Okra Fresh From the Garden

Our okra plants have really taken off this year. They have always been a good crop for us, but have done especially well this year. Maybe it’s that dose of fertilizer that Jeff gave them a little while back ~ or maybe it’s the “organic” fertilizer left by the two barn cats who, for awhile there, were using this garden plot as their litter box. No matter what the cause, these plants have gotten huge and are producing okra for cutting daily.

Here is what I do with them once cut. They usually gather on the kitchen counter for a few days until I get around to slicing them. Then I get out my cutting board and knife and start slicing.

Now, I only cook okra one way around here, and that’s fried ~ I do not care for the stringy mess that comes from the other ways of cooking it, but fried okra? – well, I grew up on that. Remember I do live in the South. So, during the summer, I keep a Ziploc freezer bag (gallon size) in my freezer, in which I have placed a mixture of corn meal and flour (no measuring here, just mix some together). As I slice the okra every few days or so, I place the slices in the freezer bag and shake it all up to coat it well.

I then place the bag back in the freezer until next time. As the bag fills up, I have ready-to-go okra waiting for me to fry up with a meal ~ especially good with fried chicken and mashed potatoes or corn on the cob (don’t ask me how our corn crop went this year ).

Blessings,
Nancy

Apple Trees

Last month we planted apple trees over by the barn. I hadn’t set out to have apple trees, but when Jeff found the Dewberries at the nursery, he mentioned that they also had apple trees that were being cleared out. I love the idea of growing our own apples for cobblers, pies, and just plain ole eatin’!

So he brought one home – A Granny Smith -

No, it doesn’t look like much now, but just wait a few years! Well, in reading up on apple trees that night, we discovered that apple trees need a friend to help them pollinate, so we went back to the nursery and came home with two friends – a Red Delicious and a Jonathan.

Red Delicious -

Jonathan -

So far they have withstood several severe storms and winds and are doing fine. They are sprouting new leaves, as well. These are dwarf versions, so they won’t get as tall as a normal apple tree, and are supposed to fruit sooner – yippee! So, our adventure with apple trees has begun, and I hope that we can keep them going long enough to reap the harvest!

Blessings,
Nancy

Berry Plants

Most summers growing up our family would venture to North Carolina on vacation to visit our extended family. We always stayed at my grandparents house, unless we all rented a cottage at the beach (that would be a whole other post!).

Summer vacation at Grandmama and Grandaddy’s house always included lots of playing with cousins, visiting with Aunts and Uncles, playing Roll-A-Bat in the large yard, digging in the sandbox, climbing the dogwood tree, or planning and putting on shows and “spook” houses.

Meals were always full of home-grown vegetables out of my grandfather’s huge garden, prepared lovingly by the womenfolk in the kitchen. Sometimes we would make homemade ice cream (hand-cranked) or consume huge wedges of watermelon at the picnic table in the backyard. One thing that we could always count on during our visit was Grandmama’s Dewberry Cobbler, made from fresh Dewberries, picked by my grandfather out in the garden. The berries were so delicious and it became a dish that we looked forward to every visit.

I have always dreamed of growing berries on my own land and making my own cobblers just like my grandmother did. We tried blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries last year. We lost all but two raspberry plants and all but one blueberry plant (and it is hanging on by a thread!). The blackberries survived, but just need to grow bigger in order to start supplying more berries. Here is one of our seven blackberry plants -

Imagine my excitement when Jeff called me one afternoon with the news that he had run across actual Dewberry plants at Home Depot and was buying six of them to plant around our pool fence. They were nice big plants that were already flowering and growing berries. I never expected to find Dewberries in Texas – assuming they were native to the East Coast. Since then, he has planted them along the fence – three on one side and three on another with the blackberries in between. Here they are still gathered around a stake – we will be untying them and attaching them to the fence soon, so that they can get better air circulation.

We are hoping that they will establish themselves and that soon we will be enjoying Grandmama’s Dewberry Cobbler once again. Somewhere I have her recipe, if you could call it a recipe. One summer I interviewed her as she was putting it together – ” about this much flour and that much sugar . . .”

Blessings,
Nancy

Roses Abloom

Some of our roses have started blooming, and are filling the air with a beautiful aroma. I was so excited when we found this home to discover that the original owners had planted a rose garden around one side of the house. While I am not a rose expert (or even close), I certainly have enjoyed having them, and hope that I will learn enough as the years go by to keep this garden going to enjoy for a long time.

Thought I’d share a few pictures I took while out in the garden the other day ~

We’ve been working hard getting the rest of the gardens finished planting, and there are a number of crops coming up now. I’ll share pictures as soon as I can. Temperatures are supposed to hit 90 degrees today, so we will be spending the afternoon outside!

Have a wonderful day!

Blessings,
Nancy

Baby Bunnies!

I was raking in the garden last week preparing a plot for corn seeds, when I raked up this nest of bunnies. I actually pulled one out of the nest – which scared me to death, thinking that it was RATS I had unearthed! But when I had collected myself and looked closely, I noticed the distinct bunny ears and the frightening creatures instantly turned into adorable babies (in my mind, anyway). I gently scooped the little stray one up with my shovel and placed it back into the nest.

I called the children – the ones who hadn’t heard my initial terrified shrieks – and we all oooed and ahhhed over them for awhile. By this time the little one had snuggled back in with his siblings and I covered them back up with the fluff that I had raked off.

We’ve been checking on them daily, and there appears to be no damage done from my unwelcome invasion. They must be pretty hardy, seeing as how they survived my intrusion and then a few nights later made it through a hailstorm. We haven’t seen the mother yet, but my sister thinks that she probably comes at night to feed them.

I moved my corn plot to the other end of the garden and won’t need this plot for about another month or so (we are planting the corn in stages), so hopefully the bunnies will be grown and out of the garden by then – of course, they will probably be back to visit and nibble a bit!)

For now, we are loving watching them, and they will go along with our Peter Rabbit unit study perfectly! I love it when the Lord blesses our studies with living examples!

Blessings,
Nancy

Signs of Spring

Flowers ready to be planted, landscape mixes ready to be spread . . .

The first mow of the year . . .

Taking a break to bask in the sunshine . . . and . . .

Popsicles on the front porch.

My small gardens are planted and the big garden is all ready for seeds. I’ll post pictures of them soon.

Blessings,
Nancy

This and That Outdoors

With all of the beautiful weather we’ve had here lately, we’ve been spending alot of time outdoors. My camera accompanies me out when I think of it, and I’ve been compiling a bunch of random pictures that have been taken while enjoying the great outdoors. The picture above is a corner of my patio garden, which is usually taken over a bit by now with marigolds, which I don’t mind at all, as it makes for lovely Fall scenery.

The rest of the patio garden seems to think that it is Spring again the way it has started producing in recent weeks. You might be able to pick out several vegetables here (if you look real close – kind of like one of the kids’ seek and find books!) – the tomatoes are loaded down with new fruit, the okra plants decided to finally come up after being planted months ago and are producing abundantly (unfortunately I haven’t been picking them and they’ve gotten huge!), and there are bell and jalapeno peppers producing again (you can see these plants peeking their heads over the marigolds on the right side of the picture). Of course, there are also lots of dead weeds and a few dead sunflowers – just ignore those – I seem to have done so. Can you find all of the plants? -

Across the sidewalk is my herb garden, which is looking lovely and lush. My dill is all gone – ravaged in a couple of days by caterpillars awhile back, but the basil, rosemary and thyme are doing quite well. I need to start cutting and drying these . . . I think -

Enough of the gardens, here is my little pumpkin on the front porch on our first cool-enough-for-a-jacket day. He’s the one in blue, not the one in orange. -

Our scarecrow friends on the front porch – they have been brutally attacked a few times by Jack, but have come out alive and still smiling -

One day we saw this crawling around our scarecrow buddies. He was about 2-3 inches long! He looked like a giant wasp, but we never saw him fly -

Probably the most common places to find the children when playing outside are the trampoline or the swingset, but there have been other interesting activities going on, as well. Climbing trees is always fun – Tommy and Sarah rigged a basket system up to this tree to haul books, stuffed animals and toys into it -

One day they decided to dig a hole – “why?”, I asked. “”Just because”, was the answer. So we found an acceptable spot behind the barn and they started digging. They worked on it several days, and then decided they’d had enough fun with this project. -

One day the activity of choice was collecting horse apples all around the yard in the wagon. It was quite heavy when they finished -

Michael enjoying the nice cool weather -

Sweet Laura, whose outdoor time usually includes playing with Jack, taking him for walks, and keeping him out of mischief -

And speaking of Jack, he loves for us to come outside to play with him and sits on the porch with us (when he’s not attacking scarecrows) and enjoys the company. I’m afraid he has overstepped his bounds here, though – although Laura thinks it’s so adorable -

Sarah took this picture of a bird’s nest in one of our Rose of Sharons. Now that the leaves are falling off, we were able to discover it and marvel at it -

And one last picture – of some of the Fall Foliage on the trees that we are enjoying (sorry for the blur)-

Well, I didn’t mean for this to get so long, but wanted to share with you some of our outdoor moments. Hope you’re enjoying your Fall as much as we are!

Blessings,
Nancy

Update on the Gardens

In my walk around the yard the other day I took a few pictures of the gardens and their progress.

Out in the “big garden” – here are some of our pumpkin plants coming along strong -

These are watermelon vines – there are some pumpkins mixed in a little bit. It’s a mystery where they came from – they just started to come up. I know I probably should have pulled the pumpkin intruders out, but I can’t stand to pull happy, healthy plants! I’ll probably be sorry when they compromise my watermelons! -

Next is our zucchini bed, in need of a little weeding. Jeff has already harvested a couple of first zucchinis from here this year! The plot below the zucchini contains yellow onions (and lots of weeds). It used to contain red onions, too, but they up and disappeared without a trace! (another mystery!). The plot just to the right of the zucchini is my strawberry patch. It’s so sad that I couldn’t bear to take pictures of it – the grass has almost completely taken over and the strawberry plants are just peeking their heads out of it – We’re not sure what to do about it – if we pull it, it will probably just grow back. Anyway, enjoy the picture of the zucchini plants -

Here we have the cucumber plants with their trellises. They are about ready for me to train them to start up the trellises. The fence here needs a little repair, as you can tell. I love cool, crisp cucumbers, especially in the summer, so I’m looking forward to this harvest -

The rest of the big garden contains more pumpkins – there are large ones, medium sized pie pumpkins and small Jack-Be-Littles for decorating around the house. There is also an empty plot, where I was supposed to plant green beans, but never got around to it. I need to check into whether I can still plant them for a fall harvest.

Our next stop is the herb garden. It is located close to the house, in a bed by our back patio. This is my first year to plant an herb garden and I love looking at it and smelling it, but keep wondering what I’m going to do with all of them. I need to start experimenting with them in my cooking and researching how to dry them for the winter. It’s all new to me! But, I’ve learned to look on gardening as a long-term learning process. I wish I knew everything I need to know now, and feel like I have so very much to learn, but I do learn new things every year, so maybe some day I’ll kind of know what I’m doing! So, without further ado, here’s the herb garden (or most of it – see the first picture in this post to see the whole garden) -

Across the sidewalk from the herb garden is my small garden. I usually plant things here that need more constant harvesting – like tomatoes, okra and peppers. The first year here I also planted marigolds in the corners, which come back every year and are threatening to take over the garden. Last year they were beautiful by autumn, filling the bed with orange and yellow blossoms. This garden is quite a mystery this year! I planted tomato plants, pepper plants, and okra seeds here, The tomatoes and peppers are still here (although some of the peppers are being attacked by marigolds), and there are two okra plants (out of 12 that I planted!) The mystery, however, is that we also have two zucchini plants that came up, as well as several sunflowers! This is really strange, because I’ve only ever planted zucchini in the big garden, which is far away from this garden; and the sunflowers we plant are always by the barn, also rather far from this garden. I have my suspicions that a “little gardener” may have found my seed packets from last year and done a little impromptu planting – but I may never know.

Okay, final disclaimer – I originally took this picture with the intention of showing you what happens when you don’t take have time to weed the garden regularly. Since this picture was taken, my sweetheart has done a fair amount of weeding in this garden, and it really does look better than this! Okay, so now you’ve been warned – here’s the picture – (oh, I’m so embarrassed!)

Our final stop on the garden tour isn’t really a garden, but they are edible! Here is a picture of my very first blackberries ripening. These bushes are planted along the outside of the white picket fence which surrounds the pool. I dream of them growing all over the fence someday and providing us with lucious berries every summer. I am so thrilled to even get these few, as I think they are not supposed to fruit until the second year after planting, and this is just the first year! I picked one that was dark and ate it right fresh off the bush – the beginning of my dream come true -

So, those are my gardens. I hope you enjoyed the tour. I’ll leave you with a picture of one of my little weed-pulling helpers from the day I weeded the herb garden -

Blessings,
Nancy

Summer Blooms

I walked around the yard with my camera and thought I’d share some of the beautiful flowers that are blooming right now in our little neck of the woods.

As you can see, the crepe myrtles are in full bloom and really gorgeous this year -

These are our Daylilies – there are four yellow bushes and one peach – lovely! -

Here is one of the three sage bushes that are still waiting to be planted in the ground. I am going to love having these bushes with their sweet purple flowers -

Here are two of our Rose of Sharon bushes. The pictures don’t show the colors as beautifully as they are – the first one is a lovely purple and the second a light baby pink (my favorite). We also have several bright pink ones that I didn’t photograph this time -

This is a small bunch of interesting flowers that I found at the nursery and planted by the porch. I don’t remember what they’re called, but the blooms look like strawberries! -

Finally, on this day anyway, there is what we affectionately refer to as “the Monster”. I don’t know the name of this one either, but it is a huge bush that grows back bigger every year, even with cutting back – hence the name. It blooms with many pretty purple blooms all over it -

I took some pictures of how the garden is coming along as well, which I will share with you in another post. So glad you could stroll around the yard with me today!

Blessings,
Nancy

Strawberries are Finally Planted!

We are really behind in planting this year. We bought a used tiller this spring to help with preparing the soil, and it has had several issues which have led to planting being delayed and delayed. Jeff finally went and rented a tiller yesterday so that we could get it done before it’s too late! I am pleased to report that the big garden has now been tilled, as well as beds for the sunflowers and berries we are planting. All that’s left to do before planting is to finish supplementing the soil (we have clay here), which should happen in the next few days.

We had already bought enough supplement for several small areas, so I was able to get the strawberry plants in yesterday. This made the plants very happy, as they’ve been living in small pots on our patio table for about 2 weeks, getting watered when I thought about it, which was not often enough. Now they can dig their roots down deep and drink in more moisture. Hopefully, they’ll decide to do this, and not shrivel up and die.

I couldn’t get the whole plot in one picture, so I took two and you can use your imagination to patch them together in your mind for the full view. Behind the strawberries, in the square on the left (top picture), I planted yellow and red sweet onions (this is way late for these, seeing as how I planted them in February last year!). In the square on the right (lower picture and behind the strawberries), I planted zucchini seeds, which should provide an over-abundance of zucchinis this summer, if these guys are as productive as the ones we planted last year.

The kids and I also planted sunflowers yesterday, against the barn as we did last year. These are so much fun to grow and make a nice view for summertime.

Blessings,
Nancy