My parents are on their way back to Minnesota today, and I'm back! We had a good visit, but it rained EVERY DAY! We are on our 6th or 7th day straight of rain, heat and humidity and I am so ready for fall. I still have not planted the fall garden and the lawn is about 8 inches high, soggy, mushrooms sprouting all over, yuck! During a few hour break in the rain mom helped me bring peppers in, I thought the end must be near, but I still have a lot out there ripening. We did bring in quite a bunch the other day that needed to be frozen and/or canned. All of the bell peppers were frozen, the Anchos hung to dry, and the jalapenos were canned.
I was lazy and raw packed them into rings instead of scorching and peeling since there were so many. I got 7 pints of jalapenos to add to the rest of the stash in the pantry. The verdict this year is that 3 plants is just not quite enough, so I'll plant 4 from now on. If you remember, 9 plants was way too many, I was harvesting about 100 a week, 6 plants was still a bit of an overload last year so I dropped it to 3. Yes, we eat a LOT of jalapenos, probably 2 pints a month LOL. 3 years later, I think I have it dialed in finally.
We pulled the plants, so this brings the total of jalapenos for 2011 to 10 lbs, I think 15 would be about perfect, and of that I squirreled away 11 pints and 4 half-pint jars for the year.
Of course, we had to use up some of the bell peppers fresh!
everyone knows of my favorite dish for the garden, stir fry
Mom also has finally decided I'm worthy of some family photos! Really nice ones that I had never seen before, like this gem:
Isn't that cool? That's dad on the right. I also had him list a string of cars he owned starting with his first one, and wow - that's a fun list! Needless to say, I have some good material to get me started on my next project - wait for it -
- I have decided to (gasp) start scrapbooking, you know, in all my spare time :) Yet another hobby I used to laugh at and say I would never do...what's happening to me?! I also got filled in on a lot of family history I didn't know about, and random fun facts about the family and my parents specifically. Of course it would be great if mom would pen a history for me but I'll settle for dumping boxes of "stuff" on my desk to sort through myself LOL :) Hopefully one day I'll have some nice things put together for our family and my brothers' families to share, with actual captions so we know what the heck we're looking at.
Honest, someday soon I really will be planting my fall garden, but it has to stop raining first! Next up I'll post about our annual air show fun, not interesting to everyone I realize, but it's our livelihood LOL...
I have gotten back into knitting the past week and have sorted through my seeds for fall, so I'm slowly making the change to the new season....
The guy in the car-cute dad!nice car too and is that a snake jumping out of the can or I really am blind. I am so glad you had a good time with mom and pop[I know,no one calls them that] YOU GOT ENOUGH PEPPERS? WELL ,YOUR PARENTS WILL BE ARRIVING JUST IN TIME FOR INDIAN SUMMER ALREADY ,OTHERWISE WE ARE NOT DONE WITH SUMMER YET .
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh when you said you never thought you'd take up scrapbooking! Same here - except I decided to put together a scrapbook for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary and it was a wonderful experience. So - never say NEVER. I am in awe of your pepper production. OMG.
ReplyDeleteI can't believe how many peppers you are still harvesting!Your jalapeno harvest alone is awesome! So you're adding scrapbooking to your hobby list... I'm like you, I keep finding different things to add to my (ever growing) hobby list.
ReplyDeleteErin-your peppers are so pretty all in their jars. You do use a LOT, don't you? I think I use one jar a YEAR, but then again, I'm dull...LOL!
ReplyDeleteGlad you had a nice visit with your mom-too bad about the rain though.
I cannot wait to see what you do with scrapbooking---I think we'll see a little over-the-top and I can't wait! It's nice to add new hobbies--even ones we NEVER thought we'd do.
:)
Great picture, was it professionally done?
ReplyDeleteHope you dry out down there soon. Have fun with your new adventure, can't wait to see what you make.
We went to your favorite store again this weekend, I now have a wall of shelves and various storage boxes to try and organize my stacks of 'stuff' that is all over the place. I also picked up a dresser for my sewing machine to rest upon, I figure the drawers will make for great fabric storage. Are you proud Ikea Master? ;)
Oh, my. That picture of your dad and the boys is totally my high school generation! Now tell me, didn't the guys (and girls, for that matter) look one heckuva lot better when they dressed NICELY? Call me an old fuddy-duddy if you want, but I think the current style of dress for many kids is totally slutty and sloppy. (Did I just say that out loud?)
ReplyDeleteYou are so wise to get all the info you can from your mom and dad. I have so many regrets of not asking my own parents so many things while they were still alive.
Now about those peppers. I do think you and your family need a Pepper Intervention. Although I really don't know what to do with an even mildly hot pepper so maybe you could plan on educating me when you move back here. Okay?
I just Love old photos. My entire house is covered in old photographs of family hanging on the wall.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of peppers! We planted four bell pepper plants and didn't get any peppers this year because the tomatoes took over.
ReplyDeleteLove the picture! I've done a bit of scrapbooking and it's really fun but time consuming and can be expensive. If you scan the pictures you can print as many as you need and not worry about messing up a picture.
Have fun!
Judy, LOL! I'm sure they will be happy to arrive back to some Indian Summer temps since dad was already talking about getting the snow removal "gear" ready for winter!
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Susan, Anke & Sue, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who takes on too many hobbies compared to the time available to devote to them LOL, and that you found it rewarding :)
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Kelly, it was a professional one I believe, mom said it was for one of the local menswear stores in town. And yes, I'm proud of you LOL, but to be honest, I'm JEALOUS! One day I'll be able to do a pantry like yours and will be going back to your pics for ideas!
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Mama Pea, I think my parents are about exactly your age, and you are right, the men looked more handsome when dressed like they did then, and the gals too! It was obvious people cared how they looked, and did it withOUT copious amounts of makeup gobbed all over and too much jewelry like now! And I confess, hubby and I are nacho junkies, that's where we use all those jalapenos, for the nights where we have dinner after the kids go to bed it's all junk food-nachos, although at least with garden veggies on top :)
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Ribbit, I already can tell my styles are changing more than they were even 2 years ago, trying to integrate family photos and quilts with modern decor LOL
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Sparkless, you are right about the expense, I'm researching everything I might need first to see if I "really" need it, and then only buy when I have those 40-50% off coupons for the craft stores that come in by email.
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Beautiful peppers... We don't use a lot of peppers, as even tho I love bell peppers I'm the only one who eats them so I only plant one or two bell plants. This year I planted a jalapeno plant and an italian roaster pepper, and got a lot. I've been dehydrating them, but after looking at your pictures, I'm thinking I might can the last few. Share some recipes that you use them in, please...
ReplyDeleteRuth, I'm thinking maybe I'll post on that this week - enough people have observed that I may be a little excessive in my pepper consumption LOL so I'll try to share!
ReplyDelete*chuckle* love this post...especially the cool cats with their snake in a basket! your stir fry looks delish. AMAZING that you will use up 10 lbs of jalapeños and wish you had more. Impressive!
ReplyDeleteDMarie, I know, I think I need a pepper intervention!
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ReplyDeleteSarah, I'll do it first thing tomorrow - I can't wait until I have some digital scrapbook stuff I can send to you too :)
ReplyDeleteSarah, send me your email address to my acct, I don't have it since my old hard drive departed :)
ReplyDeleteI had 2 jalapeno plants in our garden this year and it wasn't a big producer. I think it was too shady and produced poorly. I'll have to find a better place to plant them next year.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that photo of your dad and his gang!!! Priceless!!
ReplyDeleteOk, scrapbooking? I tried that too. It overwhelmed me. To the point I was neurotic and suicidal and wanted to stab knitting needles in my eyes...you've been warned! :oD
Pepper QUEEN!!!
APG, yes, I'm not sure what I'm getting myself into here LOL! But I also thought people that quilted were clearly insane... now where's that key to the padded room? I need to get in there :)
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