Sometimes we dont realize how we are truely blessed

Sitting here this morning sipping my tea in my living room thinking. The news just reported there are 1 in 45 children homeless in the United States. Thats almost 2 million children that are living on the streets, in shelters or in cars. Those precious children dont have a bed to curl up and sleep, warm covers to make them feel safe during the night. A home. They dont have a home. Startling realization.

We think of homeless as poorly dressed "bums" begging on the corner. Folks addicted to drugs begging for money in parking lots or street corners. But rarely do we put the face of a child on homeless. Just in the state of Florida alone they estimate almost 1/2 million children live in a car, dressing  in the restroom of a McDonalds or gas station, then attend school without their peers knowing they dont have a home.

These children dont wish for Sega systems, WI systems, cell phones or whatever todays latest gadget, they wish for a home. These are not children of parents that are drug addicts or criminals. One family they interviewed moved from Michigan to Florida 4 years ago to work in the contruction industry because the car industry played out. When the bottom fell out they lost their home, their security, and their savings. They lived in their van for a year until they found a program that helped them get back on their feet and into a home. These are not bums or ignorant people.

Makes me wonder and be very thankful as i sit in my living room that while i keep the heat on 68 is warm, dry and a place i can call home. Its not always what I want, but we have food in the pantry. We have lived on beans and rice for a week, Ive made biscuits and gravy for dinner.. I know what it is to do without.. but do I?

These families are the face of doing without. Need is food, shelter and clothing. In the words of Mary Poppins "Enough is as good as a Feast". I sit and feel guilt, after watching these families, for grumbling because of missing trim in my living room, someone driving on my grass and feel condemned for being so petty. Christmas will be thin at my home again, but i do have a tree with twinkle lights that make prince Williams face light up when he sees them, these homeless babies dont have a tree with twinkle lights to enjoy.

I guess what I'm left with this morning is a feeling of being blessed, but for the grace of God... there i would be. In this season.. lets remember how truely blessed we are in our lives. Even though the tree with twinkle lights is all some have... there are those that do without even a tree.. or worse Hope.

Make em eat it... act 2

Well folks its another on of those "make em eat it" kinda dinners. LOL

Sorry should have washed them first..LOL But this is my harvest for today. Guess i could have gotten a smaller bowl for the peas and carrots.. made it look like there was more. LOL And I harvested lettuce again. That stuff grows like crazy!!! The more I cut the more it grows.



Anyway... I washed the carrots, well scrubbed is a better term, washed the peas. They are sugar snap so the shell is tender as well. What to do with them???

Well lets just see. Got 1 quart of very rich turkey broth in the fridge, put that in the pot with onions, salt, pepper, garlic and couple of spices. Now what... need a filler. Here we go this will work very well. Small bag of navy beans. Got them simmering.

So.. soup it is. Im gonna wait for a couple of hours before adding the carrots and peas they are pretty tender. Serve it over rice  with a salad of lettuce and tomato... poof.. dinner.  

Homemade dish soap

This is dish soap.. not dishwasher soap
2 cups of Castille soap.
This is a pure soap. I couldnt find it local. Had to order it.
5 drops of pure lemon essense oil. Not scent. this is a very conscentrated oil
1/2 cup of water
1 tbls of fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup of vinegar.
Makes 3 cups of dish soap
You can make your own castille soap. Its basically a lye soap. But its a long drawn out process.

Home made shampoo and conditioner

This one i had to try.. it was just too good sounding to be true.. But it works great!!!

8 oz water in a bottle add 1 tbls of baking soda.
Pour over your damp hair and work it in for 5 minutes scratch your scalp well.
8 oz of cool water 1 tlbs of apple cider vinegar.
Pour over hair and rinse well.

I tried this and love it. My hair just smells clean. It doesnt have a scent at all. My hair is very soft and not oily or dry.

Homemade diswasher soap

This cleans better than cascade.
1 cup of borax
1 cup of washing soda
1/2 cup of citric acid. (cheaper online)
1/2 cup of course Kosher salt. Not table salt. it has to be Kosher salt
Mix all these together and keep in a plastic container. Use 1 tablespoon per load.
I put a mixture of 1/2 water and 1/2 vinegar in the rinse compartment.

I made this up and was using it. It works really well. Then i realized I wash my dishes off in hot soapy water before i put them in the dishwasher. So now I just put a 1 tsp of the mixture and its working great.

Home made Laundry detergent

Dont be fooled. This is some cleaning stuff!!! It will clean whites without the need for clorox. Its color safe. Ive not noticed any of my clothes fading.
Lets get started.
You will need:
3 gallon bucket
1 gallon bucket
Hand held grater or Food Processor
1 bar of Fels Naptha soap
1 cup of Washing Soda (Arm and hammer.. not baking soda)
1/2 cup of Borax.

All of these things can be found at Walmart. They dont do a great job of keeping them in stock. They are out of the soap, washing soda and borax pretty regularly. Brookshire Brothers has them however. They are all on the laundry soap aisle. Most of the time on the bottom shelf.

This is the soap. The finer you grate it, the easier it is to melt it into a liquid form. It really doesnt take that long. Ive used my food processor before.. it wont hurt it as its just soap and will wash very clean.
Your going to put this grated soap in 1 gallon of warm water. NOT HOT.. just luke warm. It will clump up on you if its hot. I let it set about 8 hours and just stir it every once in a while. It will be very very soapy.

1 cup of Arm and Hammer Washing Soda

This comes in a box but i keep it in a plastic container in the laundry room so it doesnt get cakey down here in all our humidity. Same thing with the Borax. I purchased all of these back in April. Ive made soap for my, my sister, my mom and my kids and still have plenty left. This is Arm and Hammer washing soda. Its very handy to have around the house.

Borax ( there are many brands) 1/2 cup

Put 2 gallons of cool water in your 3 gallon bucket. Make it cool water because the borax will heat up just a little when you add water to it. I guess you should use gloves.. but i havent so far. Pour your borax and washing soda in the water. NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. ALWAYS ADD DRY TO WATER... NOT WATER TO DRY.
Mix this until its combined.. it doesnt take long.
Add your melted soap to the bucket. Mix well. I use my hands.. it makes them very soft when I am done. Now.. youre going to let this sit at least 12 hours. Overnight is fine. When you come back it will be almost a solid form. Stir it very well again. Its got an odd texture. Then pour it in old laundry soap containers. Shake before you use it. If you want a scent now is when you add it. Use pure essential oils not scents. 5 to 6 drops per recipe. I like it because it doesnt have a scent. I use a laundry sheet in the dryer to add the scent.
It only takes 1/2 cup per load. Thats all!!!
If you prefer powder you can forgo all the water and just mix the dry ingredients then use 1 tbls per load. I just prefer a liquid.
The total of all the ingredients should run you around 8 dollars. Then all you have to buy is another bar of soap when you are running low.
It doesnt suds up, which makes it great for front loader machines. But it cleans!!

Dinner for 8 to 12

I wanted to see if i could cook dinner for 8-12 from scratch in one day. Well.. here goes.
7:30 AM
Check on Sarah.. shes got a high fever and sore throat. So i walked down to the CP to get her some OJ, gave her a couple of Tylenol and propped her up on the sofa to watch the Parades.
8:00 AM
Cut pumpkin in half, put on half in the oven.. set timer for 1 hour.
Mix up cake mix... plain? nahhhhhhhhhh... I subbed OJ for part of the water and rum for the rest. Pour in a 9 inch spring form pan, sprinkle with nutmeg, put in the oven set timer for 40 minutes.
Check face book... LOL
Decided to remove legs and wings from the turkey and just cook the breast... yea.. good idea. Put stick of butter in a small pan add rosemary, basil and sage. Let it heat until the butter is just slightly golden. Sprinkle under side of bird breast with salt, pepper, onion powder and a little red pepper. Brush entire breast with butter mixture. Sit in fridge to get happy.
 Check on Sarah... good deal fever is down.
Mix up 2 cans of sweet potatoes( ok i cheated i didn't have fresh), 3 eggs, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, brown sugar and a touch of salt. Put in casserole dish. Sprinkled top with brown sugar crumble. Cover.
Woohooo Cake done. Smells wonderful and is on the cooling rack.
Pumpkin done... pulled the skin off and letting it cool a little. Oh how i love fresh pumpkin.
Woohoo.. doing good.. 10:30
Check facebook and update blogg...LOL
Make pie crust.. with more butter of course. Mash pumpkin and make pie filling. Awww i decorated the edges with pastry leaves.. cute cute. Pop in the oven.
Put turkey bird in the oven.. its 12:25. Put sweet potato in the oven. Mercy its smelling good in here now for sure.
Make rolls. Think i'll make those little croissant shaped rolls.
Ice cake with chocolate icing... make little design on the top with white chocolate.. Orange, chocolate and rum... does it get any better???
Take pie out the oven... oops.. couple of my leaves didnt float... no worries... LOL
Ok... 1:30 Rolls in the oven, Mark is gonna hurt himself. Veggies heating.
We are eating at 2

Orange rum cake with chocolate icing and white chocolate

Home made yeast rolls

Herb crusted turkey breast, baked sweet potatoes, corn, green beans and cranberry... i missed the gravy.. but its there... LOL

Corn bread dressing with lots of herbs.

Funny little pumpkin pie... my leaves fell in while baking.

I made it with brown sugar instead of white sugar so its dark.

Dinner with family while watching TV and relaxing... priceless.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Just reflections this morning

The air is calm and cool. As I sit sipping my hot drink the sun is just starting to peek through the trees. The winds have changed. I know this because I can hear the traffic of the freeway that is north of me. Just sitting here pondering my little corner of this huge earth.

My yard has changed so much since we moved into this home. The back was grown over with waist deep weeds. There was a huge hole where a tree had been prior to hurricane Ike. There were no flowers or flower beds. Now as I stroll around this morning and look at the banana, cannas, hibiscus, rose of sharons, oleanders and crepe myrtles all getting ready to sleep for the winter, the ground all covered with a thick layer of mulch I reflect on how much calmness these plants have added to my life. My little greenhouse that is just exploding with life protected from the chilly air. My garden beds I have prepared for next spring.

A couple of days ago a woman came to me in my back yard while I was spreading manure, that in itself turned to be a funny reflection later, She complimented my yard and asked if I believed in God. I looked at her and replied you cant grow a seed to a tomato and not have a belief in God and creation. She said she disagreed with me that many people grow gardens and not know God. That's fine.. I told her. I don't need to be agreed with to have my own beliefs.
As i reflect on what she said it made me ponder a little. Horse poo or cow manure is heavy. Trust me.. its heavy...LOL. But added to the soil it breaks down and makes the soil lighter. We as Christians should not be so heavy that we cant lighten the world around us. And yes, Im speaking to myself more than anyone else. While smelly and nasty this composted stuff turns into a soil conditioner and it feeds the plants growing. Isn't that what we should be? We all are smelly and nasty sometimes aren't we? I know I am. But sooner or later we calm down into our beliefs in God and become useful and actually make the world around us a better place. I think I'm mostly broken down with just a few clumps of smelly and nasty left... but I'm working on them.

Creative noodles

As most of you know I try to make everything we eat. Since being diagnosed with the brain issue I am very careful about what I eat.. what it has in it. The things i cant spell or pronounce really do scare me. I dont use aluminum foil at all. All my pots are stainless steel. That being said, I have enjoyed finding out how good things taste when you make or grow them yourself.
Last month i got a dehydrator. Ive dehydrated tomatoes and ground them into a powder. Did the same with onions and garlic, I have dried bell peppers, corn, carrots and pumpkin.
Now... I took some of those things and made tonight's dinner.

Chicken soup with homemade tomato basil noodles.
1 chicken breast cut small pieces
2 tbls butter
2 quarts of water(1 cup of white wine)
1 onion diced
1 rib of celery course chopped
3 carrots sliced
1 garlic chopped fine
1 can of corn, no salt drained and rinsed
1 can of green beans, no salt drained and rinsed
Sea salt, black pepper, red pepper, dried oregano, sage, rosemary

Brown chicken in hot butter until golden brown and the bottom of the skillet is brown. Pour water in pot and break up all that yummy flavor on the bottom of the pan. Add wine. Add all the rest of the ingredients. Bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer for about an hour.

Tomato basil noodles.

1 cup of flour
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbls of fresh basil chopped fine
1 tbls of dehydrated tomato powder
2 tbls of chicken soup broth from above.
Mix together.. It makes a stiff dough. Depending on the humidity you may not need the extra broth.
Now.. rolling. Roll into a 10 x10 square, fold in half, re roll into a 10x10 fold in half. Do this 5 times. This makes your noodles smooth. Divide dough in half. Roll one half very very thin. Cut with a pizza cutter in long 1/2" strips.. kinda like wide egg noodles. Allow to dry hanging over a wooden spoon for about 15 minutes.
Drop into to boiling soup mixture and cook for about 8 - 10 minutes on a simmer.

As if it didn't need anymore calories... Mark covers his bowl with cheese.

Its just a beautiful day outside today!

Its just a beautiful day today! Its cool but not cold. The sky is blue. Just a small breeze blowing. Wonderful day to work in the yard.
I couldn't believe by 8am this morning after a night of cold (38degree) weather that I had to not only open the door to my green house but open one of the sides as well. When the sun wakes up and hits it.. it really heats up fast.

I was going to mow the front yard today. Then I noticed it had a few leaves on it. I don't have many trees in my yard so leaves are far and few between. The ones I do get are blown in from a neighbors tree. So.. being the short attention spanned person I am... decided to rake those up before mowing as the mower chomps them up into mulch.

Raking leaved made me think of making some compost tea.. shoot.. no poop. Gotta have some kind of animal poo to make compost tea. Just about that time the new neighbor in the back passed. So with bucket in hand away I went..... sorry leaves.

Very nice man. His kids are going to move into the property when he gets all the burned mobile home removed. I asked if I could have a little horse poo. He laughed and said... "follow me". So I followed him to the backside of the property where he showed me a beautiful pile of aged horse poo. "Take all you want" he said. Woohoo!!. He then mentioned the kids have horses and will move them into the fenced areas of the property. I told him I would love to have that pile of poo at my house. He looks at me funny and said."and just what would you do with it?". Make garden beds!! of course. To my delight he informed me that next time he had his tractor down here he would move that beautiful pile to my back yard... woooooooooohoooooo... I'm gonna have beautiful tomatoes next year!!!

Back to the leaves.. LOL

I finished raking and putting my few leaves in the plastic bin.. watering them down good and putting a lid on them. Reminding myself i need to buy worms next time I am at Mikes Hardware. I threw in the green bean vines that didn't make it through the cold night, a few egg shells and a 3# coffee container of used coffee grounds, gave it a good stir and put the lid on. Now... stir that everyday for a month or so and I'll have beautiful compost here in a couple of month. Ok.. got that chore done.

OOOOOOOOh.. I was making compost tea wasn't i? LOL. bucket... I need a bucket. So searching the 1/2 acre hill I reside on I found a 5 gallon bucket... not a lot of tea.. but it could work. Oh shoot... I threw all my kitchen scraps in the compost. Oh well.. let me go see what I can find. I decided that the old cucumber vines and a few chomped up banana leaves could replace the kitchen scraps for the "green manure" part of my tea.

Now... leaves, horse poo, green bean vines and  banana leaves...ooooooooooooooooooooooooh.. that leads me to the stinky stuff. NASTY!!!!

Fill the bucket with water and give it a good stir... "brb I told the bucket". On the side of the house is another bucket that no one but me will attempt to open. So I carried it carefully back to the compost area... take a deep breath.. cuz Lord knows i ain't breathing until the lid is back on.... pour a few cups of the liquid in the compost tea... put the lid back on... BREATHE.. sigh.. LOL. What is in this bucket you might ask? Its fish. Fish heads and skeletons of fish mixed with water. The plants love it.. but OOOOOOOOOEMMMM GEEE does it stink.

OK... Time to go fix myself a glass of iced tea and sit in the sun for a few minutes before I find something else to get into.

Talk to you soon.....

Deb

Garden 11-2011 and a funny story

It all started here on Sept 19, 2011

The plants are about 3 weeks old.

Then we ate turnip green salads, turnip greens with cornbread or

 just nibbled on the young plants. I did get a few turnips.

8 weeks later. I have over 50 tomatoes

(not counting the green ones we have fried)

More turnips, spinach and collards coming up

along the border of the gardenette.

Green house beginning

I had visions of green plants all neat and orderly.

T

Today

      

Little spinach babies 10-29

Little lettuce babies 10-29

Little mustard babies 10-29

Sweet peas are learning to climb their trellis.

Today 11-16-2011

Romaine and Buttercrunch Lettuce.

The little concrete cylinders keep the ground warm at night.

Funny story about those I'll blog later 

Green beans and Carrots

Cucumbers by the milk jug getting ready to trellis

And a mighty mustard patch...LOL

Sweet peas on their trellis loaded with sweet smelling blooms

I made "pots" of newspaper for tomato seedlings.

They are in a recycled Jasons Deli container green house.

I have more spinach, lettuce and beets planted in the pots.

The two tomato "suckers" are growing beautifully

Ok... you may have noticed the milk jugs in the beds. They have tiny holes in the bottom and with the lid on they will release water into the ground slowly. If its really dry i can loosen the lid and it releases the water more quickly. This way the plants get a slow stead source of water.

LOL the concrete cylinders....

My brother n law (Lori's hubby) brought me a load of 2 inch x 7 inch solid concrete cylinders. They had to drill through the walls at a prison to put new plumbing. So he asked me if I would like them for any reason... YES.. i would love them.

The purpose...

During the winter or in our case cold snaps, they absorb heat during the day and then release it slowly at night when its cool. It keeps the ground warm so the plants don't know its winter in their little warm green house.

Now for the funny. 

I have a YouTube site where fellow gardeners and myself can share secrets and seeds. So I posted how well my "concrete cylinder heaters" were working. I received a reply. Now don't get me wrong.. I'm not here to belittle anyone for their beliefs... whatever floats your boat. Just don't be offended if i happen to chuckle at them if they are in left field. Left field serves a purpose.. its a balance.. but Lord can they make  me laugh sometimes. She believe everything carries a spirit or energy.

This was her reply:

"Great looking hoop house!! I'm glad to see you are recycling so many things. I know you probably have already done so, but make sure you say a prayer over the concrete to remove all of the negative spirits and energies from them. It will affect how your plants grow. Coming from a prison they will be full of negative energies."

This was my reply:

Thank you for the compliment. Recycling for me is about taking what I have now and making it work. ummm.. about the energies. Ive thought about it. The cylinders have been near the plants for about a week now. Ive noticed the plants closet to them seem to be thriving the best. Which leads me to the following belief. Seeing how I have had some experience with prison dwellers Ive come to the conclusion that 90% of what they say is total bullsh... umm excrement. And plants LOVE blulsh... umm excrement. So if the "excrement" spirits dwell in these cylinders... I think I'm gonna have him bring me a few more because they seem to love the energy coming from them.

I think i missed the point... LOL

Anywho.... I'm loving the plants. And i don't see any life coming from bad energy or negative thoughts. When I'm around my plants or in the hoop house i do converse with the dear Lord.... I feel the most alive alone with my plants.

Homemade peanut butter

Not sure if its the fear of all those words in peanut butter that I cannot pronounce or the fact I can make it so much cheaper but either way... here goes my first stab at peanut butter.

2 cups of dry roasted peanuts.

The roasting smells sooooooooooo good. Just spread 2 cups of organic peanuts.. not that GMO stuff... that stuff scares me, on a baking sheet and roast in the oven at 350. Shake every once in a bit to move them around. I pulled the skins off too.

This is about 2 minutes of processing, but it will ball up if you let it run. Now.. i put 1 tbsp of peanut oil in at this point. It was just a tad too much oil. Gonna try 1 tsp at a time next time. I didn't add sugar at all. And after tasting it.. it really didn't need sugar or corn syrup

From 2 cups of peanuts yielded just over 2 cups of peanut butter. Fresh peanut butter with no hydrogenated stuff or high fructose corn syrup.

This is what I did with some of the Peanut butter

I added a stick of butter to 1/2 cup of PB, a little vanilla, flour, and egg and 1 cup of sugar

POOF... yummy cookies for the Veterans Day thing tomorrow night



Two new tomato vines in 7 days

Today I'm giving my little baby tomato rootings a taste of real soil. November the 23rd I took a couple of cuttings from my tomato bushes and put them in water to root.. no rooting hormone.. just filtered water. I learned something. Roots do not like light. They root so much faster in a dark container instead of a clear container.

This was two days later. You can see little roots shooting out.

This is today. 7 days later and it has roots almost 6 inches long. I did change the water a couple of times.

You can see on the right the cup I rooted them in. Next time... dark cup.

This is their new home in the green house for about 2 weeks. Then i will transplant them into their permanent pot and tie em up ready for the winter in the hot house.

I was really amazed how quickly they would take root and grow. Normally to get a plant to this stage from seed it takes about 6-8 weeks. In one week these two have gone from just a cutting off of the parent plant to fully growing tomato plants.

Update on my carrots while blogging. This is the way to grow carrots... safe from the bunnies.

You can see the last few beans on my vines. They aren't liking the cool weather.

 I don't think I'll get many more off these vines. The lizards love these vines. They hide all in them. 

48 years in American History

48 Years Ago

 Martin Luther King gave his famous "I have a dream speech".
How things have changed. While hatred and racism still exist, look how far we have come. July 2,1964, President Johnson signs into law the "Civil Rights Act of 1964"

48 Years Ago

Two recording companies fought over the first two US releases of The Beatles albums in the US.

48 Years Ago

The surgeon general  Luther Leonidas Terry announces for the first time that "smoking MAY be hazardous to your health.

48 Years ago most everyone has one TV in the living room or den. One telephone usually in the foyer or on the kitchen wall. Most women still were home makers. The divorce rate was 3.6%. Families had 4.2 children. The family had one car.

48 year ago President Johnson pledged to carry through on " The Great Society"

The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States promoted by President Lyndon B. Johnson and fellow Democrats in Congress in the 1960s. Two main goals of the Great Society social reforms were the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. New major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, and transportation were launched during this period. The Great Society in scope and sweep resembled the New Deal domestic agenda of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but differed sharply in types of programs enacted.

In 1964 the Federal reserved was well in tact and healthy.

Its now 2011.
The world of poverty and racial injustice are still around. Why? Because you can make lazy people not be lazy and you cant make hateful people not hate. These programs failed terribly costing over the last 48 years billions and billions of dollars. Why? Because its not our governments place to fund people that feel the government or society owes them an easy life. You cannot make people not hate. Hate is the root for racism. I, we, us as a society cannot change the things that were done in the past. I do not feel we as today's society owes anyone an apology.. we were not there 150 years ago, 100 years ago 75 years ago when such great atrocities were committed. Even today we as a society are not responsible for the stupidity of a group of stupid peoples actions. We should learn from them, which i feel we are doing. But to keep trying to correct the past is futile. You cannot change the past nor control the future. All we can do is live today.

We fail to realize one God based principle in these programs. "you will work all the days of your life". God told Adam this in the beginning. In the 1900 after the terrible hurricane in Galveston it was printed in the news paper "You don't work... you don't eat". The programs put into place in 1964 made cripples out of poor people. The programs made sure poor people stayed poor. The way they were set up.. you didn't work. You merely sit home and collected AFDC and Food stamps and lived in government housing. It made the government feel as though they did a good thing. They were taking care of the poor. But as with all things, when the US government gets involved it made a mess of things. People on these programs could never pull themselves up any further. It became a way of life. Evident after the Hurricane Katrina disaster. Generations of families on assistance sat waiting for the government to do what they have done for 40 years... take care of them. Give them money, housing and food to exist. Tell them what to do.

This is why Socialism will be and always is the downfall of a country. While capitalism allows the greed of a few, it also demands each person work and be responsible for their own actions and life. Social programs while on the surface seem to be helping people.. in the end hurt and create a society that is dependant on a very corrupt government.

The answer?
In my opinion, the only way to fix the decayed mess our government has created. STOP THE SOCIALISM IDEAS. Less government is the way to go. When our government goes beyond being responsible for the issues established in the early constitution they are out of line. You cannot make people not hate. You can however give people the choice. You want to eat and have a place to live. YOU HAVE TO WORK. You will not be given free food, health care or a place to live. For these services you must work. You can volunteer as a fireman, crossing guard, teachers aid, pick up trash on the street or anything that is a productive part of a society. In doing these things you instill pride and dignity in a person. In doing these things when a "Lonestar" card is presented at a grocery store, the clerk and those around know.. hey.. this person is down on their luck but they are helping our town, state and country and we in turn are giving them food. Then and only then does a person have dignity. There is no dignity in a handout. The Chinese proverb "teach a man to fish and you feed him a lifetime". backs up what i believe to be a Godly principle.

Food for thought. Do you know what the largest industry in the US today?
Think about it for a moment and then scroll down
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.
..
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The legal system. From lawyers to prisons to municipal courts and fines to the Federal level. There is an issue when the largest industry or employer in an area is a prison. It sort of defines us as a society.

Faith, bluebirds and heirloom seeds

Good morning. Got our first "real" cool snap this morning. It was 39 according to the weatherman. Never fear.. it wont last long!! LOL.
Hoop house is doing well.

My sugar snap peas have found the trellis.

I don't know what I was thinking with the mustard seed.

Here in a week or so I'm gonna be thinning big time.

If you look closely on the right there is spinach just coming up.

On the left is some collard seedlings

Collard seedlings on the right

Rows of lettuce on the left.

I ordered seeds from an online company that sells organic heirloom seeds. Meaning they aren't full of chemicals, haven't been genetically altered and I can use the seed harvested to replant. Majority of the seeds on the market right now are hybrids. Which doesn't mean a bad thing it just means you have to buy more seeds next time. Heirloom are the same price and you only have to buy seed one time.

I don't like the idea of the genetically altered foods. Like corn for instance, is genetically altered and has a chemical built in to make the worms that try to eat it die. Well wouldn't it make sense then if we as human eat it in a larger portion that we will suffer some kind of drawback. Id rather flick the worm off, not that I'm a fan of worms... yes i know they wont hurt me.. but i still use my glove to throw their miserable hides to the ground and smoosh. (yea yea yea i know smoosh isnt a word... but it just sounds like something one does to a grub)

Funny story, every evening about 5-5:30 there is a group of bluebirds that sit on the power line next to my house. They swoop down and feed on the crickets in the grass. I like watching them. So the other day i was weeding and planting in the little gardenette and found some grubs, my first inclination was to smoosh them then I had a better idea. I put them in a box then about 5 o'clock I put them on a mat out under the high wire... lets just say they didn't last long. After the feast had been made one of the birds flew down to the mat and was looking all over it... I guess he wanted more. I'm wondering if i can train the bluebirds to come inspect my tomato plants daily????? Not that Ive had huge issue with the worms.. i murdered them before they could get a toe hold, but it would be nice if the birds would just make a pass or two and check them out. Ive been told if you keep a tray of peanuts that it would attract the blue jays... a natural predator of the horn worm. I shall surely try this tip this coming spring.

Ive decided that gardeners have faith. Somewhere in the word it talks about having faith the size of a mustard seed, have you ever seen a mustard seed????? Its a speck, a little round speck. I think it takes faith to put a seed in the ground and "trust" it will come up and produce food or flowers. They also have patience. It takes patience to wait on the plants to produce. I do not have a great deal of patience. This is evident by the fact I don't get turnip or beets because I nibble on the greens. Well nibble is mild ... I'm worse than those caterpillars I battle. Its killing me to leave those tomatoes hanging on the vines until they are plump and red. Right now they are a pretty green and would make wonderful green tomato relish or fried green tomatoes. Sigh.... but I'm waiting... and waiting. Getting all the more anxious all the time.

Just another Monday... wait isnt it Wed?

Its been a busy day today. Drank coffee with Mom this morning discussed sewing machines. Had a little debate on facebook... always fun. LOL
Had another cup of my hibiscus tea.. its really good I'm telling you.

Then my fav.... gardening. Yesterday I pulled up the last turnips, well almost.. turnip greens actually. IF i would leave the greens along I would probably get turnips..LOL. We had those for dinner last night with cornbread.

The black spots are black pepper flakes.

 On that note, Mother will be pleased to hear.. I don't like sweet cornbread. I guess for muffins its alright. But sweet cornbread under greens was just weird. I normally just put a tablespoon of sugar not really enough to "sweeten" it, but it just adds something. Well evidently my taste buds have changed. Wont be doing that one again.
Pulling the turnips left a blank space in my little gardenette.

Its all the green along the front edges. So you can see how blah it was looking

This morning I replanted it with spinach, mustard and collards. All of these don't have an issue with frost and can even take just a little freeze. I'm going to miss my tomato plants across the back. Maybe I can talk the landlord into skirting... yeahhhhhhhhhhhh.. umm no. In the blank space on the front are more turnips coming up, they are about 2 inches tall now.

Looking at the hoop house, I have quite a bit of unused space. So I planted some bush green beans along the back in front of the sweet peas that are trellising quite nicely. Then on the west side of the HH I planted some more cucumbers. My mustard, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, spinach and lettuces (that just sounds odd.. but its more than one type) and collards that I planted last week are up. Just something exciting about little baby plants. They almost all except spinach start out looking the same, two little leaves. I'm going to have to do some serious thinning in the mustard patch. I don't know what i was thinking.

Oh let me go take a pic real quick of the tomatoes I'm rooting... BRB

These are "suckers" off the tomato plants I have growing.

To tell you how quickly they have rooted. I pulled these and put them in water 5 days ago. They have a lot of roots growing in just 5 days. I will transplant them into soil this week. Then these will go in pots in the hoop house.

If this works. I paid 1.79 for 6 tomato plants. So far I'm at 30 tomatoes from them. I was going to save the seeds and start new ones. Then I learned online that i could root the sucker plants and it will clone the mother plant and produce just as many tomatoes. If this is true I will have Celebrity tomatoes growing all the time. So my under 2 dollar purchase will just keep going... and going... and going.

I just realized I do not have any peppers growing. I'll have to fix that.

I am following an old cajun gentleman's advice and planting just a little something every week. That way it doesn't all get ripe at the same time. But I can see now.. my hoop house ain't near big enough. I can visualize what its going to look like in about 4 weeks. The sweet peas will be trellised up the north end, cucumbers trellised in the southwest corner, bush green beans in front of the peas and cucumbers, lettuce, spinach and mustard on the east wall and collards, Brussels sprouts and mustard on the west wall. Oh and 3 tomato plants in containers in the middle aisle.

My outside gardenette will be fine for probably another 4 weeks if we don't get an early frost. I picked about a small pot of green beans today... those vines are just loaded with blooms and beans. Ive picked them early. I like a tender snap bean. It takes about 5 days for a bean to go from tiny little bean to full grown. The vines are still full of blooms.

I cannot wait to make a dish of pasta tossed with olive oil, basil and tomatoes. I check everyday... LOL. I think I could live on pasta and tomatoes.

Hibiscus Tea

I have had the most beautiful 8-10 inch red hibiscus flowers all summer long. The bloom only lasts for one day, but every morning there would be a new bloom to take its place.

You can see here they are starting to die back for the winter.

While we were in the Bahamas several years ago... oh my.. like 15 years ago.. I drank what they called Jamaican Tea. It was made from the Hibiscus flower. I had forgotten all about this until someone told me yesterday that the flower was edible. So... here goes!!

I picked flowers from the bush last night and put them in the dehydrator.

This morning i put the dried petals in 2 cups of boiling water and let them steep for 10 minutes

I added water to make 2 quarts and 1/2 cup of sugar.

(add less sugar next time.. its really sweet)

I poured it over ice and enjoyed.

Ok.. it makes a really pretty pink tea that over ice turns are a pretty lavender color. Its very sweet. I added too much sugar. I drink tea unsweetened and coffee almost black so why i put so much sugar is beyond me. The tea has a tart sweetness. It smells heavenly.

Now for the science. While my tea was steeping I did some more research online about Hibiscus. Didn't want to get dead ya know...LOL. Come to find out it has a natural chemical in the flower that naturally lowers blood pressure in moderately hypertensive people... THAT ME!!. In 2008, the FDA did a study that showed drinking 2 -3 cups of fresh hibiscus tea actually lowered the blood pressure without the need for drugs.
http://www.naturalnews.com/026022_blood_hibiscus_tea.html

Its really good too.. even a little too sweet. I think I would like the tartness of the less sweetened. I like the idea its natural.
I'll let y'all know how it goes!! Rasing my pink tea... cheers.

Garden update 10-24-11

Well its 5 weeks since I planted my little gardenette.

This was taken on Sept 19, 2011. Its actually about 5 days old here.

This was taken this morning. The blank space on the front has more turnips that are about an inch tall now.

Can you believe how quickly it has grown??? Ive got about 25 tomatoes on the vines and bout a collander full of green beens on the vine.

Finally!!!!!!!!!!!!! cucumbers!! I may have to protect them from the frost if they dont ripen in time.

I have mustard, collards and a couple of types of lettuce in the hoop house that have just sprouted their heads up. I'll get a pic next time for you. dont know what i was thinking when I put mustard and collard seeds in there...lol.. Ive got maybe 50 little plants. I'll thin those when they get about 3 inches tall... they make good munching on. And my sweet peas are climbing the trellis. I'll post pics next time.

OH.. wait... ive got something... brb

In this if you can see the little white roots right above the lettering. I plucked these suckers from the tomato vines outside. It is my plan to plant these in the hoop house so that i can have tomatoes in the winter.

These are two small little sucker plants that I have rooting. 3Days!!!! thats all it took was 3 days for little roots to sprout. Im going to put these in the hoop house as well. Soo much easier than seed!!

Have a great day!!!