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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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!!! 

Government waste and pure stupidity

Ive come to the conclusion that the Federal Government, Local governments..etc, are under the impression that the general population is stupid. Maybe they got that idea because we don't fight them, maybe they got the idea because a large part of the population doesn't care... or maybe they are right and a huge portion of the citizens of this country really are stupid.

“We can break our dependence on oil…and become the first country to have one million electric vehicles on the road by 2015,” President Obama said in his January 2011 State of the Union address.

 

First

Cars are just a portion of our addiction to oil. Every Styrofoam cup you get at a corner store, every bottle of soda, water or milk, ever jug of washing detergent, every plastic plate, vinyl mini blinds, most of our cars interiors, our signs, carpeting, laminate flooring, vinyl flooring all of these things are byproducts of oil.

 

I agree... we need a better system. But what we really need is a change of thinking. Everything in our world is disposable. Washer broken? Buy a new one cheaper than to fix the old one. Car crashed? Buy a new one because its cheaper than fixing the old one. Outdated TV? That wont do... gotta have a new one because this one is 2 years old and outdated. Products are designed to be replaced not repaired. I first noticed this with VCR players. I would like to know who the marketing person is who thought this idea up? When we were little if the toaster broke, iron broke or TV went out there was a man that made his living fixing those items. Not anymore. Why pay someone 20 dollars to put a 10dollar part in a toaster when you can buy a new one for 15?

 

Where does all this stuff go? Just think of the huuuuuuuuuuge amounts of trash and discarded items that are buried some where under ground. What is all that stuff doing to our water supply??? We gotta start doing things differently. This disposable mentality we have been pushed into has got to change. Yes, I said pushed into. Someone on up the food chain decided why make 50-40 dollar toasters that will last, when you can  make 100- 20 dollar toasters that wont  last and cant be repaired so they will need to be replaced in the very near future. I'm not a conspiracy theory type of person... but if you really start to think about it... is it really just a fluke? Or is there a bigger plot at hand? 

 

The quote above sounded good... sounded like a plan. But was it really?? Or is it just another "wag the dog" issue coming down from big brother? Are they just throwing us a bone to gnaw on while they are doing something else??

 

Obama proposed to spend 450 billion dollars to "stimulate and create jobs". Reeeeeeeeeaally?? Lets look at what hes doing behind the scenes to "create jobs" for the American people.

Fisker was given a loan, under Obamas watch for 529 million dollars to create a electric car. Which on the surface sounded ... a little iffy to me.. but ok.. lets just go with it. The first car, Karma ( gotta love the irony in that one) will cost almost 100 grand. 96 grand to be close, but it wont be manufactured in the US.... no no no not that the typical American person could afford a car like that, no no it will be manufactured in Finland. So tell me, how is  a car manufactured in Finland that cost 100 grand going to stimulate anything in the US?

Seriously????? How can anyone read this.. and my source is the Washington Post online, and not go What???????????? or better yet... What the hell??

 

We, the people that are working our butts off to try and make it in this country.. paying taxes. cause the rich sure ain't paying their share... and Obama is giving it to a company to make a Karma Car in FINLAND!!!!! A car the none of us can damn sure afford.. and even those of us that could afford the damn thing will buy a less expensive model from BMW or Chevy that cost 1/2 and goes further on a charge.

 

" 2011 Chevy Volt sells for $40,280; a Mercedes-Benz C350 sells for $39,990. In Denmark, Renault will be selling a five-seat electric vehicle for $38,453, with the charging station costing  an additional $1,875. Tesla Motors will start its Model S sedan, which has a 160 mile driving range in ideal conditions, at $57,400"

 

Why the hell did we spend 500 million dollars to come up with a 90,000 dollar car that will go 50 hours without a charge???? When the above listed cars will do more and look better than that cheesy looking sports car that the Obama administration spent 500 million... do y'all get it.. 500 million dollars. Double digit unemployment and we are spending 500 million... MILLION dollars on a car that we wont even manufacture!!!

 

Oh I'm gonna need a bp pill.... i am beyond pissed off. I work to run my little household on what money we bring in. I don't have debt because i cant afford debt.. and this moron in the White House is spending the money that my husband works hard for, like its water or grows on trees. Why is not every person in the US pissed off about this????? I have come to the conclusion that our society is broken down into 3 segments. 1) people that don't have a clue. 2) People that don't want to have a clue. 3) people that are fed up to the gills with the embezzlement of our government taking our hard earned dollars and wasting it. Yes.. i said embezzle. I think they need to be charged. Its not going to change until the 3rd group grows to be larger than groups 1 and 2. Instead of morons quitting their jobs to go camp out at Wall street.. why aren't they a few 100 miles south in Washington. Washington is wasting waaaaaaaaaaay more of our... no embezzling way more of our money than Wall Street. This is my opinion on the matter.. if ya don't like it... deal with it. But for me... I'm pissed off.

 

How did I get all worked up? I was being eaten alive by blood sucking mosquitoes in the yard... came inside turned the computer on to realize im being eaten alive by blood sucking mosquitoes in the government

 

Update on the gardenette and hoop house

Remember back before I started building my little hoop house and I was worried about if it would be warm enough in the winter? Oddest thing with a green house. When then sun comes thru the plastic it heats up. I still have both ends open and when I walked thru this morning, there is an obvious temperature change. I dont think im going to have to worry about the heat.. its cooling it that is gonna be this issue. You know I joked about the little air unit... but come May - Sept I may have to use the fan setting.

Guess I'll do a little garden update.

After 2 weeks of battling whatever was eating my peas I plant, Ive actually got them up. Something was digging the seeds up. I would go out in the morning and you could see where ever seed had been. I learned a little something the second time around. I put the pea seeds in a damp paper towel inside of a zip lock bag. they sprouted in about 2 days. I then planted the sprouted seeds. They come up much faster doing it this way. So Ive got pea plants about 4 inches tall. They are just starting to reach up and grab the trellis. If you have never had a sweet pea right off the vine.. you are missing a taste of heaven. They are nothing like the frozen or canned or even fresh peas from the supermarket.

My tomatoes are loaded. I counted 28 this morning. We have a cold front.. or should i say cool front moving in Wed, so I am going to build a mini hoop house over them so I dont lose them to the cool. In Texas it will heat right back up. It should just get down in the high 40s at night, no frost but im not taking any chances on losing them.

My cucumbers... well the ones the white flies didnt destroy... are only putting off male flowers. Not one female yet. Im thinking i have some gay plants.. oh well like gay men.. they are pretty to look at anyway.

My green beans are loaded with 4 inch bean pods. I should get one crop off of them

Carrots and Beets in the pots are doing great.. no bunny. If you have never eaten tender carrot or beat greens you are missing a treat. They are very yummy in a salad. Especially the beet green. I think im going to designate a small part of my hoop house for tender salad greens. I like them with just a little olive oil, salt and pepper.

Turnips are doing great... My second crop is about 3 inches tall now putting off their first set of real leaves. Greens really are easy to grow. I just planted a row of mustard between the turnips and the tomatoes.. We'll see how that works.

I was thinking I planted this stuff the first of Sept. But it was the 15th. So my little gardenette is only a month old as of Saturday. Wow.. Ive been eating turnip greens for 2 weeks now. And the ones ive leave alone have little purple turnips on the bottom. It is so nice to go out, and pick the veggies for dinner. I like it..lol

Well.. im off. gonna go finish my little house. Im not gonna put a door on it just yet.. i think it needs the ventilation..LOL. Then im planting Brussel Sprouts, Mustard, Spinach, 2 types of lettuce, collards and Cauliflower. Im so excited. You know me.. i could be a vegetarian really easy.

Here is an almost finished hoop house. I'll post one tomorrow of the finished and my seeds planted

Roses... just little rose bushes.

WELCOME!! Mrs Jessica!!! You are my 2nd follower... Thank you!

Well fall is finally here!! I woke up this morning to a nice cool morning. It was 59 outside this morning. A very welcome break from the 80 degree nights of the summer.
As I walked around outside I cant help but be in awe of the world around us. There is an old saying, "You have to stop and smell the roses", I thought about that this morning. Arent we all guilty of just admiring the roses? They are beautiful.. no doubt, but unless you get down close you miss the sweet perfume.

I lost two roses this year. My pink and yellow. The heat was just too much for them I suppose. Not sure why they gave up. It wasnt a huge monetary loss for I had only paid .99 cents for each of them. They were so sad looking on clearance at Kroger. Most of their leaves missing... just sad sad little plants. So brought them home, gave them new potting soil, a bigger pot for they were root bound terribly, a nice drink of water and food and a bright sunny place to live. Within a few days they had new leaves and little  buds forming. They did fine until this year, it was about 3 years Ive had them. I dont know if disease got to them or if maybe they just had a short life span. Some plants do. But for 3 years I enjoyed, almost year around, beautiful little pink and yellow roses not much bigger than a silver dollar. The yellow one had the most wonderful smell if you got close enough.

This got me to thinking this morning. How many people are around us.. in our daily path that are like those two rose bushes? To most every one passing they were dead. The plants were dead.. they were responding to the enviorment and treatment. At one time, probably when they were delieverd to the store, they were beautiful thriving plants full of beautiful flowers. HOw many people around us are like that? Years ago they were thriving happy people. But over time life has changed them. Maybe they didnt get enough love (water), maybe they didnt get enough sunshine (love), maybe living in their life(bound pot) finally got to them. We never really know.

There is a little old man that lives next to me. Im sure there is a story there... and not so sure if i want to know. But he has one daughter that comes around the first of the month. She helps him pay his bills, in that she helps him make up for what he doesnt have enough to pay. ON that note... seniors are struggling with the high utility bills... seriously. He is hard of hearing so she has to speak loudly and if I'm sitting on the deck,, I can hear the conversations. There must be bad memories there. Shes is such a hard lady. She's very sharp with him at times. I have a feeling there is a reason.
Said all that to say this. Hes slowly coming around. When we first moved in he never spoke or waved. But everytime I would see him on his deck .. i would wave and say hello. You can see my little gardenette from his porch. The other day i was outside plucking weeds... a NEVER ending task... and he walked over. He was so impressed that I had little tomatoes on my vine. He told me when he was younger he always had tomato, pepper and cucumber plants.
Does he need a little water? Does he need some food? Has the life he has lived come to full reality to him? I dont know. I can look at it from my perspective because I wasnt a part of it. I can be more objective than say another family member.
I think this spring I'm going to pot him a tomato and a pepper plant that he can raise on his deck. There is something about keeping a plant alive that gives a person purpose. What is life without purpose? In keeping something alive.. we ourselves begin to live. I think Gods word talks about that when it instructs us to love our neighbor. If we show love... we in turn begin to recieve love.
Stop and smell the wonderful aroma of life... it can be a wonderful break in a hectic life.

The never ending tomato plant.

Welcome Lark!!! Congrats you are my first "follower"!! I really like your site as well. I'm sort of new to forums but I'll get the hang of it.

I cannot believe how many tomatoes I have on my plants. I paid 1.99 for 5 plants. One of them had a pretty good sized sucker on it so when I plucked it off, I just stuck it down in the ground. I cannot believe it is almost as big as the rest of the plants. And bearing just as well as the others.

When my plastic gets here for my hoop house, I think I'm going to start some more suckers in pots. It will be like the never ending tomato plant. Hey, I like that. The never ending tomato plant. I really like "Celebrity" tomatoes. They are a determinate but I'm just pondering... if i keep plucking suckers and starting them, maybe I can have tomatoes year around. Well except for July and August. It just gets too hot, they wont set fruit. Maybe if i put a little window air unit in my hoop house. Oh yea... i can just hear Mark... LOL, "so you want to give your plants air conditioning now??" LOL We'll cross that bridge when I get to it. Maybe I'll just plant a couple in pots and bring them in the house. I have a huge wall of windows that I could set them in front to get sun... or better yet buy a grow lamp and put them in my sewing room.... yes.. yes.. oh the possibilities!! My sewing room stays warmer than the rest of the house. Its not usual for it to stay about 80-85 in the day time during the summer. But it stays really cool in the winter. Oh fiddly dee... we'll think about that one tomorrow... or dream about it :).

Fresh tomatoes are just the best. On toast with mayo or chopped with basil and olive oil on pasta.. you just cant beat the flavor of a home grown tomato. I think its because they ripen on the vine as opposed to tomatoes in the store are usually picked a head of time. Maybe its the type? Heirlooms do tend to have a much better flavor then hybrids. Which makes sense... anything we humans fiddle with, usually looses something in the fiddle. And tomatoes are very very good for us. They have a huge amount of vitamin C. And getting out in the sun playing in the dirt is very good for a persons emotional health. Working with your hands or growing a plant releases a feel good hormone in our brains. It gives us a sense of worth. God really knew what he was doing when he created our bodies!

Have I mentioned I'm still waiting on my plastic.... patience isn't a virtue I possess.

Oh well... enough rambling for today... get out there.. stick something in the dirt and watch it grow... doesn't take patience, but it does take faith.'

OK.. so gardening is not for the squimish



OK... so this is what I'm doing this morning. Turning the dirt up and seeing exactly what I have to work with as far as dirt goes. I'm about 1/2 done. Its really good dirt!! About 10 inches down... didn't see the need to go further.

I started in the north end and am working my way back to the door. Once i got past the monster root.. it was about and inch in diameter and 6 feet long... its going pretty good. Deb vs root... it lost. I put all my... my.. wei.. no lets say strength.. yea that's better.. all my strength against it... it turned loose.. and no i didn't do flip backwards when it turned loose.

Anyway... I'm turning dirt up and battling nut grass.. did i tell you i hate nut grass???, every once in a while I'll flip one of those little grey grubs with the reddish orange head up to the surface. No biggy... i got a bucket handy i flip them over in it. Brandon likes to fish with them. Then OMG i flipped the mac daddy of all grubs up. It was 4 inches long and about an inch in diameter.... i fled the scene. After I stopped shuttering... i went back over to the creature.. who by the way was making his way back down into my beautiful dirt.... I fed him to the birds... Hes on a board out in the middle of the yard. One of those hawks will make good use of him. That is one huge massive grub worm.

Making note.. I need to find out what to do about grub worms. seeing how i seem to have an abundance of them.

OH OH OH.. Update... a blue jay just took off with said grub worm.

I'm about half way through turning the dirt up. Then I'm gonna make my boxes for the plants.

Did i say i don't like having to wait for my plastic????? LOL. I will admit that doing all this prior to putting the plastic on was or is a pretty smart thing.

Anywho.... I'll post more pics in a bit

Update on the little gardenette

Thought I would do a little update this morning on my little 3x16 gardenette.
We enjoyed tender turnip greens a couple of weeks ago. Man do i love those. So i replanted seed where i had harvested. They are about an inch tall now. About time to harvest another 24 inches of that row. Did i mention they make a really pretty border? I think this spring I'm going to plant them all along the borders of my flower gardens. So far I haven't had an issue with any bugs. Something munches on the leaves a little every few plants..but its nothing major.. I can share a little bit... sow plentiful.... reap plentiful.

My tomatoes... who knew tomatoes would grow so well Sept, Oct and Nov? I didn't. They are loaded with flowers and small tomatoes. Ive got about 3 that are over an inch in diameter. Had a little issue with the hornworms, but so far I'm winning the battle on that one. The dish soap stuff really does work on them. But you have to catch them early in the morning. Early gardener gets the worm... LOL

My beans are taking over the trellis. I don't think i sowed them thick enough. Next time I'll put more beans in the ground. They are loaded with pretty little white flowers. I have built in bug control on the bean vines. There are about 4 baby lizards.. they cant be 3 inches long, tail and all, that are living among the leaves. They pretty much keep watch all the time. Ive got beans about 2 inches long.. should be long till we can harvest a few of those.

My beets.... well after the first ones mysteriously got munched down to the nub I planted more. But this time in a pot on the patio. They are doing well putting on the first set of real leaves now. I just thinned them a little. They really are a pretty plants. Bright green leaves and the stalks are beet red color.

My carrots are doing well. They are about 2 inches tall now. I thinned them a little bit too. I have some growing in pots and some that are just sprouting in the garden area.. I'm thinking if Mr bunny liked beets.. the carrots don't stand a chance... but we'll see.

My cucumbers are just loaded with pretty yellow flowers. I was afraid the bees weren't coming around so i took a little tiny paint brush and pretended i was a bee... LOL Don't laugh too much its how i got my hibiscus to seed and my crepe myrtle.

The hibiscus that i started from seed is just exploding. Its put out new shoots from the ground and even has one flower bud on it. Usually they don't flower the first year. I have got so many seeds from this plant. I'm gonna have hibiscus everywhere this summer. They don't start blooming till May.. but they bloom all the way through October.

I'm anxious to get my hoop house up and going. Gonna try and raise some broccoli, cauliflower, kale, carrots , spinach, lettuce and brussel sprouts this Jan, Feb and Mar. As well as get my seeds going in Jan for the March outside planting. Ive got some basil seeds that I want to see how it will do in the hoop house. I just love fresh basil. Tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese... cant beat it.

Well that's about all i have for today. Have a great one.

And the battle of the hoop house vs Deb continues

Well.. I am well into the 3rd day of a 4 hour project..LOL. I think I'm winning however.

This was what i started out with. The "hoops are supposed to attach to the base using metal brackets. Thought i would save a 25 cents a bracket and use plastic... WRONG.... metal.. only metal. that was day one.
Day 2 Hoop house 1 Deb 0
Well it started out very well. Got all my pieces cut, connector pieces. Put it all together. The web site said don't worry about using PVC glue.. it will stay together... WRONG... one piece pulled loose and smacked me up side the head. Sent kids to the store for purple stuff and "make you high" glue. NOW... parts all glued together... no more knots on the head.
Day 3 Hoop house 2 Deb 0
Got up this morning.. good mood ready to tackle said 4 hour project again. It went well... got the base all screwed together, hoops attached. Looked good.. looked like the picture.
Hoop house 2 Deb 1
Then the "Ling" gene kicked in. You know that one... if one screw will work then 3 will work better. It just looked rather flimsy to me. So I took it all part.. drove some pipe in the ground, screwed the base to the pipe.. added some 1x6's on the ends at the base. Added a 2x4 frame. A HA... I was on a roll now.
Hoop house 2 Deb 2
Got the base secured to the ground... PVC secured to the base... a few extra 3 inch screws just to make sure.

Tomorrow or Monday I have to build the end walls. Which are mostly door. But 2x4s go up from the ground to the hoops on each end to frame a doorway. Then I can build my boxes on the inside. Should have all this done by the time my UV plastic gets here. If you re thinking the corners are leaning.. they are, they are supported by the end frame when i get it screwed on.
Sigh.... I think i need a glass of wine... oh wait... no that's not good... wine make crime in a city...LOL.. just a little poke at the latest City of Vidor Drama...LOL

OOOOOOOOh the attack of evil hornworms

I have never seen them this little before now. By the time ive seen them in the past they are about an inch or so long and the size of a pencil. Ive been checking my plants a couple of times a day. Well ... grrrr... got up this morning, drinking my cup of coffee surveying my little 3x16 strip of heaven and OOOOOOOOOO EEEEEEEEEEMMMM GEEEEEEE.. not one..but several freshly hatched hornworms were having themselves a feast on  the leaves of one of my tomato plants.
I am trying to raise my produce without added chemicals. That said, I reached for my squirt bottle of cider vinegar and dawn dish soup. I wanted to see if it really kills bugs and evil, lowdown creatures like hornworms. So i cut the branch of the tomato plant off, layed it on a board and squirted it with my magic potion. It didnt happen instantly, but in a matter of 5 minutes they were curled up in a small ball nolonger munching down on the tender leaves. Ok.. this could work.. i like this idea.
I have read of a product called BT (initials for some long words) Its a natural product. Not harmful to humans. But it is deadly to pests. Im gonna keep reading up on it a little more before i try it. But most of the organic farmers I chatter with online are using it. Except for the hard core tree huggers...and im sure the reason they dont use it is due to the fact they have guilt over killing a bug... j/k.

I am supposed to be putting my hoop house up this morning. But I am missed a couple of brackets. When the kids get here I'll make a run to the hardware store. Im so excited about it. Cant wait. My plastic wont be here for another week or so, but that could be a good thing. It will give me time to get all my boxes inside fixed up without the plastic in the way.

Well.. thats about all happening in my little world this morning... Talk to ya soon