1919 American Four Square

Preserving The Harvest

Karen — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:37:12 +0000

It’s been forever since I’ve posted, I know (I know!). Busy summer and busy fall. We are finishing up the canning…just apples and squash left. I’ll post more on the garden totals next time. A really good harvest this year.

I am making it a goal this year to update both this and my And Another Thing blog on a regular basis.

Technorati Tags: canning, Garden, harvest, preserving

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Diggin’ in the dirt…

Karen — Sun, 24 May 2009 23:54:47 +0000

Putting in the garden. Some of the plants got a little nipped by a rogue frost last week, but seem to have survived.

We have doubled the size of the garden this year. The DR Power Tiller has made this possible. We have sections of the garden area that are very heavy in clay. I don’t think we could have increased the size in time for plant with our walk behind tiller. I’ll post pictures later, but here’s a run down of what is planted in the ‘big’ garden so far:

Peas and Beans

Alaska peas (6)

California Black Eyed Cow Peas (9)

Kentucky Wonder Bean (11)

Misc. Veg

Brussel Sprouts (3)

Cauliflower (3)

Golden Acre Cabbage (3)

Green Comet Broccoli (3)

Onion (2)

Peppers

Baby Bell (2)

Excusion II (2)

Flamingo (2)

Garden Salsa (4)

Jalapeno (2)

Marcato (2)

Summer Sweet (2)

Sweet Banana

Valencia Orange (2)

Corn

Honey Pearl (6)

Peaches & Cream (27)

Ruby Red (19)

Sugar Dots (12)

Eggplant

Fairy Tale

Gretel

Tomatos

Alaska Fancy

Amish Paste (7)

Berkley Tie Dye

Big Rainbow (4)

Black Sea Man (4)

Black Zebra

Caro Rich

Carolina Gold (2)

Celebrity

Purple Cherokee (2)

Dr. Wyche

Glacer

Green Zebra (2)

Husky Gold

Jubilee

Mortgage Lifter

Mr. Stripey 92)

Northern Lights (2)

Old German (3)

Primo Red (2)

Red Currant (2)

Roma (2)

SubArctic (3)

Super Bush

Waspinicon Peach

Yellow

Technorati Tags: Alaska Peas, Alaskan Fancy, amish paste, bean, Berkley Tie Dye, Big Rainbow, Black Sea Man, Black Zebra, Brussel Sprouts, California Black Eyed Cow Peas, Caro Rich, Carolina Gold, Cauliflower, Celebrity, Cherokee Purple, Dr. Wyche, Excusion II, Fairy Tale, Flamingo, Garden Salsa, Glacier, Golden Acre Cabbage, Green Comet, green zebra, Gretel, Honey Pearl, Husky Gold, Jalapeno, Jubilee, Kentucky Wonder Bean, Marcato, mortgage lifter, Mr. Stripey, northern lights, Old German, Onion, Peaches & Cream, peppers, Primo Red, Red Current, Red Ruby, Roma, Sugar Dots, Summer Sweet, Super Bush, Sweet Banana Pepper, tomato, Valencia Orange, Waspinicon Peach, Yellow Tomato

Remembering Mama

Karen — Sun, 10 May 2009 11:48:30 +0000

Miss you Mama;

Love,

Karen & Dennis

Technorati Tags: Mama, Mom, Mother, Mother's Day, Rememberance

Alpacas and tomatoes

Karen — Sun, 03 May 2009 12:01:35 +0000

As I twittered yesterday, Dennis & I went out and about on a couple of errands yesterday. We went back to the farmer who we had bought those tremendous tomato plants last year. You know the ones, they grew about 5 feet tall and 4 feet wide and gave us tomatoes well past the first frost. You remember:

That’s about a third of what we planted…

See here, here and here for the whining and photos.

So we picked up some new plants and then took the scenic route home. We went through Vermillion, Ohio and lo and behold, right there in downtown, an alpaca shop! Who knew? We went in and came out with – alpaca. No, not the animal, just some roving. AND, it was 20% off my entire order.

Tried spinning it last night. It went okay. I did some internet research, and as always, came up with inconsistent information. Spin fast, spin slow, overtwist, not too much twist. Sigh. I’ll just have to play with it and see.

Technorati Tags: alpaca,tomato,spinning

On Spring and Dogs and Frogs

Karen — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 10:12:55 +0000

It was 81 degrees here yesterday. 81! The yard got its’ first hair cut of the season this week and some of the roses have broken dormancy. It’s supposed to be really nice here this weekend. Much lawn work will ensure. The sweet music of dogs barking at squirrels will begin.

Apparently some frogs have decided that our teeny, tiny pond is a hotel. They were singing (loudly) late into the night.

Ah, spring!

Technorati Tags: gardening, Ohio, roses, spring

On Gardening and Global Warming

Karen — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:14:02 +0000

I keep saying to myself that I need to sit down and plan out the expanded garden. It will be roughly 4 times the size of last year and I need to figure out what will go where and when things need to get in the ground.

However, global warming has not arrived in Northern Ohio as yet. And although it is not snowing, there’s a cold rain falling that is right on the edge.

It’s hard to map out the garden when it does not appear it will ever be warm enough to plan anything.

Technorati Tags: gardening, spring, vegetables, winter

GE Monitor Top Repair

Karen — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 01:44:46 +0000

Does anyone know of a good resource for monitor top refrigerator repair?

Technorati Tags: Refrigerator,monitor top,GE,appliances

From Victory Garden to Kick Them Where It Hurts Garden!

Karen — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 00:02:25 +0000

I think I mentioned in my last post that we were planning a much bigger garden this year. Like, much bigger.

Here’s how we are going to make that happen:

Out with the old Troybilt tiller, in with the tow-behind DR PowerTiller.

Oh.
Yeah.

Technorati Tags: DR Power Tiller, gardening, vegetable garden

Off We Go

Karen — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 11:05:08 +0000

We’re ramping back up on finishing the downstairs half bath and maybe (fingers crossed) making more progress on the kitchen . I believe the only reason this may be so is that we are realizing that outdoor chores are coming fast (we are planting a much bigger garden this year) and we need to wrap some stuff up inside. Check back this weekend, I’m posting pictures for good or ill.

Technorati Tags: Renovations

Blogging thru iPod

Karen — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 15:36:28 +0000

I am trying the WordPress app for iPod.

If it can help me with the occasional post on the fly … That’d be nifty!

Technorati Tags: blog, iPod Touch, iTunes app