Green Beans Are In Season!

Today's Harvest

After a good, soaking rain overnight, we made it out to the garden, and many of our small, baby green beans were ready to pick. This is today's harvest for July 1, 2013. We have quite a few green beans, some snow peas, and some smaller turnips. Turnips this size, taste like a mild radish and are good for slicing on a green salad.

Also, I ordered a food dehydrator from Ebay and I am currently testing it on some sweet yellow and red peppers. I don't have a picture, but if they turn out, I am going to try and make a sweet pepper spice blend with the dried peppers, salt, and garlic.

Finally!

June 28, 2015

 I seems like forever since I have been able to get out to my garden, Las Vegan Ranch, and really work. Between my job at the craft store, medical appointments, and abundant rain, I have been very busy. Fortunately, I was able to find 4 hours to work in the garden and get a lot done!

Facing East Wide View

 It was very overgrown and weedy, with all that precipitation, so I pruned, mowed, mulched and weeded. I did not weed as thoroughly as I wanted, due to time constrains, but I might be able to finish up in the morning. Next year, I hope I can afford a weed eater and some landscaping plastic, so I won't have to deal with this many weeds.

Potatoes With Fresh Compost

I hilled my potato plants with fresh compost, as well as added compost around my watermelons and tomatoes. For potato plants, if you do not mulch them with compost or straw, the newly formed potatoes can get exposed to sunlight and turn green. You should add straw or compost around the plants 2-3 times a season, to protect any tubers that are growing close to the surface.

Green Tomato

 I saw plenty of green tomatoes, along with a few squash. We will be able to harvest green beans this week, and I got a large haul of fresh catnip herb with buds on the top. I am going to air dry these and sew them inside sachets for cats to play with.

Catnip Drying in the Sun

Broccoli and Kale, Hooray!

Broccoli, Kale, Scallions

 Today, I had the day off, but it was busy! First, I had to go to the UPS store and buy an envelope, because I sold a very odd size item on my craft website, and I needed special packaging. Then, I stopped by the garden plot, Las Vegan Ranch, and harvested the vegetables above for lunch. I had fresh broccoli, kale, and scallions that I steamed in my rice cooker, along with rice and a poultry seasoning spice, for an herb-vegetable rice pilaf dish. This was delicious!

Handmade Headband

 My sewing maching that I ordered arrived; the model is a Brother LX 2500, one of the machines with the best recommendations for beginners. Also, I  made this headband, It took me many hours and I had to watch an instructional video, but finally I got it! It even fits well, ha!
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Costume Wand

Here is a magical, mystical wand I made from fabric scraps and other odds and ends. I sold one on my website as a costume accessory to a girl who is going to be a woodland fairy in a play. Now that I know there is a market for costume wands out there, I am working on some more prototypes for cosplay and Halloween costumes. This wand above is my druid theme wand with the green colors, leather, and feathers.

A Stormy Night

June 23rd, 2015

 We had a night of storm and high winds that left some of our corn and other tall crops blown over and damaged, I ended up chopping off the tall, bent stalks on our mustard greens and Pac Choy (Oriental greens), and adding compost around the bent stalks of corn to prop them up. I then carted about 15 buckets of dirt to the front berm and shored that up with some more dirt, plus weeded and trimmed that area.

We discovered a baby zucchini on our fastest growing plant, lovingly named "Big Papa". Then, we harvested a handful of snow peas and large bundle of catnip herb (not pictured). Below, you can see the large broccoli we plan to harvest next week and our corn after being straightened and supported with more soil. This week, I plan to weed more and mulch with the additional straw we have, plus hill the potato plants with more compost.

Corn Propped Up After Winds

A Baby Zucchini! 

Large Broccoli Floret

A Handful of Snow Peas

A Treat For Me!

This weekend, I decided to cash my paycheck and splurge on some beads just for me. I work at a craft store, and I had been eyeing these iridescent, double-holed beads for some time. After my purchase, I went home and worked on a set of jewelry for me to keep and wear. I made the bracelet and the matching earrings and wore the bracelet to work today. The bracelet is strung on Tigertail beading wire.

Just For Me!

 These matching earrings are made with a really great product- Blue Moon Beads 1.5 Inch Beading Hoops. Simply pull apart the hoop finding at the top, slide on the beads, and snap back together. Finish it by securing with a dab of strong and clear E 6000 adhesive. When dry, attach the ear wire findings.

Handmade Earrings With Matching Beads

Special Delivery

June 20, 2015

I had to work the last 4 days and couldn't get out to the garden, so when I arrived today, I was thrilled to discover the Ingham County Land Bank Had delivered my compost! The pile of compost below is 1 square yard. They charged me 13 dollars to have this compost delivered. I used the compost to mulch around a square of vegetables I have planted, and also plant some petunias in the middle. I bulked up the bales of straw I have planted with a layer of compost on the top. Currently, I have 2/3 of the pile left and I plan to hill my potatoes and build up the berm in front of my garden with the rest.

Straw and Compost

 I had a nice pot of lettuce that I harvested. Along with the lettuce, I picked some peas and turnips. As I am writing, I am cooking a curry with diced turnips, turnip greens, snow peas, and scallions from the garden. It also contains tomatoes, carrots, fresh garlic, red pepper strips, coconut milk and hot Madras curry powder. There is rice in the rice cooker to serve it with, and it smells delicious!

Lettuce Ready to Harvest

Peas Ready to Harvest

Straw Bales With Fresh Compost Added

3 Turnips I Picked Today

Petunias Planted in Vegetable Square

The recipe for the curry is:

- 1 can lite coconut milk

- 1 16 oz can diced tomatoes

- 2 tbs curry powder

-1 clove minced garlic

- 1/2 bunch scallions

-15 snow pea pods

-3 small turnips and greens

-1 red pepper cut in strips

- 1 bag matchstick carrots (small bag)

- salt to taste

Dice the turnips and save the greens. Saute all vegetables in a small amount of butter or oil on medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, coconut milk, and spices. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer with cover on for 20 minutes. Serve over rice.

Diced Turnips, Turnip Greens, Scallions, and Snow Peas in a Vegetarian Curry I am Making

War Against the Weeds

June 15th 2015

I have to work the next 4 days, so I had a lot to do in the garden today, and I probably won't be able to make a blog post until this weekend. After 2 days of steady rains here in Lansing, MI, the weeds in my garden have exploded! I was out there with my sister today and she helped me mow and weed, then I returned again in the afternoon by myself to finish some mulching. I purchased 3 more bales of straw to mulch around the plants, but before I could lay it down, I had to weed and cut around each plant by hand to remove the crabgrass and other weeds. I decided to leave the weeds growing up around my plants in the bales of straw, because they are decomposing, and I feel the weeds on the sides will give the bales stability, so they stay intact. These are pictures of the garden today after being mowed and weeded- I am sure it won't look this nice by the time I can work on it again this Saturday!

Dwarf Sunflowers Planted on the Berm

My Straw Bales With The Weeds Trimmed

I Plan To Plant Flowers on the Straw in the Center of the Square

Tomatoes, Melon, Zucchini, Beans, Potatoes