Saturday, July 7, 2012

Post Independence Day IDC

And it's HOT!
This was snapped a few minutes ago.  See, I told you it is hot.  And this thermometer is on the east side of the house in the shade of the front porch!
Our citronella candles on the sconces on the deck reached critical mass!
Unfortunately, leaving a huge mess on the deck.
But some things are taking the heat right in stride:
The basil in the herb spiral is thriving
As are the daylilies. I just wish I was as tough as them.  The heat really sucks the life out of me!
It is that time of the week where I usually do my Independence Days update- seeing how I'm doing on achieving more independence in food production and food security.  With the weather the way it is going this year, food security may be more important than usual as I'm guessing that food prices will be going up as the dry weather continues and the corn crop withers.
Plant something- I planted four kinds of fall cabbage, cauliflower and fennel.  I STILL haven't planted my blackberries or my plum tree.  It has just been too hot to dig holes in the ground.  But that is on tap for tomorrow morning. Maybe tonight I'll pre-water the spots where we are going to plant so the digging is a bit easier tomorrow morning.  The soil out there is rock hard!
Harvest something- eggs, broccoli, onions, kale (for the chickens mostly- it's too strong for me!), peppers, a few herbs, zucchini and... behold:
The first of the potatoes! These are the pink ones- Mountain Rose? I think.   We'll have these for dinner this evening!  I'm excited!! For as dry as it has been there are some nice sized potatoes there.  I'll have to get some more when it isn't so hot that the ground is burning my knees.
Preserve something- froze much corn on Tuesday.  Pulled about half of the onions in the garden and they are now hung in the shop, drying. I need to get the rest out of the ground soon since they are done growing.  Of course, they seem to be drying nicely in the garden- if they don't cook first!
Waste not- the usual: recycled, composted, scraps to chickens.  We repurposed the old deck/porch from the now non-existent North door to in front of one of the barn doors.  It is a huge step up into the barn and the old wooden platform/step that had been there (an old pallet) had long since disintegrated.  It is so much easier now to get into the barn without fear of breaking a leg.
Want not- got discounted blackberry bushes and the plum tree in garden center clearance sales.  We will get these into the ground tomorrow and hopefully they will someday provide us with food.  We also picked up some frozen shrimp at the grocery store.  They were having a meat and seafood sale and shrimp is something we can't really raise ourselves or get locally but it is awfully tasty in jambalaya!
Eat the food- Made lemon curd and homemade ice cream using eggs.
I used some of the lemon curd as the base for a fresh fruit tart.   Mmm......  We also had sauteed peppers and onions with our burritos for dinner and Justine and I had sauteed zucchini and onion for lunch- YUM! Steamed broccoli along with our grilled steak (from our half cow) for dinner last night.  We're eating well!
Build community food systems- Corn from the market!  Eggs went to work and home with some of Justine's friends last weekend.
Skill up- not much.  I really need to figure out a new skill to work on.

That's about it for this week.  The garden is starting to produce, the tomatoes are still green but are getting bigger.  I'm sure that there haven't been any new tomatoes setting on this week since it's been so hot.  At least there are already quite a few out there. I can't wait!

15 comments:

  1. Wow, your temps are still too, too hot! We've had a little reprieve and only hit the high 80s today. Also we've been blessed with some good rain in the last few days. Hoping some of it finds you soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think that cold front is starting to move through. We had a brief shower this afternoon (only .05 inches- I had hoped for more) while we were all out in the pool and the temperature dropped almost 10 degrees- at least for a little while. Sadly, that looks like the only rain headed our way unless we get another pop-up storm. I'm crossing my fingers.

      Delete
  2. That is just too hot - I agree with Mama Pea. I hope you get relief soon - it has to really wear on a person to have so many days of oppressive heat. And it is worrisome the way crops are drying up...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We had an article in the local paper that this is the do-or-die period for the corn crop around here. It has tasseled and silking requires lots of moisture. They are already expecting a 10% decrease in yield and evidently, if I remember the article right- for every 12 hours that the corn leaves are curled up to conserve moisture in the heat of the day- at this point of the growth, they lose another 9% yield. Yikes! Scary times if we don't get rain soon. Close to 40% of the area of this state is covered with corn (sigh- but that's a post for another day!)

      Delete
  3. It's hot here too, about 100. Your tart looks great! I'm waiting for nectarines to ripen, so I can make something like that too... but I may break down an buy local peaches...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. These were local peaches and they were oh, so tasty!!

      Delete
  4. potatoes already,wow ,as momma pea said we got a reprieve from the heat but if I had my druthers -I like 65 degrees would be perfect in a perfect world but who lives in a perfect world ? right?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Only this pink variety is ready- although I could probably get little potatoes from the others. But I'm afraid there aren't really many potatoes on these plants. I probably should have watered them more.

      Delete
  5. I got my first potatoes yesterday! Some yukon gold news, the rest of the 10 potato plants have yet to turn so I'm giving them a little more time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. New potatoes are so yummy! My yellow finns haven't turned yet either.

      Delete
  6. OMG! That fruit tart looks heavenly!

    ReplyDelete
  7. wow! the highest here has been 102 - so hot. Your poor candle!! yeah, that will leave a nice stain. Might try ironing it using paper towels. Your lemon fruit curd looks mighty good!! Hope it cools down for us all soon!! ...debbie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This was the third or 4th day in a row that we have topped 100. The second with 104. Blah! But today it is much, much cooler. Sadly, no rain...

      Delete
  8. I was in St. Louis on Saturday. Big mistake. It was 107 degrees there officially though with all that concrete, it was surely much hotter than that.

    ReplyDelete

Glad you stopped in. I would love to hear from you.