Veggie garden update, September

It's been busy in the garden this past month, we enjoyed the veggies of our labor, some good and some not so good.

We have had our share of tomatoes, soooo lucky we are, I have yet to hear of anyone else in my area having any. Late blight killed alot of tomatoe crops this year and I can guarantee these will be expensive in the food stores come this winter.

We canned 4 more quarts of beans and on this day we were alittle anxious to test the other veggies, see the small carrots and onion?

And come time for the corn harvest.....

the raccoons beat me to it, somewhere is a well corn fed family of coons, they ate every one all the way around the cobs, well, they overlooked one 3 inch corn. Drats!

They even harassed my onions, trashing the one and only flower they had. I guess they didn't care for the flavor because all were intact, same with the zucchini which had a few claw marks in them.

We kept getting the devil tomatoes off one particular plant!? Try slicing the spawns of Satan or better yet, how do you peel this cuke? Very carefully.

The lettuce was constantly giving and even regrowing, they are a keeper.

More tomatoes.....

And since we were worried about the coons coming back, we pulled the carrots and onions. Both were somewhat smaller than normal but still tasty and there is enough carrots to can!

What to do...what to do...

Okay, we did fine with the zucchini but this is what we got for summer squash and maybe 3 winter squash, so they didn't do well.

Here's the plan, we kept these and canned the others.

It was interesting.

At the last minute we included fresh basil and oregano.

And 10 pints of carrots, which with my family, will last a good 8 months!

Everything looks delicious, matter a fact we used the carrots in a roast meal we had just last weekend. The green beans were to die for also!

The potatoes....ah...er, didn't do so well.

This is a bout 2 thirds of our harvest, out of 3 tires, 3 high. One meal. Say, la, vie.

More tomatoes, I hope it's not appearing as if I'm bragging because that's not the spirit of showing my harvest but really, we are eating tomatoes like apples. I think I might can again.

I clipped most of what was left of the herbs. If I leave these available maybe people will snack and run...!

This is about what my garden has left, half dead, half alive tomato plants with more tomatoes. No gourds //**\\ though.

Three quarter sized peppers and a few tiny cukes and we will be done.

Join my sister at In the Garden for more garden updates, it's on her sidebar.

Unless we do major winter prep for the soil, this maybe my last update until next year. C&G Design

Happy Hydrangea

It's that time of year, and that time of week again. Pink Saturday with cuttings from my happy hydrangea. It's a good ole' reliable shrub the flowers in great big blooms every year, never fail.

Some turn green but most have a lovely shade of pink to them.

I love the perfection this flower has, you can't go wrong with a pee gee and soon enough, mine will be trim to a tree form!

I'm hoping that by doing that the plow truck will miss scaring one side of it.

I could just imagine a mattress of these petals, so soft, so magnificence!

Click on over to Beverly's to see what the PINK is about. C&G Design

pumpkin patch

Okay, I had another one of those days where a quick, away from the sewing machine, project just had to be done. I had this idea..... and a orange remnant, perfect for pumpkins. Using the stool seat as a guide I made 2 twenty inch circles.

A 3 inch round piece of wood with a hole in the center for the straightened hanger I was using.
Glue to the center, wrong side of the fabric.

I gathered the edge of the fabric, not being worried about turning under a hem as the edge won't be seen. Pull thread to tighten around the wire, close enough to allow for a stem to be glue to the hanger. Stuff pumpkin as you go.

Okay....stop. Right now is the reason why I make two crafts at a time. I placed both fabric circles together before cutting, I choose a block of wood I knew would act as a stand, but when it came to the length of the hanger, well that needed cutting once the pumpkin was done and stuffed. I had no idea what size of a pumpkin a 20'' circle would make so I had to deal with the cumbersome end of my wire. Turned out to be 15 inches. Cut a 3'' x 16'' strip of green felt, glue to wire and wrap, gluing as you go. Glue edge of pumpkin to stem.

I truly, truly have NO idea what I'm going to do until it's done. Brainstorming I came up with two drawings, I'd have to make a felt wing for the crow.

Using floral wire I made curly vines out from the top of my pumpkin, later I will cut felt leaves and glue them in strategic places, holding the wire for stability.

I topped my hanger with my stuffed crow, I didn't need to cut a felt wing because I thought the netting would be better. By now I'm smiling to myself because my project is taking shape and it's cute! Stripped paper for a nest worked well also.

My second pumpkin took no time, I had everything cut and ready before I started and that's most of the work.

The witch has a netted cape and a stripped paper broom from a twig. I left one side without wire because I intended to make a Jack-O-Lantern but then I became hesitate. Do you think it needs one? And if so, what kind?

I love this orange fabric, take it from me, it's a cute pumpkin patch.

This set is headed for Etsy, answer my question as if you would buy it. C&G Design.

b-day

We celebrated Madame's birthday last weekend, it's difficult to have a friend party on her actual weekend because another classmate is 6 days before hers and sometimes, depending on how they fall, they end up having a party on the same weekend. So, she has resigned herself to having a get together after school has started and everyone has settled in.
The exciting thing about this year is we had a scavenger hunt, 30 objects and clues like....doo in the pen. (scooby-doo in the fence area around the tree) or lady bugging Santa (lady bug in the gnome Santa sack), it was really challenging to come up with the clues but well worth it in the long run.

I wish I could show other pictures of it but alas, I don't have permission from the party goers, parents.

Look what them girls did to Tartarus! He was exhausted!

We spread activities out as it was a sleepover, the first day had rain showers, so we did cake, and gifts, the second day was sunny and bright. Perfect weather to be outside. Five pre-teen girls can get loud. Here's Madame happy she got this bright yellow bag from a friend but even happier when she found skeins of yarn in it!

And here is a cropped close-up of her face (sorry, my son deleted my regular picture program) when she discovered the "Craft, Singer sewing machine"

Which is actually purple in color. C&G Design.

Awake/Asleep Raggedy Ann

I have a cute story about this awake/asleep Raggedy Ann, I made her in 1997 before Madame was born, she was a prototype and I never did make more than this one. Once Madame came along, it ended up being her doll, that's why her hands are a bit stained and need bleaching, adds to her charm though she is dated and well loved. Well, my husband lost his job suddenly and it forced us to decide we would be open for business as own own company. It was a very rough start, the supplier gave us a $200.00 credit account and I guess......if we needed a quick delivery to the house, that would cover it, but in the heating, service and sales, that's not much credit. Our family suv was a service truck and the broken down flat bed trailer that a friend gave us, transported anything too big or too heavy. At one point it became a time to try for more business recognition, hubby had gone through SCORE (service corps of retired executives) and they helped basically for the things I needed to do, I even wrote his business plan! Anyway, it's hard to get any borrowing power for a company that has no company, no track record, no reputation.

Well, hubby wanted a service truck, a forest green, 1991, Ford, Four by Four, F150. By this time it was 1999, Madame was born and about 9 months old, her brother started school and we were picking up customers. Off to the bank we trudged.

I must say, the VP of commercial lending really wasn't excited about talking to us, he mostly dealt with me, he told me it was hard to justify a loan without a w-2, it was hard without large supplier recommendations on record, and even harder coming from a homey type couple sitting in his office asking for funds based on the argument "we are a good risk." I sent husband down to the bank with papers several times after that, requests that sounded ridiculous to me but I did it. Finally it was at the end of the 7-9 days it took to get a answer and the VP called. He couldn't make the decision alone, he had a meeting scheduled with someone else and would let us know by lunch.

I had a feeling it was a meeting with the lady that wrote our mortgage and so... enough! It was, we got the loan and hurried to the bank, Madame in tow with Raggedy Ann as her company in those awful car seats that doubled as a baby carrier.

The VP shook my husbands hand and proceeded to talk to me the entire time, he was very stoic and stuffy, and I later learned it was the nicest he'd been to my husband, I wanted the check though. Once it was in my hot little hands we left as quick as we came. I think shock set in at this point, neither myself or my husband wanted to hold the check or put it away, we just looked at it driving to two miles down the road to pick up our truck!
Yada, yada, yada, sign here, sign there, need your proof of insurance, "where is Raggedy Ann!?!" "OMG...." Back to the bank.

I waited in the car while my husband went in, the lobby had closed by this time but a teller let him enter, he was directed to the VP's office and there she was, little Annie. She had dropped in the lobby and a teller gave her to the lender. My husband and he began a conversation about their wives and the crafts that are spread about in their prospective homes everyday. Neither one of them knew what to expect arriving home everyday but they agreed, they were used to it and things like Ann made life special.

All the tellers were tittering when my husband left, hands holding their mouths, the whole nine yards. C&G Design

Madame's Latch Hook

Yet another project in the works. Madame has decided she enjoys latch hook and this project will consist of six kits the same size, different subjects and she has the dog and butterfly. Eventually the six sides will be stitched together to form a cube or a seat for her room.
All I can say is she is quick with this! C&G Design.