Adventures in Gardening: Weeks 16-18

Inadvertent Farmer

I can’t believe 18 weeks of our gardening has gone by. 18 weeks of Summer. It’s almost over. I am not ready.

I will try to enjoy the last days of the garden and hopefully push some of  it into the fall.

The good news about this time of the summer is that we have been enjoying our harvest.  It was a decent year. Last year I had more variety and no tomatoes. This year we have tons of tomatoes but not as much variety. I am fine with that.

I still have so much to learn, hopefully each year gets better and better.

Firecracker and I have been having fun harvesting the veggies. We are still working on her harvest routine.

She thinks the green tomatoes are apples and she gets “pick happy” so an occasional flower ends up in the bowl.

The important thing is that the enthusiasm is there right?

The first negative of gardening, a little “critter” is now squatting on our property. He doesn’t know who he is messing with. I am all for indigenous animals but when you start digging up my grass then we have problems.

We are working on a “solution” aka “I am in the midst of going to war with the critter”.  Sad that it had to get to that point.

On a more positive note, luckily the chickens will extend my gardening through the winter. We still have a couple of months before our egg laying and it will be a quiet winter but come next Spring, we should be overloaded with fresh eggs.

They are walking around now like they own the place.

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I have lots of great recipes to share from the garden next week (check out our Basil post). Lots of canning too!

Be sure to stop by Sweet Grace and her Inadvertent Farmer’s Blog to see all the other Kindergarden Adventures!

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Basil Pesto

Summer Fest 2010

I am joining the fun with my favorite food blog, Pinch My Salt, for a cross blog event that she and her fellow foodies are hosting!

This week’s theme: Herbs, Greens, and Beans.

My contribution is Pesto Sauce.

I have tons of basil in my garden so a friend of mine shared with me how she prepares her Pesto.

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 cup pine nuts

2 medium garlic cloves

salt and peppper to taste

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan-reggiano cheese

In a food processor process the basil, pine nuts, and garlic cloves.

Stream in the olive oil.

If eating fresh then boil pot of pasta and drain.

Add pasta to pan with a little bit of olive oil. Toss in pesto sauce and parmesan cheese. Serve immediately.

If not eating right away. Do not add cheese.

Pour into canning jar. Add a little olive oil to the top and seal tightly. Freeze until ready to enjoy.

The other jar is a can of whole tomatoes. My contribution to next week’s Summer Fest.

Thanks Pinch My Salt for the fun event and thanks Liz for sharing your recipe!

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Cousins

My brother in law and family recently moved back to the East Coast.  We are so excited!

Not only because we want to hang out with them but mainly because we want our girls to hang out with their girls.

Cousins.

We are having so much fun with them.

We are happy that they will get to be closer and spend more time together. Sleep overs and playdates.

Recently I watched all 4 of them. I setup 2 stations of art. I setup the swimming pool and put out some snacks.

They played for 3 hours. It was awesome!

Looking forward to more outings. I am thinking a sleepover and s’mores night next!

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Things that make you go hmmm?

My niece, Nat-Nat, stayed with us for 33 days this summer. It was so nice to have her here.

My girls loved being with her and so did I. It was nice to have the company. It was nice to have the help.

She is a doll. Super smart, funny. Loves to read. Loves to laugh.

She is a very talented little artist. She enjoys drawing. I took her to the museum and we had a great time.

But she also loves to ask a million questions. I forget what it’s like to be around pre-teens.

Some of the questions really made me look at her sideways, some actually made me go hmmm?

Here are some of the “things that Nat questions or says”…….

Nat:  If you add veggies to a turkey burger does it make it a veggie burger?

Nat:  If you took the largest natural river in the world and man added to it, would it still be considered the largest, natural river in the world?  Hmmm…good question. Anyone know the answer?

Nat:  If you eat 3 lbs of steak, will you gain 3 lbs of fat?

Nat:  Auntie, I want to go home and check the mail, I am expecting a letter from Kelli.

Me:  Oh, it’s Sunday, the mail won’t be there today.

Nat:  Your mail doesn’t run on Sundays?

Me: No, does yours?

Nat: Yes.

Me: Hmmm….I don’t think so.

Nat:  If you eat seafood and you get sick, are you sea sick?

She is also very matter of fact. I love that.

I wish I would have wrote them all down. There were a ton more.

These silly ponders just make you love her more. Her personality shines through.

Thank you Nat-Nat for an amazing trip. We were sad to see you get on that airplane but look forward to having you back.

Thank you for all your hardwork and help.  Good luck at TJ!

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