kinderGARDENS Week 19 : Update from Planet Kid

Kim at the Inadvertent Farmer asked us this week what we've learned! A few things to be sure...

1. A "green roof" cannot be based in a container here. It's TOO DARN HOT! This would have worked great with a short structure where the plants could have been based in the ground, but their playset is a high structure, so we attached a container running the length of it - nope! Although there are plants that are alive and a couple of mini-pumpkins growing on it, it is far from "a green roof"!

2. Peanuts in a container - not a great idea since they need room for their "branches" to drop and root in the soil. We spaced them way too close. They look fantastic though, and are completely unbothered by insects or any disease. Very healthy plants, I just don't think we will get as many peanuts as we would have had they been in a raised bed and spaced properly.

3. Kids in the garden are awesome! They have definitely been more involved this year, and are wanting to make their own decisions about their garden space, and are learning so much by doing. Loch even yelled at me one day while I was spraying something and it got breezy "hey, cut it out, you'll kill my bees!"

As for this week, not much outside stuff going on, it has rained for the last 5 days, so we have been busy doing inside things.

Today, more Blackberry Lemonade!

Working hard for their sugar fix...

Waiting for the simple syrup to cool so we can add ice... so patiently!

Happy at last!

Froze some for another day!

Me? I am completely overwhelmed this evening. The sun is shining, but the grass is long and still wet, which means the mosquitoes are horrendous out there. The grass needs to be cut, garden needs to be ripped out, insects to deal with on the plants, fall planning to be done, the stewed tomatoes for the freezer actually need to be stewed - staring at them hasn't worked! Knitting project needs to be finished, what is it about weaving in the ends that will make me just put it aside right when I'm at the finishing stage?

Beans need to be picked, and...

the kids were assigned extra homework for music lessons... to watch The Sound of Music! The VonTrapp Family! You don't have to ask me twice... I think I will rent the movie tonight and try this whole work/chore thing again tomorrow!

As always, check out The Inadvertent Farmer to see updates from other contest participants!

What does a gardener do when it's 108º all weekend?

1. Well I don't garden, that's for sure! I will never again complain about 1 day of hot temps... this has been going on for over a month! I've been setting my alarm for zero-dark-thirty to go outside and water. It's very eerie seeing the birds out and about in the dark and strangely absent during the day. I guess they have it figured out too. Last night it was still 92º at 11 p.m.!

2. I had the kids shuck the corn we got at the farm stand, that took all of 10 minutes... what's next? After finishing up their stellar work, I froze the corn from 2 doz ears.

While we are on that subject, it came to my attention at a BBQ last week that there are some that don't know the "bundt cake pan" corn cutting trick! After you have blanched your ears, jam the pointy end in the center hole of the bundt cake pan, then cut. The corn stands firm and your corn slides right into the cake pan. No mess, holds about a doz ears worth before you have to bag it! If you already knew this one, pass it on to someone else, I hate seeing someone struggle with sliding ears LOL!

Check out the kids' work below: anyone want corn with built-in floss? :)

3. Go grocery shopping and contemplate the waste in consumer packaging. I store stuff in those clear bins in the background so all this waste hits the floor immediately upon unpacking. This was a small trip, you should see my floor after my "every 6 weeks" trip! Hey, I didn't promise any of this stuff would be interesting!

4. Decide to do "Fall Cleaning" early this year to enable me to have it all done so I can be outside enjoying the cooler weather come fall. Result: house is messier than when I started due to all the closets being dumped out to "organize".

5. Listen to kids practice piano and vioin (eeek!). Repeatedly.

6. Clean my desk. Set up sewing machine in a permanent place so that I will be motivated to learn to sew. Uh-huh.

7. Scowl at sewing machine hourly, this will never happen.

8. Let kids watch way too much TV

9. Vow to let the kids go to the outdoor pool at the Y, but when we get there they close it due to "heat lightning", this happened both nights - kids were not happy!

10. Let myself watch cheesy horror movies and knit. That's one thing you may not know about me, I am a die hard fan of the campiest horror flicks you can find!

11. We froze the grapes from the garden, yep - that was interesting too.

These sure made a yummy snack on a hot day

12. Brought recycled cleaned empty beer bottles to a wonderful family I just met that is just learning to homebrew. We have so many extras it was nice to reclaim some space, and nice for their new owners too since they have already been de-labeled and sanitized! What's the matter, doesn't every mom's car look like this? You should hear it when we turn, clinking bottles in the back... very redneck-awesome LOL!

13. Made a batch of vanilla ice cream with easy box brownies to get the kids to eat their beans. Hint: don't actually tell them the name of bean variety you are serving or you get whines of "I don't wanna eat dragon's tongues, I want beans WITHOUT tongues in them"...

14. Contemplate ripping out the whole garden so I don't have to worry about the work anymore but a.) that would require hard work in itself and 2.)lol, it's too hot to garden and do hard work!

15. Surf the internet and see that eHow has an article on how to make a redneck flower garden. Find myself entertaining the idea for awhile...

16. Fantasize about the future where the kids are grown and hubby and I have a little cabin on a lake far north of here, where all we need is a pot of cherry tomatoes on the deck, and maybe some lettuce. (yeah right... and spinach, and potatoes, and berries, and broccoli, and a greenhouse to grow peppers and melons, and...)!

17. Make a batch of Blackberry Lemonade with our frozen berry juice!

18. I did get my fall stuff ordered, all except my garlic and onions. I have plenty of shallots to replant again , but I never seem to have the garlic left over. That is a big accomplishment, since usually I am battling the garden with a set of canning tongs and too busy to plan a proper fall garden. Instead, it looks like the fall garden will be better than summer this year.

19. Put the kids to bed, and have my own glass of Blackberry Lemonade with a little something extra, and dream of all I will accomplish tomorrow (hopefully)! We are supposed to get a huge cooldown to 89º so I am hoping it will feel Arctic to me!

Not much in the way of harvests, just a couple of tomatoes and some random overgrown cucumbers that I threw over the fence. I don't think my plants are too pleased with the weather situation either. Not very interesting, but it is what it is! I feel like I'm doing a January blog post!

So hubby, did you feel like you were right here with us? Don't worry, you aren't missing much right now except a cranky wife!

Berry Picking & Birthday!

Saturday was the first day the blackberry fields opened, and we were out first thing in the morning, since the temps were to climb in the upper 90's with a heat index in the 100's! It only took us about 30 minutes to pick a bunch, and a few for the mouth while we picked! The rest of the hot day was spent inside in the A/C making berry-related goodies. I might add that it was only $10 for all those mouth watering berries the kids are holding...

Here's Finnegan "helping" to make the jam.

Here I am squishing berries...the kids thought this was hilarious.

Thanks to the kids playing with my camera, you get to see a picture of the happy homemaker with the finished jam! (Like the dumb headband?? Gotta keep the hair out the jam...)

Still, lots of berries left...so I made some blackberry lemonade. Kids thought this was awesome...probably because it wasn't watered down like I normally do to their store bought juice!

We also picked up some blueberries at a roadside stand on the way home, so I made blueberry muffins. This was the first time I had made them from scratch, and they were incredible. If you look up "To Die For Blueberry Muffins" on the web...that's the recipe I used, they even had a yummy crumb topping.

Finally, kids were off to bed and I thought that was a good occasion for a mommy drink - that's Blackberry Lemonade with a splash of vodka - YUM!

That brings us to today, which was pretty uneventful considering it's my birthday and Father's Day! We are minus the father, the kids are too young to really do anything for me for my birthday, and we don't live near family members, so I mowed the lawn and weeded the garden for my special day. Don't feel bad for me - I actually got ALL THE WEEDING DONE (for now) and my yard looks spectacular all freshly mowed and dog poop scooped...woohoo! The kids and I barbequed and ate dinner outside this evening and it felt so good to look at the backyard and garden and not be filled with the thoughts of drudgery! So it ended up being a great birthday after all! Tomorrow I still have plans for the garden, but for once all they are is to plant some of my flowers and sow some seeds, pleasurable stuff!! I will probably take some pics of my new container trees and what's blooming and update on that stuff for a change!