Sorry for focusing on the dirt instead of the actual plant. It's a little photography technique I'm trying out that I'm a little disappointed in.
I'll come back sometime soon and tell you.Answer: To achieve this delightful little plant, while transferring lentils from one container to another, accidentally let some fall into your drying-rack-side of the sink. Next, be too lazy (or busy, if you prefer) to clean them out and forget about then. Then, when the in-law's visit is imminent, clean the sink only to discover that the water dripping off the clean dishes has sprouted the wayward lentils and some of them are an inch tall. Call your son over who then gets so excited that he runs outside for potting soil and pot and plants them. The end. Note: Only very experienced gardeners should try this type of planting;-).
And while I'm at it...
2) If you hang your clothes out on the line, is there anything you won't hang out?
3) What did you can/freeze/dry this past year that you WILL NOT do again?
4) What did you can/freeze/dry this past year that you plan on doing tons more of this year?
5) Have you ever tried neem oil as a safe garden insect repellant?
6) What is the first thing you'll plant (or that you've planted?)?
7) Do you hide/dye/hunt Easter eggs?
8) If I would write a very simple and inexpensive cookbook of recipes from this blog, would you think me crazy? Pin It
The one thing I won't be canning again is nectarines. They just don't seem to turn out very nice. I made wonderful jam with nectarines but the jars of nectarines look way less than appetizing.
ReplyDeleteWhat I will be canning lots more of this year is soups. They are just wonderful, hardy quick meals. And chicken as well. So many ways to use canned chicken. Chicken salad, a tuna replacement, chicken pot pie, soup, stir fry, casseroles...and the list goes on.
1. You have me stumped on what you've planted. I can't say I have any guesses.
ReplyDelete2. I want to hang out my clothes more often. I've gotten away from doing it (partly because I need new clothespins). When I do, I pretty much will hang up anything. Although, I don't care for the stiff, scratchy feeling my towels have after line drying.
3. I didn't do as much canning/freezing this past year as I would have liked. So, pretty much everything was well used.
4. MORE peaches, MORE corn, MORE tomatoes/sauces
5. Never even heard of it.
6. Sugar peas will probably be the first to go in. I should probably plant more of those this year. We only ever have enough for eating & not enough left to freeze.
7. Yes.
8. I would not think you were crazy. I would be super excited!
1. Not sure
ReplyDelete2. I don't hang my clothing out on the line...I like the soft fluffy feel of clothing out of the dryer.
3. I froze far too much shredded zucchini!
4. I will freeze lots more applesauce this year.
5. Nope
6. Pansies...I'm more of a flower gardener than a veggie gardener. :-)
7. Yes, we have always dyed and hunted Easter eggs. But sadly, last year I noticed that the boys really weren't into it anymore. We won't be doing it this year. When did this happen??
8. I think your idea to write a cookbook is brilliant! :-)
Whats neem oil? you can write all the cook books you want as long as I don't have to,you might end up with croque provencal instead of quiche!your asking the wrong gardener,that could be poison ivy for all I,but you would not plant that,maybe its carrots?we always dye and hide eggs. I have pictures of the last 2 years of Easter egg hunts ,one done at my house ,lasts years dome somewhere else.If I HAD A CLOTHES LINE I WOULD NOT HANG OUT TOWELS AS I DID AS A KID,THEY JUST GET SO ROUGH,BUT I DO WANT A CLOTHES LINE AGAIN ,AT LEAST ONE OF THOSE FOLD UP THINGAMAJIGS YOU CAN PUT UP ON THE DECK
ReplyDeleteIs your plant....oregano?
ReplyDelete2) I'll hang out everything if I feel like I have time, but usually socks and underwear go in the dryer because it's just so much faster.
3)I had an unusually successful food preserving year, and liked everything I put up! Although 18 jelly jars of jalapeno jelly will last us QUITE a while.
4) My tomatoes failed up here with our weird northern summer, so I will do tons more tomatoes. I've even BOUGHT canned tomatoes, can you imagine?!
5)Heard of it, never tried it.
6)Peas, lettuce, spinach. Our ground is still rock hard despite our warm spell, so it'll be a few weeks yet before anything actually goes in the ground.
7) We dye hard boiled eggs, because it's just so much fun! And we fill and hide plastic eggs for the kids, because that's fun too!
8) I would think you are brilliant. Especially if there was a food preservation/canning section. If you go with a cookbook company, Morris Press is excellent and easy to work with, and not too expensive.
What a fun post!
I have no idea what you've planted, but...
ReplyDelete#2-bras (inside line only!)
#3-grapes (only jellies from now on)
#4-tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes
#5-nope
#6-in louisiana, we garden 365 days a year! tomatoes and peppers just went in.
#7-yep! 12 of them. my son and I made his profession of faith around Christmas last year, but the conversation started over Easter eggs that spring. every moment is a teaching moment!
#8-not at all. however, if it will rob you of the joy of blogging and cooking and sharing recipes, then don't do it.
1) Can you guess what it is? Alfalfa
ReplyDelete2) If you hang your clothes out on the line, is there anything you won't hang out? No, but that is because I am blessed with a natural screen of cedar trees. Even then, I have been known to use towels or jeans to block the view of other unmentionables.
3) What did you can/freeze/dry this past year that you WILL NOT do again? Nothing.
4) What did you can/freeze/dry this past year that you plan on doing tons more of this year? dried tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, and onions.
5) Have you ever tried neem oil as a safe garden insect repellant? No, but I want to.
6) What is the first thing you'll plant (or that you've planted?)? sugar snap peas
7) Do you hide/dye/hunt Easter eggs? we’re childless, but if we had children we probably would
8) If I would write a very simple and inexpensive cookbook of recipes from this blog, would you think me crazy? No, but you’ve already given us your wonderful recipes…
1. My guess is... pea vine?
ReplyDelete2. We don't hang out our underwear, both because the neighbors are a bit too close and we don't want to scare them, and because our hot, dry summers means things get "crunchy" fast on the clothesline, and my husband doesn't care for crunchy boxers!
3. I froze peaches a couple of years ago, but didn't do it well. Now that I actually know a little more about how to can/preserve, I'll try again (in jars, rather than freezer).
4. Berries, berries, berries! No matter how many I do, I always find myself wishing for MORE !
5. I have not tried neem oil, but would be interested to know more about it!
6. Probably some lettuce, and hopefully soon!
7. If the niece wants to... usually we do the dying at my house, and then she hunts them at home on Easter morning with mom and dad.
8. Certainly not!
1. Are they Sweet Peas?
ReplyDelete2.Nope, I hang everything- of course I live out in the sticks AND more importantly have no dryer.
3.I did not like how my summer squash canned. I will only dry or freeze from now on.
4.Pretty much everything else!! Love green chili salsa. Love apple chutney, mint jelly, dilled carrots!
5.No, I have not even heard of it. I will be checking this out as soon as I am finished with this fun question session. Kind of makes me fell like we are chatting!
6.This is the year of the flower. For the past several years aside from Marigold-calendula and sunflowers, I have not really focused on beauty in the growing season as we rely so much on what we produce. This is the year I am making time for flowers. I am thrilled and cannot wait to take the indoor starts outside!
7. We don't. We love that Christ rose again, and celebrate more focused on that and not so much anything else.
8.Nope. I would think you are wise. My only advice is to charge 99 cents. Seems like everyone will spend 99 cents. Go for volume. Have a giveaway-ask your blog friends to review it. Donate one to the library with your blog on the cover. Go and comment on large volume blogs(on both sides of the political spectrum-and make sure your link to your ebook is on top of page). Offer a cooking class at your local extension office, and ask the only charge be the ingredients and the book(99 cents) and I promise you will have many show up!!
9....FUN idea to ask questions! Have a super day!
Jennifer
1. Have no idea
ReplyDelete2. My 16 year old has a fit when I hang out her underwear and bras! Guess she thinks noone else wears them : )
3. I made dehydrated zucchini candy. Way too Addictive to make much ! What a sugar rush....Also I just didn't care for the canned apple pie filling. Rather just can or freeze the apples or filling..
4. Loved the dehydrated green onions.
5. No I have not tried neem oil.
6. Just planted potatoes, peas and onions.
7. I do not dye/hide /hunt Easter eggs anymore. The 16 year old thinks that is just undignofied.
I just go over and do it with the grandbabies : )
8. I adore and use so many of your recipes that I think it would be wonderful of you to share them with us. Thank You!
1. This looks a little like oregano.
ReplyDelete2. Bras stay on our indoor drying rack. I try to hide our underwear behind towels and such.
3.Nope. We didn't put up enough and now our freezer looks pathetically empty.
4. Tomatos. Sauce. Applesauce. Peaches.
5.No idea.
6. Spinach is in some pots on our porch. Broccoli is sprouting in our living room. Snap peas are in the garden!
7. We enjoy coloring eggs and hiding them. The girls get a kick out of it. We talk about new birth with Christ while we're at it. :)
8. Go for it!
Enjoy this amazing weather! I can't stop wandering around the yard, drinking in the forsythias, daffodils, hyaciths, sprouting green things all around. Great questions!
1. I don't know what that is :)
ReplyDelete2. I don't hang any clothes out......I gave up after the second child. It was one of those things that something had to go in order for me to not lose my mind and that was it :)
3. BEETS! Yuck. We shared duties at a farm in addition to our own gardens and our friends kept telling how AWESOME it was to have beets. It isn't. We have bags of pureed ones in the freezer that I will be using to make bread and muffins and such soon.
4. Jam, jam and more jam. More soups. More applesauce.
5. No the hubby hasn't used neem oil.
6. My husband and the kiddies have planted beans, tomatoes, stevia (decided to try after reading about your attempts:) and others - can't remember everything..all inside of course.
7. We do dye Easter eggs and do the hunt. We do it the weekend before Easter and chalk it up to spring fun. It's always a good time. We don't do baskets or the bunny but like to focus on Christ :) We actually just put up an Easter tree! We found a huge branch and planted it in a bucket and made cross, egg and heart decorations to put on it. We wrapped a spring tablecloth around the base and displayed books about resurrection around it. It was quite fun and we read the story of Easter while doing it. It's been a good reminder of the season we are in right now, for me AND for the kids.
8. I use your recipes ALL the time so I think it would be brilliant!
1. No idea what that is -- looks interesting!
ReplyDelete2. I hang everything on the line except my shirts -- don't like how they are left with pointy shoulders from the clothespins.
3. I grew stevia last summer -- will not do again -- did not dissolve well in hot drinks.
4. More spinach, peppers, basil, onions, salsa, tomato sauce, tomato soup.
5. Never heard of neem oil
6. Have not planted anything yet -- live too far north
7. We haven't done easter eggs in that past -- prefer to celebrate the resurrection of Christ.
8. I think a cookbook would be brilliant -- I'd buy one!
Just FYI, in case you have some left and want to still use it, stevia won't dissolve. It needs to be strained out like dried tea leaves:-).
Deleteoops, silly me ;) I will try that -- thanks!
Delete1. It looks like alfalfa.
ReplyDelete2. I hang everything out. So what if the neighbors see our underwear?
3. Cauliflower. It turned an ugly color when I froze it.
4. Red beets. We fallen in love!
5. No. Tell us about it.
6. Radishes, onions, and lettuces in the cold frame. Spinach in a raised bed.
7. No.
8. Not at all! That's a great idea.
Janet S.
Maybe Thyme, or some other herb....don't have a clothes line, but use my two drying racks a lot...cooked up a bunch of different types of dried beans, and froze them in pint canning jars only to have almost all of them crack...argh...next time I'll use bags or only fill the jars 2/3's of the way full...made elderberry jelly from some berries gathered along the roadside hope to make more of that this summer. Bought neem oil and never used it after I found out it kills beneficial insects...since we live in a duplex I can only do small gardening so I hope to get some lettuce planted soon....You should go for it, you have a lot of recipes and hints that are helpful. Thank you! Janet
ReplyDeleteI haven't tried neem oil yet, but via the link above, I read that there are certain times when you can spray the neem so it will dry before the beneficial bugs become active and that it won't harm the good guys once it's dried. Maybe you know all this already, but I just thought I'd mention it in case it makes a difference:-).
DeleteI just bought a big jug of neem oil! I read The Holistic Orchard by Michael Phillips and it is a big part of his plan to encourage plant health while discouraging pests. We're just planting our orchard, but I plan to use it on our established berries and probably elsewhere in the garden.
ReplyDelete1) No clue. I have a black thumb. It's so bad that my husband says the plants see me coming at the nursery and wilt in hopes that I won't bring them home to die... and I don't even argue with him. :/
ReplyDelete2) I don't hang towels and sheets because they get way too crunchy here in GA. Everything softens up after five minutes on the air fluff cycle except those. Underoos stay inside on my rack.
3) See #1.
4) See #1. I did, however, chop up and freeze onions and peppers that I bought at the farmer's market. That's got to be worth something, right?
5) I would try it if it could somehow magically repel me from continuing to try to plant things that inevitably die. (See #1) It's a sad, sad thing.
6) Sweet Mother Nature planted a bunch of weeds for me since we didn't get to have a winter this year. Of course they're the only thing I CAN'T kill!
7) I don't think our dogs understand Easter egg hunting so I'll probably skip it this year. :)
8) Simple? Inexpensive? Cooking? Yes, please!
1. Maybe some kind of herb?
ReplyDelete2. I don't hang towels out, because I hate crunchy towels. I don't hang my underwear out, because our house is really close to the house next door.
3. I froze strawberries and haven't used nearly as many as I thought I would.
4. We canned pears, and they're delicious! It will be a new tradition. Also, pickled beets. My husband eats them like candy. and then we make pickled eggs.
5. I've used Neem oil to treat powdery mildew on squash plants - it worked well when used early enough!
6. I'll be planting lettuce come April.
7. No Easter eggs...unless some are hidden at a family gathering.
8. A cookbook sounds great! Or a cookbook + gardening tips + canning.
2) my teenager's undies.... it embarrasses her
ReplyDelete3) Red raspberries - I prefer them fresh even if I'm eating 2 cups a day of them!
4) sun-dried tomatoes!
5) no but I want to
6) garlic & lettuce (70 degrees in Chicago.... I think I should have planted them before this!)
1. Alfalfa
ReplyDelete2. I'll hang anything out. Used to not be able to hang out underwear at our old place. There was a Guy who would steal our panties!
3. I will not can peppers again. No one here will eat em.
4. More tomatoes definitely.
5. I read about it on another blog this morning but hadn't heard of it before that.
6. My daughter and I planted onions, potatoes and peas.
7. Sometimes we dye eggs. Sometimes we do plastic with candy. It just depends on what we feel like doing when Easter comes around.
8. I think you should do a cookbook. I use a lot of the recipes you have on your blog.
silly me,I know why the letters are in red,it was right in front of my face --neem oil-- link? some days ,you don't want to know how my mind works or if it does at all?and than I found a herbalist blog right here ,not that many miles from me (where she worked)and she talked about "neem plant" boy,what a coincident
ReplyDeleteAnswer (to #1) revealed above!
ReplyDelete1. I don't hang out intimates. We live in a subdivision, so I just don't need my neighbors seeing our unmentionables. Everything else is fair game.
ReplyDelete2. No more freezing bell peppers. I love the concept, but the freezer burn just ruins it for me.
3. Freezing lots more fruit. So great for pies/smoothies throughout the winter. Peach pie in January? Yes please!
4. We've never used neem oil.
5. As of tomorrow, we'll have peas and spinach in the ground.
6. We hide plastic eggs. We do dye a few eggs just for fun, but no one in our house likes to eat hard boiled eggs.
7. You could put together a cookbook. I've made a few of your recipes and they've been HUGE hits with my husband!
1. I don't hang undergarments outside.
ReplyDeleteWe've tried neem oil. Since I used it I heard that it not only kills the bad bugs, but it kills the good ones too. Not sure what to do about it.
I won't can as many chunks of tomatoes, but will lots more roasted tomato sauce.
Your recipes are great, I'm sure a cookbook would be a success.
Love your questions ;)
ReplyDeleteI don't like jeans dried on the clothesline. I'm not going to can applesauce this year, but I will freeze or can more apple pie filling. I think I used neem oil a long time ago but can't remember for sure (is that sad?!?) Have started planting tomato seeds in the house and will probably do some early peas and spinach tomorrow. My grandsons are still small enough to enjoy dyeing eggs, so we do. I think you have great recipes!
Just really quick...I saw your question about the cookbook, and you should definitely do it! I love your recipes. My only suggestion would be to expand on how your family grows and preserves most of your own food. I'd love to learn the specifics of how you actually do that! Then you could list your recipes by season, showing your favorite way to serve fresh from the garden produce as well as good recipes for using up what you've stored over the winter.
ReplyDelete1. adult undies and bras
ReplyDelete2. mint jelly (yuck - at least my version)
3. whole canned tomatoes, applesauce, pickles, salsa
7. yes! We separate it from Easter and make it a fun spring thing. The kids love it.
8. No! Go for it.
We just applied Neem to the potato sprouts & the head of my community garden pretty much recommends it first when asked about organic pest sprays. Hoping it will keep the aphids to a manageable number!!
ReplyDelete