Monday, July 8, 2019

The Summer Garden & Frugal Accomplishments



Hello, friends.  After working in town, I went by the discount grocery.  Some favorite finds were  cans of organic beans for .50 ea., organic juice for $1, a 14# bag of natural lamb dogfood (good until Oct.) for 1/3 normal price, 5# natural peanut butter for $5, and 6 bags of dried wild blueberries @ .50 ea., a savings of  $44.24 if bought on amazon.  At Food Lion, I bought cherries for $1.99/#.  Last weekend, during a date night, we had the most delicious salads with fresh blueberries.  Eggs were boiled twice, for us and the pups.  Blueberries, cucumbers, the first yellow squash, green beans,figs and the first few cherry tomatoes were harvested.  Asian cucumbers were prepared.  It's beginning to feel like summer.


The feather was found on one of my walks.  It looks somewhat like a chuckwill widow's feather, but I'm not positive.  If you're good at ID'ing feathers, please share.  My sister had a family BBQ on the 4th of July.  I brought a 7 layer salad, hummus and vegi's, and a bottle of peach Bellini from Aldi's. There was lots of food, and not much of anything I brought was eaten.  In the future, I'll plan to make 1/2 recipe of the salad, which is still a lot.  A pan of egg shells was crushed, and added to the compost bin.  The first of our green beans, along with the ones given by our friend, were cooked in the wok with balsamic vinegar and sesame seeds.  I really enjoyed watching Yo-Yo Ma & The Silk Road Ensemble, free on Amazon Prime.


We received much needed rain on Friday.  J & I ran strings for the tromboncino squash and loofahs.  For years, I've been making hummingbird food at a 4:1 ratio.  I recently read this, and have since changed to a 3:1 ratio.  J fertilized all the vegetables with Neptune's Harvest, except for the melons and my dye sunflowers, which need weeding badly.  We don't want to feed the weeds as well as the desired plants, so are holding off until they're weeded.   I figured out how to download the new camera pics on my own, which is the same way I used to, before my old camera started acting wonky, so that was easy.  My BIL & SIL came for lunch and a visit.  Not much is coming in from the garden yet, but I made salad with our lettuce and cucumbers, and shared a dozen eggs with them.  Have a great week!

7 comments:

daisy g said...

Those are some bargains! I never think to stop at Aldi's, although we have two nearby. I'm not much of a shopper.

Glad you got some rain, we could use some. Maybe we'll get lucky today.

Wish I could help you eat some of that salad. Sounds scrumptious!

Laurie said...

I've never been into clothes shopping, but do love the thrill of finding food bargains. We got 1/2" of rain. It rumbled and rained all around us through the weekend. We're hoping more rain will make it here soon.

D. Ask said...

I enjoy our catch-up time via your weekly blog post. I enjoy bargains shopping in many categories. I seek out functional baskets, textiles, and kitchen and garden things.

Laurie said...

I love all those things too, Denise. I'm happy for your visits.

Jeannie said...

Thank you for the information about the hummingbirds needing a sugar ration of 1 to 3. I have been doing a mixture of 1 to 4 and am changing my mixture now. The raccoon or squirrel (or whatever it is) that is drinking all the syrup out of my deck feeder during the middle of the night will probably appreciate the extra sugar also.
Jeannie@GetMeToTheCountry

Laurie said...

Oh man, as if the wasps weren't enough! The squirrels have figured out a way to get into our squirrel proof feeders. They hang on the pole, so don't put any weight on the feeder, and grab one seed at a time. At least it doesn't empty as fast as they used to!

Suzie Simplelife said...

Such a shame your salad didn't get eaten up....great idea to make a smaller one next time. Food waste is rampant in our western society.. Lucky you having hummingbirds to feed. :-)