Dehydrating.

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I started to dehydrate the mints, then I said, "What, am I nuts?"
The two on the left are obvious. The two on the right I am wondering if I mislabeled them. Anyone know what kind of mints they could be?





The greens are tricky. Too dry and they crumble, too moist and they mold. I already lost one bag. I will put the other one in again as soon as my cucumber slices finish this morning.

Noticing my skin looks a bit dehydrated as well!

~Faith

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The Joy of Working With Friends.

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We had a really nice day yesterday. Here is Leah, being introduced to Kohlrabi. :)





We got up, did our usual morning stuff of straightening up, Bible study, prayer; then we went out to begin working. Leah came by around noonish and we worked outdoors until dark, with a brief interlude during some showers when Michael played his pirates game and Leah and I watched "The Belly Button Song" on YouTube, an interesting video about prophecy and possible ties to eclipses, and studied up on some herb questions we had.

The Japanese Beetles are not bothering the vineyard too badly, since Michael sprayed it, but they'd moved over to the Doyle Thornless blackberry row, so that got sprayed. We had to removed some of the grape clusters, due to Black Rot, but not too many. We've got more grapes than we've ever gotten before, but I've been ruthless in cutting off, pulling off, and spraying. Next year, I can't wait to eat grapes!

Mowing took hours again, so did weeding the herb garden, pruning and tying up blackberries and grapes, and tying up cucumbers. Then it was dark. LOL

For anyone who does not know kohlrabi, it's a brassica, so it tastes remarkably like broccoli. However, you can serve this at parties and not worry about having broccoli stuck in your teeth. That is note-worthy in my book!





Just cut off the exterior, slice, chill, and serve these crisp and crunchy bulbs with veggie dip.





We have so much to begin picking right now. The broccoli is about ready.





The cauliflower is making an appearance.





The piricicaba is showing up.





The piricicaba is getting away.






Piricicaba ~ There's something funny going on in the broccoli patch.

Working our way downhill, we were planning on documenting the progress of the Mockingbird chicks, but when we got to the sunflowers, look what we found.





It sat there for the longest time, exhausted, I'm sure, from learning to fly. It's parents sitting up on the overhead wires, were quite concerned, but knew there was nothing they could do. They probably gave up hope, but after we all just looked at each other for a while, we got back to work.





We stayed up til about 1 am, trying to see stars. Michael stayed up with us. With the light cloud cover and the two-doors-down neighbors yard spotlights, it was difficult to get good viewing, but we had fun playing games, making up limericks, and imagining all sorts of odd adventures in between clear spots.

We never made it to the tomatoes, so that's first on the list this morning. I may be able to gather my first sunflower bouquet, I'm hoping. And I need to make pickles. The counter is absolutely COVERED in cukes.

Later today we are going to help some friends with some chores, then hopefully, go the the movies together. We've not been to the movies in a while, but the theater is having discounts on Tuesdays, so if they are showing Night At the Museum 2, we'll go.

I better check the movie schedule!

Have a great day! Humidity is supposed to be lower all over. Yay!

Faith

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May 1, 2009 ~ Planting Some Herbs and More Veggies

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What I am trying to do is clear the patio of the seedlings first. So my order of planting is based on that. Otherwise I'd be doing it differently.





We planted a variety of sunflowers in the lowest bed over in the fruit crop area. I was going to plant a lot of seeds at the same time, but the thought of having to protect them as as they were sprouting from the weed seeds sprouting at the same time was enough to stop me. I think I will go ahead and make plant starts to set out later, just as soon as we have the other ones planted.

Here is Michael, dropping some herbs into one of five beds my dad mercifully came over and rototilled for us. I would love to find a used rototiller this year! I hope one that does not need any tinkering.






Herb beds we planted today:

Basil, Chives, Rosemary, Fennel, Stevia, Thyme, and Lovage. I have more flats started, but I'm going to let them get taller before I put them out to compete against weeds.

Looking down from the Jostaberries we've got, first is the strawberry bed, then three herb beds, then the cutting flower bed. Below are two lines of posts that used to hold 100 foot long raspberry rows, the blackberry row, the vineyard, and the bush cherries.





Back in the veggie garden; above the melons we planted summer squash. Only Early Yellow Crookneck and Black Zucchini this year.





Above the summer squash, we planted cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and piricicaba.





Above those brassicas we planted kohlrabi, artichoke and eggplants, and sweet bell peppers.






Above those we planted the rest of the peppers.





And we hoed the spot where the second row of peas Michael put in had not been successful. He planted them on his own and we don't know what went wrong, but we replanted, if a little behind schedule.

I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, because I am almost caught up to current time.
:)

Faith

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