Pumpkins & Paella

You may have seen a few weeks ago, I was growing pumpkins. I noticed that the vines were dying and the pumpkins were not turning that beautiful pumpkin color. So, I searched the ever ready internet for more knowledge. I found out that pumpkins can continue to turn orange even off the vine as long as they are receiving enough sun-light. I hauled them to the front of the house, only to realize that the sun only shines there a couple of hours in the morning. I loaded them back up onto my handy garden cart (my friends K&E gave it to us as a housewarming gift) and hauled them to the backyard. The days are getting shorter and you guessed it…the shadows are getting longer. The pumpkins got about 5 hours of sun in the backyard. Now I could have put them right in the middle of the yard and they would have gotten a lot more sun, but with the sprinklers going on and off, I would have had to do a lot of lifting and huffing and puffing.

They do look nice around the front door, don’t they! I added a couple of extra’s that I purchased at the local farmers market – the small white one and the reddish one. Anyway, my sassy friend came over the other day and said she loved the spotted green pumpkin and the half orange one! Of course, I had to tell her that I had raised them from but a mere seed. I was impressed with myself, even if anyone else wasn’t!

Last week was my birthday! After plenty of mental seed planting, I was pretty sure that Handsome Husband was going to come through with the much wished for gift, from the best cooking shop around. I had inside information that Darling Daughter did a bit of shopping and she does know where to go and she has been taught to shop like a pro. Armed with this information, I had a plan. During lunch, I dashed to the grocery store to pickup a few key ingredients. Weeknight birthdays do not lend themselves to going out for a wild night on the town, so dinner at home was on my mind. And besides the Biggest Loser was on and we wouldn’t want to miss it now, would we? Especially while eating dinner.

Handsome Husband showed up with fresh flowers and there were presents! Yeah. Surprisingly enough there was the very paella pan that I had been ogling at the store, all wrapped up and waiting to be ripped into. How could I tell, you ask? Well, the store wrapped it in cellophane, so it wasn’t that hard to figure out. See it there just sitting in my lap waiting to be opened?

Armed with a cold drink in my hand, I headed to the kitchen. Now, Handsome Husband asks if he can help, because it is my birthday after all. That was all I needed – it was on. I chopped, diced, grinded, grated and measured all while sitting at the counter spouting off directions to Handsome Husband…it is my birthday remember. Earlier I searched the internet for a small paella recipe (there is no such thing). I found a recipe on Food Network indicating that it served 6. It failed to mention that it served 6 contestants of the Biggest Loser, who are currently not dieting! It had 40 shrimp, ½ of spicy sausage, 2 chicken breasts, a pound of clams and 3 cups of rice. I should have known, but it was my birthday and I wasn’t thinking clearly through the fog of over 40.

We began to cook. The pan looked big and the ingredients looked like a drop in the pan. Then it happened, it started to grow. It took on a life of its’ own. I envisioned it filling the entire kitchen the way the rice was puffing up. Before we knew it the pan was about to overflow. No, not on the stove – I just cleaned it! Alas, I got up off of my comfy bar stool and away from my cool drink and started to bale rice and broth out of the pan. Just in time too, because it never really overflowed and therefore I did not have to clean the stove again.

Handsome Husband and I had a great time cavorting around the kitchen and dinner was finally served at the fashionably late hour of nine o’clock. There were about 3 ½ pounds of leftovers, so we sent them home with Boy who surely shared with his parents and brothers. In fact, Boys parents did tell me that they ate them right up.

We had a Timpano Party last weekend. Keep checking and I’ll fill you in.

Handsome Husband vs. Beast

We live at the edge of the foothills and water is scarce! The wild pigs are coming down to quench their thirst. But, the bad news is that they are ripping up the sprinkling systems to get to the water! So, handsome husband got a pig permit from the friendly game warden.

First one down was a baby of about 40 lbs. Our friend, Mike the former butcher and his brother in law "G" the gutter came to handsome husbands rescue. Because handsome husband didn't know what to do! Alas, we got the thing skinned, gutted and butchered and soaked it in salt water for our enjoyment later!

We had pig-a-bobs with fresh veggies over rice! Mmm good! Actually handsome husband didn't think that the tenderloins needed to be soaked, so they were a bit tough. But that there was no sign of that gamy taste you hear about.

A few nights later, while handsome is on his nightly ride giving Holly the Terrorize some exercise they ran across a pack of 10 more. This time the bigger one went down. We're guessing 120-150 lbs.

I thought it most important to include a, oh so cute picture, of Holly the Terrorizer cuddled up with her one of her bff's, "monkey". Holly faithfully sits in my office with me daily as I work away. She guards me with her life, just ask the UPS man.

Sure glad that this pigs didn't make it into my garden. I hear they eat anything and just about time to pluck those pumpkins.

September is hotter than the dickens in CA!

It's still hot enough to call it summer, but the calendar has turned to September and that tells me it should be autumn. The garden is looking pretty depleted.

Tomatoes are still blooming, but the actual fruit is very small. The pumpkins have started turning orange and the sunflowers have fallen over. And I'm just plain hot.

I've inserted a picture of the flowers on the chive plants. They are alive with a buzz of activity. Bees and small orange colored moths. I do like this part of my herb garden a lot. I haven't had much luck with the lemon thyme though. It grows and then just dies.

We had a beautiful lilac bush at our previous home. The renters didn't want it and so, I convinced (twisted his arm) my most wonderful husband to move it. He had to pull it out with a chain and a truck! And what a hole did it leave. Oh and then someone (not me) had to dig the new hole. I do have a great husband. Anyway, the lilac did well all summer - big beautiful purple blooms and oh the fragrance was sweet. About a month ago all the leaves on one of the limbs started to curl and turn brown. Before I knew it the entire bush seems to have died. I have no idea what happened. If you do, please let me know. I still have the hummingbird feeder in the bush and they would be enjoying it, if only someone could remember to fill it.

That wonderful husband I spoke about earlier, wants to yank it out now! I think we should reflect a bit before yanking. I'm hoping it has just decided to go dormant...wishful thinking I know. Anyway, if we have to yank it out, we will probably add another tree, as our new yard is in need of shade . Don't you wish one could just blink and have big lovely shade trees!

I did buy a few dozen tulips, but will wait until October to plant those babies. Anyone up for a bulb planting party? Just let me know.

We're off to the B-52's next week. Wonderful husband bought tickets for the anniversary of my 29th birthday! Wonder if I should get a bouffant hairdo before we go. Take care and I'll chat with you soon!

Fall & Pumpkins

Pumpkins...soup, jackolanterns and raviolis. Things I like! We currently have 4 pumpkins on 4 vines. I was hoping that I would have to choose which pumpkins to keep and which to pinch, but that was not what Mother Nature had in mind. You can see that they are beginning to turn orange. This is the biggest of the lot. One other is close is size, while the other two are small. So much for giant pumpkin seeds.

I began the pumpkin adventure in the raised bed with 1/3 vermiculte, compost and moss, but soon realized that this mix just wasn't working according to the book. So, I added two bags of miracle grow to the top soil and also periodically watered with horse manure tea! Yes, horse manure tea. I created this concotion by stopping on the side of the road and picking up road apples. I then put them in a 5 gallon bucket and added water - let this sit a week or so and have been slowly adding this to my watering regime. I've also added more water to the bucket daily to tone it down a bit! Keep looking and I'll keep you updated! Have a great fall!

Where Did Time Go?

So, in the beginning I was had this gradiose idea of blogging regularly and getting my garden/food feelings out there and then bam...life happened.

So what have I done in all of this time? We really did get a raised bed garden installed using the Mel Bartholomew Square Foot Gardening techniques. Well I'm not sold on them. We laid the beds out and followed the instructions with 1/3 compost, moss and vermiculite (which was expensive) but there just weren't enough nutrients in the combined soil. I ended up adding Miracle Grow soil and manure. This helped, but it was probably too late for some of my plants.

I planted two heirloom tomatoes - yellow and black, a roma tomato and a beefsteak. The heirlooms did better than the other two. Two Zucchini - which did okay. An Eggplant and watermelon - which did nothing! Mesclun lettuces - which did really well in the spring. And a variety of herbs - which have also done well.

We also planted one bed of thornless blackberries - which aren't getting enough water. Four giant pumpkins in July - two seeds came from my friend Tom and 2 came from a package. All four now have 1 pumpkin each now. But I didn't label them and I don't know which plant is which! Also planted some sunflowers in July - and one bloomed this morning! Big smile!

I also have been doing a bit of canning and cooking and tried to save a few pictures of what I did for posting. I really was thinking about this, but just didn't get around to the blogging.

Oh yeah, we put a yard in in May too!

Cold & Foggy in Central CA

It's cold and I don't want to go outside and garden. We did however complete one 1 4X4 raised bed garden. I also got a few seeds in the window sill hot house. All we need is a little sun! Then we'll be back outside finishing the raised bed. We got the vermiculite, peet and soil from Lowe's. Just need the fog to go away!

Pomegranate Jelly Woes

I was given about 10 pounds of pomegranates by our friend Farmer Bob. He is a real farmer and has lots of fruit and veggies in his personal garden that he shares with us. I didn't know what to do with them outside of using them for decoration, so I decided to try my hand at jelly. I've never canned a thing and didn't own any of the stuff needed to do this. Off to Walmart I went to buy the goods. I get to Walmart only to find out that it isn't canning season and their supply is limited. I was able to get a big pot, but nothing else. The grocery store did have jars and my friend Kate supplied the jar lifter. Armed with my Ball canning book I began. What I didn't know was how long it was going to take to juice pomegranates - 10 took about 1.5 hours. We picked the seeds from the fruit then then cooked 6 cups of the fruit for 5 minutes for 1/2 cup of boiling water, then put it in cheese close and began to bludgeon the seeds until we got 3 1/2 cups of juice. It was messy and oh well, with my daugher, Emily's help we got through it. We put it in the fridge and called it a night.

The next day I hauled all the stuff out again. I also bought fresh Pom juice to add to my juice, as we needed 4 cups of juice and we only had 3 1/2. It didn't take long, was a bit messy but I again got through it. But, my jelly isn't jelly. It seems to be pomegranite syrup. It didn't set up, as they say. I now have two options and haven't decided which one I'm going with. I can A - call it Pomegranate Syrup and give it as gifts or try to re-make. I did find a recipe online for remaking runny jelly. Stayed tuned and I will let you know what we decide to do. I'm also going to try and remember to take more photos of my kitchen antics as they occur.