New Grandgirl, Garden, Recipes

 Tuesday 23 May it snowed on us and that night we were 27 degrees. The covered tomatoes froze :(.

 As of May 25 we have a new grandgirl, 1 and 1/2 months early 3 lbs 10 oz. Xoie. Daughter in law had a lot of problems and the baby needed to be taken.  Both are doing well.

We are STILL putting the garden in, we spent Memorial morning pressure washing my mom's home to get ready to paint later in the week.

We came home and tried to work in the garden and managed to get 2 more rows planted and Dave dug and laid more wire and tires.  The the sky opened up and we went in for a while and later we went back out as it slowed down and worked some more and after 30 minutes it started to pour on us so we finished what we were doing and came in soaked but with more done. 

Recipes 

Buttermilk Biscuits KFC Copycat
             2 cups all-purpose flour (I like unbleached)

6 Tablespoons butter or lard
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 Tablespoon baking powder
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. Cut in the butter or lard until it is of a coarse texture. Add the buttermilk and knead gently but thoroughly.  The dough should be soft but not sticky: if it still sticky add a little more flour. Knead this 1 minute, then wrap in foil or wax paper and refrigerate about 20 minutes.
Roll out dough to 1/2 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut with a biscuit cutter or small glass (edge coated with flour). Put biscuits on your baking sheet and bake them until golden brown, 10-12 minutes.

Apple Marmalade

Makes 3 pints
6 cups apples peeled cored and sliced apples
1 cup of water
1 tablespoon lemon juice

 package fruit pectin
4 cups white sugar
1 lemon, sliced thin, remove seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
In a large stainless or enamel stock pot combine the apples, water and lemon juice. Cover and boil this gently for 15 minutes, stirring a few times to prevent it from sticking. Stir in your fruit pectin. Bring this to a full boil, stirring constantly. Add sugar, lemon slices and cinnamon. Return it to a full boil and boil hard for 1 minute, stirring constantly.
Remove it from the heat and ladle into clean hot jars, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch head space. Process in a boiling water bath for 5 minutes at altitudes up to 1000 feet. Please adjust your times for higher altitudes.

Garden going in, in stages

This last Saturday we were able to get more of the garden in. Dave dug down several inches beside the raised boxes and laid wire (hard ware cloth) and then we laid the tires on that and filled the tires with dirt and planted our tomatoes and some zucchini in them.
Up above the boxes we planted corn, cucumbers and some pumpkins.  

 Last night (Monday) we still had a couple of hours of daylight when he got home so we went out and planted beans mainly.
Yellow eye, green, wax, red beans, dragon tongue, pintos and red beans.  I also did a row of broccoli and different kinds of peppers.  By then it was getting dark and was time to come in.
Dave also brought 12 more old tires home to plant more things in, the wire and tires sure help keep the voles from destroying plants.

 

Below before planted, we have had that tiller since 1981 :)

 Supplies:
I have found I am getting low of basic colored threads in my sewing.  I hadn't really bought any in a long time.  (Make that years) So I have started by picking up a couple of white and will do more each pay day of other colors and more white.  Hard to believe one can go through so much at times.

We just picked up some Dichotomous Earth to put around the house for ant and other bug problems.  This was the last bag at the store, we wanted a couple of bags so I hope they are ordering more in.  This can also be used in the garden to ward of insects if you have a problem say with horn worms and etc.  You don't want to use it everywhere out there because it also will ward off good ones to.  Just sprinkle on your plants if needed.  This is not the food grade and only one place in the valley had it H. Depot.  I know I called all over.

The food grade kind is good for sprinkleing around the edge of the kitchen cupboards for ants and so on and for dusting on your pets to help keep off ticks and fleas without using poisons. You can use the other thats not food grade but I prefer food grade in my cupboards.
I had to order some of this on line there isn't any anywhere in the valley.  I bought 2 lbs this time but it does come in larger amounts.
http://diatomaceousearth.net/product/2lb-diatomaceous-earth#.UZuL95yAAao 


 We will have a day in the high 60's today to around 70 but tomorrow it is only supposed to get to 48 and take a few days for the system to move out but it is supposed to bring rain with it tomorrow which is the good part.

I forgot to add the picture of the quilt I still have to tie. Here it is.

Comments welcome as always.

Half the garden in

The weekend was a busy one.  Friday Dave loaded and unloaded 99 % of 2,700 lbs garbanzo bean shakings.  First into the back of the farm truck and then Saturday morning into 50 to 100 lbs sacks.  Kay helped on Sat. morning lol. I was shelling beans that we will be planting.

Just a few of the beans we shelled.

Friday was granddaughter Aspens 1st birthday.  Boy did that year go fast.  I made a quilt for her.

Saturday afternoon we proceeded to shell beans together and then we went out and planted our root crops, potatoes, beets and carrots.

We then finished the rest of the beans.  We still have to seed corn to take off the cobs.

The days had been in the high 70's to low 80's but a cool front came through this morning and we got to 65 degrees and we got maybe a quarter inch of rain and later in the day hail.  The rain was very welcome.  We have been very dry.

It has been in the high 90's in the valley over the last week.  I am sure they enjoyed the cooler weather down there today.  I know I am after days of heat we weren't used to. 

Comments welcome.

New picnic area here

Saturday was busy up here as we tried to get some of the things that need done in the spring.

Dave got the old raspberry canes cut down while I cleaned all the winter debris off the deck and cleaned up the granddaughters play outdoor kitchen and toys that sit on the deck, it was a real mess.

The next thing to be tackled was digging the new fire pit and picnic area.  Its is all surrounded with rocks and the bottom lined so we can easily sit a dutch oven in the bottom.
3 benches were also made.

Kay had waited all day with her bag of marshmallows.

We will do some more clearing around it but the big part is finished.

Storage:

About time to make sure we have extra oil around the place for the mower, car truck and etc. Boy the prices have really risen for those.

Time to check other things we are low on. Not good to run out of things like aluminum foil and so forth. 

Keep the stocks up on toilet paper and cleaners.  Yes food and ways to cook it are very important but so in cleanliness.