Early June & Frugal Accomplishments

Hello, friends.  Last week brought us much warmer temps, with several days in the 90's.  I froze canned corn I'd purchased at the discount store in ice cube trays, and gave cubes to the chickens for cool treats.  J got a watermelon, and gave them the rind, which they love.  Squash bugs have sucked many of our squash plants dry, including all of our tromboncino, so we'll have to replant them. I made deviled eggs, which lasted for two dinners.  I'm joining in with Brandy's Frugal Accomplishments today.

My friend and I enjoyed another concert in our "60th mystery tour".  Before the show, we shared appetizers, and had salads for our meal, which was just right on a hot day.  We've got lots of beautiful purslane volunteering in the garden.  I gathered some, and made a double batch of pesto.  After an appointment on Thursday, I went by Trader Joe's and a local co-op.  No exceptional deals were found, but a much larger selection of organic produce was available.  I bought the first peaches of the year.  They're not yet ripe, but hopefully they'll be delicious.

There is very little lambs quarter this year, but the purslane is going gangbusters.  I harvested enough for 8 more batches of pesto on Friday, with much more available to harvest, if I have the time and inclination.  This works well right now, as it only takes a small handful of basil per batch, and the basil plants are still pretty small.  The purslane stretches the basil, and is so good for you... antioxidants, omega 3's, Vit. A, potassium, magnesium, likely anti-cancer activity, etc.  I'm going to see if I can branch out and try some other recipes for it.  I requested a book from the library.

After days with the house being closed up due to the heat, and weeks without rain, we finally got a little rain Friday evening, and were able to open up and have fresh air in the house.  Many plants are still suffering.  We hope there will be more rain this week.  Three orders were powder coated on Friday, and packed and shipped on Saturday.  After dropping them off at the P.O., I picked up the requested book at the library.  I harvested some of the lavender.  J & I worked on the piping for the solar hot water on Saturday.  He's done more work on it, and some trees need to come down to optimize our solar gain. 

On Sunday, I weeded and mulched one flower bed, and five of the raised beds.  J & I planted raspberries a friend gifted us.  For many years, I planted garlic on the winter solstice and harvested it on the summer solstice.  I'd read it somewhere along the way, it was easy to remember, and seemed to work well.  Since meeting J, he prefers to plant it earlier, in late October or November.  The leaves had begun browning, which means they're ready.  We harvested them on Sunday.  He dipped them each in diatomaceous earth, before hanging them to dry.  The DE helps kill mites, which has been a problem with storing our harvest in the recent past. The harvest looks very healthy, so we're hoping it's a good garlic year. 

I'm loving the mix of colors in these hollyhocks that grew from seed a friend gifted me.  The camera I use was gifted to me quite a few years ago, a pre-owned one from M.  There is no longer any support for it, and as time goes by, more and more things fail.  Last week, it stopped letting me access photos in the Olympus photo editor.  I had to switch to that, after it stopped working with my original photo editor a year or so ago.  It's time to replace it, and I've been looking at simple and reasonably priced cameras.  I sold 4 items on ebay, and packed them Sunday evening.  I'll be working full time this week at one of my occasional jobs, which I'm so thankful for.  Wishing you a week of many blessings.