Mr.Clowers amazing cornmeal contraption

We went to the flea market Friday. Nothing like waiting till triple digit temperatures to load up the kids for a day of walking. We are beat! 

Today, I'm treating myself to a snack. Hot water cornbread topped with greek yogurt, figs, then drizzled with our neighbor's honey and cracked pepper. Yum!

Hot water cornbread is easy, mix cornmeal, salt and pepper with boiling water till you get the consistency of wet oatmeal. Drop by the spoonful onto a greased skillet and smooth down flat. Cook till golden brown on both sides, they'll be crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. Hot and cool, creamy and crispy, sweet and peppery..makes one happy heat exhausted mom!

I thought you might like to see where we get our cornmeal. Mr. Clowers lives near us and we are fortunate to get fresh cornmeal anytime we like. And once a month he hauls his amazing cornmeal contraption to the flea market. We stopped by to say "hi" and I snapped a few photos of his diesel mill. I don't know if it's the heat or our new tractor..I think I'm turning into a gear head ;0)

Hope your day holds a sweet treat for you :0)

canned sunshine

What blooms in the spring

Is transformed by summer

The gifts from my trees 

Become gifts to share and winter treats for the family

This years harvest produced 11 quarts, 16 pints and 11 half-pints of pear honey.

The sweetest wages for a days work :0)

Where do chocolate covered strawberries grow?

At the peak of a chocolate buttercream mountain

where the morning dew is as sweet as sugar

the pollination is by non-pareille

and the garden pests do little harm when they're spirals of caramel and marshmallow.

My son requested a chocolate strawberry cake for his 12th birthday. The snails were are an attempt to "boy it up". When asked what he thought of it, he said, he was "lucky to have a mother that makes him cakes". What a boy!

I'm the lucky one, sweetie. Happy Birthday!

Magenta Spreen

Magenta Speen is the hot pink version of Lamb's Quarter, Pig Weed, southern spinach. Others simply call it a weed.

Since I don't  work, any meal I can put into the freezer I view as a bank deposit. Money and gas saved not going to the store. And just like banking.. a plant that doesn't require a withdraw in the form of fertilizer, cultivating or simply time is a savings account.  Magenta Spreen is my savings account, one with a high rate of return. I let it grow with abandon. 

You see, spinach is tedious to grow in the south. It requires liming the soil, vilagent weeding and picking is a hunched over pain in the back. Sometimes it requires winter protection and other times it gets so hot it never has a chance to leaf before bolting. Magenta Spreen is a cousin to spinach, it has the same flavor, yet a rougher, thinner leaf texture. Now I'm not going to tell you it's a great substitute for spinach. I fell for that trick with Malabar. 

The problem with Malabar, it doesn't taste anything like spinach to me, it's bland. The young smaller leaves have the same fleshy, thick texture of spinach, let the leaves get too large and they get unbearably slimy.  Last year I combined malabar with spreen leaves to create a 'fake spinach" salad. It was ok, not something to crave.My Malabar vines didn't make it through this last winter. No plans to replant.  

Magenta Spreen an entertaining plant. The sparkly hot pink coloring rubs off easily. Has been used for 'makeup'  on the lips and cheeks, and indian war paint by resident gardener and children. 

At a time when not much else is blooming. Drought tolerant and grown in full sun the magenta leaves compliment the colors of Carolina Phlox grown in the shadier areas of the garden creating a nice color flow from one bed to another.

It's now gourmet! This post is entirely inspired by A Hungry Bear Won't Dance and her recipe for Lamb's Quarter and Garlic Scape Pesto. I'm  a fan and lurker. I couldn't follow her recipe exactly, the garlic finished blooming last month, but garlic chives I have plenty. Her sun dried tomatoes I substituted with roasted yellow pear tomatoes. No Olives. It wasn't a spinach dish, it didn't have to be, it was wonderful!  I can't photograph food, but mine tasted as good as hers looked. promise.

 While the Mangenta Spreen will never be an exact substitute for spinach, I've a new appreciation for what it is. Tasty, practical, carefree... easy to weed were it's not wanted and beautiful. 

Go grow, gather and enjoy :0)

Seed, stock, and pears equals a beautiful day

We've been scraping paint off the old milking shed all week. Hot, sweaty, icky work.  Sweat, headache, nap and repeat, all week long. My heat induced headaches and naps last longer then the time I do any actual paint scraping. My sweetest has muscled through most of it. 

Otherwise, keeping busy.

I planted 15 cultivars of heirloom winter squash. I don't like planting this late in the season, but we've been blessed with a week of rain, making the ground workable. And I missed out on getting so many things in the ground this spring. Another item I've added to my 'to do' list is to come up with a much more glamorous way of storing my seeds. What a mess.

I was able to get cream peas planted (in the white bag). I've been growing these for the past three years. I'd hate to think of having a winter where I can't pull a bag from the freezer whenever I want. These were passed to me from a friend, the cultivar name forgotten. They are simply the best field pea EVER. I'll never grow another black eyed pea again, that's a big statement coming from a southern gal.

Then I moved into the kitchen and readied myself to put up some soup stock for later use. I saved all the trimmings and bones from the 60 pound pig we roasted over the 4th. I gathered carrots, garlic and summer squash from the garden. My brother brought us lots of interesting veggies from his CSA in Austin along with various other bits of veg left over from the get together. I roasted them all in olive oil and sea salt for an hour at 400 degrees. Added the meat bones, 4 gallons of water and a few bay leaves then simmered for four hours. The house smells amazing. 

That left the evening open for pear picking date with the Hubby. So much fun...a great ending to a wonderful day.

old fashioned pear picking dohicky on a stick

I'm saving the pears for another day (when I want to get away from painting the barn) and can these sweets.

Hope your day is filled beauty and wonders :0) While you're at it...plan a date under a tree.

Mending broken hearts

It has been a sad few days here on the farm. We lost our beloved big red dog, Huffy. I'm having a hard time focusing on anything that requires a recipe, so some simple candy is in order to think about something else for awhile. 

The pics made me smile, especially since the little ceramic squirrel is officially known as 'Sugarbuzz' in our house.

Happy thoughts will prevail... 

Smooth or bumpy, big or small. I love them all...winter squash.

It's colder here then it's been in thirty years. Not that it matters I'm usually stark raving mad to get into the garden by this time every year. I console myself by plotting my veggie garden. Checking the planting dates and rotation schedule. Then when I get really desperate I take out my seed packs, look at their names and fondle the larger seeds. In a caring earth mother sort of way..nothing kooky.

Last year I traded, begged, and pleaded with other gardeners to amass my seed stash. And thanks to their incredible generosity, see what I have to look forward to planting this year. Sadly this is only a fraction of the cultivars that I would like to try...can anyone say obsessed?

Black Futsu (photo, Plant world) & Galeux D' Eysines (photo, Seed Savers)

    

Georgia Candy Roaster (photo, Seedman) & Jarrahdale (Johnny's Seeds)

Kakai (photo, Exjordinanary Seeds) & Lakota (photo, Super Seeds)

Long Island Cheese (photo, Seed Savers) & Long Neck (photo, Reimer Seeds)

Queensland Blue (photo, Martha Stewart) & Red Warty (photo, Gourmet Seed)

and lastly Sucrine Du Berry (photo, Rare Seeds)

Aren't they beautiful? Next fall we hope to raise our own pork and much of the excess squash will be used to feed them. It also be nice to raise enough to help out with our local family services. The rest is all mine to sample!!! Anyone have a favorite squash recipe they'd like to share?

A bit of trivia. Did you know that when you purchase a can of pumpkin puree to make your holiday pies your most likely cooking with this. Not the big orange globes we know as pumpkins, but the humble, reliable widely grown (in the south) Curshaw.

(photo, Rare Seeds)

Only 4 and a half months till winter squash planting time!

Gussied-up jars of green maters

Go ahead, drop by unannounced. I'm ready!
Every year I get caught off guard needing a quick gift. These turned out cuter then I thought they would. It's hard to gussy up  a neon jar of unripe tomatoes, at least in holiday colors.

First let me show these super sweet , made in china, adorable kind of crap I live for! These are little clothes pins and line used to hang holiday cards. Stinking cute. I found these in a box of my Momma's stuff she has stored at our house, Merry Christmas to me!

For the lids I used the left over ticking fabric I used to make my bedskirt. Sewed on a few vintage sequins from an old stash. Discovered some teeny tiny jingle bells in my stash. Discovered teeny tiny jingle bells make me squeal in delight.

My sweetie made me printed dress tags to hang by cheepie chinese clothes pin....and I'm one happy girl...I feel crafty...

As a bonus, Kingplinker made the tags blank, just for your use! Hint, craft stores carry some really cute mini wooden clothes pins.

free dress tag PDF