Tag: garden

Sunday Snapshots (of tomatoes)

Marie HaighLeave a comment

The prize jewel of my garden every year is my tomatoes.

I loved eating the spinach, swiss chard and zucchini. The peas were OK though I will likely never grow them again since the shelling was more work than I liked. I can’t wait to try fresh corn. Yet, nothing holds a candle to a fresh tomato.

It doesn’t matter that nobody agrees with me. Both Dan and Elly won’t eat fresh tomatoes. They have to be cooked up into something – anything – first before they will touch my tomatoes. Fools. Yet, I suppose it means more for me and that is just fine.

It has been a year now since I have had to purchase spaghetti sauce or tomato soup. It didn’t take me long to become completely spoiled by the taste of fresh tomato sauce. So, I wasted no time in pulling out the canning pot this year and processing the first batch of tomatoes.

Sunday Snapshots (of home)

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Ocean City, NJ was lovely. We had perfect weather. Every morning was spent on the beach.

From Ocean City, NJ 2013

(More pictures of our vacation can be seen by clicking on the album.)

Elly had a blast in the ocean and digging in the endless sand.

Still it was so nice to get home.

While away, the vegetable garden had exploded. So, today was spent picking zucchini and peas.

Elly helped.

She even helped shell the peas.

Home sweet home.

Sunday Snapshots (of dandelions)

Marie Haigh2 Comments

I hate dandelions.

Every year, I pull out close to a hundred. Of course, the only way to pull them out properly is to dig down and get the entire root. If you miss even just a little bit of the root, it will grown back. Grrr.

If they would just stay in the lawn, I wouldn’t care. But no, they get into my garden beds and even my raised vegetable beds. They are pure evil.

Elly, on the other hand, loves dandelions.

She likes to pick them and then give them as little gifts.

It’s adorable.

It almost makes me want to forgive the dandelion for all its evil traits. Almost, but not quite.

Come On Spring!

Marie HaighLeave a comment

Winter needs to leave now. The cold weather is keeping me from my garden. Seeds for the garden arrived 2 months ago, but it’s still too cold to plant them.

The cold weather is NOT keeping Elly from doing what she loves to do:

playing in her sandbox

(note the boots)

and swinging

Balls of steel my girl has!

High and (mostly) Dry

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We live 8 blocks uphill from the Manatawny River. Normally, I complain about the 8 blocks I have to bike uphill after visiting High Street, the main street through town. Yesterday, I had nothing but kind words for that hill.

Our basement took on a little water. I don’t know how much because it all went straight into the drains (the floor is sloped to aid the runoff).

My garden survived the high winds. No butternut squashes were lost unless you count the one that Dan accidentally mowed over the morning before the storm.

A few branches broke off the old oak tree, but that is a perk if you are talking to Jake. Oh how he loves to chew on sticks.

Though the river did not make it across the Manatawny Street into people’s houses, it did flood the Memorial Park.

More Zucchini Please

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Article first published as More Zucchini Please on Blogcritics.

Beginning last week, the zucchini plant in my garden started bearing fruit. Thus far I’ve made sautéed zucchini rounds, zucchini bread and zucchini chocolate cake. That might be enough zucchini for some folks, but I was hoping for much more.

I’m the sort of person who likes to buy several pounds of a fruit or vegetable that is in season -much more than Dan and I could possibly eat before it all spoils. Then, I sift through my pile of cookbooks searching for ways to use it all up.

I had come across some zucchini recipes I was excited to try: soup, a walnut bread, etc. Mostly, I just want an excuse to bake another Zucchini Chocolate Cake. My, it was so good. The zucchini made the cake incredibly moist. I didn’t even bother to ice it. Though Dan turned his nose up at the idea of putting zucchini in a chocolate cake, he was impressed by the results. Unless you grated the zucchini by hand or someone you trusted swore she put it in the cake, you wouldn’t believe it. You don’t taste the zucchini at all.

The recipe I used can be found here. Though the instructions didn’t specify, I finely grated the zucchini and drained off the excess liquid.  I also made a change to the list of ingredients by adding 1 teaspoon of espresso powder. I learned that little trick from Ina Garten. She always adds coffee to her chocolate recipes to enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

Well, here’s hoping the current orange blossoms on the plant bear more squash.