Growing boys...

We are thrilled to no longer be dealing with diapers and sleepless nights. Woo hoo!!! But I am sad how fast these munchkins grow. We are never happy are we?!

My two oldest boys have started losing teeth. The second oldest boy lost his first one before his older brother. So our eldest son lost his first tooth Sept 21, 2010 and now has another couple loosed. Then the next oldest lost his first tooth August 3, 2010 and several days later lost another one. He is waiting for more to fall out. They are both waiting for more to fall out - money maker! They love it when their dad and I don't communicate and they profit from both of us. I put money down for their tooth, then their dad comes in and puts money down for a tooth. Neither of us knowing what the other did but hearing the next day about how much they made on their teeth. Punks!

This is my eldest after his first tooth - we had to help him smile to show the tooth:

This is his younger brother - please don't be grossed out by the yellow teeth - he was eating when it happened (plus he went to the dentist afterwards for his regular cleaning):

Fall Gardening

What happened to summer, I will never know. I have pictures with dates to help me know what I did for next spring and summer. So now I have a few fall garden crops in the ground. I went very simple because of a hectic schedule....broccoli and brussel sprouts. While I love cabbages, beets, lettuces, etc. I just didn't have the oomph to do more. It was all I could do to get those in and that was after killing 24 plants in three days. It was still very hot and dry here in the south in September when I planted a first round of 18 broccoli and 6 brussel sprouts starts. I didn't mulch or put straw around them. I watered good the night I planted them, came back two days later - all dead! Waaaahhhh! I give up!

Then my garden neighbor's husband bought 18 broccoli plants when she only wanted 3 - so she gave them to me. I planted them. They are growing now. But it cooled off and rained too. That always helps. I also put wheat straw around the plants to help keep the moisture in and weeds off.

This picture was from Sept 24, 2010 but you get the idea. The plants are probably 5x the size now. I should check on them. We have been having good rain and sun so they will be fine.

I learned something interesting - don't use wheat straw in the spring. They will go to seed and then grow. Good to know! But in the fall it is alright.

I let one of my plots just sit for now and through the winter. It is a good plot so I don't want to wear it out. Just kidding. I just don't have the energy. So I will amend it with my compost over the winter. Then my second plot that was horrible with weeds, the garden board decided to experiment and cover with black plastic. Did I tell you that that plot is infested with fire ants!? Another reason to cover it - kill those suckers!! They bite my toes and ankles. It hurts. They bit my son. He won't come back to the garden. 

First Patty Pan Squash

06/24/2010 - Here is the first Patty Pan Squash. Or some call it a Scalloped Golden Squash. It is a little on the big side and I would like them a little smaller. But........it was still delicious! :-D

More bounty - Pickles, Squash and Zucchini

06/16/2010 - Here is a shot of the bounty from the garden. There are Crook Neck Summer Squash, Baby Zucchini and Cucumbers - both pickling and slicing. These were all delicious if you must know!

Pickles!!

06/12/2010 - I spent most of the day pickling my first bounty of pickle cucumbers.

First, there are sweet pickles. I did two batches of 6 pints - one dozen:

Second, these are Bread & Butter Pickles from the Ball website. One batch of 4 pints.

And finally here is a Hot Dog Relish. 12 - 8oz jars. Don't be misled by Hot Dog Relish...We don't use this on hot dogs but we use it on white beans. I added some tabasco to the recipe so we will find out what sort of bite it has.

After canning these pickles and relish I wanted to know how they tasted. So I thought I would pop one of each of these open. Oops, the Ball Blue Book says that fresh pack pickles need to sit for 4-6 weeks. What? How will I know if I want to make more of them since these cucumbers are going crazy?! They won't have the full flavor but I popped them open anyway. Can I just say - DELISH! What will happen in 4-6 weeks if they are this good now? :-P  I took one of the Sweet Pickles and one of the Bread & Butter Pickles to a garden meeting to share with others. They were received well even though they were only a week old. The Sweet Pickle recipe from my mother-in-law ended up in the garden newsletter thanks to my neighbor and fellow gardener. I guess they were good. :-)


On 6/20/2010 I canned more of these assortments of pickles. I have quite a collection now. Let's see - 9 pints of Bread & Butter, 12 - 8oz of Hot Dog Relish, 6 pints of Hot Dog Relish, 12 pints of Sweet Pickles.

I tried my hand at some Hamburger Dills from the Ball Blue Book. I let them sit several days and then tried them. Major Fail!! They were HORRIBLE! The only thing that I did differently was I used dill weed instead of fresh dill because I couldn't find any fresh. The recipe made 4 pints so I didn't lose too much, thank goodness. My neighbor is going to try one of the dill mixes from Ball. I hope hers turn out well.

Progress continues...

06/07/2010 - Here are some pictures of the progress of the garden. Not much to elaborate...just progress!

Cucumbers!! Can you say "Pickles"?!

06/04/2010 - Here is my first harvest of pickling cucumbers. Aren't these beautiful?!

I will show you in another post what these will turn into!