Ducks4you for 2022

[heirloomgal]

Send me a recipe for bruschetta, Please!!

This is how I do it: a couple chopped up tomatoes (small 'cubes'), 2 cloves of garlic chopped fine, a splash of good olive oil, dash of salt and a sprinkle of fresh chopped basil. You can use dried too. Mix it all up, and pop some bread in the toaster. When it pops I like to butter it and then *fork the bruschetta mix on the toasts (a spoon is too much juice) and generously sprinkle mozzarella on top, then broil until bubbling. SO GOOD!

This was my mix the other day.

 

[ducks4you]

Speaking of saving seeds, I missed 3 old and tough bean pods and I snapped them off with some stem and hung all of them at the top of the chicken wire to dry out. I thought if I left them the plant might stop producing.
I really like how @heirloomgal dries out her beans!
I have spent the weekend getting the truck ready for DH's and DD's CO vacation trip. The truck didn't get that dirty in a year. I swept it and used my portable upholstery cleaning machine. It does a nice job, but it takes 4 hrs to charge for a 20 minute job. I wiped down all surfaces and it's smelling pretty nice.
The truck floor is carpeted and I took the carpeted mats to the tub to wash in simply Dawn detergent, after sweeping them all in the living room first. I thought about using the washer, but my online research suggested that I might damage them that way. After washing, I used a gardening flexible bucket, you know, the kind that you can grow in?, and carried them out to rinse with the hose and hang on the fence to dry.
I am almost done with the truck. DH had to use one of those car/truck smell nice bombs, in this case, "new car," and that was set off this morning. The truck is airing. I didn't think it needed it, but, not my call, and he gets some pleasure from it.
Last to do, since I scrubbed out the bed last week, is to finish the windows, Always a thankless job, but I do LOVE to drive when it's done and the windshield looks like it isn't there anymore.
Last thing I use is Rainex car window cleaner that makes the rain bead up on the windshield.
Of Course, I temporarily misplaced my truck keys, but found them again.
Murphy's Law still applies.

 

[ducks4you]

Been harvesting tomatoes, mostly not quite ripe but close to the ground. I had to toss a low hanging tomato with a big bite in it.
The bowl was harvested over the weekend, and 1/2 have been eaten. DH, and DD's munch on them kinda mindlessly. Better than candy!
Got some beans, some okra and some tomatoes this morning. I THOUGHT it was a volunteer pumpkin, but it turned out to be a zucchini which started producing after the squash vine borers had moved on. I squished a few squash bugs yesterday around it, but I will start checking for their eggs and scrape them off the leaves.
First time I have ever harvested a zucchini that was the right size! Usually I miss them until they are Chernobyl sized.
I will take pictures soon of how the sweet potato bed has nicely filled in. EVERYTHING I planted there has gotten huge, just in the last week. I keep putting sweet potato tails back into the bed, from which they wish to escape.
Rumor is that we will have a longish Fall, meaning more sweet potato harvest for me!
African daisies have been a big success this year and they keep growing taller.

 

[baymule]

Just caught up on your thread. What a garden you have! Lots of beautiful vegetables and flowers. I’ve enjoyed the pictures.

 

[ducks4you]

Thx!! Btw, I AM still alive. Family took a 2 week trip to Colorado on the 24th. On the 27th I got Really sick, spent the whole day in bed, don't know HOW I got the animals fed or drove the 10 miles north to feed DD's cats. I was mowing and gardening and taking naps every day.
Yesterday was the first day that I felt normal. Thinking it was Covid bc I have lost my normal sense of smell. I still taste well, including this year's pear harvest. 1/2 got canned a few days ago. I am offering a pear each to the family tonight, then the rest will end up being canned, too. They are almost as sweet as the peaches, But my little tree grew close to 70 pears this year, so I guess it's my favorite.
I have 8 pints and 1/2 of a quart of beans in water with some salt waiting until I get enough to pressure can them, so they are sitting in the fridge.
Meanwhile, I did pressure can 13 pints of chicken broth. Lousy lids from China were on 7 of them and, although sealed, they have creases and I don't trust them. My dogs will eat good for the next week. The other 6 had Ball lids on them and are sealed correctly.
I have harvested 15 lovely apples from the 2 Johnagolds that I planted 4 years ago. Even the old apple that I though had given up the ghost produced for me. Now I don't need to covet the horse's GD apple tree, that is, as Usual, covered with apples. They pick off the low hanging fruit, then clean up what falls off.
My horses think that having their own tree is normal.
I have canned 10 quarts of 2022 tomatoes, so far. My volunteer tomato has produced softball sized tasty fruit. I don't exactly know what kind of tomato it is, but I'm saving seeds from it and let's see if it reproduces same next year.
I had two projects planned for the last 2 weeks. I had to call DD (lives in another city in IL) to cancel the day before she was going to help me in the barn, using my leaf blower and cleaning up the cobwebs.
Monday and Tuesday I managed to tear apart my bedroom and completely clean it. I couldn't believe the amount of dust, but it's all swept up and the woodwork has been wiped down. I've been sneezy in it, so maybe this will help. Monday was slow but AMC had a Fred Astaire/Ginger Rogers film festival going, so I had good company playing on my tv in the bedroom. They said the "Top Hat" was their best movie, and I have to agree.
I like how my dresser looks, having NOT seen the top in several years.
Weather has been phenominally lovely.

 

[heirloomgal]

Glad you're feeling better!

 

[ducks4you]

Thanks! After what happened to Alex, I had to post Something.
Tomorrow, pictures. I cleaned up the north fenceline of the south pasture and I Thought that one of the squashes I had planted to fill in and help my sweet potatoes had escaped the bed. I recognized the flowers and vining as some kind of squash, but no, NO! NOT in the South Pasture, where the two fruits will be gone in two gulps. I have weeding to do there, so it's now closed off. I will take some pictures tomorrow of the surprise melons growing where I DID NOT plant them. They sort of look like either cantaloupe or honeydew, but they are big and beautiful.
I love happy little gardening surprises like this!

 

[ducks4you]

Didn't want to post this on @baymule 's thread, but I ordered a Lamb last month, to be butchered next Monday. The same lady has sold me chickens in the past. There was another person interested, but she gave me first dibs on the last ram bc I had done business with her before, in CASH.
I should be picking up about 35 pounds of meat next week. I am calling the locker tomorrow with my order.
Dunno how to order lamb meat...I know that I will be getting 2 legs, some roasts, a "crown roast" with the ribs, maybe two of those, and "Lambburger."
It will cost ~$7.50/pound, which is a good price for lamb meat. Last time I bought locally a leg of lamb it ran $90.00
for 5 pounds.
I am sure that DD will want to make a lamb stew, and, of course, there Will be more lamb broth in our future.

 

[flowerbug]

glad to hear from you and that you're still on the up and up.

 

[Rhodie Ranch]

YUM I love lamb but can't afford it unless I see a heavily marked down package.

Hide from Bay, everyone! And my Granddaughter who had Lamy (Lambie?) for years as her fav stuffed animal growing up. Now Lamy is up on her dresser, never to be hugged, drug around, or go thru the washer again. And yes, I still have my BunBun stuffed animal that I was given when I was three and lived in England.