(If the Player Won't Start... Hit your Refresh Button) ~ My Page Number Seven~
~ Thursday July 02, 2009 ~
~ Sweet Basil ~ First Harvest ~



~ Before Clipping ~ And After Clipping ~

Next, as the Sweet Basil was filling and nice and bushy, and not yet blooming... Like the Oregano, I decided to harvest and dry it... Snipped it all back and spread it out to dry on the table... Now I am not sure if it will grow back for another crop...

~ Drying ~

~ Just Picked and Washed ~ After Drying a Few Hours ~

And Again like Oregano... into a 150 degree oven to dry a few hours... Then crumble up and store tightly in a jar... Ans again it looks like I got ALL of about two tablespoons again, maybe just a bit more... Easy to see how dried herbs are stronger than fresh, so much makes so little...


~ Tuesday June 30, 2009 ~
~ Turkish Oregano ~ First Harvest ~



~ Before Clipping ~ And After Clipping ~

I saw that my oregano plant was getting a little leggy and beginning to bud... They say best not to let some herbs bloom, so I decided to harvest and dry it... Snipped it all back and spread it out to dry on the table... Now see how long it takes for another crop...

~ Drying ~



~ Just Picked ~ After Drying ~ After Crumbling ~

Then into a 150 degree oven to dry a few hours... Then crumble up and store tightly in a jar... Looks like I got ALL of about two tablespoons this time... Now to pick the sweet basil and dry some of that...


~ Saturday June 27, 2009 ~
~ Home Cookin! ~



~ Pickled Beets ~ Beet Greens with Ham ~

Farmers Market this morning, a little more each week... Got a couple nice cucumbers and four huge red beets, home grown of course

Boiled the beets and simmered the greens with ham... Peeled the beets and sliced and into the pot with vinegar, sugar, salt and pickling spice... Then to cool and into the fridge... Maybe have those greens tonight with chicken or ham or smoked ribs... Such heavy decisions I must make

~ Tomato Catch-Up! ~



~ Better Boys in the Bed ~ Better Boys in the Pot ~

After the Farmer's Market, outside before it got too hot to tie up a few straying tomato branches... The ones the deer chewed on seem to be doing OK now.. Three tomatoes in there... And the ones in the Pot doing better, there are six there and three getting some color, .. I am betting on a ripe one by July 4th, Hope Hope...


~ Saturday June 20, 2009 ~
~ Jalapenos! ~



Second harvest of the jalapenos...Four a couple weeks ago, made salsa picantee... Used some of that to make chili from some of my smoked pulled pork...




This time almost enough to pickle and fill a half pint jar, these will be good in about a week in the fridge...

~ And Yeah... So Donald picked and pickled a half pint of Jalapeno peppers ~


~ Tuesday June 16, 2009 ~
~ Aftermath? ~



Well, a couple weeks after the deer damage... if that is what ate my plants... It looks like they are recovering nicely...

Here, the one with less damage, doing fine with a nice little Better Boy coming along




And this one with more damage, has two little tomatoes popping out, close together and hard to see at this size...

But we might get some tomatoes off these plants after all...

~ And Yeah... That will be Sweet? ~


~ Sunday June 14, 2009 ~
~ Tomatoes ~ Peppers! ~



OK Can .. Look Close... and count... You can see 5 from this angle and another one is on the other side you can't see... So now who is a LIAR?


And the Jalapenos are going wild, several more almost ready to pick now...


Two nice Mariachis coming along nicely with a few others coming on now...
So now, a couple more weeks, if we get some sun.. and a ripe Better Boy tomato!


~ And Yeah... How Sweet Will That Be? ~


~ Wednesday June 10, 2009 ~
~ Sugar Cookies! ~


Nothing special here, just 3 dozen and a half of old fashioned sugar cookies like Grandma used to make...

And not all that bad at that... Crisp enough, chewey enough, good luck on this batch...

~ And Yeah... How Sweet and Buttery they Are! ~


~ Monday June 08, 2009 ~
~ Hot Sauce! Salsa Picante! ~


I picked the 4 largest Jalapeno Peppers yesterday...


Then up to the Price Chopper for the rest of the ingredients... Lima, Cebolla, Tomate, Ajo...


Then... chop and into the food processor, the tomatoes, the onions, the peppers, the garlic... Then squeeze a lime on top... Stop here and you have Pico de Gallo... Or... into the pot with some cumin, salt and pepper, a little oregano, a teaspoon of sugar... simmer a bit and you have Salsa Preparada, better for storing, as Pico de Gallo (Salsa Fresca) doesn't stay fresh long in the fridge... Then into some little storage containers and we have Salsa Picante whenever we want...

~ And Si Si... Como es Picante Es! ~


~ Sunday June 07, 2009 ~
~ Smoked Pork Shoulder! ~


4 1/2 Pounds of Pork Shoulder ~~~ Rinsed and Dried ~~~ Painted with Mustard


Dusted with El Pato BBQ Rub ~~~ Into the Smoker ~~~ And after 7 Hours of Smoke

This is One way to do it... Find a nice Boston Butt (pork shoulder) at the Price Chopper... Wash and dry nicely... Then, paint with Mustard or Worchestshire sauce... Dust well with dry BBQ rub... I mix my own... And cover and then in the fridge overnight

Then, next morning, fire up the smoker burner, toss in a big hunk of Hickory wood and smoke away for 1 and 1/2 hours per pound, thia one about 7 hours...

Then... out of the smoker, wrapped up in foil and into the oven at 225 for a couple hours... Then slip out the bone and chop everything all up together with a little Kansas City style BBQ sauce


and then... Made me up a Pulled Pork Sandwich with some creamy Cole Slaw...

~ And Yeah... How Sweet it Is! ~


~ Saturday June 06, 2009 ~
~ OK, How's This? ~


So, I trotted up to Lowes yesterday so see what I could see, didn't see just what I wanted but I found some ornamental fencing that might work...

Had to do some altering to make it fit.. and wired up to the tomato bracing.. Then set the old fence I had last year on top... Now let's see if that will work...

Now today, maybe a trip down to the Farmers Market to see what's what and then... ~

~ Off to See the Wizard! ~


~ Friday June 05, 2009 ~
~ NOW WHAT! ~


~ Better Boys Tomatoes Last Week ~


~ Better Boys Tomatoes TODAY! ~

Yesterday I thought maybe it was BUGS... So I sprayed real good... Dripping wet all over
But today... look what happened overnight! What we have here.. DEER?... Probably... and if so, I hope that pesticide gives it a bellyache... or worse...

Now What? Off to Lowes for some fencing, maybe that will foil them varmints?

(Click Here Please) ~ ANYWAY.... CHARGE! HO! ~




~ Monday June 01, 2009 ~

~ First Mariachi Pepper! ~

HAH! Look what popped out overnight, first little Marachi pepper. and more almost ready... Get some burger and stuff ready for stuffing, can't be too long now!

And one more jalapeno showed up, now 5 going, let's get ready for harvest,... two there almost ready to pick now...



~ Ever Onward and Upward! ~




~ Sunday May 31, 2009 ~

~ First Better Boy Tomato! ~

Well we have about used up all of a nice May month.. On to June tomorrow... And 6 weeks after transplanting into the pot, the first tiny Better Boy tomato showed up.. a full 1/4 inch in diameter at least! WOW!

Now if it doesn't fall off, we will watch it grow and ripen.. AHA... And more to come... And another little japaneno pepper showed up, now we have 4, can 50 be far behind... And looks like we just might have some Mariachi bells popping out soon

~ Ever Onward and Upward! ~




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