Hurricane!

Bonnie's Best: "...oom... ... in Boom... this is Bonnie's Best, come in General Boom..."
Max Boom: "General Boom here, go ahead."
Bonnie's Best: "We have a man down. Repeat, we have a man down."
Max Boom: "Copy. What's the situation?"
Bonnie's Best: "It was Early Bird. He was running point against Ida. He was under heavy fire from the west all day and just took a direct hit."





Max Boom: "Roger that, I'm on my way."
Bonnie's Best: "Negative, General. It's too dangerous. It's pouring. The wind. Save yourself!"
Max Boom: "We don't leave a man behind! Roma, thoughts?"
Roma: "It's too dangerous!"
Max Boom: "Enough! WE DON'T LEAVE A MAN BEHIND! Options?"
Roma: "We might be able to fashion a splint with the paint stirrer?"
Bonnie's Best: "We can possibly nail the splint to the base, and use tourniquets at the top. You'll be under heavy fire the whole time.
Max Boom: "OK, we have no choice. I'll give it a shot."
Better Boy: "General, it's too dangerous. Save yourself!"
Max Boom: "I have to try, damn it!"
Roma: "We're all pulling for you!"







Bonnie's Best: "Will...he...make it? Will the stake hold"
Roma: "Is Early Bird too badly injured? Will he see it through the night?"
Max Boom: "I don't know. I just don't know."

Bounty

We have now reached the "harvest" time of the garden, from my point of view, Mrs. Ghosted did a fantastic job and we have been very fortunate. Not with everything we planted, but by far, the majority. I've snapped a couple of photos of our various pickings and by no means is this all, but it's been more successful that I thought and looks like we'll have stuff still producing for another month or so.. ... ..

My Cucumber is Bigger Than Yours

Enough said.

Stuffed Squash Blossoms

It seems like a very "foodie" thing to make, but as we have the larger garden this year and one of the things we have planted was squash, we are in the middle of having quite a few squash blossoms right now. I have only had them once in a restaurant, some place in Richmond a few years back and they were excellent, so I decided to give it a try. With a little research, it turns out they come in male and female versions, with the female having the squash attached at the end. I ended up just picking off some of the male ones because at the end of the day I want the squash to grow to full size.

The next step was to stuff them. I didn't have much in the fridge, so I threw together some chopped bratwurst, cream cheese, colby-jack cheese, onion and garlic salt, and a little pepper. This was similar to what I had stuffed jalapenos with earlier in the season, except substituting the bratwurst for bacon because that was the fatty meat that was sitting there.

The batter I made for these was a very simple part flour, part corn meal, and milk. I let it chill briefly, and then dipped the blossoms in, covering them and right into the oil. As you see from the finished pictures, I also had a couple of hungarian peppers that one of the kids picked off before their time from the pepper plant, so I stuffed them with the same mix and coated them with the same batter and cooked away.

Results: They were good, but not great. The bratwurst overpowered the blossoms, but held up to the peppers. A little to much salt in the mix, and the batter was too heavy. I think next time do it with no batter in just olive oil, or try a nice tempura batter to lighten it up some. In the end, The family demolished them and I'll be better prepared if doing it again.

So Much Better than Max's Garden

So, awhile back Max showed you pictures of his garden and because I'm slow and haven't been good about taking pictures, it's taken me awhile and because we're so much farther north, longer for the garden to get going, but here it is. It's mostly controlled by Mrs. Ghost, but I have helped out on occassion and am enjoying the benefits.


We have "successfully" grown and eaten the following this spring / early summer: Lettuce and Spinach (multiple types and the above picture shows the incredible amount of lettuce we still have. We failed on sugar snap peas (5 total pea pods that each member of the family got one each.)

We have currently growing Tomotoes (4 types), Tomatillos, Pole Beans, Bush Beans, Cucumbers, Squash, Zuchini, Watermellon, Jalapeno Peppers, Banana Peppers, and a littany of herbs including basil, thyme, sage, rosemary, dill, marjorum, lemon grass, and I think a few more that I never remember.


It's not a true victory garden, but we're hopeful to reduce our need of many vegetables this summer and try out hand at pickeling, drying, sauces, herb infused cocktails (I'll share those recipes later.)

Hope you appreciate. . ... .. . . and eat dirt Max.

Victory Garden

Great Depression. Swine Flu. Zombies. One can never be too prepared. Claiming only a tiny speck of real estate as my own, I decided to improvise on the traditional garden. Without further ado, my 4' x 4' elevated survival kit.


Close-Up...


This is obviously a learning experience. Some successes. We have some salad cucumbers...


And some pickling cucumbers...


Beefsteak and Better Boy Tomatoes...


And Cherry Tomatoes...


Carrots are on the way...


It hasn't been all smooth sailing. For some reason I can't keep a pepper alive. Perhaps they're too close together?


And the jury is still out on the zucchinis. They are still flowering but for some reason aren't pollinating.


And as an added bonus, the blackberries in the woods are ripe!



All in all a good time.