Help Wanted?

I have found that many of the tasks around the house run so much smoother when I have a helper.  I am not sure this qualifies as HELPERS?

Baby our Siamese cat was sure I needed help pulling the fabric through the sewing machine. 

And now it has become a habit.  He has his own bar stool (formerly my bar stool) to make sure that the sewing proceeds with his utmost scrutiny.

Not to be outdone, Tiger needed lots of attention and was feeling second fiddle.  "Hey, I think I will squeeze up here on the side and beg for attention - forget the sewing help - a good head scratch is what I want!"



Not to change the subject, but do you know how you can tell your friends love to sew as much as you do?  Well when you get into their car, you find something like this:

Yes needles can travel anywhere and should travel everywhere.  Right Karen?

Here is a project that I finished up for Easter.  This is for Amber who is 4 months old.  I love this ruffle fabric.  When Janae tried the outfits on her, she put the skirt on over the top of the pants and created a new outfit that looked like a whole one piece suit.  She pulled the waistband up under her armpits and with the bloomers under it, it was darling.

Garden update:

Planted all the onions.  Some were plants and some were sets.  I have spinach about the size of a saucer and the peas are two inches tall.  Broccoli, cabbage and lettuce plants all survived the last snow, hail, and massive rain storm.  Yippeeeeeee

Lettuce and cabbage plants along the potato patch

Beautiful pear blossoms, but not a bee in sight

Flowers blooming around the yard

Now, who wants to come HELP me with housework?

Goodby Old Friend and Task Master

A few days ago I picked the last of my Garden.  I can't complain considering it is the first part of November and I still have kale, collards, carrots, potatoes and parsnips growing in the garden.  We picked the last leaves of the green plants and dug up all the roots. 

I have to admit that I will miss the Garden produce but not so much all the work.  Anyway, now we have snow on the ground and it covers up anything I could possibly feel guilty about, like the rest of the cleanup.  As soon as this round of snow melts, we will have one more push to clean up the rest.

In honor of the death of my wonderful Kale plants, I would like to share a salad recipe (not so much a recipe, as the ingredients for one)

Super Wonderful Kale Salad (as seen at whole foods market)

Add these Ingredients together in amounts that you desire.  I make a huge salad and eat it all week.

Kale, curly leaves pulled off in bite size pieces (no stems)

Napa cabbage leaves chopped in bite size pieces

Some chopped parsley leaves

Carrots, shredded

Cherry tomatoes

Red onion sliced and chopped

Shelled Edamame

Gogi Berries, (dried)

Blueberries

Sunflower seeds

Cashews

Acai Dressing

Mix to your desired taste

I start with the acai juice, about 1/2 a bottle because this is a large salad

Add oil and vinegar to taste

add salt, pepper, garlic powder, dash of cayenne

add agave to taste

Blend well and toss onto salad

More From the Garden and a TLT Sandwich

Here is what I picked out of the Garden on my Birthday.  You can see the cute table decoration that Craig put on the table for me.  I have the best Husband!  Now what should I make from this harvest? 

Ok, I blanched all the summer squash and vacuum packed and froze them.  Same with the green beans.  I shared some of the bowl of cherry tomatoes and regular tomatoes.  The collard greens made the wrap for our bean and pepper spread with cucumber, carrots, peppers, radish, sunflower seeds, and salsa.  It was yummy.  The peppers are sitting on the counter with the rest of the tomatoes they will be chopped and made into salsa.  That leaves me the cucumbers to devour on Sunday.  Yummmm   Oh, I almost forgot the melon that you can see right by the basket.  I thought it was a cantaloupe, but it was a honeydew and very ripe.  It was fine one day, and the next day it was bright yellow and ripe. 

Now for the TLT Sandwich recipe

Start with two slices of Great Harvest Bread (mmmm my favorite)  Add a gigantic slice of homegrown tomato on one side and lettuce on the other.  Add whatever dressing you would like for the bread.  We used a no fat ranch dressing. 

Slice some firm smoked tofu in thin slices and sprinkle with real maple syrup and a dash of smokey paprika.  Grill in a pan (Tiny bit of spray oil) and turn several times till firm and browned.  Place on paper towel until cool.

Add several Tofu slices on top of your Giant Tomato Slice and put the top on your sandwich and dig in.  Yummmmmm  Best Tofu Lettuce Tomato Sandwich around.  What does the tofu taste like (not chicken) it substitutes for Bacon.  It is yummy.

August A Whirl

Now that summer has come, it seems to be passing me by more quickly than I desire.  Sorry about the lack of posts.  Vacations, gardening and just plain old summer fun is to blame. But lets just get to the fun stuff.

The last 2 weeks, I have picked some amazing produce from the garden. This is my favorite part of gardening!  Pick and share and Eat Eat Eat those tomatoes.

Here is the Garden at the first part of August, it is looking a little tropical.

First week I picked this haul of summer squash.  My favorite are the flying saucer shaped Patty Pan.

More squash and green beans from the second week of August.

Chinese Cabbage leaves.  I add these to our Udon Noodle Soup

First Cabbage and Japanese Cucumbers of the year.  This is actually really late for the Cabbage. Coleslaw anyone?

Tomatoes are just starting.  These were my first picks

We were on vacation all week last week, and I came home and picked the garden and all I can say is WOW!  Anyone for a tomato Sandwich for breakfast?  Oh yes I did!

First Corn in my little corn patch, and look at those long Chinese green beans.

Lovin the peppers.  I have to figure out how to keep them from getting the sun scald, though

Turnips and Rutabaga.  Has anyone ever cooked Rutabaga?  I have to find a recipe, this is my first year planting it in my garden.  I think they taste similar to turnips. 

Veggie Dinner tonight, Honey

Unexpected Surprises

We had a health surprise last week.  I won't go into the personal details, but I have gained a new perspective about healthy eating, health care, and health management.  "You are what you eat". 

While dealing with health care this week, I neglected my garden for two days.  Yup, just two days.  While I was absent I had a new SQUATTER  move into the garden. In a two day period of time, he ate the whole top off an heirloom tomato plant.  Sheesh, I have lived here more than 20 years and have never seen a Tomato Horn Worm. This year I have a whole family.   I can't help but wonder where they have been hiding, since I have just barely found them devouring my plants. 

I did a little research and found that the giant Hawk Moth, lays its eggs in the soil and they emerge in the spring as caterpillars.  I am not sure what they have been eating, but I do have a fairly large potato patch. Maybe they hung out their until they noticed I wasn't around for two days straight, then it was tomato plant buffet.

Here is the Daddy Horn Worm.  He sports a beautiful blue iridescent coat.  Isn't he beautiful. He is about 4 inches long.

Here is the Family:  Dad, Mom and the Twins  (three cousins showed up the next day and didn't get their family picture).  Of course this is just a wild guess.  It could be possible that they are all brothers and sisters and the big one is exceptionally hungry and works out a lot to be bigger than its siblings. 

I could not squash the worms, after all they are pretty juicy.   I couldn't put them down the disposal either.  So I did what any bad pet owner would do:  I took them for a ride!   I suppose they will probably starve if they don't have tomatoes to eat, but I just couldn't do them in.  Sorry little guys!

Things That Should Not Come in From the Garden

Thing # 1 - CAULIFLOWER THAT HAS GONE TO FLOWER.  Yuck 

I was out in the garden trying to sort out what was weed and what was edible.  One thing for sure, cauliflower is my nemesis.  I have never been able to get a good forming head of cauliflower and this season is no different. I planted early, but our weather is crazy crazy.  I planted three cauliflower plants and they bolted to a flower and are very bitter.   However, one of the cauliflowers did manage to form a fairly white head before it bloomed and therefore it is not bitter.  I plan on eating it.  Never bring in a bolted head of Cauliflower, you WILL be disappointed.

Thing # 2 - UN INSPECTED DOGS.  Never bring in your dog before checking what he was doing in the garden.
I wasn't watching Merit while I was weeding this morning.  He has a new haircut because he gets so hot in the summer.  It might seem wrong to cut the hair on a Sheltie, but his is so thick he is really uncomfortable outside, and he loves his yard.  Well, to make the story short, I called him in to a nice clean house to discover he had dug himself a little cave in the rock wall and wallowed in the dirt.  He went out nice and clean and came in full of dirt.  I wish they had an automatic Dog Wash. 

Thing # 3 - THIS SHOULD NOT GO OUT INTO THE GARDEN.  My new cute brown sandals I paid almost nothing for, but love.  I got busy weeding and throwing weeds and dirt everywhere then noticed what shoes I was wearing.  Once I quit my weeding project and come in to change those shoes, I am not going back out in that baking sun.  I came in anyway. I hope I didn't destroy my lovely Walmart cheapo brown sandals.  I just can't bear it.

Thing # 4 - BUGS MUST ALWAYS STAY OUTSIDE.  I have brought my fair share of earwigs and ants into the kitchen on the lettuce and leafy green plants.  I don't use insecticides on my garden, I believe in "share and share alike:  However, if they come into the house, I do my best to feed them to the disposal.  Once in a while one will make a break for the counter top and I blast it with my handy dandy faucet sprayer, or Lysol cleaner, then I feed it to the disposal.  That was the case today.  I was focused on the last spinach of the season, I wanted every last edible leaf.  Snip snip swish swish and on to the paper towel.  The fan is spinning in the kitchen and a thought a loose hair brushed my neck, so I quickly brushed it back with my hand.  Yikes, Ugh, Ick, Oh No, it was something squishy soft and large.  Chill, shiver, recoil, fling into the sink.  IT'S A SPIDER.  I'm doing the spider dance all over the kitchen floor.  Shake, scrape, brush do it all again, put your right foot out and shake it all about and do the hokey pokey and turn yourself around, that's what it's all about.  Gotta Love Gardening!

Here's to Chlorophyll

Despite the crazy weather we are having, I have managed to pick a mountain of greens from my garden.  I thinned out the kale, kohlrabi, spinach, collard, turnip, lettuce and cabbage.  They are around 4 inches now and needed some growing room.  I combined the baby greens and filled enough zip bags for  neighbors and several family members, and of course I kept a big pile for us.

Buttercrunch and red sails lettuce. I learned a valuable lesson picking the lettuce - beware of hornets hiding in the leaves.  Ouch! 

Most the spinach is bolting to seed, so I have to pick it quickly.  The weather is just not stable enough to produce a longer growing season for spinach.

From the herb garden we have parsley and cilantro (which is also bolting)

The green that is taking over my rock wall -  Mint.

And the newest addition to the harvest - snap peas.

We will be eating a very green diet this week.  Yummmmmmmy Chlorophyll.

Lettuce Pot

I purchased some nice lettuce transplants a month ago and planted a Lettuce Pot.  It is on my back porch where I can go and snip at will.  Supposedly there is a tomato plant in the middle.  Don't know if it will survive.  I also planted some Nasturtium flowers.  Did you know you can eat the flower and the leaves?  They taste a little spicy like radish.

First Spring Harvest

I went harvest crazy on Saturday.  I picked my first vase full of Lilacs

I also picked the first of my Salad Greens.  Here is a  recipe for a Super Salad.

1 bunch of spinach or kale, torn into bite size pieces
2 large handfuls of any kind of mixed spring lettuce
1-2 cups chopped chinese cabbage or shredded head cabbage
2-3 carrots, julienned or shredded
1/2 thinly sliced red onion (or white)
Handful of chopped parsley
1 handful of raw sunflower seeds
1 container of cherry tomatoes
1 handful or raw cashews
1-2 large handful of fresh blueberries
goji berries, raisins or cranberries to taste
Toss all ingredients in bowl with dressing

Acai Dressing

2/3 cup Acai juice
1/4 cup olive oil
apple cider vinegar to taste approx 1/8 cup
your favorite spices.  Try onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne (dash),
Salt and Pepper to taste.
Add sweetener (agave or honey) as desired
Blend in a blender till mixed

Spinach from my garden

Baby lettuce and cabbage from my patio garden container

Mixed Salad Greens

Finished Salad

Happy to See Bees

A few days ago when the sun was shinning brightly and I was playing in my garden, I heard the busy bees in my apple blossoms.  It made me happy to see the little guys stacking the yellow pollen around their thighs.  Do bees have thighs?  Actually they have a little yellow sack attached to their legs that they fill with pollen to take back to the hive.

Did you know that in the 1920's they made up slang phrase, just for the fun of it.  Bee's Knees was one of the slang's.    How about these other slang's:

Cats meow
Cats Pajamas
The Cat's whiskers
The Snakes' Hips'
The Kippers' Knickers'
The Monkey's eyebrows
Elephant’s adenoids,  ant’s pants, tiger’s spots, bullfrog’s beard, elephant’s instep, caterpillar’s kimono, turtle’s neck, duck’s quack, monkey’s eyebrows, gnat’s elbows, oyster’s earrings, snake’s hips, kipper’s knickers, elephant’s manicure, clam’s garter, eel’s ankle, leopard’s stripes, tadpole’s teddies, sardine’s whiskers, canary’s tusks, pig’s wings, cuckoo’s chin, and butterfly’s book.

Kluck - dumb person.
Dumb kluck - worse than a kluck.
Pollywoppus - meaningless stuff.
Fly-paper - a guy who sticks around

In the 1920s it was fashionable to use nonsense terms to denote excellence.  However, Bee's Knees was written in a letter as early as 1797.    

And so you ask  "So What?"

I love the Bee's