July 17, 2008

Assorted updates first!

First of all, I would like to give a shout out to “Mary” who took the time to e-mail me today through this website to ask if Ryan liked camp. Wow - someone other than just my wonderful former spouse reads this schtuff. Thank you, Mary! Read on #1 fan!!

I picked up Ryan from his 3 days away at college graphic camp yesterday. He was at the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport, PA - home of little league baseball championship games, the college and a WEGMAN’s of all things. For those of you NOT familiar with Wegman’s, let’s just say we have one here and the store is amazing. They make tons of fresh food on premise and carry abut everything you could possibly need. It is an adventure every time we go there.

The drive was a blur because I hitched with friends who had business up there, coincidentally, and I took Dramamine before I left because I have horrible backseat motion sickness. I was knocked out. Ryan was awaiting our arrival by the dorms with his advisor. I was happy to see him, but I restrained the mother and child reunion. He got in (”Yo…”) and we went to lunch at a place called Haywoods. They are Food Network Channel famous for their HUGE portions. (Thank God I did not pack my Kitchrics scale and start weighing stuff.) My friend Mike (our driver) had a burger named after a football player - it was like a pound of beef topped with sausage, peppers, onions, mushroom, assorted melted cheeses and 2 fried eggs. And a side of onion rings. Heart attack on a bun. Yep, he ate it! I got my favorite Reuben - although I only ate the handcut fries and picked at the slaw on the sandwich. Brought the rest home. Ryan had a cheesesteak and I ate his onions and mushrooms on the sly. Filled me up. Renee had a huge turkey wrap, oh, and we got the world’s largest hot dog to bring home to Andy. It was ginormous — footlong topped with chili, beans, kraut, onions, relish, ketchup, mustard, cheese sauce. Weighed about 5 pounds.

If that was not enough, we stopped first at another local landmark - Mr. Sticky’s. They make these addictive sticky buns. I ordered one of each to bring home - regular, walnut, cream cheese and peanut butter with chocolate shavings. And an extra cup of cream cheese frosting. I waited until 7 p.m. last night to try the plain one. I ate all of it in an hour AND the frosting. My pancreas is not happy with me today! And neither is Andy because he had not seen me all day and I was asleep by 8 p.m. TOO MUCH SUGAR!!! I slept through Wife Swap and Super Nanny!

(OK … I have officially outed myself to the wonderful peeps who have hired me to shoot an infomercial for them in 5 weeks … no worries. I will NOT eat anymore junk!)

I power walked an hour this morning in the heat. I love the heat!! Feels good to sweat it all out. I think my droplets running down my face tasted like cream cheese frosting. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm. If only!

It has been awhile since I updated the Green Hills Farm. We are so happy with the way everything is working up there. Just enough rain to keep all of the established plants moist. Save for a few baby lettuces, we have not lost much in our first year. We are learning … I think the only thing we would have done differently thus far is plant the brussel sprouts in the back. They are huge plants and they are overgrowing our pathway.  They take a long time to mature, as well.

The tomatoes, all 90 plus of them, are growing like weeds - still. That is another issue. We staked all of them early on, but they overgrew them. Andy had to build make-shift cages out of wood surrounding the highrisers. They are all starting to get top heavy and bend, but we are not trying to do anything to stop that natural flow for fear we will break stems. I have been growing tomatoes for years and I have never had such a yield. Most of the plants, especially all of the smaller cherry varieties, are crammed with fruit. We have picked and eaten maybe 20 little ones so far. The Sugar Lumps, Grape, Juliet and Yellow Pear are all ripe.

Broccoli, cauliflower, first batch of arugula have all gone to seed. I want to pull it all out and prep for a fall crop, but Andy insists on seed collection. Our Napa cabbage is HUGE and ready to pick. We also have a great crop of green and red cabbage, cucumbers, green and yellow zucchini and spaghetti squash.

Having a garden is like having kids. These plants, mostly, were raised from seeds we started and it is truly like watching your babies grow and have babies. If you have never seen baby fruits and veggies - oh, my goodness. Is there anything cuter than a baby watermelon??? All of the squashes, melons, pumpkins and gourds have huge leaves and they are taking over the lower half of the garden now. We cannot walk in between the rows to admire the fruits of their labors. There is fruit and buds on everything now.

The flower gardens are breathtaking - most especially all of the coneflowers. I have every variety planted and it is a mix of color. Black-eyed Susans just starting to open and the daylilies we transplanted from my former yard have done well.

I started canning last week. I put up 8 jars of bread and butter pickles made with our cukes and 5 jars of raspberry jam made from wineberries we found near Andy’s business and a mix of local raspberries. I also made a big batch of fresh basil pesto as our basil is overgrowing, too! Canning is sooooo easy and it is fun to eat your own stuff. I will be making peach jam soon. My friend from QVC kitchen, Chris Pryme (the Lock and Lock Lady) and I get all of our peaches fresh from an amish farm this time of year. She has a goat farm in New York State and a huge garden of her own. She cans EVERYTHING - salsas, tomato sauce … she is amazing.

We will be farming new few weeks. Always lots to do, but it has helped to heavily mulch with newspapers and leaves. Had to swipe a big stack from a neighbors recycling pile today! Feels good to not use chemicals and it helps keep the weeds down. Soon we will have a plethora of fresh tomatoes. Looking forward to that.

Happy weekend!

ml