Harvest continues slowly

Shredded

3 lb cabbage

This weekend was pickle-making time. Made three kinds of pickles.

This is our first year growing cabbage. Much to Nelson's dismay, since not much of a cabbage lover, we were given a number of cabbage plants that got put in his part of the garden. The plants got big and then suddenly there were heads of cabbage. Harry Joe, our local go-to gardener, told us we could harvest in August when the heads became firm. I tested out a few this morning and decided to harvest two of them.  It's an art, I guess but hope to get better at it.  The first one I cut open probably was a little early to pick; it could have been denser, but was usable never-the-less. The other one was definitely ready.

So it was Sauerkraut Day. First, I made brine with salt, water and vinegar. Then I removed the outer leaves - they are quite tough. Then you shred the cabbage and pack in jars. You then pour the brine over the cabbage, put the tops on loosely and store them someplace where if they overflow, there is no problem. They are out in my fruit cellar. Made 5 quarts from the two cabbage heads.  Will check them periodically to see how they are doing and in 2-3 weeks they should be ready. Then they get processed to seal the jars.   Hope it comes out. HJ says it's delicious when done this way - his family recipe.



could have been denser


Also picked green beans and some peppers today, but not enough to bother canning yet.  We had some for dinner. Lots of little green beans forming, so will check again Wednesday for more.  Gave Luci a couple zucchinis, even those are growing slowly.

Brine added; now fermenting

Tomatoes are really not doing well. Get little tastes but won't be canning from my garden this year, until the romas get ripe, if ever. Lots of little romas out there, but green as can be. The early girls are not doing well - think they have blight.

I'm not sure we ever got into the 70's today. It's seemed chilly to me all day.  Yes I am a wimp.

July 26, 2013

Finishing the walk -
Max was most tired I think
 

This has been a busy week. Two of my sisters and their husbands were here since Sunday/Monday. We had a long walk the first day that Robin and Dom were here and sometimes shorter walks on other days!

We visited with a lot of family- cousins (Jimmy, Margaret Enid and Bud), second cousins (Mary Jane and George), neighbors (Cathy & Doug, Gina & Ted, Harry Joe and Alana), and of course, my in-laws (Luci & Butch). The visit to their house - a work in progress - is always a highlight for my family visitors. 

We also went to the farmers market in Rural Retreat on Wednesday.  Met the folks who have the Cobb Alpaca Farm - located on old Umberger property. Stafford Umberger built an A-frame house there that Mary Jane and George used as a vacation spot and sold to the current owners. I bought eggs from these folks and Blueberries from Henley's blueberry farm (Matney Flats).  Robin noticed on the wall that there

was letterhead paper from the Spence-Ward, formerly the Lindsey Company - this firm sold vegetables, eggs, cabbage, etc.  Picture is hard to see because of the glare.  We also talked to Ellen Brown Schack and Evelyn Lahman at the registration table.

Some rain evenings and mornings but not enough to stop Dominic, Jonathan and me from playing tennis - first doubles with Lea Thompson as our fourth, and then Mary Jane the next day. And finally a valiant effort at singles by Jonathan and me, which we cut short for lack of time and lack of energy.

Dorothy took this great picture of the view from the front of our house. This faces west and in the evening, the sun sets right down this creek-line.

The wonderful new Sunset View sign, made last year by Jonathan and Lynley finally got put up. Yeah!  Now everyone must have their picture taken with it! Looks great.

Nelson, Ginny, Max



Dorothy & Jonathan

Robin & Dom

Dorothy, Jon, Nelson and I went on Thursday to a play at the Barter; silly but fun. Then stopped on the way home at the Black Rooster, the restaurant at the Francis Marion Hotel in Marion, Va.


Set of the play, Southern Fried Funeral at Barter Theater

At Black Rooster



At Black Rooster

The Turks Head Lilies continue to bloom - only a few of them, but so spectacular!



Once everyone is gone it's off to Wytheville to file the new deed and get some supplies.

Then into the garden to pick beans, tomatoes (though there are very few), cucumbers, zucchini, squash, lettuce, and peppers. And the first time using the pressure cooker to can.

Now I've figured out how many beans I need for a full load and how long canning beans will really take - much longer than I thought.
 It's definitely an art to get the pressure cooker to be at the right pressure during the canning process. Now I know why so many people use the cannery. But, you'd need to have a big crop though to make that worthwhile, I think.

In between, I was doing some research on questions that have come up about history and family roots. (See about the letterhead above) By accident found some information about some family tombstones that might be the same tombstones that Kathy is finding on her property, so have given the info to her. Think the names on them are  from Olive's mother's family- the Earharts.  We think that Doug may be related to Olive through Olive's mother while we are related through Olive's father, Seldon Repass. Chloe Spence, our grandmother, and Olive Anna Repass Brown were first cousins.  Everyone here seems to be extended family somehow!



Cut the cukes

Salt and ice the cukes for B&B

Once the beans were done, then it's on to making pickles. Started with bread and butter pickles. And next day made Harry Joe's pickle recipe - not quite as sweet - but sweeter than dill (my favorite).  Will need to taste the HJ ones in a few weeks to see how I like them.

Today is rainy so not sure how Heritage Day in Rural Retreat will make out. Some good entertainment tonight so hope it clears up!




July 18th - and it's Hot this week

Butch on Mae

Well the days of nice coolness are over I guess, though still cool at night so can't complain too much.

Leigh on Mae

Me on Mae

My husband's nephew and his family are in Rural Retreat visiting Nelson's sister and we've spent some time with them this week which has been fun. We went to our neighbors farm - he raises - mules and got mule rides and learned more about gardening.. We all rode the same Mule - the best trained fortunately.  The kids rode first but didn't have my camera then. We went home hot, tired and with a "mess" of potatoes pulled up and given to each of us while we were admiring his garden.


Leigh, Emma, Max

Anthony just watched



Luci

Then they stopped by for a tour of our house and Butch picked the garlic he grew over the winter which we are sharing.  Ours is in the shed drying.

We had quite s storm last night.. heavy rain, lighting, thunder. Never saw Max so afraid, but he sure was last night. Had to remove the fan from the bathroom window because the rain was coming right through it onto the bathroom floor. Have never seen it do that before..

Today did some pruning and weeding. Stayed out way too long, but had noticed a bloom on a Turks Head Lily and went out to see the others. Several were so covered with Sweet pea that they were lying on the ground.. After several  tries, found them all I think and they are more upright now..  Hoping they will still bloom.
The garden is now showing promise! We have some green beans that will be ready to pick in another day. I have zucchini, yellow squash, green peppers, banana peppers, some jalapenos - all still small but growing! Long thin cucumbers, have picked a number of these and today our first tomato. It was very sad looking, but once I cut off the skin and top part, it tasted wonderful. Have two more almost ready to pick.


almost ready to pick

First ripe tomato - sad looking but tasty

I was reading a book today and it said this which I love and must put here to remember, " Ah, Nature. Since a garden is an attempt to impose our human sense of order and beauty on nature, it is also the perfect place to discover what ridiculous idea that really is." Dora Galitzki, NY Times Gardening Columnist.   I do learn that every day it seems.
  Butterfly bush is beginning to bloom and already butterflies are flying around it. 

Zucchini

Butterfly Bush











shed fan

  Nelson put a fan in the shed a while ago and I forgot to take a picture. It takes the carbon monoxide out when we use the generator. It also helps cool the shed down a little if we are working in there.. That's all for today.

Rain Rain Go Away

Well this has been the rainiest weather I can ever remember. Weeds and plants are growing like wildfire, but it's muddy and just plan weird!  Garden is slow to produce even though we felt we got it in early.  But there does seem to be some progress.  Spent today (after playing tennis - there are priorities)  and yesterday taking out a lot of weeds and pruning more of the lilacs.  My burn pile is enormous - but we need some dry weather with no wind to burn this stuff.

Green beans in Bloom

semi-crunchy lettuce

 We've been eating two of the three types of lettuce I've planted. The mixed lettuce will be ready in another week or two. Green beans (multiple types) are all in bloom so in a week or two we expect to have some beans. The zucchini is finally growing and there are flowers, but seem to be mostly male. Hopeful that soon something that produces a zucchini will be apparent.  We also have banana peppers and the beginning of green peppers.

  The bugs are very active right now too and I've never seen so many beetles..

Mixed Lettuce

Leaf lettuce and zucchini plants

yellow squash

 The yellow squash is finally producing another squash. The first one rotted on the vine due to so much rain I think, so hopefully this next one will grow bigger.  Has lots of flowers too.

Cukes

And cucumbers (long skinny ones) are now appearing on the vine. Not what I was expecting, but I do have another plant that is slowly growing and I think is a more traditional cucumber.  The long skinny ones have good flavor.

In the yard we still have lilies, phlox, day lilies (yellow and orange), lots of sweet pea (though after today fewer as I've been removing these as fast as I can), Artemisia, asparagus ferns (all these were asparagus I missed picking on time),bittersweet nightshade, yucca, magnolia and Rhododendron in bloom  (though the rain is knocking the flowers off),  and a few annuals around the house that I planted this year.

Cilantro

Hydrangeas



Lavender

harvested lavender



Asparagus Ferns



Rhododendron



Yellow daylilies covered in sweet pea

Yucca



Can't remember bush's name- pretty in flower arrangements

Happy Fourth of July Weekend

It rained on and off on the 4th of July in Rural Retreat and I didn't do any of the traditional 4th things. Instead I met a group of folks from Wytheville and we all went to Bland to play tennis.

Mark Sarver is the coach of the Men's and Women's tennis teams at Bluefield College and has worked or USTA, and many well known tennis clubs. He and his family have a beautiful house and two clay tennis courts on which our group had been invited to come play. There were eight of us so we played doubles.. Five sets later, we sat down to talk and the heavens opened up in Bland.  We had a lot of fun, good tennis, good company, and the weather on the other side of the mountain (in Bland) was just right for tennis.  I think I will go get a lesson or two from him over the summer.

Saturday, though it was back to the hard courts and the WCC - weeds in the cracks and all. Of course I needed a singles match with lots of running and funny bounces as on Friday we finally had our 4th of July cookout with Nelson's sister, Luci, and her husband Butch. Yummy ribs, corn, baked beans, pasta salad, and pie and lemon bars.

Luci and Butch are making lots of progress on their house and have added chickens to their menagerie of animals. First they got two chickens and a rooster and now they have 4 more chickens. The chickens apparently need some adjusting since not one egg has been laid as of this morning.  I didn't have my camera so will have to add pictures later.

In between various others things, I have been recovering the dining room chairs.

Before seat cover

There are six recovered chairs, probably as many holes in my fingers, and lots of debris (in process of cleaning up). I could only take the staples out of one seat a day as this was quite difficult for me and my hands hurt. John's friend, Jimmy, even finished removing staples in one of them for me when my hands were really giving out! But then he went home and I was on my own again.

Chair seat after dust cover removed.



The side rails of the chairs were always covered in what I thought was dust, but once I took the seats off, I realized it was disintegrating foam padding under fabric that was coming out all the time. What a mess that was.  Once everything was taken apart, then I put on a new foam layer, covered with batting, and then with the seat fabric, and finally put the dust cover back on and put the seats back on the chairs.  The stapler broke half way through the job, so had to go buy a new one.


Disintegrated foam- this actually was one
of the less messy ones

with foam and batting



Finished product.

Bottom line is the chairs are recovered and no one would ever guess that a professional did the job. :)  I've just learned one more thing I am not very good at.  Just don't look to close next time you are here.



Went to Abingdon one rainy day this week to browse the antique stores. Saw a chimney cabinet that I was very taken with but wasn't sure I should buy. But after several days of thinking about it decided, I did want it and so went back today and purchased - getting a 25% discount off the asking price.  I brought it home and quickly filled it up.  I think it fits perfectly.  The cabinet that was in this spot is now in the TV room and has dog stuff, vitamins, medicines, and miscellaneous other items in it.

Lots of leaves on my garden plants, but still not seeing much being produced. Maybe soon. Will leave that all for another day. It has to stop raining one of these days.