Things are ripening fast. Time to share what we’re able to enjoy from the garden. The echinacea plants are going crazy and the bees love them. So pretty…they make me smile!
I’ve picked all the green and yellow beans. I ended up with 6 pounds of beans so I have enough that I can make a big batch of 4-bean salad. I will can them in pints, adding canned kidney beans, canned chickpeas, red sweet pepper, onion and a pickling brine. I’ll be doing that tomorrow so I’ll post that recipe and pictures in a few days.
The single row of beans that are next to the carrots will be ready in a few weeks and we’ll just eat them.
Here are some other things that we can eat right now…or soon!
The Black Seeded Simpson lettuce is looking good.We’ve been eating radishes. The ones on the right are just beginning. I’ll replant the spaces on the left as soon as I pull the remaining ones.The one pot of strawberries is trying so hard…I doubt if we’ll have more than a few to eat unless the chipmunks get them first!The yellow cherry tomatoes are great to toss in salads.The Super Sauce tomatoes are ripening fast. We’re ready to add them to meals.The Delicata squash is finally getting those green stripes. I’m not exactly sure when they are ripe…so we’ll have to experiment.The cucumbers are producing and I’ve been able to have at least one cucumber every day for a week or two. Love them!These are the Calypso shell beans. They will stay in the garden until fall but I couldn’t resist seeing what’s happening inside. they are supposed to be black and white when they are ready.Certainly not ready yet!I think part of the plant thinks it’s fall! The Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) are hanging in there. I just had to see what was happening inside the pod.Looks like each pod has two beans (peas).
So that’s what’s happening in our backyard. We’ve not had a significant rainfall for several weeks so the grass looks pretty brown, but we’ve been able to keep the garden watered thanks to the rain barrels. If it doesn’t rain soon, we’ll have to drag the hose up the hill to the garden to keep things green. Oh, the life of a gardener! I feel for the farmers who can’t solve the rain deficit with just a hose.
Off to prep the green and yellow beans for canning tomorrow! Enjoy!
Let me be clear…I do not have chickens in my backyard. I wish I did, but now that I can’t eat eggs I don’t see the point and Bert would prefer to not deal with chickens as pets. However, a friend who does have chickens in her backyard wondered if I would test a recipe for a baked seed cake recipe. I guess similar cakes can be purchased but she wanted a cake that would have wholesome ingredients with no extra chemicals or additives. Why not!
Here is the recipe:
My friend provided all the ingredients, which helped a lot. Many of the ingredients were unfamiliar since I don’t work with chicken feed, so I had to figure out which bag had “scratch grain” and which was “layer feed.”
For example, the “scratch grains” were called a “poultry treat,” but basically it was an assortment of grains.The “layer feed” was high in protein and had pre- and probiotics.I certainly didn’t have “chick grit” in my kitchen!
The rest of the ingredients at least sounded like things I was familiar with, like sunflower seeds, whole wheat flour and cinnamon!
I measured out all the dry ingredients into a large bowl. In a smaller bowl I mixed the eggs, molasses and coconut oil. Then I poured the wet ingredients into the pile of dry ingredients.
I was able to mix it up with a big spoon. The recipe said I could do it with my hands, but the spoon worked fine.
My plan was to use my small loaf-shaped pans so I sprayed them with oil and filled them about halfway. I needed to press firmly in the corners and along the sides to pack it tightly.
I had a small cookie cutter and cut a hole to put the string through.
Once I removed the bit of packed seed, I inserted a small piece of dowel rod and packed the seeds around the stick. I left the dowel rod in while baking.
The last cake of seed dough I divided into two baking cups, making two smaller cakes. I wanted to see how those cups worked.
I forgot to spray oil on the paper cups…big mistake! I had to practically rip the paper off the cakes.
After baking for 30 minutes at 325 degrees, I let them cool for a few minutes. While they were still warm, I was able to twist and remove the dowel rods and run a table knife around the edges of the pans. The larger cakes popped right out of the pans. The smaller paper cups should have been sprayed but the cakes were fine.
I let the cakes cool on the racks overnight so they could harden and were not sticky. I was able to string a piece of twine through the holes and they are ready to hang in the chicken house or barn. Hope the chickens like them!
Give this cake recipe a try or share with a friend who has backyard chickens! You may be rewarded with some eggs! Please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.
There is nothing more frustrating than finding a deer decided to use the garden for their salad bar! We have invested time, energy (mostly Bert’s) hopes and dreams (mostly mine!) in the garden this year. The Garbanzo beans have been especially fun to watch.
Can you see the tiny marble-size garbanzo bean pods?
I am so looking forward to seeing how they were going to turn out and yesterday morning Bert said ne noticed a few places where the plants had been chomped right off! Oh no!
They were not chomped off at ground level and there was no evidence of an animal coming from underground like a ground hog or vole. Rabbits cannot get through the fence but a deer could probably jump over the fence. We do have a walkway between the fence and the garden which keeps deer from just leaning over the fence for a snack. We’ve never had a problem before but who knows! Nothing else in the garden was bothered so far.
We do have lots of deer wandering through the yard at night and we often see them at the bird feeder, cleaning up what has spilled underneath. If a deer decided to jump over the fence for a snack, I would have thought other plants would have been damaged.
So…we have no idea what we’re dealing with. Last night, I just wanted to deter any animal from causing more damage, so I grabbed some extra cheesecloth I had and spread it on top of the plants. At least if it happened again, we’d see some damage to the cheesecloth. If this continues, Bert will set up his trail camera to check it out at night.
If the damage is being caused by something at ground level or from underground, there might be more damage without bothering the cheesecloth. This morning, I lifted off the cheese cloth and set it aside to see how the plants are this morning.
So far, no new damage.
I really hate the idea of putting poison around the garden when I don’t know exactly who the culprit is, so I did a search online to see if any of my essential oils could help.
I found one very helpful article about using essential oils to deter deer. After describing the many ways to protect garden produce from deer, like having a 7-foot-high fence to having a dog wander around the garden fence and mark (pee) on the posts, the article clearly identified scents that deer don’t like…peppermint (actually any of the mints), lavender, thyme and oregano. At the opposite end of the garden is my whole row of lavender in bloom…maybe that kept animals away from the plants at that end.
Since I don’t have a dog and don’t want to count on my neighbor’s dog to be available, today I’m going to mix up a spray with water, lavender hydrosol, lavender oil and peppermint oil and spray it around the garden fence and garbanzo beans. At least it isn’t poison and maybe it will help keep animals away.
I’ll continue to cover the plants at night…at least until it rains and I’ll spray around the fence and plants. Here’s hoping my dreams of garbanzo beans will continue!
If you have any suggestions, please comment or email me directly at marykisner@comcast.net.
The next one I chose has several names. In one book it’s called Blazing Star, and in another it has had 5 other names!
I guess I’ll go with Blazing Star or Flaming Star. It appealed to me in its simplicity and made me think of all the stars on a summer night!
Since I don’t have an actual pattern, it helped to have it identified as being on a template of a 4-patch quilt block.
Making the Small Sample Block
I have learned to always make a miniature block first so I can figure out the dimensions of the sections. Painting the block also helps me visualize the colors better before I actually start on the 12″ x 12″ block of wood.
This is a 3″ square miniature canvas. I marked it into smaller squares each 1/4″. On the larger block of wood, each 1/4″ will be equal to 1″.
This took me a little while to figure out the angle for the star points in the background…as shown by all my pencil lines and erasures! That’s why I do this in pencil on a small one first!
And then I tested my color choices:
I started with the darkest color (that really is purple!), then yellow, and finally the gray background. Not very exciting but it reminded me of a night sky with all the stars out.
Making the Larger Block
With my shapes determined I shouldn’t have any pencil lines showing through the yellow paint.First two colors.Finished block…waiting for Bert to put the magnets on the back!And of course, the yellow looks totally different in daylight! I like it!
It’s been fun to try this new kind of quilt block. Now I have a month or two to figure out what pattern to do next. I’m probably good until Labor Day now!
My miniatures are also reminding me what I’ve already done…my own little art gallery! Enjoy!
I may still do the two on the left on larger wood. So many patterns to choose from!
This is the point in the growing season that we start anticipating signs of actual produce coming from the garden. We’ve eaten lettuce and radishes, picked lavender and echinacea flowers but we’re ready to peek under the leaves to see what might actually be growing there. Thought I’d share what we found!
Echinacea is just starting but the potential for much more is visible.Lavender flowers are now opening so the bees are very busy.Here’s a view of the whole garden on the hill this 4th of July weekend.Here’s the view of the backyard planters from the hill.
At the close up level, under the leaves, we found what’s coming!
So far, strawberries have blossoms. Down at ground level, not sure if any actual strawberries will survive the wandering chipmunks!Most of the cucumbers are about 1″ long…except this one! There is hope!Delicata squash is finally on its way!Painted Pony beans are starting to be big enough to see.Green beans will be ready in a week or two.Yellow beans will turn yellow when they are ready to pick.Tomatoes are getting bigger!Garbanzo beans are just flowers so far.
So that’s the overview! Sort of in a holding pattern, making sure the rain is timed right and the bugs stay away. It’s called gardening season in Pennsylvania! Enjoy!
My fingers are shriveled and my back is tired…all to preserve the 20 pounds of blueberries I picked up today from the Kiwana’s blueberry sale. Whew! I just finished washing and freezing 22 pints of blueberries. It always feels great to get them all safely tucked into the freezer. I have enough to last a year and I can almost taste the first batch of blueberry muffins I have in mind! (Check out my favorite muffin recipe: https://marykisner.com/the-best-vegan-muffin/).
This year the blueberries came from New Jersey. In the past they’ve been sourced from Maine. They were quite clean already but I still rinse them in cool water and remove any squashed or unripe berries. They can be washed, scooped directly into freezer bags and put in the freezer. When frozen they can easily be measured out like a pile of marbles and baked into goodies, added to fruit cup or eaten on cereal.
Out of these 20 pounds, I think I had to throw away about 1/2 cup of squashed berries and stems…not bad. The bags stack neatly on the freezer shelf and will be a real treat in the middle of winter.
We tried growing our own blueberries a few years ago, but our soil must not be right and we had to fence them completely because the deer, bunnies and birds would help themselves as they wandered by. An ongoing battle in Pennsylvania!
I’m all for letting folks that are good at growing things we can’t, be my source to stock up my freezer. In the dead of winter around here local blueberries are NOT available! Knowing there may be food shortages this winter, I’m always on the lookout for things that I can add to my freezer without having to grow them myself. Check out farmers markets near you to do the same!
If you have been following my various activities, you know that not all of my projects are successful. Some of the recipes for baking sound yummy on paper, but end up being boring, tasteless, etc. A few of my body care formulations seem easy to follow but I end up with a product that just isn’t something I’d ever use or share. That doesn’t stop me from trying to make something new!
I came across a new recipe for a solid perfume that sounded like it might work. For one thing, it had way more essential oil incorporated into the mix. For another, the procedure was a little different so I thought I’d give it one more try!
Here is the recipe:
I first needed to order two of the essential oils that are listed but I did not have…Vetiver and Cinnamon Bark essential oils. Since I can’t rely on my nose to tell me what this combination would smell like, I just followed the recipe.
Once I had all the essential oils, I began with the beeswax and Jojoba oil. I measured them into a heat-safe glass cup and set the cup in a pan of water on the stove.
Heating the pan of water on the stove did not take long.
When melted, I removed the cup from the boiling water and started stirring. Let me tell you…I very quickly decided I would be there for a very long time waiting for it to get to room temperature!
I stirred for a while but then decided to just start adding the various oils. I stirred well between each addition. I did not see it turn into a “soft butter” consistency. I was too impatient!
Then I poured the mixture into my tiny containers.
It took less than 30 minutes to cool and set up.
It looks like it was successful! It is not a flowery scent…more subtle and woodsy. I smell the sandalwood first but I suspect over time, the other scents will be noticeable. We’ll see how it is in a few days. This will need to be applied over a larger area, but I think I’ll enjoy it!
So, don’t be afraid to experiment…sometimes you discover something new! Enjoy!
Strawberries are in season in Pennsylvania…everywhere, except in my garden! So rather than get upset, I managed to find fresh, yummy strawberries at local farmer’s markets. I thought I’d start with just two quarts, while I worked to remind myself how to do it. The dehydrator sits quietly in my garage most of the year, but from July to September it gets heavy use. Dried fruits make great snacks and toppings for cereal. Dried vegetables make quick additions to vegetable soups. The last few days, I focused on strawberries and as you’ll see…relearning how to use the equipment is always my first step.
I pulled out the book that goes with my dehydrator:
Then I picked up two quarts of strawberries at a local market:
I also had a few apricots sitting on the counter that were ripe and decided to add them to a tray:
I pulled the trays out of the dehydrator and got to work. Washing and slicing very ripe strawberries is work, but delicious…I think every now and then one would jump right into my mouth!
My First Attempt to Dehydrate Strawberries
First, I washed the strawberries:
Just a few minutes in cold water was enough.Washed strawberriesSliced and ready for the dehydrator
Apricots were pretty easy:
Five apricots filled a trayFilled 4 trays (out of 9) so I spaced them out.Temperature set at 135 degrees for 6-8 hours.
Well, let me tell you something I had forgotten:
Soft, juicy fruit needs a sheet of parchment paper under it…otherwise, it will gradually sink into the grid of the tray and practically glue itself to the grid!
After 6-7 hours, they were ready to remove. Yikes! They were stuck fast! I could chip most of them off but it was tedious.
Looked great, but……I just couldn’t chip these off the tray. I had to soak them in a tub outside until I could wash them off.
Actually, the larger pieces of apricot did much better because they weren’t so juicy.
Made pretty yummy snacks!
So, my first attempt made two small bags of dried fruit, but I had to take the trays outside to soak off all the bits of fruit that was glued on the plastic grid!
My Second Attempt
The next day, I ran to the grocery store and picked up more strawberries…not local but less juicy.
This time, I lined the trays with a sheet of parchment paper on top of the plastic grid.
I can buy parchment exactly the right size for the tray…14 inches square.When dry, the strawberries popped right off the paper!
My second attempt made as many dried strawberries with MUCH less hassle! Yea! These will be great on top of granola and oatmeal!
What did I learn?
Always use parchment paper under soft juicy fruit (especially strawberries and bananas). The parchment is essential under fruit roll-ups, like applesauce or mixed blended fruit.
I think I’ll print this statement and tape it to the inside of my manual! Live and learn.
I finally finished my first attempt to make a door quilt on a piece of 12″ x 12″ plywood. I was determined to make this painting on wood that hopefully would maintain it’s bright colors. Fabric quilt blocks were my original solution to needing a door decoration that would fit in the flatter space between the front door and the screen door. Last year I managed to make six quilt blocks that solved the problem, but when I started pulling them out this year the colors had faded and looked pretty sad. (See https://marykisner.com/prepping-for-new-door-quilts/).
So, I had Bert cut two pieces of 12″ x 12″ plywood for me to play with (just in case it didn’t work, no point in having a bunch cut out!). First, I wanted to replace the fabric patriotic quilt block that was on the door right now:
This picture was taken when I first put it up last year…nice bright colors.
I first painted the block, both sides, with a base coat of white. When dry I sketched out the pattern and put a second coat of white paint on the corresponding white sections:
This looked pretty easy but I was re-learning how to use various brushes. Not as easy as I thought it would be!
Then I started with the red paint and filled in those sections. It took a second coat to get the solid color.
I’m certainly not as steady as I should be to do those straight lines!
Then I filled in the blue sections:
Now the dilemma…the original pattern had white stars on the blue squares. I did that with some fabric that had stars in the pattern and managed to get at least one white star centered in the block. However, how to do that with paint? After seeing how unsteady I was with a tiny brush, I did a quick run to JoAnn Fabric Store and picked up some embroidered appliques of stars. Perfect!
After finishing the block with a satin finish acrylic spray, I just glued the stars to the blue squares!
Funny how different light made the colors brighter!
The block sat on my old organ by the front door for a week until Bert had time to figure out how to hang it on the front door. It couldn’t be hung the way the fabric blocks were because we have a door knocker right in the middle. The fabric blocks just draped over that with no problem.
Bert finally had to put magnets on the back (the door is metal under the paint!).
Now the block has to sit below the door knocker.
Oh well…now to see if the paint fades over time. This block should be appropriate through the 4th of July holiday. I’ll have to think about whether it’s worth it to make more in wood. Enjoy!
This is about the time the garden gives us hope for a good harvest! If a plant is going to die, right about now is when we know for sure that it’s time to replant something else!
The hopes for abundant strawberries have been dashed, as one by one the plants withered and died. We started with a 5-tier tower, an extra bucket of 4 plants and a separate pot with 3-4 plants.
Strawberry tower in May.Strawberry plants in May.
We took apart the tower, thinking they weren’t getting enough sun, or water, or something. This is what we have left:
The one in the middle actually had a strawberry…and a roving chipmunk took a bite out of it!Moving on…the cherry tomato plant is doing well.I just discovered the first tomatoes tucked in the middle.The lettuce and radishes at least are doing well. We’ve been eating the lettuce, one bunch at a time and that is the second planting of radishes.This planter has the 4 kinds of shell beans. Luckily, I stuck my labels in the ground when I planted the seeds because they all look alike right now.Cucumbers are going strong.Delicata squash is determined to be bigger than the cucumbers!Up in the big garden, some of the lavender came back fine. A few plants are still thinking about it! The carrots next to the lavender did nothing. We had to replant.I have started to collect the stems. By the end of the summer I should have enough buds to make my lavender-infused oil.The row of carrots (and weeds) on the right are actually growing. Tomorrow, I’ll plant more green beans in the empty row on the left. They’ll be ready in late August.Green beans on the left; yellow beans on the right. Starting to make blossoms.Super Sauce tomatoes doing well.Most plants had at least one tomato and some had more. They all look like yummy pizza sauce in the future!And my crazy garbanzo beans (chick peas). They just make me smile!The echinacea looks impressive. All different stages after wintering over. We’ll just leave them alone and enjoy them.
We have had so much rain we haven’t had to water much. But, who knows, at any time the rain could stop and move us into a dry spell. We’re ready! Enjoy!
