Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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I was wondering what the Girl Guide is. Glad you explained it.
Moolie - Happy Thanksgiving :)
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Glad that was a helpful post 
I'm having another domestic goddess day--I've done two loads of laundry, vacuumed the one bit of carpet (the bedrooms) in this house that I hope we can someday replace with hardwood due to my allergies, put 3 jars of yogurt on to incubate in hot water in my 6-pack cooler, and done the dishes/cleaned the kitchen up.
My menu planning went so well last month that I think we'll squeak more than 30 days out of it--probably a month and a half all told--due to the leftover phenomenon.
And I'm really loving the dimension that pressure canning has brought to menu planning, as having canned meat in the cupboard makes it very simple to throw together a dinner like we had last night:
Quick Pasta Dinner
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 pint canned hamburger (ground bison)
1 pint home-made tomato sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
garden basil & oregano (dried from last summer)
salt & pepper & bay leaf
made a nice meat sauce to which I added
3 cups elbow macaroni noodles plus water
(pour macaroni into measuring cup, then add water to top level of noodles)
and cooked on the stove-top for 10 minutes till the pasta was tender but still a bit al dente.
Yummers with real Parmesan cheese and home made dill pickles.
I've also used my home-canned hamburger to make:
Tamale Rice Dish
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 pint hamburger (ground bison)
2 pints canned tomatoes, broken up
2 cups frozen corn
1 envelope taco seasoning mix (I used 1 tbsp Epicure Taco Seasoning)
1 tbsp honey
Chili powder
1 cup water
1 cup rice
Mix all together in large sauce pot, cover and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally until rice is tender and liquid absorbed, then turn into casserole dish and sprinkle with grated cheddar. Serve with nacho or corn chips and sour cream. Serves 4 with leftovers (at my house).
If I was to make either of the above with frozen hamburger I'd need to remember to thaw the meat overnight, with fresh or thawed hamburger the time to prepare would be extended by the 10-15 minutes it takes to brown the meat. Not a huge time savings if I think of it in terms of 10-15 minutes and remembering to thaw, but great when I don't have those extra minutes in my day
I'm having another domestic goddess day--I've done two loads of laundry, vacuumed the one bit of carpet (the bedrooms) in this house that I hope we can someday replace with hardwood due to my allergies, put 3 jars of yogurt on to incubate in hot water in my 6-pack cooler, and done the dishes/cleaned the kitchen up.
My menu planning went so well last month that I think we'll squeak more than 30 days out of it--probably a month and a half all told--due to the leftover phenomenon.
And I'm really loving the dimension that pressure canning has brought to menu planning, as having canned meat in the cupboard makes it very simple to throw together a dinner like we had last night:
Quick Pasta Dinner
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 pint canned hamburger (ground bison)
1 pint home-made tomato sauce
3 tablespoons tomato paste
garden basil & oregano (dried from last summer)
salt & pepper & bay leaf
made a nice meat sauce to which I added
3 cups elbow macaroni noodles plus water
(pour macaroni into measuring cup, then add water to top level of noodles)
and cooked on the stove-top for 10 minutes till the pasta was tender but still a bit al dente.
Yummers with real Parmesan cheese and home made dill pickles.
I've also used my home-canned hamburger to make:
Tamale Rice Dish
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 pint hamburger (ground bison)
2 pints canned tomatoes, broken up
2 cups frozen corn
1 envelope taco seasoning mix (I used 1 tbsp Epicure Taco Seasoning)
1 tbsp honey
Chili powder
1 cup water
1 cup rice
Mix all together in large sauce pot, cover and simmer for 15 minutes stirring occasionally until rice is tender and liquid absorbed, then turn into casserole dish and sprinkle with grated cheddar. Serve with nacho or corn chips and sour cream. Serves 4 with leftovers (at my house).
If I was to make either of the above with frozen hamburger I'd need to remember to thaw the meat overnight, with fresh or thawed hamburger the time to prepare would be extended by the 10-15 minutes it takes to brown the meat. Not a huge time savings if I think of it in terms of 10-15 minutes and remembering to thaw, but great when I don't have those extra minutes in my day
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- #73
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Pretty much talking to myself here, but it's a good record of what we're up to so I'll update as I can.
Discovered over the winter months that two of our trees had bad black-knot fungus so we took them out over the weekend, along with the lower portion of our two-level deck due to rot. Hauled 3 loads of branches and deck rot to the dump, cut up the logs into firewood, then picked up supplies at Rona (like Home Depot/Lowes) to build new deck stairs as the lower portion had been one of the stairs down from the deck to the yard.
Hit the nursery yesterday to pick up sod for where the deck used to be (was on sale!) and a lilac for some colour in one of the bare corners of the yard. Also picked up some Swedish Columnar Aspens for privacy along the north fence where the larger tree had been and to block wind. Tonight or tomorrow night we will pick up a couple of apple trees (Hardi-Mac and Norland which do well here) and then the yard will look less bare again.
All of this has put us off building our raised beds, so the garden continues on in large deck pots and indoor seed trays.
I'm away camping with my Girl Guides this weekend, so Hubbie will likely spend some of his free time fishing but may get the raised bed boxes built and pick up some compost from the nursery to fill them. Then we can really get gardening!
Discovered over the winter months that two of our trees had bad black-knot fungus so we took them out over the weekend, along with the lower portion of our two-level deck due to rot. Hauled 3 loads of branches and deck rot to the dump, cut up the logs into firewood, then picked up supplies at Rona (like Home Depot/Lowes) to build new deck stairs as the lower portion had been one of the stairs down from the deck to the yard.
Hit the nursery yesterday to pick up sod for where the deck used to be (was on sale!) and a lilac for some colour in one of the bare corners of the yard. Also picked up some Swedish Columnar Aspens for privacy along the north fence where the larger tree had been and to block wind. Tonight or tomorrow night we will pick up a couple of apple trees (Hardi-Mac and Norland which do well here) and then the yard will look less bare again.
All of this has put us off building our raised beds, so the garden continues on in large deck pots and indoor seed trays.
I'm away camping with my Girl Guides this weekend, so Hubbie will likely spend some of his free time fishing but may get the raised bed boxes built and pick up some compost from the nursery to fill them. Then we can really get gardening!
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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I read it, just don't always post. And, I'm jealous. All my seedlings are doing are getting taller. They only have the first leaves on them, and have never gotten any other.
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- #76
What did you plant? Do you have them under fluourescent lights? They'll grow with window light, but mostly get long and leggy rather than bushy.
I've only had one pepper come up
but I've re-planted the tomatoes deeper now that they have 3 full sets of leaves ...tomatoes grow more roots off the stem below the first true set of leaves, which makes them more robust plants. They'll get planted out at the end of the month.
They're a bit small this year because I planted them two weeks late, but better late than never! And I'm hopeful that they'll get more bushy over the next couple of weeks, especially as I start putting them outside and they start to harden off during the last week.
I've only had one pepper come up
but I've re-planted the tomatoes deeper now that they have 3 full sets of leaves ...tomatoes grow more roots off the stem below the first true set of leaves, which makes them more robust plants. They'll get planted out at the end of the month. They're a bit small this year because I planted them two weeks late, but better late than never! And I'm hopeful that they'll get more bushy over the next couple of weeks, especially as I start putting them outside and they start to harden off during the last week.
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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Normally, I plant them in my green house and they do fine. This year, I didn't have it cleaned out, plus I have a ground hog in it, so I tried them in my south facing window.
ETA: I have a few different types of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.
ETA: I have a few different types of tomatoes, peppers and eggplants.
- Thread starter
- #78
I'd love to have a greenhouse, but I'll pass on the ground hog! 
How do you get rid of him? We have Richardson Ground Squirrels and Prairie Dogs around here, but not usually in city yards--they like the green belts beside the major roads and all the parks that have large grassy areas. And the prairie surrounding the city of course!
I'm guessing you are in a more temperate zone that I am, tomatoes and especially peppers wouldn't sprout in a greenhouse here until it's time to plant out--too cool at night for germination. Never tried growing eggplants before, so no experience there.
How do you get rid of him? We have Richardson Ground Squirrels and Prairie Dogs around here, but not usually in city yards--they like the green belts beside the major roads and all the parks that have large grassy areas. And the prairie surrounding the city of course!
I'm guessing you are in a more temperate zone that I am, tomatoes and especially peppers wouldn't sprout in a greenhouse here until it's time to plant out--too cool at night for germination. Never tried growing eggplants before, so no experience there.
Denim Deb
More Precious than Rubies
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So far, we haven't been able to get rid of him! I can't even get anything in my garden until I have time to finish my fence, and put electric up. Then, I just have to hope he doesn't burrow UNDER the fence to get in. I lost quite a lot of plants to him last year.
Actually, if my son had put the key to the pistol cases back where he got it, we could have shot him from the bedroom window the other day. Wonder if the neighbors would have complained.
And yeah, I'm in a more temperate area. I'm in South Jersey.
Actually, if my son had put the key to the pistol cases back where he got it, we could have shot him from the bedroom window the other day. Wonder if the neighbors would have complained.
And yeah, I'm in a more temperate area. I'm in South Jersey.
- Thread starter
- #80
LOL, I'm sure the neighbors would have noticed, but if you had got him I bet it would have been worth it! Hope he's gone soon.
Well, after two gorgeous sunny weeks with not too cool nights we have hit our rainy season. My Girl Guide campout last weekend squeaked into the last of the hot sunny weather (had a fabulous weekend!) and then Monday it started to pour.
Cats and dogs.
Still raining today, although the weather looks to get dryer and sunnier for Sunday and into next week, but small consolation for those whose basements are flooding or who have been evacuated from the small town of High River just south of the city because their river has overrun its banks. Or for the farmers who need to plant NOW or lose out on any crop insurance should this season be a bad one.
So, if you are the praying type, please pray for those affected by the rain and high waters!
On to my own personal update:
The rainy weather has severely curtailed gardening efforts now that we are into our frost-free nights so our new garden looks like this:
(Last year we gardened in BIG pots on the deck)
And the only thing that's actually producing so far is our rhubarb:
Although my tomato seedlings are all doing well under the lights, they're all at the 2 full sets of leaves plus the cotyledons--they look super short in this photo because I re-buried them right up to their cotyledons to ensure a good root system and stocky plants):
And our new Swedish Columnar Aspens and Apple Trees along with the raspberry canes we bought last week can't be planted until the ground dries out a bit (our yard is SUPER soggy at the moment):
But in other news our new sod that we put in last weekend where we had taken out the lower portion of our deck is doing well with all the precipitation:
And my kefir grains are growing like crazy! I first received them from a friend at the end of March and separated/dried most of them to pass on to others (how they doin' Homemaker and chickensducksandagoose?) and I've just had to separate them again for drying as the teaspoon-sized bit I saved from last time has grown into a wiggly chunk the size of my palm again. So I rinsed them in room temp filtered water as last time and have hung them up in my net bag from the ceiling to dry. Took just over a week last time (although the rain may make it take longer this time) so if anyone needs any kefir grains, please do let me know as mine seem to be very prolific!
Well, after two gorgeous sunny weeks with not too cool nights we have hit our rainy season. My Girl Guide campout last weekend squeaked into the last of the hot sunny weather (had a fabulous weekend!) and then Monday it started to pour.
Cats and dogs.
Still raining today, although the weather looks to get dryer and sunnier for Sunday and into next week, but small consolation for those whose basements are flooding or who have been evacuated from the small town of High River just south of the city because their river has overrun its banks. Or for the farmers who need to plant NOW or lose out on any crop insurance should this season be a bad one.
So, if you are the praying type, please pray for those affected by the rain and high waters!
On to my own personal update:
The rainy weather has severely curtailed gardening efforts now that we are into our frost-free nights so our new garden looks like this:
(Last year we gardened in BIG pots on the deck)
And the only thing that's actually producing so far is our rhubarb:
Although my tomato seedlings are all doing well under the lights, they're all at the 2 full sets of leaves plus the cotyledons--they look super short in this photo because I re-buried them right up to their cotyledons to ensure a good root system and stocky plants):
And our new Swedish Columnar Aspens and Apple Trees along with the raspberry canes we bought last week can't be planted until the ground dries out a bit (our yard is SUPER soggy at the moment):
But in other news our new sod that we put in last weekend where we had taken out the lower portion of our deck is doing well with all the precipitation:
And my kefir grains are growing like crazy! I first received them from a friend at the end of March and separated/dried most of them to pass on to others (how they doin' Homemaker and chickensducksandagoose?) and I've just had to separate them again for drying as the teaspoon-sized bit I saved from last time has grown into a wiggly chunk the size of my palm again. So I rinsed them in room temp filtered water as last time and have hung them up in my net bag from the ceiling to dry. Took just over a week last time (although the rain may make it take longer this time) so if anyone needs any kefir grains, please do let me know as mine seem to be very prolific!
