The Last of the Spinach

I was hungry as I was pulling the last of the spinach. Trying to decide what to do with it when I had collected it and gotten it all cleaned. Freeze it? Cook it as a side dish for dinner? Or, make lasagna? I had seen this delicious recipe just the other day on the internet. You can see what my final decision was.

And, you'll notice the lower right hand corner of the lasagna has a small piece taken out of it. I was still hungry after making it that I just had to try it. Dinner was a long way off too. Let me be the first to say... it was very yummy.

Wish you had taste-a-vision where you are.... I would send you a piece. This lasagna is loaded with cheese. It has a pound of mozzarella, two pounds of a ricotta/cottage cheese blend, a half pound of Parmesan and all that luscious spinach. I guess things could be worse and I didn't have any spinach to use up. Making this lasagna just a dream.

My New Dehydrator

Here she is... my new dehydrator. Or, toy as my DH calls it.
It's top of the line in the dehydrator world. An Excalibur, with nine shelves.
Ten year (yes that is years) of good old fashioned warranty service.

She'll be coming in right handy when the crops start coming in.
Running non-stop to save the goodness of the harvest.
Yippee, it means I won't just be canning and freezing to save foods.

Since she has arrived I have gotten done already, 5 pounds of Vidalia onions, basil (from the garden) and she's now running to dry the liver for the dog treats for Gracie.

Beautiful tools, I love them.

Peace and Serenity

This is where I have decided to go today.
I am in need of some peace and serenity in my life.
Wish you were here to enjoy it with me as it looks just like what the doctor ordered.
But, since you are not, I will enjoy it for the both of us.
TTFN

Fledlgings in the Yard

We have a canoe turned upside down and up on saw horses stored in the yard. It was like that throughout the winter. Should have turned it right side up once the snow left.

We found in early May an American Robin had built her nest on the crossbars and webbing of the stern seat. And, she had about two to three eggs we could see. For the past week or so we have been hearing some peeping coming from the canoe. And, we have been watching the mother bird squawking from the top of the fence. Now we know why. Yesterday the baby birds fledged.

Now we are trying our hardest to keep Gracie (seen in foreground of canoe picture) away from where the fledgings are. One as you can see made it up to the top of our lattice fence. The other one is down in the grass hiding. I wish them luck in this hard cold world. We did our best to ensure they were hatched and protected from the dog when the time came. Good luck baby birdies. Thank you for allowing us the chance to watch you grow and fly.

Isn't She Loverly.......

Isn't she loverly, isn't she wonderful (hummed to Stevie Wonder's song - Isn't she lovely - Songs in the Key of Life '76)

She arrived today and boy oh boy am I glad. Let the canning commence!

A Treat for your eyes in the sky

Highlight of the June Sky

It's worth getting up very early on June 6. Looking east in the predawn darkness, find the crescent Moon with the bright planet Jupiter hovering to its lower right.

For an extra treat, use binoculars to view the same scene, and you'll easily see the dim planet Uranus just above and very near Jupiter. You'll be in select company; few people have ever seen Uranus!


Courtesy of the Old Farmer's Almanac

Being Water Wise - A Few Tips

Plants drink their food. If the soil dries out, the plants will starve—or wilt. To keep the garden moist, remember these tips:

• Use lots of organic matter in the soil.
• Keep plants close together to shade the soil.
• Mulch the beds well with compost or whatever you have on hand—newspaper, black plastic, old carpet, stones—and apply it when soil is wet.
• Weed diligently so that plants don’t compete for moisture.
• Reduce evaporation by watering in the later afternoon or early morning.
• Soak the garden thoroughly rather than watering it lightly several times.
• Strip off leaves to keep water going to ripening fruit.

Hope these hints help you save water and keep your plants alive and well.

A Picture I Like

Was going through some of my old pictures yesterday and came across this one. For clarification, it's a bee inside the throat of a morning glory. The picture is from 2 summers ago when we stayed at a friend's house while she was away.

We gardened for the first time "for real" that year . We had what we thought was a huge garden and we experimented, made mistakes and had lots of fun while we honed our skills as gardeners. The garden was three raised 4 x 4 square foot boxes. Which our friend, continues to use and is very happy with.

We are in our own place. We have worked on our garden here for the past two summers. We have an orchard of assorted fruit trees, a blueberry patch, two in-ground fenced garden areas approx. 8 x 10 feet, four raised garden boxes 14 x 3 and three more boxes 12 x 2 that are also raised. We have installed eleven 60 gallon rain barrels. Today I believe this to be a large garden. LOL.

RAIN......

Finally got the soaking we have been looking forward to this morning.
We awoke to the rain falling almost silently and gently onto our parched garden.
The rain barrels are almost full to the top and I don't have to hand water this morning.
Hallelujah!
You know it takes me a good hour and a half to water?
That's if I don't get interrupted and have to leave to go and do something else.
And, DH thinks the tomatoes grew over an inch with the rain they got.
I think he maybe right.

Lilacs

The lilacs are finished blooming this year already.
It's only June 1st.
Sad but, true.