July 26, 2020- nearing the end of a long month

Every once in a while, I just write a little during the week.

Sunday (last Sunday)- We had deer visitation last night. I had painted such a positive picture just that morning on the blog. Daylilies were on the menu. The best thing that could be said was that the deer had not come 2 weeks earlier. The lilies they did not eat in the previous two weeks provided much enjoyment to lots of people.


Tuesday- We had a gentle rain yesterday. It was not a lot of rain. But it cooled things off and made you feel better about everything. For dinner we had chicken salad with pesto. We made the pesto from the first basil plant we had planted at the farm in May. (The 'farm' is the little plot we rented from the city over at Chadek Park.) It was satisfying. A week ago we had obtained 3 more basil plants. They should be ready in September. We make the pesto and then freeze the part we do not use.
I find it important as I approach the second half of the garden year that I keep the garden going with new plants and new approaches.

The little air plant is really turning red. I think it will bloom in the next month.
I have had this plant for 3-4 years. It has been quite regular in blooming during the later part of the summer.



Wednesday- Surprises in the garden

I was out weeding by the pond. I surprised something in the hosta bed which was 5-6 feet away from the pond. I thought it might be a small rabbit. It bounded away like a rabbit. But it went right into the pond. It was the adventurous toad.

Thursday- what wonderful cool
This time of year the temperatures go up and down. One day it is 95. The next evening it is 60.
We had the windows open Wednesday night.


Friday
I was up at 4:30. I like to get up that early sometimes.  I can then putz around on the computer and still be outside in the garden before 6.
These days I am potting up pulmonaria, on demand.

Saturday
It was a hot one.
I did get a number of things accomplished.



I emptied the spinny composter of the accumulated compost. The City does such a good job making compost this has really only turned into a toy. It was taking up space.
It has now been added to the back driveway sale.














Also on Saturday I went in search of hanging pots, big enough for the larger orchid cactus plants. They are really hard to find. One big plant currently has a broken pot so there is an immediate need.
We finally went to Reha's greenhouse, down by Welman. I had called before we drive down there.
They had just the pot. I got an extra.
Tomorrow there will be the transplant.

I did learn at Reha's that they will have pansies this fall. Last year it was hard to find them in the fall. You can plant pansies in September. They will then overwinter and be colorful in the spring.

How could I forget.
We got our first tomatoes this morning.

Last week

You looked at pictures last week.
Some of you voted.
Voting is one of the things we do.
You picked the cactus flower.
Its neighbor on the cactus shelf is set to bloom this coming week.

The full vote was

Pictures this week

You can vote for two

#1 Blush of Innocence

daylily 

#2 White Waterlily

As the pond fills up with lily pads, they grow up. I think this means I have too many plants.
This makes it difficult to see the blooming lilies.
I was really captivated by this picture. The flower peered out, in the middle of those bars.

#3 Delmar

#4 Dark Red Oriental lily

#5 Purify my Heart

This is one of the few new daylilies in the last 5 years.
I have tried to get late blooming lilies.
They do extend the season.
Ruffles are good, as is pink.

#6 Bright Eyed Doll

#7 Daylily without a name

#8 Summer Hymns

Julia's recipe

Green beans with garlic and bacon

It's green bean season at the farmer's market, reminding us that as much as we appreciate frozen green beans they do not hold a candle to fresh. We make green beans vinaigrette and we roast them and we put them in the unusual casserole with tuna fish from the Six Seasons cookbook. In my time, I have pickled green beans but that's for a different time. Anyway, Philip found a simple recipe for green beans with bacon and garlic. Anything with bacon and garlic is delicious.




Here are the players: 4 cups of green beans, some bacon (probably about 1 cup, crumbled), about 1-1/2 tablespoon of smushed garlic (maybe 6 or 8 cloves, depending on your garlic), a tablespoon each butter and olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt.

Philip started by cooking the bacon. We cook bacon in the oven on 350 degrees for about 20 minutes - checking on it at 10 minutes and then again at 15 minutes. Yes, it uses the oven in the summer but it requires less tending.





Next, he washed, trimmed and cut up the green beans.














Green beans on the stove covered by maybe an inch of water, with the salt in the water.

Green beans take longer to cook than you'd  think. Of course, we don't like al dente green beans. I say bring the pot to a boil and then lower the heat so the beans keep boiling but not furiously. Cook for 10 minutes and then taste a bean. If you like the texture, drain the beans. If you think they are too hard, cook for another 5 minutes and taste again. If not satisfied with the texture, repeat.




While the beans were cooking, Philip smushed the garlic, then put the butter and olive oil in a skillet (non-stick as it happens but that doesn't matter) and heated it on medium heat. When the butter was melted, he added the smushed garlic and lowered the heat. Garlic burns on high heat, which is to be avoided.









Next he drained and added the green beans followed by the bacon, having turned the heat down to low.















He mixed everything together and let the green beans et al. heat gently together.













On the table in a nice shallow bowl. My recollection is we served the beans with steak (an occasional Saturday night treat - from Mrs. Pavelka's farm) and roasted sweet potatoes. And salad and melon.

By the way, steak can easily be the basis for two meals (that is, one is not required to clean one's plate of red meat): we made steak salad with lots of lettuce and other vegetables and blue cheese sprinkled on top later in the week.

Odds and Ends

The back driveway sale for the food pantries continues. We passed $1900 yesterday. This just keeps going.


I want to say something about straw flowers.
These cheerful little yellow flowers are amazing.
They hold up in the hot sun, much like the little zinnias.



Last fall, right before the big freeze, I brought in the last strawflower. It spent the winter as a dry flower on our kitchen windowsill.
It is still there. This picture is taken just this last week.




As we walked around the neighborhood this week we found these little fairy installations. One seemed to inspire another.
These were several blocks apart.














Here is a quick tour of the 'farm'. Sorry about the shift in screen mid video.
I am particularly excited about the 25 amaryllis that are getting all that energy for the winter.
We will also have many many very hot peppers.

I think that is about it for this week.
My grandson Christopher just had his half birthday.
He was born the last day when Barak Obama was president, in January, 2017 .
But that day having passed means it is now less than 6 months before we will be completely rid of that...
Be safe.
Philip