Fire That Weather Guy!!!!!

I was watching the ten o'clock news on one of our local t.v. stations and that silly weather man said "Dry the rest of this week and there's no rain in sight for next week either." I say FIRE THAT RASCAL.

We need a weather guy that can do better predictions than the present weather man can do. We need a weather man that can see some rain in the forecast for several days.

Oh, well. Guess I'll drag out the hose and water the garden again. We've watered it until it's producing so it would be foolish to stop now even though we may have to float a loan to pay the water bill next month. Those fresh veggies are worth it.

But couldn't that weather guy pretend he sees some rain in the forecast? At least that would give us some hope. Think I'll call the station and make a suggestion. LOL

A Tease Is A Tease Is A Tease!

We received a "tease" of rain today. William put all his equipment back in his shop and came in telling me "It's raining!" I was so excited but before he could get seated in his recliner the rain had cease to fall and the sun was once again shining brightly.





That is what I call a "tease". However, according to the "weatherman" rain is in the forecast for the next three days. I am hoping and praying that that "weatherman" is right or I may have to fire him!




Some parts of the country are flooding, some parts are so wet that the homesteaders can't get their fall gardens in the ground and then there is our part of the country that is so dry that when we try to work our raised beds the dust is like a whirlwind, even with deep watering every week and sometimes twice weekly.



It is not for me to understand and I'm very glad that is so because I do not understand why some people get too much of what we haven't gotten nearly enough of this summer.



That's all I have to say today. Well except, my computer will NOT stay online. So if I don't post for a while you will know that I THREW THE DARN THING OUT THE BACK DOOR!!!!!! OR PUT IT IN THE GARBAGE WHERE IT BELONGS!

How Dry Is Dry?

How dry is it here? So dry that when we walk across our lawn it crackles under our feet. We need rain so very much.

We're keeping our garden watered but we can't afford to water the yard and the garden. We had to keep our priorities in order. It sure is hard to see my roses looking so bad and all the other flowers turning brown for lack of water.

I should have planned my flower beds more carefully. Instead of placing them around in so many different areas, I should have placed them all together. We could have kept them watered if I'd planted them all closer together. But NO, I had to place beds all around the front yard. It would cost a fortune to keep them watered.

When the weather cools down, I'm going to rework all the beds and bring them closer together. We can put grass where the old beds were.

Maybe, we'll get some rain in the next few days. I'm praying we do!

Do Naked Ladies Tell The Truth?

Last night we were at my Mother-In-Law's for her 86th birthday get together with her children and some of the nieces. One of the great-grands came in with a flower they'd picked for Mamaw. It was a Naked Lady!!!!! According to legend (some swear it's fact) thirty days after the Naked Ladies start blooming we will have our first frost.

Do these ladies tell the truth? This is the middle of September. Are we going to have a frost here in East Central Mississippi by the middle of October? I hope not!

There's small tomatoes on the vines. The squash and zukes are blooming, the green beans are full of blooms and the cucumbers....Well, what can I say about the cucumbers? Maybe, that they're loaded with little cucumbers and with blooms. A frost in the middle of October would bring all this bounty to a sudden halt.

I am going to bet that the Naked Ladies are telling untruths this year, To be on the safe side, I'm going to hedge my bet with some white row covering to protect those tasty veggies that will still be maturing. That's just in case the ladies know something that I don't know.

Since my Mother-In-Law lives southeast of us, I decided I'd better check on my Naked Ladies....Yep, they're there, standing tall and dancing in the breeze.

We'll see if they speak the truth or not. I am marking on the calendar this date and will wait to see...............................

The Weather Report....

It's a beautiful day here in Philly today. The temps were down to around 60 this morning. The sun came out and it's been shining brightly all day. The temps are in the high 80s but it's comfortable outside. The skies are so blue that you can see forever. The leaves on the trees are still green and the green of the trees against the blue of the sky is breathtakingly beautiful.

There's no one who could paint a picture this beautiful except for the Master Painter! He has given me a day to enjoy and enjoy it I have. :)

Sakura and I took a walk around the garden beds this afternoon. I think every mustard and turnip green seed I planted must have come up. There's a sea of green in that bed. If we can keep the bugs from dining on the tender greens we should have plenty greens for eating this fall and winter.

The kale is coming up, too. I didn't have a lot of kale seed but there's a good stand of seedlings so far. I see some kale, potato and sausage soup in our future. Yummy!

While we were outside, I gathered some rosemary and oregano to make a rub for the roast chicken we're having for dinner tonight. Fresh herbs makes every thing taste better.

There were two cukes ready to be snatched off the vines, also. I plan to use them for dinner tomorrow night.

I guess I have had a case of thread drift....I went from the weather report to a garden report but good weather and a good garden kind of goes together as far as I'm concerned. We can't have a good garden without good weather. Don't you agree?

I'M HUNGRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm hungry!!!! While that's nothing unusual it's what I'm hungry for that is unual for me. I want some good old fashion southern food. You know, like blackeyed peas cooked with bacon grease in them, corn fried in a black iron skillet with butter, salt and black pepper, mashed potatoes, fried chicken with gravy and biscuits and a hunk of cornbread on the side. To top off the meal I want a fresh slice cucumber, some green onions and hot peppers (Cayenne or Jalapeno, doesn't matter as long as they make me sweat.).

I would be having sliced tomatoes with all the other goodies but there's no tomatoes in the garden.....No ripe ones any way. A few small green ones but they're not large enough to fry so tomatoes are out for this meal. :(

I don't usually want this kind of food and I usually eat very healthy with whole grains and low carb veggies due to the fact that I am diabetic. Yesterday and today I have been craving some good old southern cooking.

It's cooking right now. I don't think there will be cornbread but biscuits are a big MAY BE! The rest is a FOR SURE.

I took the veggies and the chicken from the freezer and then went to the garden for the cucumbers (yep there are cucumbers ready to eat...YIPEE), green onions and the peppers.
I will eat today and be good tomorrow.

Everyone deserves to "Pig Out" every once in a while. Today is my "Once In A While." I hope the food taste as good as it smells. YUM, YUM!

The Rain Came

A nice shower anyway.

Yesterday, William and I got the beds worked up with new compost in them. I planted the kale in the smaller bed and the turnip greens and mustard in the bed where we had green beans earlier.

William turned the water on this morning before leaving for school. Then the good water came late this afternoon. We should see little greens coming up in both beds in the next few days.

I'm not sure if we're going to plant any other fall crops such as beets, carrots or radishes. I want to plant some lettuce but will wait for a few more days because of the temperatures around here are still running in the 90s. That's much too hot for lettuces.

I'm satisfied now that we have the greens in the ground. I hope they will come up and grow off so we can put some into the freezer before a big freeze.

If we have plenty of greens I want to try Alex's recipe for Turnip Green Stew. It sounds pretty good and he says it makes a big pot so I can make one big pot and then freeze some for later.

It's kind of dull around here at this time. Fall is on it's way.....I think but Summer is hanging on for dear life. She's not giving up without a fight!

Labor Day is for......

Laboring. This day has been a regular Monday except for one thing.....William is home.

When I got up this morning I made breakfast, did a load of laundry, made the bed, make homemade barbecue sauce, made three pies, put the cole slaw together, put the meats we bought in bags and into the freezer, wash dishes two or three times, got the ribs on the grill and then into a crock pot, bake the sweet potatoes, transplanted the collard plants, put William's lunch together for tomorrow and I still have work to do. Is this why they call it Labor Day? LOL

I'm just thankful that we have the opportunities we have to work, the foods to cook, clothes to wash and beds to make. I got up with the silly assumption this was a holiday. ROFL

Oh well, we do have twelve collard plants in the bed and one bed is almost ready to plant the kale. I will try to get that done tomorrow along with fertilizing the green beans, cukes, squash and tomatoes.

Then if I'm not too pooped I will get the turnip green planted. I know I was going to do that Saturday but we went to see William's Mom instead. A good reason for not planting is visiting.

I gave the cucumbers a good going over this afternoon and there are several small cukes on the vines. One is what I will call gherkin size so it'll be ready for slicing in another few days.

The latest tomato plants are looking good. They've grown and look sturdy. Now if they'd get busy blooming. A few of the plants do have blooms but I'm selfish.....I want all the plants to have blooms and tomatoes and to hurry up with them. :)

One day this week I want to gather the basil and rosemary to go in the dehydrator. It will be nice to have my homegrown herbs for seasonings this winter.

After I gather the basil and rosemary I will get some chives and oregano along with the few plants of sage to dehydrate.

Herbs in the dehydrator should make the house smell yummy.

Time to get back to work. I hope you will come back again real soon.

Cucumbers!!!!!!!!!

Well, cucumber, then. The cucumber vines have loads of blooms but blooms were all I could find until....There it was...No longer than the first joint of my pinky finger....A baby cucumber!

The even better news is after I found the cuke it came a shower to make it grow. I'll be watching that cucumber like a hawk. :)

Now if the squash would grow and start blooming or better yet make some squash I would be a happy woman!

I wanted to share that there are some cukes on the vines now. There's hope. Lots of hope since the temps were in the high 80s today. I think it will be a while before ol' Jack Frost comes to visit us.

There's Blooms On Them There Plants!

I took a little stroll around the raised beds this afternoon while I gathered some Cayenne to go with my dinner. Some of the tomatoes are blooming and there's buds on the green beans.



The old pepper plants are putting new blooms on since we gave them a good dose of food and tied the stalks up.



The squash are growing this time around. So far nothing has decided to have the plants for dinner. Come to think of it, I haven't seen any grasshoppers in the garden for a few days. Guess they must be trying to move the ants out of their homes so the grasshoppers will have a winter home. BOO HISS....



Another thing that has helped the garden is the showers we've gotten in the last two weeks. Good rain water always makes the plants happy.



A meal of fresh squash, green beans, cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes and some green onions around the first of November is looking very inviting. Wish y'all could join us.