar.

Measure 2 Tbsp. alfalfa seeds and pour into jar.

Cover seeds in jar with about 1 inch of water.

Swirl water around to make sure all seeds are coated.

Cover mouth of jar with a piece of cheesecloth or a coffee filter with pin prick holes to allow for air circulation.

Fasten rubber band over cheesecloth or coffee filter to hold in place.

Place jar in dark place such as a kitchen cupboard.

Let seeds sit overnight.

In the morning, drain water from seeds through the cheesecloth or coffee filter.

Then, remove cheesecloth, fill jar with a couple inches of water and swirl around to rinse and then drain the water again through the cheesecloth.

Next, leave the drained seeds in jar covered with cheesecloth or coffee filter for about 12 hours, in a dark spot.

After 12 hours, rinse seeds in jar with a couple inches of water and drain through the cheesecloth.

Leave drained seeds to sit in dark spot.

Repeat the "rinse, drain, and let-sit-in-dark-spot" process, every 12 hours.

Within 4 days your sprouts will be approximately 2 to 3 inches long and ready to eat.

Store the grown sprouts in the refrigerator, covered with tight lid, or a piece of plastic wrap.

Sprouts will stay fresh for about a week.

Enjoy!

P.S. It's quite the gratifying experience to grow sprouts as it is almost full proof, and you will see the results with a day or so.

A WORD OF WARNING: make sure you buy organic alfalfa seeds that are specifically for food consumption. Do not use commercial seeds for farming that may be sprayed with insecticide. Also, follow directions precisely for sprouting...there will be directions on the package.  Follow sanitation and rinsing guidelines posted on package. A great brand to use is by Now Health Foods. http://www.nowfoods.com/

Harvesting Oregano and Bow and Arrows

Hello all!
I am so happy . . . it is just beautiful outside these days!!
The skies are so blue, the sun is so warm, the Earth is waking up, and my herb garden is flourishing already! Here is my first harvest of the year for Oregano!
Can you believe it!

This is from 2 plants that actually never even died back during the winter because of how mild it was. While the plants did stay dormant, the leaves never shriveled and died. With the warm Spring weather and rain, my Oregano just took off and grew about 3 to 4 inches in a matter of a few weeks!

My son and I clipped all of it yesterday . . .washed it . . .drained it . . . and now it is drying. I can't believe I have this much Oregano as of April 6th! I am so happy that I will have plenty to share with friends, family and neighbors this year! I can't wait to make up cute little packages to give away. How fun! Half the fun of growing your own herbs is sharing!

So . . I actually made my son work along side me yesterday. He's 13 and was more interested in . . who knows . . probably wanting to get on his computer or go visit his cousin . . but, Mamma {that's me} wasn't having it. I told him, "You are spending today with me."  He said "errrrrrr" . . whatever that means . . that is his response sometimes "errrrrrr" . . I call it his caveman response. 

As we methodically clipped each sweet piece of Oregano . . him at one plant, me at the other . . each armed with a pair of scissors and a stainless steel mixing bowl for collecting . . I tried to prompt him into conversation . . it was like pulling teeth . . but I didn't give up!

attempt #1

Me:   So, what are you doing in school these days?
Everest:   nothing
Me:   Well, there's gotta be SOMETHING going on.
Everest:   no . . . not really
Me:  Sooo . . . you're not learning anything?
Everest:   No
Me:   Ok.

attempt #2

Me:  So, that book you're reading for school, Skeleton Key, is it?
Everest:   Ya
Me:   Is it good?
Everest:   Ya
Me:   What's it about?
Everest:   A boy who is a spy on an island
Me:   Oh ya, that's cool . . . so what's it all about?
Everest:   I just told you.
Me:   Nuh Uh, all you said was "it's about a boy who's a spy"
Everest:   Ya



attempt #3

Me:   So, who's your good friends at school these days?
Everest:   I don't know, I have a lot of friends.
Me:   Oh you do? That's great! Who are they, what are their names?
Everest:   I don't know, there's a lot of them.
Me:   Ok, so give me a name.
Everest: I don't know.
Me:   Ok, do you have a friend named David?
Everest:   No
Me:   Do you have a friend name Mike?
Everest: Yes
Me:   Aha! What class is he in? Is he nice? Is he funny?
Everest:   Science class, ya, he is.
Me:   Ok

attempt #4

Everest:   This is boring.
Me:   Well, everything doesn't have to be exciting, Everest. Not everything we do has to be as fun as a day at Kennywood. {awesome amusement park with rollercoasters in Pittsburgh}
Everest:   errrrrrr
Me:   Look, I'm really blowing you away . . look how much Oregano I have cut compared to you . . are you really gonna let your 41 year old mom beat you at cutting Oregano??
Everest:   You can beat me at cutting Oregano, I don't mind.
Me:   This may not be exciting but it is the process . . it is the fact that we actually grew our own herbs and we can make our own sauce and make it tasty by adding oregano . . an herb that is common in pizza sauce and pasta sauce . . if you are ever in a situation where you are asked about Oregano, you will know how to harvest it and what it is used for . . probably a lot of kids won't even know that, but YOU will.
Everest:   errrrrrrr

attempt #5

Me:   So, I was thinking . . .do you have any arrows right now?
Everest:   Ya.
Me:   Well, I was thinking that once you and I get all of the Oregano cut, we should go out to the field and you can show me how to shoot a bow and arrow. I have never shot one before and I want to learn how.
Everest:   OK!
Me:   Ok, let's get this done and then go get something to drink, and then go shoot some bow and arrows.
Everest:   Yessssssss!

attempt #6

Me:   So, now tell me about that book again . . . it's about a boy who is a spy? What does he do?
Everest:   Ok, well he lives on an island and he has to pretend to be the son of a man and a woman who are also spies and  . . . . . . . . . {he gives me a long, detailed explanation of the book . . . . yes! I have broken through!!!!}
Me:   That sounds like a very interesting and action filled book. Ok, we are done with the Oregano . . . I'll get this inside and you run and gather your bow and arrows.

Man, sometimes . . . . sometimes it's like pulling teeth! Everest did show me how to shoot arrows. To my surprise, it was more difficult than I imagined! It looks sooooo easy . . . but there is definitely some skill there! My left arm is bruised...which, Everest told me it would be. I told him I am going to make an arm guard . . . he said, no Mom, you just gotta get used to it and also bend your elbow out slightly so it doesn't get hit . . . I say, ya, well, I'm making an arm guard and you can't stop me. LOL!

And . . . that's my Oregano harvesting, bow and arrow shooting story!
It was an awesome day.
The sun was shining.
The sky was blue.

P.S. Funny side note:
We only had 2 arrows to use.
I told him that we could go to the sporting goods store later that evening to purchase more arrows.
He asked if we could also get some Mt. Dew. {soda pop}
I said, sure.
We laughed . . . well, we need arrows and Mt. Dew . . . sounds like we are up to no good.
Later when my husband came home from work he asked if we could also pick up some gas for the tractor while we were out.
Great . . . our shopping list now . . . arrows, Mt. Dew and gasoline . . . that REALLY sounds like we are up to no good!

Laughter!
:)

A day in the life of a Pennsylvania girl