Aunt Debbi"s Garden

Snow

2009-12-24T22:27:00.001-08:00

It snowed all day here. Very little of it stuck, but the monkeys scraped up enough to make a few snowballs. Loved seeing them have snow on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas y'all.

Merry Christmas Y'all

2009-12-24T11:56:00.000-08:00

We Wish You a Merry♪♫•¨•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•¨•♫♪ Christmas♪♫•¨•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•¨•♫♪We Wish You a Merry ♪♫•¨•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•¨•♫♪Christmas ♥ ♥ ♥We Wish You A Merry ♪♫•¨•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•¨•♫♪Christmas ♪♫•¨•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•¨•♫♪...And A Happy New Year!♪♫•¨•.¸¸♥ ¸¸.•¨•♫♪...

Merry Christmas to all of my Blogging friends.

What a Difference a Few Years and Some Organic Matter Makes

2009-12-18T14:07:00.000-08:00

I bought this house and started this garden 13 years ago. The native soil is clay. Well it might have been better before the years of cotton farming. However, after that, all that was left of the soil was clay. Over the years I have amended this soil with tons of compost. I used to dig it into each plot a couple of times a year. I don't do that anymore. I just mulch with finished compost, shredded leaves, coffee grinds or the neighbors grass clippings. The soil is now beautiful, friable, drains well and smells good. It is a pleasure to work in it. Weeds pull out easily and flowers, herbs and vegetable thrive.

Today I went and volunteered to work at the local middle school. The campus is less than I mile from our home. There is a very dedicated teacher who is leading the Environmental Club. She and the club put in a flower bed in front of the school last spring. They amended the soil with compost and used mulch. Today we were planting tulip bulbs in that flower bed. Under that heavy layer of mulch was wet, sticky, heavy clay. I think it could have been used as modeling clay. It stuck to everything and had no humus at all. After a few years of mulching, they will have the same crumbly, sweet soil I have in my garden.

I hope those children don't get discouraged by that soil and give up gardening.

Driving the Slug Bug

2009-12-04T15:11:00.000-08:00

We have a 1971 VW Super Beetle. We bought it at a pawn shop (not kidding). It is Manly’s daily driver and I think it is the cutest thing ever. It has been blue, green, gray and striped. Right now it is white and has oversized fenders. Obviously, this is a work in progress which may never be a “completed” project.

Most days I drive the truck and Manly takes the motorcycle. Today it was bitter cold. There is not a heater in the bug, so I told him to take the truck and I would do the fetching and delivering of the monkeys with the bug.

The little guys walk across the street to school, but Teenage Monkey needs a ride. The little bug didn’t want to start because of the cold, but we got it on the road. It was fun watching kids walking to school stop and punch each other playing the slug-a-bug game.

This afternoon, I had to run a few errands and needed to put the bug on the highway. This can be a challenge because sometimes it’s get up and go has got up and went. It did just fine today.

There is a certain way a old VW sounds, smells and feels. When I was a little girl, my dad had an old bug. It had a hole in the floorboard. We could watch the road go buy under us. I remember riding along while the hum and vibration of the thing made me sleepy. Baby Monkey road along with me today. I looked over and he was barely awake. It has the same effect on him that it had on me when I was a little girl.

Thanksgiving.

2009-11-26T20:24:00.001-08:00

I am grateful for.

My amazing enormous family
My wonderful husband
Our house full of critters
All the plants who grow, it seems, just to make me happy
Good food
A great job
Wonderful friends both in my physical and virtual worlds
Being asked for my ID to buy beer today. Kid says, 1964, really, you don't look it. I wanted to kiss his face.

Why I am not Sewing Tonight

2009-11-25T19:08:00.001-08:00

We interrupt this quilt to bring you entitled cat. We will be back to sewing as soon as her majesty moves her butt.

I Feel Like a Real Heal

2009-11-19T21:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, I've been a really bad garden blogger. My feed has been messed up for months. I tried to fix it once or twice, but then gave up.

Today, I went over to Blotanical and found some messages and sweet things and I just feel terrible about it. I really do miss it, but can't figure out how to fix the problem.

Hopefully, I will figure this our OR somebody will save me.

Sorry Y'all.

Bleary Eyed in Texas

2009-11-16T20:01:00.000-08:00

Dear Eye Glasses Guru,

I really need your help.

Last year, at this time was about the last time I worked on a quilt. Just about that time I started working at the library. With my amazing time management skills, I managed to find Facebook instead of quilting time. Durn.

This last week, I began quilting again. This is perfect timing because I have reached the level of virtual farming in which you cannot spend your entire day at said activity without starting another game. (two of my friends have signed up their dogs, not kidding). Virtual farming is a Facebook book thing in case you were wise enough to avoid that internet crack.

Anyway, so now I am quilting again. Yet, something shifted between last year and this year and it seems to be my eyesight. Last year I used reading glasses only to thread needles. This year, I kind of need them to quilt.

Here is the problem, I have awful reading glasses skills. I have seen professionals use them. They have them perched on the end of their noses looking all wise and capable. I perched them on the end of my nose, forgot to look up and smacked myself in the head with the quilting hoop when everything went blurry.

I have cleaned off my desk top several times because of crazy depth perception. A glass of water ended up in the floor - I missed just by a little.

My eyes really hurt right now, I’ve strained them pretty bad. If you have any advise on the use and maintenance of reading glasses please please pass it on.

No, I don't need them to actually read yet. Maybe I missed a step.

Sincerely ,

Bleary eyed in Texas

Garden Tour With Kiddos

2009-11-12T20:31:00.000-08:00

This morning we had a tour of our Garden Learning Center in Kaufman. The group that visited was the Crandall Middle School Environmental Club. Yes, Middle Monkey is a member. He could barely contain himself. A lot of pictures were taken, but I cannot publish pictures of other peoples children and I really looked mean. Apparently, I take garden tours very seriously or I need a pair of sunglasses.

The kids were great. The sorted their lunch trash for recycling. They were polite and well spoken. Only one of them acted like a punk. When I pointed out his punkishness, the peer pressure to straighten up was immediate and effective. Never saw it work that way before, AWESOME.

We explained the rainwater harvesting systems, irrigation systems, rain garden and plant groupings by water requirements.

This is why I love being a master gardener.

Happy Anniversary

2009-11-11T18:14:00.001-08:00

Here is my veteran with his quilt from the Kaufman Quilt Guild. I married him 12 years ago today. Best decision I ever made.

Composting In Situ

2009-11-08T16:14:00.000-08:00

We are having the most fabulous fall weather. I've been down with a bad bad cold for a couple of weeks and have not been able to truly enjoy it.

Today I sat outside on my handy dandy gardening stool and weeded the pepper beds The soil is fabulous. The only thing I have done differently is mulch with the neighbors grass clippings. The grass clippings I put on earlier this summer have completely broken down leaving soft, friable, rich dirt. The peppers are so loaded with fruit that they are laying over on the ground from the weight.

The leaves are falling from all of our trees so I added those to the grass clippings and mulched the beds again. I also got a huge back of coffee grounds from a local coffee shop and spread those everywhere, not even bothering to compost them. I think I will call this method composting in situ.

Honoring Service and Sacrifice

2009-11-06T16:05:00.000-08:00

A young man from Terrell, Texas was killed in Afganistan recently. His name was Shawn McNabb and he was an army staff Sgt. I have heard news of his death in the local news a couple of times and was sad, but not truly touched by this young man.

This morning I went to work on the CSA farm, Eden's Garden with Marie, the farmer. We were just beginning to sort veggies for shares when she received a phone call from a neighbor. I hear only her side of the conversation that went something like, " Yes I've got a flag. I might have a red white and blue shirt. I'm going to bring a farm volunteer with me." After locating a red sweatshirt for me and a shirt with a flag design on it for Marie, we gathered up a couple of flags and loaded up in the truck.

We we went to gather with many others on an overpass along I20 to observe the funeral procession of Sgt McNabb. I expected a couple of people on the bridge, what I found when we got there was amazing. Fire trucks lining the bridges and people standing side by side holding flags. We only knew one of the dozens of people who lined that bridge, but it didn't matter. I learned later that there were groups on the overpasses in Terrell, Forney, Balch Springs and Mesquite. One of my neighbors was with a group at the beginning in Terrell.

At first we talked and took pictures. When the lights of the squad cars leading the procession came into view, everyone became silent. There were too many vehicles in the procession to count. Many veterans road in the process on motorcycles. Some of those men solemnly waved to us and there were a scattering of salutes.

After the funeral had passed, we were all in tears and hugging complete strangers. It was the most amazing/sad thing I have ever been a part of. I was glad to join this group to honor that young man's service and sacrifice.

This and That

2009-11-01T11:22:00.000-08:00

I found this butterfly coming out of it's chrysalis a couple of days ago. We are having the most beautiful fall weather perfect for gardeners and butterflies alike. My cool season veggies have been in for a few weeks and are doing beautifully. The broccoli is already more than a foot tall and the cabbage about eight inches across. I planted onions, but I cannot remember where.

Hope you are all having a wonderful fall.

Does anyone know when sweet potatoes need to be dug up?

2009-10-28T09:20:00.000-07:00

Recently, I have not had as much time for blogging. I have been using my blogging time to work out. Yes, every day I have been going to the gym and trying to take care of this middle aged body that is showing signs of breaking down if I don't take drastic measures.

I've shared before that my blood pressure has been a problem. Well, recent lab work revealed some other potential problems with triglycerides and blood sugar. Nothing is at crisis level, just needs to be turned around now.

This is week three and I have lost six pounds, my blood pressure has responded nicely and I have much much more energy throughout the day. The added energy has led to more working in the garden, which looks pretty good if I do say so myself.

Two other very weird but great things happened (guys you might want to stop reading now). I started having hot flashes about two years ago. Not severe, but annoying as hell. I have not had a hot flash in three weeks. The only thing that has changed is the exercise. Also, I have really badly calloused feet. They split and crack looking awful and hurt terribly. My feet are now nice and smooth. It has to be wearing tennis shoes and socks every day.

I will get back to garden blogging soon. Maybe not as frequently as before, but I miss it and y'all.

Teach A Boy to Grow Garlic

2009-10-16T15:47:00.000-07:00

My Middle Monkey has a good friend. I am very grateful for this good friend. He has a wonderful family. I have known his grandmother for years. She is a member of our local garden club and a lovely women.

They have a love of music in common. Last week they practiced their instruments (clarinet and saxophone) outside in the back yard. It caused the neighbor to believe that a cow was being murdered in our yard, but I digress.

These boys spend a lot of time together. Last weekend, my boy went on a Boy Scout camp out with his friend and his friend's parents. Tonight, the friend is spending the night with us.

This afternoon, I talked the two of them into planting my garlic for me. The friend said he had not seen garlic in cloves before. I let them pull the papers off and separate the cloves. I told them to plant the cloves pointy side up about five inches apart. Then, I set them loose in the garden.

They are teaching my son to survive in the woods. I am teaching their son to grow his own food.

Win Win

Smelly Monkeys

2009-10-15T20:26:00.000-07:00

In the ongoing saga of "make these boys leave my stuff alone" I bought pink socks and some pomegranate body wash. Guess what the boys smell like tonight? Somebody help me.

Fog Flowers

2009-10-14T06:53:00.000-07:00

The rain has slowed and everything is deep dark green. We have had only one sunny day this month. The roses have their faces turned down away from the wet fog. Me too.

The First Pair of Boots

2009-10-12T11:32:00.000-07:00

I remember getting my first pair of boots. I’m not talking about cute boots to wear to school, I am talking about my first pair of work boots. They were thick leather and tough. Those boots could stand up to Mesquite tree thorns. I needed them to ride horses and work cattle. These were no girlie boots. If I had been a boy, I’d have gotten the same kind of boots. My Dad took me to get them on our way to my grandparents farm/ranch. This was during the spring, when we had to work calves. I love those boots, still have them and they still fit. I was 13 when we bought them so that makes them more than 30 years old. They have not been out of the closet in years. I think I need to get out some saddle soap and clean them up, just for old times sake.

Yesterday, I took Baby Monkey to Eden’s Garden, the CSA farm we joined as a work share. He has had boots, but not work boots. He did not need cowboy boots, he needed mud boots. We stopped on our way and bought him a pair so he could work with we me on the farm.

After a couple of weeks of heavy rains, everything was sopping wet. We worked together in the muck and the mud. We planted 80 cabbages. I hand picked cucumber beetles and he squished them for me. Finally, he picked some tomatoes while I planted some beets. He seemed to enjoy himself, and it was much less messy that working cattle. It was muddy, but at least it wasn’t muddy, bloody and smelly.

Pockets a Pet Story

2009-10-09T16:02:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Manly took me out to eat breakfast at the Cotton Gin. As the name would imply, the eatery is in an old cotton gin. We were driving on the service road of 175 and a tiny kitten was cowering right in the middle of the road. There are no houses anywhere near this spot. Someone, who has earned some seriously bad karma, had dumped this little black calico kitten. She was bound to get run over or die of thirst. When I say tiny, I mean about the size of a tennis ball tiny.

Without even looking at me, my man pulled over. I jumped out and scooped the poor little thing up. She did not run away, that's right, this kitten is not wild (how bad should that karma be?).

When I tried to feed she choked because she was trying to wolf it down too fast. We got her a little wet food, which I usually don't feed, but she is just too little for the hard stuff. I put a tiny litter box made from the lid of a Tupperware container. She immediately used it. That's right people, this kitten is litter trained(evil dark karma?). Did I mention, she is about as big as a tennis ball.

I posted our situation on Facebook, and had a home for her within an hour. She will be living with my best friend. Sometime this weekend, she will go to her new home. We are just trying not to get too attached to the little thing. The picture above is her hanging out in the pocket of Teenage Monkey's hoodie. We are calling her pockets now, but I am sure Meme will come up with a better name.

This Time Somebody Has Gone Too Far

2009-10-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

I have to share a bathroom with the Monkeys. I do have my own vanity and sink, but it is only sacred ground to me. To them, it is a science experiment. My makeup, perfume and moisturizers are the chemicals. One time, they put my makeup and perfume on the dog. That’s right, eye shadow, blush and Chanel #5 on a German shepherd.

Last week one of them ~~Baby Monkey~~ who will remain unnamed put the baby powder in the bathtub while he was taking a bath. He also used all of my fancy spa bath gel. He smelled really good, but he looked a little ashy.

There has been tooth paste on the toilet lid. The shower curtain and a towel were once caught on fire. There is always a layer of water, dirty clothes and the smelliest sneakers I have ever smelled in my life on the floor in there.

Once a week I have a fit and fall in it. Then, and only then, they clean it up.

They have gone to far this time. ~~Baby Monkey~~ Someone is messing with my hair stuff. The reason this is important is because you should not mess with a woman’s hair stuff just on principle. However, when a woman has curly hair, the hair stuff takes on a whole new level of importance. Curly haired women need products, lots of products. On a mildly humid day just a little mousse might work just fine. On a rainy windy day gel, smoothing serum and a cream detangler may be necessary. Every once in a while a ponytail and pomade will make for the perfect hair day. This happens about three times a year. Those are very special days. Most days, I am just trying to keep it from looking like a bushy tailed squirrel is living on my head.

I am considering running away to an all female convent where all the nuns have curly hair and take a vow of leaving each others stuff alone.

Mole Sauce

2009-10-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

The peppers, they were labeled wrong. I was supposed to get Serrano, habanero, and jalapeno. I got habanero, jalapeno, and cayenne. So my After Burner sauce will be missing the Serranos this year. I also had to figure out what to do with the cayenne peppers. I concocted a hot season salt with them that has yet to get a decent name. Trish suggested George. Silly.

I am finally harvesting the jalapeno peppers. I usually just preserve them in a little white vinegar, but there is always way too much left over every year. I hate wasting them. So I did a little searching and found Mole (Mo Lay) sauce. This sounded good. For my version I roasted five jalapenos on our grill and then dehydrated them. Then I placed them in our food dehydrator over night. I was planning on storing them or I would have skipped that step.

This morning I decided to try a mole sauce. I put the peppers in our mini crock pot and added about a cup of water and 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar. After a couple of hours I added 1/3 cup of brown sugar, fresh ground black pepper, 1/4 teaspoon each nutmeg, paprika, cinnamon, and, for lack of a better name, George salt. I let this simmer for another couple of hours and then used my wand blender to blend in the peppers. Then I added about 1/2 a cup of ketchup. That's right ketchup. I baked some chicken with this sauce and it was lovely.

Don't be hatin on the ketchup. My mama makes the best barbaque sauce ever with ketchup as the base.

Beautiful Storm

2009-10-01T18:26:00.001-07:00

A beautiful storm blew in this evening. First the wind brought the black and gray clouds, which layered over a pink and gold sunset. As it turned dark, the full moon floated over the high clouds. Lightening reflected green off of the black clouds and white off of the gray clouds. This is the most beautiful storm I have ever seen.

Turf War

2009-09-28T09:40:00.001-07:00

The yard, it is out of control. Have I mentioned that? Everyday, I pick an area and cleaning it up. The side yard was yesterday. There are three antique rose bushes, Sweet Autumn clematis and artemisia along the fence next to our town's lovely ditches.

One of the rose bushes is Dr. Van Fleet, a grandparent of New Dawn. This plant is a killer. It puts out eight foot long canes and roots wherever it touches soil. It has thorns as big as thumb tacks - Not just the poky part of the thumbtack, the whole thumbtack. The artemisia was given to me as Sweet Annie artemisia, WRONG. It is the invasive Artemisia vulgaris now ~~taking over~~ growing in my yard. So I have two killer plants growing right next to each other.

Here is the problem, the Dr. Van Fleet rose bush and the artemisia decided to have a turf war. Literally a turf war, they grew out into the tiny little bit of grass that is left on that side of the house. The rose attacked with its fierce thorns and the artemisia used a smothering tactic. What a mess. Something had to be done to break up this fight.

I waded into the fray and started cleaning up the neglected, shameful mess. The artemisia pulls up very easily and it smells good. The problem is it was covering up the very thorny rose canes. I am wounded, but they are only flesh wounds and the side yard is actually a yard again. The artemisia smells good and will make lovely fall wreathes.

Hopefully, the rest of the clean up will be less dangerous.

Blotanical Awards - You Made Me Feel Special

2009-09-26T17:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, I am going to have to start paying better attention. Yesterday the lovely Becca congratulated me on the nomination. Did I mention we were tweeting on twitter? I was all, "What?" She went on to tweet that I had been nominated for a Blotanical award. Well you could have knocked me over with a feather because my feeds don't even work over there right now. THANKS BLOTANICAL, I love you.

The nomination is for the Best Texas Blog category. I fully expect to by completely trounced by all of the other nominees. Those gals can write and take pictures. The others are Digging, Zanthan Gardens, The Bicycle Garden , and Great Stems. They are all fine blogs and bloggers.

I am not here to ask for a vote. I am pretty sure I have a snowballs chance in Texas in August to win this thing. But do go check them out and do a little voting if you are registered on Blotanical.

I have already voted so don't try to bribe me;)

Weeds, Mosquitoes and Hummingbirds

2009-09-25T17:28:00.001-07:00

We have had a lot of rain. Now we also have a lot of mosquitoes. The other outcome of all of this rain is an overgrowth of weeds. My yard is out of control. Manly and the Monkeys took care of our tiny front lawn, which is a lovely St. Augustine. The side yards, flower beds, and back yard look like jungles. I worked on the side yard this evening until the mosquitoes ran me off. Pulled about half of the knee high weeds. Did I mention those mosquitoes are as big around as quarters. They hoover right near my face.

Along with all the weeds and mosquitoes, the hummingbirds have arrived. They are floating around the salvia and Turks cap blooms and just make me happy. I wish they would eat the mosquitoes.

As soon as I get this yard back under control I will post some pictures. Right now, it is just to embarrassing.

Happy Fall Y'all.