Tomato Paste

Instead of canning tomatoes I thought I would try just making tomato paste.  I made some last year but tried something different today.  

I have a mix of tomatoes.  I wanted to use up the romas first.  

This technique called for a blender.  I have one but haven't used it in many years.  It still worked!

After pureeing the tomatoes, I passed them through a sieve.  It also called for a thick bottom pan.  My mistake last year was just using revere wear.  It scorched.  This year it worked much better in my dutch oven.  

Just skins and seeds to throw out.  

Then lots of boiling, boiling, boiling...

We have paste!

The first batch I am freezing in silicone ice trays.  Then I will seal them in a plastic bag with the vacuum sealer.  The second batch I froze in 1/2 pint jars.  I still have a ton of tomatoes. 
 

Home Grown

I have never planted potatoes in our garden here. My garden is small and potatoes are cheap in the store.  Plus, I don’t think  home grown potatoes taste any different than store bought,  unlike tomatoes. Anyway, this spring I was getting ready to throw out a sprouting potato when I decided to just plant it in the garden. 

This was my harvest. 

The ribeye steak, potatoes, tomatoes and cucumbers were all home grown. 
 

Camp Mimi

This was the last official Camp Mimi for the summer.  School starts Monday.  We had a great day!  We did puzzles, played barbies, 

played ball outside, 

and invented new games with a plastic ball and badminton racquet.  

We also picked tomatoes, cucumbers and weeds.  And we found a nest of baby grasshoppers.  

Sadie and Allie made me a surprise racquet full of flowers.  We played the marble game and spend a couple of hours on Wii Fit.  I had to leave for a staff meeting at lunch so PopPop took over for a couple of hours.  And we had our tomatoes and lettuce from the garden for supper in a taco salad.  I will repeat myself, It was a great day!
 

The Cage.

Last year I did not use the broccoli cage. I do not remember why.  But I thought I would pull it out of the barn and try it again this year. 

It was a little tricky to get to the house. But I managed.  I also had to make a few repairs. Where I had used duct tape before I did a more permanent repair with fishing line. 

I had already bought four broccoli plants and  four cauliflower plants. After working a couple of loads of manure into the rows I went ahead and put out the plants. 

 They look happy for now. Maybe I will get by without having to use any seven dust this year. 

Winter Sowing

“Winter sowing is an easy, inexpensive technique to start cold-hardy seeds outdoors in repurposed plastic containers during the winter

letting natural cold and moisture stratify them for strong, early germination, eliminating the need for indoor grow lights or hardening off plants.”

I saw a YouTube tutorial about it and wanted to give it a try this year.

I went with 1/2 gallon juice containers, cut them with a knife but left a bit for a hinge. I also drilled some drainage holes.  I labeled each container and set them in a semi protected location. 

I am hoping for some Frazier fir seedling, lupine, redbud trees and Japanese maple trees by spring. 

On a different note, to liven things up before Spring, I am decorating with some large shatter proof Christmas ornaments that I got 90% off at Walmart.  

I passed them by the first day I went because I didn’t like the colors that were left, gold and pink.  Then after I slept on it I realized I could paint them any color I wanted. And I do like pink!  Why not decorate for Valentine’s Day and Easter.  I think they look like gazing balls out in the yard. 

 

Welcome To The Jungle

Things are growing crazy big this year. 

The garden is out of control. 

The rows have completely disappeared. 

It is a stretching, yoga game trying to pick anything. 

But I have managed. 

Some produce is more unusual than others. 

The record growth isn’t confined to the garden. The pastures are jungle like also. 

Joe turned the cattle into the bottom the other day and the plant growth was over their backs. 

This is what the bottom looked like last year without bush hogging.  It’s just a jungle out there this year. 

Broccoli Overload

Joe was able to find some broccoli plants early in the season. 

They have grown fabulously. I harvested 7 of them this weekend. I saved one for Virginia and got the rest ready to freeze. 

It was a sink full. 

I normally freeze it in quart bags. Last year I used the vacuum sealer and made single serving sizes. This was too much to deal with like that. I used gallon size bags and ended up with five gallons. . Anyone have some good broccoli recipes?
 

Getting Ready

I probably got a little too excited earlier this week when the weather was so nice. 

I decided to start working on the garden.  Instead of turning over the entire thing I just did the rows.  I had tilled the whole thing when I cleared it off last fall so the weeds aren’t too bad. 

The I made a couple of this to the barn for two buggies full of dried manure. 

Joe helped me spread it on the rows that I had forked over.  I also added the leaf mold I had piled up from the fall. 

I think it looks good.  Now, I will just have to till the rows before planting time to get it all mixed.  That may still be awhile, we had snow this morning.  
 

Grapevine Globes

This year I decided it was too risky to try to add to my hayfeeder grapevine wreath.  It would have been too much up and down the ladder and I didn't want to take a chance of slowing down my healing.  And with the leftover grapevine from the last couple of years, I had made a couple of smaller door size wreaths. 

So the question was, what to do with all of the grapevine this year.  

I decided on trying to make globes.  

I started with 3 wreaths to make a framework. 

Then just wrapped and wrapped trying to weave some so it would hold together.  

I was running low after making two globes.  But I really wanted a third.  

It is a little more sparce than the others.  Maybe I can supplement it later with some wild grapevine.  But I still think that they look pretty cool. 

 

Little Thief

I was heading out to feed the dogs when I noticed a tomato in an odd place. 

There was a half eaten tommy toe on a fence post in my flower bed. 

The garden is on the other side of the tall trees.  Some little critter, most likely a chipmunk,  went through a lot of effort to find just the right al fresco dining spot.  

 

Airlie Garden Visit

Since Sadie has such a love of flowers, Virginia thought it would be nice to take her to a botanical garden.  There was one about an hour from where we stay at the beach.  I went with Emily to it several years ago and throughly enjoyed it.  That time there was a gnome exhibit.  That visit can be seen HERE. 

This time there was a bee theme exhibit.  It was a little rainy and overcast so we were not missing anything at the beach.

Sadie was vey excited about the flowers.

She even recognized that these pink phlox were like what I have at home.  

But her favorite part was the butterfly house.

We go a family photo for them.

There was some interesting Spanish moss on the ground.

We got to see some turtles in the lake.

And there were lots of  photo ops.  

But then it started to rain again which was fine because I think we had reached the end of Sadie’s and Allie’s attention span.  We went to The Boathouse for a great lunch.  They had shrimp and grits, my favorite.  When we got back the sun finally came out and we were able to get in some more beach time. 

Sadly, we will have to leave tomorrow.