Sunday, June 28, 2009

Eli

Thanks to Bob for helping me out with the processing.

Stressful Saturday

We went for a hike with Mark for a couple of hours in the morning - Ishka and his puppy Cash had a great time. Then it was home to take the motorcycle out for a ride to get ice cream. Spent the afternoon washing the bike, having a beer and hanging with Ben, Eli and Jessica in the front yard. After a yummy supper Jeremy, Jessica, Ben and Eli came over for a fire and some smores.
Man, vacation is stressful.


The boys love Ishka. She is such a lucky dog to be loved sooo much.
This shot is actually Dan's but I thought it was cute and since he doesn't have a blog - snag
- it's mine.

Garden Update - June 26, 2009

With the heat from the last week the garden has finally sprouted.
Bob's cilantro is about a foot and half tall,
and some insect is enjoying the leaves from the horseradish.

The tomatoes are the most noticeable difference.
They have really shot up.

Our first little broccoli - look down, way down.

Thursday, June 25, 2009

Sunhill Racing - John and Tyler

While Bob and I were out riding we found ourselves in Roseneath and stopped in to visit Al, Sandra and the kids. Their 2 older boys are ATV Racing and Al has built a practice track at the house for them. We couldn't resist check'in it out.


Of course there was a few beer afterwards. Thanks again for the hospitality.

Farm Country

Bob and I were out riding this week and I have been wanting to take some pictures of the calf's - so we pulled over on this nice quiet road and spent a few minutes.

I didn't think anyone wanted to see as many photo's of cows as I took so here is some fun with processing.

Patio Part Deux - a la daylight

Saturday, June 20, 2009

Patio Part Deux

Some people think you should spend your first 5 days of vacation relaxing and rejuvenating. At our house we thought it should be spent sticky, sweaty and dirty.

In the beginning there was a deck and some dirt.

Needed to trim some trees.

Day 1 - Cutting Sod and digging out the patio.

Day 2 - We feel like a 18 wheeler has run us over when we wake up. We call Matt and ask for help for the day. We then finish digging the patio, install the steps, haul the screening into the patio-to-be and start to level the rest of the yard.

Day 3 - Rent the tamper and compact the patio screening and loose dirt in the yard.

Day 4 - Drink coffee and layout the circle of the patio. It was a long day but we also finish laying the rest of the patio.

Day 5 - This was a biggie. Rented the saw to cut all the pieces for the patio. Laid out the gardens on the side of the yard. Graded the yard. Dug trenches and laid weeping tile for some historical "problem" areas (thanks Danny for donation). Picked up and laid 60 rolls of sod.

Midnight on Day 5. Everyone is very tired. Thanks to Jeremy and Jessica for coming over to help out and Dan for coming home from work early - we may not have made it without you.

We still had to pick up 15 rolls of sod this morning and lay them - as we didn't buy enough yesterday. We spent the rest of the day on the "pretty things". Buying river rock, new plants and mulch for the trees. Tomorrow is a beautiful day of puttering in the yard and making it pretty. It was raining today, but tomorrow I'll post pic's of the finished product in daylight.
Ahhhh vacation.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

CSA Basket

As some of you may know Bob and I signed up for a Community Shared Agriculture share this year. I thought it would be fun to take a picture of the basket each week. I'm going to post them all under this post and just keep adding a picture a week - so keep checking back.

______________________________________
Week 20 - Our CSA Basket.
This is the end of our summer share 2009. I will be away this week :( so Bob will post my last pic for me.

It was delivered Wednesday, it contained:
Spaghetti squash, potatoes, carrots, bag of mixed salad greens, and parsnip


______________________________________
Week 19 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered Wednesday, it contained:
Red potatoes, brussel sprouts on the stalk, pepper (acorn) squash, garlic, and a small bag of salad greens


______________________________________
Week 18 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered Wednesday, it contained:
Yukon gold potatoes, beets, corn, acorn squash, jalapeno's and bell peppers


______________________________________
Week 17 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered today, it contained:
Yukon gold potatoes, sweet potatoes, brussell sprouts, cabbage and a white acorn squash.


______________________________________
Week 16 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered Wednesday, it contained:
Spaghetti squash, watermelon, carrots, grape tomatoes and jalapeno peppers.


______________________________________
Week 15 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered Wednesday, it contained:
Butternut squash (yes, squash means it's fall-we'll get 'a different one in each week), corn, strawberry's, white fingerling potato, heirloom tomatoes (one is green and is called a Aunt Ruby's German Green), and Swiss chard.


______________________________________
Week 14 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered Wednesday, it contained:
Watermelon, Casaba melon, white corn, red fingerling potato, grape tomato,
and heirloom tomatoes


______________________________________
Week 13 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered today, it contained:
2 regular slicing tomatoes, 2 regular heirloom tomatoes (one is green and is called a Aunt Ruby's German Green), corn, eggplant, orange cauliflower, green pepper, sweet banana pepper and jalapeƱo peppers and garlic


______________________________________
Week 12 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered today, it contained:
Strawberries, green beans, carrots, Savoy cabbage, tomatoes - Brandywine pink…heirloom, tomatillos and grape tomatoes.


______________________________________
Week 11 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered last Wednesday, it contained:
Strawberries, tomatoes, Superior potatoes, 2 cantaloupe and yellow beans.


______________________________________
Week 10 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered Wednesday, however the bottom of the box fell out when Dan was carrying downstairs. Being "helpful", he put all the contents away and then I was too lazy to put it back together for a pic - it contained:
Strawberries, eggplant, 6 tomatillos, brandywine tomatoe, fingerling potatoes, cabbage (supposed to be mini, but they are not that mini), 6 cobs of corn and a cantaloupe.

We made a salsa with the tomatillos and brandywine on Wednesday. Had grilled flank steak in a tortilla wrap with the salsa, a corn relish preserve from a few weeks ago, shredded cheese. Corn on the cob.

Tonight we had pan seared pork loin with a red wine reduction, roasted fingerling potatoes (with red onion and garlic from a previous weeks delivery) and cob on the corn.

Cantalope, strawberries and ice cream will be my dessert shortly.
______________________________________
Week 9 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered today and contained:
Green and Yellow Zucchini, Green Beans, Yellow Sweet Corn, Orange and Purple Carrots, Strawberries, Swiss Chard and Basil.

______________________________________
Week 8 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered Wednesday and contained:
Zucchini, Yellow Beans, Beets, Red Potatoes, Cucumbers and Garlic.

When our basket showed up this week it was abit of a mess, I assume people have not been returning their little pint/quart baskets as all the beans, potatoes etc. were just rolling around in the box. I got so busy cleaning them up - I forgot to take a picture first :(
Sorry folks. Stay tuned for next week.

______________________________________
Week 7 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered Wednesday and contained:
Zucchini, Basil, Snow Peas , Sugar Snap Peas, Superior Potatoes, Yukon Gold Potatoes and Cucumbers.

______________________________________
Week 6 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered today and contained:
Zucchini, Swiss Chard, Green Onions and 2 bulbs of Garlic, 2 Cucumbers,
Red and White Potatoes.


_____________________________________
Week 5 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered last Wednesday and contained:
Zucchini, Swiss Chard, Beets, Green Onions and 2 baskets of Peas.


______________________________________
Week 4 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered Wednesday and contained:
2 Heads of Lettuce (red romaine and leaf), Zucchini, Strawberries, peas, parsley and basil.

______________________________________
Week 3 - Our CSA Basket.

It was delivered yesterday and contained:
2 Heads of Lettuce (red leaf and boston), Zucchini, Strawberries and
2 bunches of Garlic Scape.


______________________________________
Week 2
It was delivered yesterday and contained:
Green onions, Asparagus, 2 Heads of Lettuce (green and red), Spinach, Strawberries and Garlic Scape.

I originally took a picture of this because I didn't know what it was but a little research and tasting determined it to be Garlic Scape. We put some in the fritatta and salad dressing for dinner tonight.

_____________________________________

Week 1 - This is the first of our CSA Baskets.

It was delivered yesterday and contained:
Green onions, Rhubarb, Asparagus, Boston Lettuce and Spinach