midsummer garden

I used to think gardening was pretty much done by the end of august, but that is not true in our forever summer land. It may be hot in GA but this is one of those places that you can just keep on growing! At least if the irrigation is in place and you can make it through the droughts. This garden was planted the 4th of July weekend. All except the beets and turnips, which we put in on August 15th. They are growing quite well though. We also recently put in cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussel sprouts, last weekend. We always plant by the fazes of the moon, for we have found it more profitable. We did an experiment once to see if it really worked and we had only 10 percent come up on unfavorable times, and 5 percent of them died before producing. Then we planted in favorable conditions with 100 percent sprouting and 90 percent survival. Not bad. I think the ancients knew a thing or two.....

This is the corn. It is just about ready. The ears are in full tassel. This is dent corn, for the chickens, we planted sweet earlier in the season.



This is the squash and pumpkins. I have noticed that the bugs aren't as prevelant this time around. We have gotten so many more this harvest.


This is the other side of the field. It shows the limas and okra. They are doing so much better than earlier this summer. I think they aren't competing so much with the weeds

Here is corn ear. getting along well.


Here is an eye-spy for you. Can you find the okra?



An okra flower, in my opinion, is the prettiest of the vegetable flowers. If I was a pollinator, I would visit!



Speaking of our good bugs...here is a victorious warrior, the lone ladybug. It works so hard. And if Monsanto doesn't kill them all, maybe our future generations will know what they are too.



This is one of the pumpkins. We have 2 varieties. One is for edible seeds(hulless), and the other is for the flesh.(they are dark green). They should all be ready by about Halloween.


Lastly here are the lone survivors of our drought. They are sweet potatoes. They were planted with 50 of their closest Friends, but alas they died of thirst...These 10 made it; the hearty little guys. Now let just see if they survive the ants. I swear, there is always something, huh? We got the irrigation in before we planted the other veggies in July. These went in in June. Oh, well. You live and you learn....
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Don't tell the Kids!

I just tryed an experiment with food. I made some squash muffins to see if everyone liked them. Big hit! Even some picky kids that wouldn't touch squash with a 10 foot pole ate them. First of all, if you have one of those picky kids, don't let them in the kitchen while you are making them, second if they ask what they are, they are banana muffins. Not entirely a lie I used the banana muffin recipe....

Here it is:

Banana surprise muffins

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 c. whole wheat flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 lg eggs
3/4 c. honey or brown sugar
1 lg squash or zucchini peeled and shredded
3/4 c. milk or buttermilk
1/3 c. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla

mix together until just blended.
Put into muffin tins.

Mix in a separate bowl:
1 c. flour
1/2 c. butter
1/3 c. brown sugar

mix with a fork until crumbly
crumble onto tops of muffins.

Bake in 375 degree oven for 15 min. then let cool
Makes 12 muffins

Back to School

It's that time of year again. The kids got back into the school groove. We actually started 2 weeks ago, but it has been hit or miss, with the gardens, dentist apt, and jelly-making and all. It is still technically the busiest part of the year still-winding down though. I have been feverishly working on some Montessori math equipment. I like the Montessori way of teaching math-very hands on without too much teacher involvement after the child has understood the use of the equipment. It also teaches in a linear manner, one concept at a time. My children seem to work better that way instead of skipping around. Unfortunately though, the manuals and equipment are wicked expensive, and we just don't have that kind of cheese in our budget. So I got to looking at some of the pictures and found out I could make this stuff cheap with a little creativity. I ended up only spending $12 on all involved. Granted we do have a lot of scraps in our shop. I thought I would post some pictures of them and the kids using them. It was absolutely worth all the work it took(really only 3 days) to get this stuff together. My daughter has never asked for more long division until now! I like it when something goes well!

this is the division board I made. It is technically called "test-tube division" but this is my version.

These are the fraction and percentage work materials




This is some racks and stuff Brian made for the maps and blue/red rods and geometric cabinet stuff. He did a great job!


This is my home-made abacus. Cardboard and beads. Easy stuff!

pickin' pears

I love good neighbors! Ours just asked if we would like to pick some pears. Of course we aren't going to pass up free food, so the kids picked and I started the process of turning them into something usable. I decided to try my hand at pear jelly, I heard it was just like apple. Because my venture with jellies went so badly this year, I figured we could use the jelly it the cabinet.I am the world's worst jelly maker. I have never been successful at making it, it just won't jell!  So, looking for a recipe I ran across a site from a u-pick orchard and it said to just use the recipe from the pectin package of whichever one you are using. Said that should make a differance. I did just that and you know what it worked! I made jelly!

New recipe

My late summer garden is producing an abundance of winter squash (delicatata) and I didn't know what to do with it. So, I thought, maybe it could be used like eggplant. Success! I made eggplant or should I say delicatata squash parmigiana. It was fantastic! If you ever have this wonderful vegetable, so try this recipe. By the way this type of squash produces 10x more than the summer variety, it keeps well through the winter and appears to be a bit more drought, and bug tolerant. Love it!

Here is the recipe:

SQUASH PARMIGIANA

Read more about it at www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1916,155181-252192,00.html Content Copyright © 2011 Cooks.com - All rights reserved. 1 eggplant (or delicatata squash) Eggs & bread crumbs or corn meal meal for breading  tomato sauce Olive oil to thin coat bottom & side of baking dish Sliced mozzarella Grated Parmigiana Thin slice eggplant/squash, storing slices in a deep bowl of ice water until ready to bread. slice the squash straight for simple dipping , make sure to scoop out the seeds.  Bread and  fry in 1/2 inches of light oil on medium heat and drain. (about 2-3 min. per side)  Layer prepared glass baking dish/pan with  sauce, breaded and fried eggplant, sliced mozzarella and grated parmigiana. Bake at 375 degrees until top is browned (or at least melted). We served it over fresh made angel hair pasta. Absolutely delicious! Here are some pics of us making this!