Jul 27, 2015

Monday Garden Update

It was a not so terribly hot morning so I went out to snap a few photos this morning. 




It's currently a waiting game for tomatoes and peppers to ripen up. 


There are a ton of green cherry tomatoes on these. Ripen already!!!


Roma's I can't wait to make into sauce. 



Delicata squash blossom. 


The beans in the back bed a pretty sad. 

We have had a few harvests, though, this week! 



We've had two servings of edamame like above. Not much, but a nice little appetizer while we fix dinner.


And some potatoes! These are from the garden bed. I haven't checked the buckets yet. 

I'm starting to think about planting for the fall. Will use the leftover beet and spinach seeds from last year. 

Jul 16, 2015

Wine Bottle to Glasses Class

A couple of weeks ago my mom and I went to a class at 5 in 1 Social Club. It's a local business here in Memphis that sells artisans goods but also gives glasses several times a week. They say they are like "kindergarten for grown ups." Sign me up, please! For my mom's birthday I bought her and I seats at a recent Wine Bottle Glass class.

We prepped ahead of time by taking the labels off our bottles. Some people didn't do this step and they wasted valuable cutting and sanding time.



The first step was to use this bad boy to cut a line on our bottles. The black thing at the bottom left was a cutter. We twisted the bottle around so that there was a line all the way around our bottles.



See the lines?



The next step was to alternate pouring hot and cold water on the line. We did this over a bucket and it requires two people. Hence no pictures of this step.



And then you sand. For a while. Probably about 20 minutes a glass.

It wasn't difficult, but it was more intensive than I thought it was going to be.  We both really enjoyed the class and the experience. I'm pretty proud of my two wine bottle glasses I came home with.

Jul 7, 2015

Charlie 5 Months



Our Charlie Bear is 5 months old now! He's at such a fun age. This whole parenting thing is much more fun when they can smile and react to you.



He prefers to sit up over laying down. He still hates tummy time and refuses to roll over on his own accord.  But that's okay with me.



He's tried water a few times. He is very confused by this and somehow more water comes out of him than goes in.



Over all he's a pretty happy baby.

Jul 6, 2015

Monday Garden Update





This is my absolute favorite gardening time. Everything has been done, now it's time to just water and watch as things develop. Everyday I eagerly tell Bryan about another new tomato or blossom I discovered. He rolls his eyes and pretends to be interested.





We have baby tomatoes starting on nearly all the tomato plants. The peppers are starting to blossom as well as the delicata squash.



I'm keeping an eye on the garlic as I think it should be harvested soon? I've never done garlic and it's kind of hidden back there behind the edamame, carrots, and 
I've been regularly harvesting herbs and currently have an herb bouquet in the kitchen.



I keep a close eye on my figs. Pretty soon they'll be ready for the taking.

What's happening in your garden?

Jul 2, 2015

25 pounds of Peaches

Last Monday The Peach Truck was in town. Charlie and I met my mom out in Germantown and each got 25 lbs of fresh Georgia peaches.

When half of your family is from southern Georgia you learn a few things about peaches. Such as how amazing they are and how you need them in your life when its hotter than blazes outside. Peaches mean summer to me as much as air conditioning and sun screen do. It's a necessity.



Fortunately Bryan was not home when I brought this box home. When he did get home he said it was more peaches than one person could possibly handle. And I said, challenge accepted!



What does one do with 25 lbs of peaches you might ask?

Peach jam, peach butter, frozen peaches, pickled peaches, along with just eating peaches. Yum



I ended up putting up a fair amount of jam and peach butter. Enough to last us for a year and have some leftover to give as gifts.

The Peach Truck comes again next month. Will I do it again?  I've been wrestling with this question and I'm sort of siding towards yes. But probably splitting it with my mom this time. Since Charlie is starting solid foods I'd really love to process some for him to eat. And make peach ice cream. And maybe some more peach jam.

It's a sickness.