When it rains, it POURS

  Yesterday was very humid and 90 degrees. I knew it was going to rain when I walked outside at 7AM. I just didn't know when. I watered the garden good, early in the day hoping that the plants wouldn't burn. I had other things to do outside, so I started in on getting things done. By the time the junk man got here at noon to haul away my old pick-up, my clothes were soaked with sweat. After he left I got cleaned up and into dry clothes just in time for it to start pouring. How it did come down. Not a passing shower, but 2 hours of downpour. I thought we were getting the worst of it, but I was wrong. North and east of us got the same treatment as we got, plus, they got hail. This hail ranged in size from 1" to almost 3". The news had pictures of these giant hail stones and pictures of the damage. Houses, cars, and trees suffered lots of damage in this latest round of Mother Natures Fury.
  There is an old saying that goes, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." I don't know who ticked Mother Nature off, but I do wish they would stop. There is another old saying,"If Mother ain't happy, nobody is."

One man's trash is another man's treasure

 I guess Elaine and I are pack rats. We used to ride around on trash day just to see if someone threw out something that we could use. Over the years we have picked up lots of different stuff. We picked up 2 wooden steamer trunks one time and now they are in our living room with the tv on top. Our neighbor was putting her couch out for trash so I got it from her and a matching chair. This couch and chair were like new, she just wanted a change. Our house is full of things we picked up.
  My garden is also starting to fill-up with recycled material. I use one neighbors lawn clippings for mulch. He always piles his clippings in the brush between us and told me I could have all I want. I scrape the fresh clippings off the pile and have nice composted mulch to use. When I have all I need, I push the fresh stuff back over where I dug, and next time I dig in a different spot.
  We picked up an old, steel, child's bed years ago. It has been leaning up against the back of our house until now. The two end pieces of the bed now have our peas growing up them and the side rails are a trellis for the sweet peas to grow up.I have an old, steel gazebo that I am fashioning into a trellis for cucumbers and another piece for pole beans. We also have 3 wood and steel benches around the lawn, compliments of others on trash day. We have to sit on something outside, and free-cycled feels great.

  Here is a picture of the bed and the peas.

First Harvest of 2012

 Thursday I picked the loose leaf lettuce and Elaine and I had a fresh green salad for supper. It was really good, but not as good as what I picked on Friday. On Friday I cut my beet greens, cooked them with some linguine, then I coated them with a mixture of some butter, extra virgin olive oil, a few drops of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper, and grated cheese. My stomach is still thanking me this morning. It tasted that good. I like patting myself on the back sometimes, but I always enjoy a good meal(that's probably why I weigh as much as I do).
  I still have more plants to put in the garden but I will wait till after this heat and humidity pass. I lost about a dozen plants this week due to the weather so I'll just wait a few days. I have the plants outside so they can adjust, I just don't have them in the direct sunlight constantly like they get in my garden.
  Next week will be hard to get much done in the garden with the holiday on Monday and Elaine having surgery on Friday morning. If all goes well, she won't have to stay in the hospital but only time will tell.

Just plain busy!

 The past week has been crazy. First the rain held everything up. Then it was sunny but had doctors appointments. Trying to get the garden work done and the plants transplanted in between rain drops was getting a little rough. Then came the real heat with the humidity and this weather brought along the hard down-pours with it. Some of my plants baked in the heat and some didn't survive the rains. The rest are doing fine so now I remember why I started so many and weed out the weak. I will have nice fresh garden greens for Memorial Day and some radishes for a salad. Next week I will have to hope that the garden doesn't need much attention. We have to be at the hospital at 5:30AM on Friday for Elaine to get ready for her surgery. The doctor feels he can remove all the cancer and that Elaine should be able to come home the same day and make a full recovery. The doctor won't know for certain until surgery. Only time will tell. Before it starts raining, I want to get the melon plants in the ground so I'm off. Back to the garden.

Fast paced Garden

 This past week-end was warm and dry so I worked as much as I could in the garden, planting, weeding, and preparing for plants. I had started the pumpkins and melons in the house to give them a head start. Here in central New York you have to give some plants a bit of an edge on Mother Natures growing season.They were getting so big that I was afraid they were going to break so I planted all the melons, squash, and pumpkins. I will just have to cover them if the weather calls for a late frost. I will keep the tomatoes and peppers in the house for another week before I plant them. The beans and peas are growing like weeds. Everything is up, it just needs some more warm weather to make this nice soaking rain we have had work to our advantage.
  Elaine and I are pack-rats. If we go for a ride and see something on the side of the road that we might use, we stop and pick it up. We found an old steel child's bed that is now being used as a trellis for the peas to grow on. I also saved a fancy steel gazebo frame that was being thrown out at a house I was working on. This steel is now the trellis for my pole beans and the smaller parts I'm using for the cucumbers. As the old saying goes,"One man's trash is another man's treasure." I almost always had a garden, but never had the time to have some fun with it. Now I have the time to do some things to make it easier and possibly grow a better crop. At any rate, I plan to have fun in my garden this year. When I get the trellis' built and standing, I'll post some pictures.
  The rain is supposed to stop tomorrow so I hope I can work in the garden . The strawberry plants came yesterday and need to be planted ASAP. We will have fresh salad greens and radishes for Memorial Day. The lettuce and other greens will be ready by then. Fresh, tender, and tasty. That's what makes all the work worth  while. Gotta love it.

In the Garden

 It's finally stopped raining so today I work in the garden. I have to get the ground ready and transplant plants that I started in the house. Some of these plants are getting to big for the pot that they are in and now are falling over.I grow my plants under a "natural light" or "full spectrum" bulb and boy how they grew. Some of these plants I will have to put in bigger pots and still keep them inside for another couple weeks until all chance of frost is gone, the rest are ready for outside.
  I tried Cayenne Pepper to keep the squirrels away and found it to work pretty good. Someone else told me that squirrels hate Marigolds, so I will put out a few around different spots in the garden. If nothing else, they will add some early color to the garden. So far, the plants that are outside are doing well. In some cases, they are actually growing as fast as the weeds. We should have radishes in a week to 10 days. The early lettuce should be ready by Memorial Day, the peas soon after that. With the price of produce in the store, I can't wait to go to the backyard and pick something for dinner. I miss being on the farm and growing almost everything we ate. We always had a garden, we raised our own meat and eggs, we only had to go to the store for staple goods like salt and flour. But that's a life style that's not as common as it used to be and my health won't let me work like that anymore even if I wanted too. I guess it's called progress.

Marinade

 I promised a marinade recipe, so before I forget to tell about, here it is.
                  In a bowl I mix:  1- teaspoon garlic powder
                                            1-teaspoon onion powder
                                            1- teaspoon salt
                                            2- teaspoons ground rosemary
                                           1/2- teaspoon black pepper
                                            1- teaspoon paprika
               Mix these dry ingredients together before adding the wet ingredients.
                        now add:     1/4- cup honey mustard barbeque sauce
                                            1/4- cup your favorite barbeque sauce
                                             2- teaspoons Dijon mustard
                                             1- tablespoon soy sauce
                                             1- tablespoon Worcestershire sauce  
                                             2- tablespoons balsamic vinegar
                                             1/2- cup ginger ale (yes, really ginger ale)
                  Mix this well. I put the meat in a zip-loc bag and then pour the marinade in, zip the bag and just push things around a little, then I put it in the fridge. I try to let the meat soak up flavor overnight, but 3-4 hours works well. When I get ready to cook, I use the remaining sauce to baste with as it cooks. Make sure when using the extra sauce to baste that it gets thoroughly cooked because the sauce has had raw meat in it.  I have cooked on the grill, in the oven, and fried using this marinade with good results.I have used this on pork, chicken, and beef  and we have been pleased with the taste and the tenderness of the meat. This makes enough for about 2 pounds of meat. The measurements for the ingredients are just what we like, maybe you will want more or less of one thing or another, make it to suit your taste. I have also used fresh garlic and onions instead of the powder, it just depends on my mood.
    Let me know if you try this and what you think of the taste. Tomorrow it's back to crafting.

Hints from a House Husband: Catching Up

Hints from a House Husband: Catching Up:  Things nave been a little heck-tick around here for the last few months. Health wise we have both been struggling with problems but I guess...

Catching Up

 Things nave been a little heck-tick around here for the last few months. Health wise we have both been struggling with problems but I guess we now have an idea about what is happening. I have an iron deficiency and Elaine has uterine cancer with surgery scheduled for 6/1. The doctors feel that the cancer hasn't spread so it shouldn't be a problem but they won't know for sure until the surgery.
  On a happier note, the garden is coming fast with all the warm weather we've had. Peas, lettuce, swiss chard, and beets are all coming good. The plants that I have started in the house are taking over. Everything is growing well and will be ready to transplant soon. I'm planting a much bigger garden this year with the hope of selling some of my extra veggies.
   I got a shock the other night while cooking supper. I was making fried fish and I used bread flour instead of all purpose flour for the coating. The coating cooked up lighter and fluffier and had a fantastic taste. It was the first time that I had ever used bread flour for anything other than dough but it certainly won't be the last. Last night I fried chicken the same way. It came out light and delicious.
  Tomorrow I'll tell you about a marinade I made that gave a new name to roasted pork.