GARDEN TOUR

Good morning, everyone!

The temperatures are starting to climb back up to normal averages. Rain in the forecast for tonight as well as on and off throughout the weekend. Wet and cold sure make wanting to get into the garden difficult. 

I have rhubarb to plant. As soon as I purchased the rhizomes, the temps plummeted to freeze/ frost warnings! Hoping I can get those in Sunday. On the plus side, nothing seems to have been damaged by the cold temps. I did cover up the butterfly garden and the two clemitis a couple of nights just in case. The peach trees and the apple had already started leafing so they were spared.

Here's a walk-through of what everything looked like a week ago. Mind you, all the rain has me behind in everything outside. I'm hoping to get into gear first of the week. 

I'll have a new video next week. I've gotten the greenhouse someone cleaned up but have been negligent about getting the seeds started as I've found a mama wren. She chose to build her nest in one of my baskets. I don't want to disturb her. She is fine when I first go in but if I hang around too long, she leaves the nest and flutters around encouraging me to leave. We only have about another 8-10 days I figure before those 5 little eggs should hatch. So for now, the green house is hers.  I monitor to make sure the temp doesn't go over 70*F in there. If they do, then I open the windows to get a cross ventilation but not so that any critters can get in.

Until this shelter-in-place thing is lifted, there won't be any travel posts. I've been making a list and planning how to arrange my hatch back for over-night/ camping adventures.

Everyone seems so disturbed by their overseas/ cruise plans being derailed through this. While I'd love to visit Ireland, Scotland, France, Spain there is so much more in our Great America I'll never see all of as it is. 

When I do travel, I'll take you with me. 

In the mean time, stay smart, stay safe, stay home. 

SPRING IS COMING!!!

Welcome back to the Ozarks!

I am so ready to get out and do stuff. I have a list of places I want to visit, to learn more about and share with you.

I'm anxious to get in the garden. The critters have all nested in my garden shed and the wood storage trailer over the winter. I fear we'll lose a good portion of the wood there thanks to a rat or two.

After potential thunder storms tonight, rain on and off through Tuesday I should have a stretch of at least four sunny, relatively warm days to dig out the garden shed and the green house. I want to prep the green house for seed trays and I'll be starting seeds in the house in the next couple of weeks while we wait for consistent warm temperatures in the green house to move everything out there.

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Last October I got in 28 straw bales and I've been conditioning them throughout the winter.  Once a month when they've called for rain, I've gone out and fed the bales with lawn fertilizer. I figure this will give them a head start on the 21-day conditioning process, allowing me to put plants in them a bit earlier than I have in the past.

I still need eight more bales but my local MFA hasn't had any. I'd be happy with just two more or I'll be moving my cucumber trellis - where I plan to plant squah but I'm pretty sure Bob wouldn't be happy with that idea considering he's the one who pounded the 8' T-posts in.

I'm letting this blog slide through the month of March. I have a book to finish writing and one to get off to a potential publisher. The 'day job' has to take presidence. Then I'll be back more regular with travel posts as well as prepping for the lovely weather spring brings.

In the mean time, take stock of your pantry, check the dates on things in your Emergency First Aid pack and I'll see you back here end of the month or first of April. 

GLADIOLAS!

I love GLADS. I think they are so pretty.

When I was about nine or ten, there was a man that lived down the road from us that grew either glads or iris'... commercially. I loved riding my bike up to his place just to look at the massive field of flowers.

If you've never been to a flower show, check one out next summer. The criteria for a Gladiola show in particular is stringent but the results the growers are capable of producing is spectacular.

I'm a gardener in the lightest respect of the word. I just like flowers. Before we moved here, Bob wasn't keen on my putting money into flowers because the places weren't our forever home. Here, he has given me cart blanche to spend what I feel comfortable with. He even built me new flower beds on either side of the front walk just before going back out on the boat this time.

This summer I planted gladiolas on the south end of my office. I want to plant a bunch more here next spring.

These were two of my favorites. I want to find some really dark ones, too. I'd love a couple of black ones.

TOMATOES EVERYWHERE!

This was the first meager picking of Early Girl tomatoes around the first of August. You can see a few cherry tomatoes in the bottom of the basket.

I've since put two 2-gallon bags of tomatoes in the freezer for turning into sauce this winter. I probably have about that many more out there.

In June when the girls first got here, I planted all the volunteer tomatoes Adrian and I could find while she planted the 24 Early Girl tomatoes. She really got her hands dirty!

She had never planted anything on her own before. I helped her place the plants along the bales, showed her how to do the first one then turned her loose. She was one tired girl when she was done. I was so proud of her!

Here's what her handiwork looked like about the second week in August... after she'd gone back home.

Now about those volunteers I planted... over 30 plants. And they all turned out to be cherry tomatoes. I can only eat so many and they hadn't started producing before the girls left (we hope to fix that next summer)

One of my projects before they are all gone is to put up a few jars of green tomato pickles. My stepmom canned some one year and I remember them being quite tasty.

Tomorrow, I have a mystery plant for you. Well, it was a mystery to me :-D

Happy Gardening!

WEEKEND TRAVELS - The Old Home Place

I've not traveled much in the past couple of weeks. I just don't leave the house much.  I did go to West Plains on Friday for a book launch at Wages Brewing Company. Nice little place. I tried a 4 oz of Irish Red. Very smooth beer. The owner seems to know what he's doing. Normally, I don't drink even one drink and drive but I felt safe in having a 4 oz. without issues. They offer various forms of gathering fun nearly every night of the month... from live music to Trivia and card games. I look forward to visiting again soon.

My pictures this week are from my own back yard.
From the time we moved here, there have been daffodils. Lots of daffodils in large groupings like this one in the back yard I've dubbed 'On Golden Pond' for it does look like a miniature yellow pond.

A couple of closer looks:

Last fall I planted over 100 bulbs in various places throughout the yard. My main focus was under the big Maple. I'm seeing some fruits of my labors in the Hyacinths. Nothing from the Tulips yet except for green leaves.

I hope to be out and about more in the coming weeks if the rain will ever stop and the temperatures warm up enough to want to venture outside for more than a few minutes.

Have you planted flowers? Do you have favorites? Link in your comments below so I can come wander your garden.

Blessings!

WEEKEND TRAVELS - Pizza Sauce

While this is supposed to be a Weekend Travels post, most of our traveling these days is out to the garden. 

As I told you last week, I was putting Adrian in charge of washing all of those tomatoes she and Abby picked. This batch became half of a batch of pizza sauce. Making sauce has changed a lot from when I was learning how to can.

After the tomatoes were washed, I dropped them in scald water to slip the skins then into a sink of cold water to stop the cooking and help further release the skins. I peeled/ cored each one, cut them up then dropped them into the food processor where they were turned into a thin puree.

When I was a girl we would have put the puree into a pot on the stove and spent several hours stirring the sauce to keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan as we cooked it to the desired consistency. I've learned a good shortcut... My crock pot is my friend LOL

I poured the puree into my 6 qt (?) oval crock pot covered with a lint free towel (NO lid!) and set it to low. From there, I just let it cook down all day. Just before bedtime, I stirred in a packet of McCormick Spaghetti Sauce mix then let it continue to cook down throughout the night. The next morning I had perfect Pizza Sauce consistency. I could have continued to cook another 6 hours or so for tomato paste. As the tomatoes continue to ripen (I have nearly half of a 5 gal bucket waiting), I might make the next batch into paste and put into 1/2-sized jelly jars.

So far I've put up three pints of diced tomatoes from last year's haul and these lovely seven pints of Pizza Sauce:

Now all I have to do is rearrange some things on shelves downstairs and make room. Wish me luck!

LET THE CANNING BEGIN!

 As you know, the grandgirls are visiting for the entire summer. Adrian, the 9-year-old in the picture below is my gardening buddy. She has been since the age of two. Not only does she love to eat tomatoes but she enjoys caring for them. That includes picking off the horned worms. We've not seen any yet this year.

But the first thing she does after breakfast each morning is walk the row looking for ripe ones. Saturday, she took her 5- year-old sister, Abby, with her. They both came back to the house with their arms loaded:

My canning experience began when I was 9. I started as chief jar washer, complete with butter knife and a dish rag, in the galvanized laundry tub set up in the yard. I'll be using wide mouth pints straight from the jar. They'll just need a rinse then a scald.

The tomatoes will need washed before diving into the scalding bath to slip the skins. So I'm putting Adrian in charge of washing the tomatoes. From there, she'll get to see the rest of the process. Each summer she is able to visit she'll have a hand in more and more of the process. I will be surprised if she stops showing an interest in what I do, especially with the growing number in self-sufficiency. Even if she never uses the skill as an adult, I can say I passed on the things my 'step' mom taught me.

A final shot of the tomato row. The plants are beginning to cascade over the top of the cattle panel. To prevent them pinching, I bought pool noodles from $Tree. Bob used his knife to cut a slit down the side and slipped them over the top of the panel:

Our traveling around the Ozarks have included places like Chuck E Cheese. Not exactly 'travel' worthy for the majority. Bob and I did take the girls fishing at Twin Pines Conservation Dept. Abby caught her first fish - a decent sized Bluegill.  This picture shows the length. She has about 8" from the bottom of her shirt to the breast of her knee. 

I'm hoping to get the girls out to a couple of places this week while the days are cooler. 

How is your garden growing? Have a blog? I'd love to see what you're doing. 

Blessings

Kelly

WEEKEND TRAVELS - Straw Bale Time!

While you might not think this most exciting travel photo, I'm ecstatic. Straw in southeast MO is hard to come by. We can usually get straw in the fall at the feed stores and box stores like Walmart but fall straw doesn't do a lot of good for those of us doing strawbale gardening - in the spring.

To make matters worse, the box stores want $6+ a bale. 

I've been blessed to find a local supplier. He has 40 acres that he plants in wheat, primarily for the straw. And he only charges $4 a bale!

So today I went out to his place and brought home 12 bales. With this cold, unloading was a chore and pretty much taxed my energy for the dale. Combined with the ones I bought at WM last fall and stored in the green house, this brings me to 20 bales -or there abouts. I'm going to spend some time this week figuring out the whole garden thing. If I have to make another trip out later in the week I might pick up 6 or so more... just in case. 

I also found a Straw Bale app. It's the official one from Joel Karsten. I downloaded the app today but it isn't wanting to open. I've deleted the app and will try a new download.

Next week I'll be showing pictures from a weekend travel to OK. I know it's not the Ozarks but I found some interesting buildings to share with you.

I know I've been absent. Bob was home for two months. He just went back out on Wednesday. I'm battling a horrid cold for the second time and the recliner is my best friend.

Have some Prepper stuff coming up as well as garden talk and sites from the Ozarks. I hope you'll come back.

BACK IN THE GROOVE - Garden

After several weeks of nursing tendonitis in my right elbow, I'm finally able to spend more time on the computer past buzzing email. I'm ready to get back to work.

While I've been off, I've been watching lots of YouTube, researching various stock up/ prepping methods. Again, not the SHTF kind of thing, but just being prepared for anything that comes down the road. I'll be introducing you to some of those folks in the coming weeks.

While the temps rise to the upper 90s here in the Ozarks, I'm already looking forward to fall. Not so much wanting to escape the heat but planning for winter. The FoodSaver is getting a workout and the pantry is getting an overhaul.

For now, life is about the garden. Everything got a late start because I had problems finding straw bales. I finally had to settle for some hay bales and I have to say, I am not as happy with the hay. They seem to break down faster and do not drain like the straw bales do, which creates a root rot problem.

This is a shot of my horseshoe bale garden. There are 13 bales here with five separate double-stacked tires down the center. Closer inspection of the individual components:

Brandywine tomatoes. I have each plant staked. We'll see how they do. Normally, I would have put them on the cattle panel like last year but I had a good paste tomato there and wasn't planning on doing slicing maters at all. But those bales were hay and I lost every single paste plant. I've since planted those bales with a Solar Fire... heat/ drought resistant plant that turned out to be a bush plant. I'll show those next week.

Here's a close up of one of the Brandywine loaded with blooms. I think I'm going to pluck one bloom from each cluster so the energy will produce better quality. 

I finally got to plant some herbs this year. This pot is about 95% Basil. LOL I'll be creating basil/ oil cubes, pesto cubes (both frozen) and drying basil in the dehydrator over the next few weeks. 

I'm still in the process of revamping some of the blogs but I' hope you'll hang with me as I get back on the road with this one. Lots of things to share! 

A SMILE FOR JOEY

 

For Joey + Rory + Indiana. Here are the pics I wanted you to see. If you choose to read further, that is fine but I do not want to tire you, Joey. I just wanted my readers to know the special people you are. Country Blessings ~ Kelly

The picture above is of the Container Sweet Corn from Burpees I told Rory about in my comment to his Sowing Seeds post.  I considered a straw bale as a container. They only grow approx. 4' tall and produce ears full of sweet, juicy corn - full size ears!

Both of these photos were taken next to a 1/2 gallon mason jar. The single potato weighed over 8 lbs! I baked them, pureed them in the food processor then froze them in muffin tins as serving sizes. Then I froze the little 'muffins' in FoodSaver bags in the freezer. 

While I did grow them in straw - I used composted straw and grew them here:

These are standard GMC Silverado truck tires (17"s I think). Can you imagine the crop Rory could grow with a couple of tractor tires from the farm?! These were only stacked 2 high. You can see the beginning stages HERE. Stage 2 with the plants a little bigger HERE. This year I'm only doing russets and will probably stack at least 3 high. Plant in the first layer with a composted soil base. As the plants get above that first tire, add a second tire and a layer of straw. Repeat as the plants grow. 

If you feel up to it, Joey, there are pictures of the whole garden from last year HERE. check out the tomato plants in the 3rd picture down. Grown in bales and climbing cattle panels. The cucumber pictures are near the end of that post (as well as a close up of the vines on my sidebar).  I had soooo many pickling cucumbers. I canned sweet relish and Bread and Butter pickles repeatedly until I just could not can any more LOL If it were possible, I'd share with you. 

I hope these pictures make you smile. Love, Hugs, Prayers and CountryBlessings. ~Kel 

aka The Country Angel - http://kellyscountry.blogspot.com (music blog)

My post this morning is a gift to three very special people, who while I've never met them personally, I feel as if they have always been friends. 

For those of you who do not know, I am an entertainment writer. My job gives me the opportunity to get to know  a lot of talented people. While some know they are talented, if you catch my drift, the vast majority are just doing what they love and hope that they bring joy to others on their journey.

Joey + Rory are those people. Their songwriting abilities and their vocal blend come together to form an amazing duo. But aside from their music, they are also very down-to-earth folks. They have a farm in Tennessee on which they grow a lot of their own food and raise their daughter, Indiana. The most precious little face you will ever see. Indiana's smile warms my heart.

Not long after Indiana was born, Joey was diagnosed with cancer. I won't go into the long story here. What I can tell you is that after a variety of treatments we all thought were working, we were told there was nothing more they could do. So, last fall the Feak's made the decision to go back to where Joey's life began. Not to die - but to live as much as the Lord grants her surrounded by the people who love her - and whom she loves - the most.

Her husband, Rory, has kept us all updated through his blog, This Life I Live, with the little milestones they are blessed to have on this horrible journey. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, just not one we all hope and pray for.

So why  am I telling you this?

Like so many of us, Joey loves to garden. Spring is her favorite season and she can not wait to see plants growing, knowing she will be able to provide for her family.

Even from her bed at home, you can see in this week's blog post - SOWING SEEDS -   she is not letting this phase of her life keeping her from doing what she loves. 

In my weekly comments on Rory's blog, I told him I would share pictures of my Sweet Potatoes from last year. I know they will give Joey a smile and that will make me smile.

GARDENING - Looking Good!

I am really liking the Container Corn from Burpee. Although I did have a bit of a scare last week. Heavy winds and rain attempted to demolish my bales. Corn was laying over and I thought for sure I'd lost them. I gave everything a day to dry up a bit then I went out and stuffed them a bit farther down in the bale. As you can see, they are doing well. Here's a close up of Tassle and Silk:

Silk peeking out on that center stalk about 2/3rds of the way down.

Tomatoes are doing well:

If you look almost center of the picture, near the bottom you see an Amish Paste getting ripe. Now if they would just all do that at once so I can put up Spaghetti Sauce!

Plum Tomatoes finally setting fruit. They are also loaded with blooms. And when these fizzle out, I have a volunteer. This little guy came about when my MIL and I were tying up the vines, a couple broke off. I tossed them into the leaf compost in the center of the bales.

Potatoes are going crazy. Even the Sweet Potato vines are spreading out.

Onions are starting to die back. They seem a bit small. Wondering if shoving them down in the bale a bit farther will help.

In spite of the heat and the tiny plants, I have green beans! LOL These will definitely be a fall replant in a couple of weeks:

Finally seeing Banana Peppers. I could use these to produce a bit heavier though as I only have 2 jars left in the stock-up.

2 yellow banana peppers peeking out at the bottom left.

My best producer this year has to be my cucumber plants. Both the Pickling and the Burpless are going gangbusters:

I am picking an average of 4 a day from each plant.

Last weekend I put up 11 pints of bread and butter pickles. I prefer them on a burger. In fact, The Rodeo Bar inside the Adolphus Hotel in Dallas TX serves B & B pickles on their burgers. Yum!

Since I'm the only one who eats pickles here, I'll probably gift a jar or three around the holidays.

How is your garden growing? Leave a comment and let us know how yours is blessing you.

GARDENING - Strawbale Improvements

Sorry I didn't have pics the last few weeks. I did not get as many blog posts scheduled before company arrived as I had hoped. Everyone is gone, my desk is in it's 'forever home' and I can get back to some semblance of a routine.. at least until Bob gets off the boat in two weeks.

For now I have pictures of the garden progress. These were taken about two weeks ago while my Mother -in- law  and her husband were here.  The potatoe plants are looking good. The red ones are even blooming. and you'll see in the bottom right that even the sweet potatoes have improved.

I took this picture of the cucumber plants after my MIL and I had tied them up. Wait til you see the pics next week! The taller plants are the pickling cukes, while the shorter ones are salad cukes. I have since picked enough picklers for several jars of Bread and Butter Pickles. I'll have those to show you next week.

First sign of banana peppers. Not seeing much activity on the bell peppers, though.

In this picture, the cherry tomatoes are looking a bit lean. And very few blossoms. I've never been one to feed my plants but I might have to. Strawbale gardening requires doing things a bit differently and I need to remember that.

I have peas! Okay.. not enough to count as a meal but they are there. I will be replanting these for a fall crop. They just prefer cooler weather.

Green Beans. yeah.. another replant in their future.

Tomatoes, both the Amish Paste and the Big Boys are doing okay. The Amish Paste (pic 1) seem to be producing where as I've not seen much from the Big Boys. Again, feeding might be an option.

I'll have updated pics next week as well as ones of the first batch of Bread and Butter Pickles.

Have a great week!

GARDENING - Straw Bale Progress

I had planned this post for yesterday but woke up to storms so I dove into cleaning the house and didn't stop. I didn't want the cleaning to be yet another 'partial' project. So I did not plug the internet in, even after the storms passed.

While not planted in straw bales, I do have my potatoes planted in straw - in tires. As you can see, the two red potatoes in the background are ready for a third tier. I'll add another tire, more straw and continue to water. The reason for using the tires rather than the straw bales is that by using the bales, I would only get one year's use out of them. This way I can use the tires from year to year. 

The red potatoes are Ruby Sensation. They are about the size of new red potatoes and are only 100 calories per 4 potatoes. The two tires in the middle are Yellow Golds. Similar to the red ones but yellow ;-) They are not doing as well as their red cousins. Then the tire in the foreground is one of 4 that have Sweet Potatoes. They got a later start.

At the opposite end of the bed from the potato tires is the base of the U-shaped bale bed. This is where I've planted the cherry tomatoes. Their trellis is the springs base from my granddaughter's old crib. (though you can see 2 cattle panel sections leaning behind it. Those will be moved for cucumbers)

This is to the right of the cherry tomatoes down the side. In the background you can just make out my pepper plants - 5 bell peppers and 3 banana peppers. Then in the foreground I have 28 sweet onions.

This is the left side... Four bales of Cucumbers. Then in the background there is a bale of carrots and one of beets.

Sad Peas

 Sad Beans

Neither of these are doing well. I think probably because they were planted too late. I'll do better next spring. But at least I know these do work.

Amish Paste Tomatoes

Better Boy Tomatoes

There are 10 bales along this fence line. Prior to using the straw bales, this was my traditional tomato row. (though I did test-run 8 plants in bales on this fence last year).  Tomatoes are doing well, but then they are one of the easiest garden plants to grow with the brownist of thumb.

You will notice some empty bales between the 2 varieties of tomatoes. Next week, I'll show you what I'm putting in there.

While I'm trying to breathe life back into my blogs, posts will not be numerous for the month of June. We have family visiting nearly every day this month. So hang with me ;-)