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!

National Fried Chicken Day!

LOL!!  I had to laugh when I noticed that my punchbowl 'ticker' told me that today is National Fried Chicken Day.  I'm sure my hens would agree with that!  The poor dears.  We've been sure to give them plenty of shade and lots of cold water but they are still miserable.  There is almost nothing more pathetic looking than a panting chicken!
I think 'officially' the temperature hit 102 here today- although the car thermometer briefly read 104 as we were on our way through downtown.   Of course, on our thermometer, it has now cooled to 100!  At 630 pm!
Thankfully, it looks like tomorrow will be our last really bad day as it is only forecast to get into the upper 80's on Sunday- back to much more normal temps.  Sadly, the forecast for rain isn't too promising for the extended 10 days out there.  We are now officially in a 'moderate drought'.  But, I know misery loves company and we're not alone.  I do feel sorry for all the 'real' farmers and market vendors.  My garden, while large, is still small enough that I can water it pretty easily but others can't.  We've got a slim chance for rain (20 - 40%) this weekend so I'll keep my fingers crossed.  What we need is for a nice, cool, gentle 2 day rain to move through the midwest.  Ah... wouldn't that be heavenly....

Happy Independence Day

To those in the US.  Happy 4th of July!

I wimped out this morning.  I got up early but it was so miserable out there that I decided the plants can wait a couple of more days to go in the ground.  Now they're saying that we may cool down a little over the weekend.  This morning, it is already approaching 80 with high humidity and it's not even 8am.  Blah.  So, I'll continue to water the potted shrubs and the tree... and the garden....

Have a safe, wonderful 4th.  May we all get the rain we need and moderate temperatures so we can all pursue our own independence.

Unexpected Bounty

Justine and I went off late this afternoon to one of the several farmer's markets in the area.  With a little traveling, there is a market every day of the week nearby so there are no excuses. Today's is one of my least favorite as it is held in the parking lot of one of the area malls (but I don't want to do the downtown market tomorrow on the holiday).  It was miserably hot!
A bank thermometer we drove by on the way registered 99 degrees and all that pavement reflected even more heat.  But we were on a quest for sweet corn- our first of the season.  We decided a few years ago that is just isn't worth our time, effort and space to grow sweet corn.  It is so readily available around here and with such wonderful quality that I don't bother fighting the raccoons for it in the garden.
So, we walked the market and purchased a dozen ears from a vendor who had the best price.  As we continued, we struck up a conversation with another vendor who was trying to sell us more corn.  She was asking a dollar more for 14 ears (as opposed to the 13 we already had) but then she uttered those fatal words... "If you buy a whole bag I'll cut you a really good deal"  The whole bag she was talking about was an entire gunny sack of corn- you know, those bags that would hold a small child.  And she was only asking $20, bag and all.   With the heat there weren't as many customers as usual so she was worried about getting rid of what she had.  So, guess what I've been doing!?

 Midway through processing it I remembered to take photos.

 I've had a lot of sweet corn in my day.  Let me tell you- this ranks up there with some of the best.  And it's still really early in the season.

Corn in the freezer already.  I'm liking this. Plus, we changed gears for dinner this evening and are grilling so we can have corn on the cob.  It won't get any better than it is now.  Mmmm....

Garden center score!

This morning, V and I needed to make a run to the bank for some business.  Across the street is a garden center that was having a 50% off end of the season sale.  I've been kind of looking for a peach tree but so far, none of the places I've checked have any left.  Apples, yes, and lots of pears but I don't want apple or pear trees.  We wandered around but didn't really see anything I wanted to took off.
Knowing that I want to make ice cream tomorrow, we stopped at our local grocery store for cream and half and half.  The garden center there is having everything at 75% off.  They didn't have my peach tree but we did pick up a HUGE Burbank plum tree for $9.25.  This tree is about 9-10 feet tall and is quite healthy looking.  How could I pass it up?!  So, tomorrow morning, I'll set my alarm and get up early, wake the troops and go dig a hole to plant it out near the apples.
I did my research and, fortunately, the wild plums we've got in the fencerow will act as pollinators for it.  It is a big enough tree that I'm looking forward to fruit from it soon.  Of course, it will be another 'mouth to feed/water' in this hot weather since we will definitely need to keep it watered until it is established or until we get more consistent rain.  I've also finally decided where to put the blackberries so maybe I'll plant them tomorrow morning as well. I can't plant my hydrangea bushes until we move some dirt in the back to level off the shade garden.  I'll dig a hole in the ground but I'm not really up for moving wheelbarrows of soil up hill in this weather.
I did get a little weeding done in the garden and some straw down under the melons that are starting to vine.  I'm excited to see little melons on the vine.  And my 'billiard ball' zucchini also have little fruits on them.  Too much fun!!  And I harvested the first of the peppers a few days ago to saute with onion for our burritos.  Heavenly!

This afternoon, since it is brutal outside, I'm hoping to do a little sewing along with some laundry.

I'm contemplating a run to the farmer's market late this afternoon to see if I can find some early sweet corn. Hmmm... fresh corn...   The field corn is already starting to tassel.  Amazing.  Hopefully this hot, dry weather won't affect pollination for the farmers.

Lemon curd, fluffy dog and randomness

It has been a rather laid back two days here.  It has just been too hot to do much outside.  Not to say that things haven't been accomplished.
First... Lemon Curd.  I was looking for egg-heavy recipes yesterday and stumbled upon a recipe for Lemon curd.  I've heard of it but haven't ever made it- until yesterday.  Let me just say:  YUM!

It was even pretty easy.  Definitely not something I would eat on its own but it is heavenly on toast for breakfast.
Here's the recipe:
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup lemon juice (it took me 2 1/2 large lemons)
a pinch of salt
1 stick (half cup) unsalted butter- chopped in half inch cubes
grated lemon zest (1 tablespoon or so)

In the top of a double boiler whisk the eggs,  Add the sugar and stir until throughly blended.  Over (not in) boiling water add lemon zest, salt and lemon juice, stir to combine.  Add butter cubes.  Stir constantly with the whisk until the butter melts and the curd thickens (it took about 15 minutes).  Pour into a bowl or into jars and cool in the fridge.  It will continue to thicken and set.  According to internet sources it will last about 2-3 weeks in the fridge (if it lasts that long).
I had some on toast for breakfast and I'm thinking about making some little tart shells out of graham cracker crumbs, using this as filling and topping with fresh fruit.  It is VERY lemony and very sweet.  Some recipes call for straining it after cooking to remove the lemon zest but I like the zest and don't mind the tiny lumps in the texture.

As for fluffy dog- we bathed the dog this afternoon.  Ugh.  How many people does it take to bathe a large dog?  Well, it took 4 for us.  He is not a fan of baths.  We hosed him down outside, soaped him up and hosed him off again.  Now he is fluffy and shedding fur EVERYWHERE!  But he's clean.

Even with the warm weather we have been having many, many visitors.  A pair of goldfinches have been busily fluttering about.

The male goldfinch likes hanging out in the blooming catnip.

Followed shortly by the female goldfinch.  She looks like she's having a hard time finding her balance on the stalk.

The female is pretty skittish but the male goldfinch hung around for a while for a photo shoot.  I'm still in love with the zoom on my camera.
I'm really going to try to get up early tomorrow to get out to the garden. Of course, it was already 80 by 8:30 this morning- we managed to briefly hit 100 today- and tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. Oh joy....    The other damper on outside work is the number of ticks that we have been finding.  Usually we have a flush of ticks in the spring and then just a few for the rest of the summer.  This spring, we had very few, but suddenly we can't even walk through the grass without picking up two or three crawling up the leg.  Every time I've been out to the garden in the past week I've found at least three ticks crawling on me.  Thankfully no one has found any attached but it's only a matter of time.  One reason the dog got a bath today is that he is due for his monthly flea/tick treatment and I wanted him clean before I applied it.  We've only found one tick attached to him all year so it must be working and with as many ticks as have been around he definitely NEEDS it.  Who knows, maybe we're seeing more ticks because we've been making sure that there is water for the wildlife out near the barn.  Maybe the animals are bringing their friends with them....

Enough said

• Mon
  
  95°
  71°
• Tue
  
  96°
  72°
• Wed
  
  97°
  74°
• Thu
  
  96°
  75°
• Fri
  
  94°
  76°
• Sat
  
  93°
  74°
• Sun
  
  94°
  72°

I know this doesn't hold a candle to the temps some of you are getting but it's HOT
It's currently about 94 out there according to my thermometer.  And I was hoping to plant blackberries this afternoon. HA!  Actually, earlier today it didn't feel too bad out there since there is a nice breeze.  But then it suddenly seemed to get HOTTER and it was time to retreat inside to the cool.