Cross Pollinating

Of course, sometimes my worlds collide and I find that my personal comments make their way into the public domain.  This is the case with my other blog, Stefani's Hopeful Chaos, where I try to reign in the swarming chaos that is my life.

Check out the Top 5 things I'll do for my garden next year... and hold me to it!

Mother Nature's Wrath

Dramatic weather is hitting the world all over.  Tornadoes in Kansas and the first Tropical Storm of the season (two weeks early...), wildfire season has hit in Arizona and strong earthquakes in Italy that took out old brick buildings as well as new steel factories.  According to the news, thankfully, only four deaths have been reported in ALL of these... though I'm sure the fatalities will increase in the Earthquake affected area.  Of course, this is giving me pause to be thankful of where I am, and also to gather my supplies for the crazy summer season... 

The snowfall of the 2010-2011 winter was record-breaking and the crazy storm of last Halloween certainly caught us off guard so you would think that I've gotten all my ducks in a row and am ready for the carnage Mother Nature will throw our way, but alas...I'm behind the eight ball.

Though it's summer, I am working on getting a wood-burning fireplace insert and the eco-biobricks (paper & wood pulp smashed into a cylindrical shape) ready for fall and prepping the garden soil for the tomatoes and all.  I hope to expand the canning to strawberry jelly and more pickled veggies... hopefully to even get the pressure cooker going for chili and stews.  We'll see how things go and if I can get the items ready before the power goes out or the tornado touches down or the snow falls...

April showers will help the garden

The nice weather has gotten me out from behind the computer and into the yard. The rototiller has been primed. The garden is prepped and ready to go. Now, if I can only get the grubs to stop eating my grass!

If I have some patience I'll learn about the chemistry behind this stuff. For some reason though, I can't wrap my mind around lime and ph and phosphorus and calcium... Where is my sister and her chemistry degree when I need her?

I'll just grab some worms out of the compost and wait for the ground to warm up. Ought to be an interesting summer!

Water, Water, Everywhere!

Mother Nature is laughing her ass off. I can't believe the amount of snow, water, snow, ice, snow, rain, ugh! I'm so sick of it. I almost am ready to welcome the mosquitoes...but then, with our luck from this bizarre weather forecast, we'll most likely have a drought!

The water table has risen and the sump pump is running, although now at a non-constant rate. The Worcester girls had a good 4 inches in the basement and a lot of crap that had to be hauled out. What a mess! At least now we know where NOT to store items. A very messy lesson learned.

I am looking forward to planning out the garden this spring - that is, if I can ever see the backyard again (it's currently still buried in snow and dog piles). Unfortunately, I forgot to till up the soil before it froze, so it's going to be a mess when the ground finally thaws. I'll have to haul in the compost.

As for the winter blahs - they definitely have hit. Enjoying driving to school in the light (barely) and coming home in the light (barely) rather than the darkness of the deep winter. Days are getting longer and the school year is on the downhill slide (although the kids have been sliding downhill since Christmas...)

Yummy, Yummy, Yummy in my Tummy!

I owe what I know about gardening to my Grandfather. He and my father were able to grow just about anything. Unfortunately, all I really have been successful at is tomatoes and peppers. A plethora. And cucumbers. And cabbage. And I'm the only one in my house who actually eats them.

So how happy was I this season when I tried canning. First I tried pickles, with both a refrigerator recipe for short term and then a dill recipe. The kids do like the pickles, but you can only eat so many...

Then I found the wonders of salsa. I had found a book a while back of a whole assortment of tomato, fruits, nut salsas, chutneys, relishes... practically anything you could think of could be chopped up and put together with wonderful spices. My problem was that I couldn't eat all of it - and no one else in my house would either.

So then I looked into canning homemade salsas. So I can make the deliciousness last all year long! It's soooooo easy - So far this season, I've made a peach chutney, dill pickle spears, corn relish, Grandpa's ketchup, spicy tomato salsa, a tomatillo salsa, a pineapple-chili salsa & a roasted poblano & tomato salsa. People are raving and the bowls are empty! Almost sorry that I only planted 3 tomato plants! Will definitely be planting more tomatoes and peppers next year!

Of course, I'd like to keep my finger tips intact!