May 7, 2023- So much to do

It was another  busy week. I can now get outside and start work by 6. Lest I forget, I still go to work at the office. People still have difficult problems.

Yesterday morning, in the distance there were frogs. What a comforting sound. I intentionally did not clean out the very bottom of the pond this spring. Maybe some tadpoles will appear. I have found that my long time source for tadpoles will no longer ship them. If you know of a mail order souce, let me know.

Up until yesterday it was one sunny day after another, with no rain. Yesterday for half a day it was cloudy and in the 60's. With a little rain Friday night it was rather ideal.

The biggest garden news for me was I found a garden helper. I had someone for 4-5 years who worked about 5 hours a week from April to October. That ended and I have been on my own for a while. We learned of an old friend who knows about plants and soil. He had some time available and agreed to help out.  He started yesterday. But he, like me, is an early riser. We met and started work a 6 yesterday morning. We had done a lot and it was 7:15. I was really dragging by noon.

There was potting and path work, and more potting. I have beds where I will put annuals. Those beds should be prepped. We got one done.

Yesterday we also had the best day ever for the back driveway plant sale. We are almost at the frost free date, and the ten day forecast shows no cold air.  I do believe people are planting vegetables and annuals.

Last week's pictures

You liked Monsella and friends. I planted 20 bulbs this past fall. Maybe this next cycle I should plant 30. I do think I have determined that with early spraying of the tulips,  the deer stay away.

I think the orange tulips were in fact hold overs from the previous spring. Monsellas mostly do not last.

Here was the full vote:

Pictures this week- the Week of May 1

#1 Species tulip acumulata

#2 Late planted daffodil called Night Cap

#3 Trillium Grandiflorum

This regularly appearing trillium opens white. In a week or so it will fade to pink.

#4 Mystery little iris

The name of this lovely iris is currently unknown. I have pictures going back almost 20 years. One thing that is interesting about this picture is the shape of the two flowers. The one on the bottom has three parts. The one on top, has four. Mostly iris have 3 parts. Occasionally there will be this anominally.

#5 Blissful

Let me know what you think.

More pictures

This is standanrd dwarf Lyonesse.

Sometimes the combinations are good.

The mystery iris, by itself.

This time of year our rhododendrum puts on a show. 

Another picture of acumulata.

The martagon lilies are thinking about blooming. You can begin to see the buds. These lilies are high on the "more list."

We made a road trip yesterdat and went shopping at several nice greenhouses. This iceplant was hard to resist. You buy the plant and worry about where to put it later.

When the rhododendron makes pink in the front yard, the pink dogwood gives you pink in the back.

It is as high as our bedroom.

I had to add these pictures at the last minute.

Julia's recipe

Katie's Spaghetti

While the children and Elisabeth and the children were here, Katie made spaghetti for dinner. She made it up, but I figured it out. It is straightforward, without unusual or exotic ingredients. And pretty fast and good, first time around and also for lunch later on in the week. 

The ingredients:

1 lb. ground beef or ground pork or Italian sausage (which is what I had);

1 cup chopped onion;

1-1/2 teaspoon smushed garlic;

1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce;

1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes;

2 tablespoons tomato paste;

2 cups grated zucchini;

1 lb. spaghetti;

1/3 cup grated parmesan (plus more for the table);

1 teaspoon salt;

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes; and

1 tablespoon olive oil (not shown).

Katie made the dish with ground beef. Later, when I made it, I used ground Italian sausage, We bought 1/2 pig from a nice farmer we know, and we asked to have some of the ground pork seasoned in an Italian way. Having Italian sausage in the freezer gives one a sense of security.

As usual, I started by prepping the vegetables: chopping the onion (I had 1/2 onion in the refrigerator), cleaning and smushing the garlic, washing and grating the zucchini.

I put the ground pork, onion and garlic in a Dutch oven. I added a tablespoon of oil because the pork sausage was actually lean. If your ground meat has some fat content, you won't need to use olive oil. 

I cooked the meat, onion and garlic for about 7 or 8 minutes on medium heat, breaking the meat down into little pieces.

I put on a big pot of water (with an ample amount of salt probably 1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons) for the spaghetti.

When the meat was done and the onion was soft, I added the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and zucchini. I rinsed out the tomato cans, one after the other and thereby added maybe 1/3 cup of water. 

I stirred that up and then added the tomato paste, salt and red pepper flakes. I let this mixture simmer (on medium low heat) while I waited for the pasta water to boil and for the pasta to cook - maybe 15 minutes. When the time was up, the zucchini had more or less melted into the sauce. 

I used thin spaghetti and the cooking time was listed as 8 to 10 minutes. I cooked it for 7 minutes.  

When the pasta was done, I did NOT drain it, but rather used a pair of whackers to transfer the pasta into the sauce, with whatever pasta water was on the pasta. 

I then used the whackers to mix the spaghetti into the sauce, then I added the 1/3 cup of grated parmesan. More tossing around for a minute or two over low heat. Then it was done. 

On the table. We tossed it some more before serving ourselves, to spread the sauce around a bit more. 

We had extra parmesan on the table for sprinkling, plus a salad, plus blueberries and yogurt. It was a nice dinner. 

And the leftovers were good too. We always add a slug of ketchup and a little water when heating up leftover spaghetti. It is delicious. 

Odds and Ends

We had .2 inches of rain Friday night. We could use more. That was the only measurable rain we have had in two weeks.

Scary story from Illinois. It is so dry that farmers working their field caused a dust storm blackout on Interstate 55. Seven people died.

The local landfill may have compost soon. I need dirt. At the moment I am using professional dirt.

I do think the Iowa legislature has adjourned. But those same people will be back next January. Who knows what new ideas they will have picked up from Florida or North Carolina? Trying to find the balance between ignoring them and staying engaged is hard. 

For now I garden and try to raise money for the food banks. Feeding people is very much a partisan issue.

Pray for peace, and the healing of our world.

Philip