It started with a crash in the night...

Yes, a huge crash. At about 2 am! My laundry "area" shelves came crashing down... all of them. We have no "laundry room" and no garage, carport or anything that might suffice for any type of storage so these shelves literally contain the weight of our world on them. Needless to say, the next morning instead of starting my seeds we spent the day picking our world back up again. In a way, it was good that this happened since that very night my husband was due to leave on the ship at 7 pm. In military life, we have what is called "a Jody". Some of you may have heard of him, he is the guy who "takes care of" your wife/girlfriend while you are deployed. As crass as that is, it is the unfortunate truth for many servicemembers. Now, I don't have that kind of Jody nor will I. My Jody is the kind who stops by to leave a path of destruction whenever my hubby deploys. You name it, it has happened. Exploded water heater, broken heat pump, broken pipes, unexplained electrical burning smells, sliding glass door shattered, ceiling cave in from a leak, even a fence that blew away in a hurricane! We own a duplex, and live in one side and rent the other out....so you can take all that and multiply is by 2!! So I actually do consider myself lucky that Jody stopped by a day early so my hubby had time to fix my laundry shelves before he left. I have tried numerous times to break it off with Jody, but he won't hear of it. Deployment is coming soon, so I know he'll be back.

There is is, all fixed up again!

Daddy giving hugs as we dropped him off at the USS Truman

How have I lived 39 years and not known the joys of quiche? My kids love eggs so I can pretty much put anything in there and they will most likely taste it. Here's my first quiche, and it qualifies as a garden dinner since I used frozen peppers, little grape tomatoes I had frozen, and fresh chopped leeks. Yum! Now I know what I can do with all those eggs once we get chickens, my kids would eat eggs every day if they had their way. I hear these freeze well, anyone have advice on that? I would love to make these ahead of time for homemade convenience food in the freezer.

So anyways, being the OCD person that I am, the laundry shelving incident lit a fire under me to start reorganizing the house and throwing stuff away. I am definitely not a hoarder, but there are always things taking up space that need to be tossed. Hmmm, for example, the 5 black floor length evening dresses in a size 3 from a prior life that are still hanging in my closet? Yeah, them's not 'gonna fit and nowhere to wear them, LOL. Time to face facts, I am a mommy and chase 2 boys around in my standard uniform of yoga pants and a t-shirt everyday, and they are definitely not a size 3... so out they go! I started my early Spring cleaning by completely emptying out all my cupboards and in an OCD fashion started wiping everything down and putting stuff back in. This took me a whole day and a morning... for what? It looks exactly the same as before. I am not a magician, not sure what I thought I was to gain from this, but at least it's one less thing swimming around my head.

Now here's where things get even crazier...

Yes, that's a gazillion pots I washed by hand. I had all my stuff in the shed since last spring so I felt the need to get all the dirt out before I start filling them with dirt again????? Someone please tell me A&E is going to do a show for the opposite of hoarders, and then please sign me up!

As nutso as the gazillion pots look, they all condense down into this neat little stack!

A makeshift clothesline to dry my trays. I think the neighbors were watching this one.

Which brings us to the seed starting! Finally, tomorrow it's going down. I am starting them in the kitchen this time on top of a large cabinet my husband built. It was actually a stand for our 100 gal aquarium, but I got rid of that and now it is our storage area for homebrewing supplies, bottles and keg stuff. This is in keeping with my belief that every item in my house must serve at least 2 purposes in order to be able to stay! There was already a shelf above that worked perfectly for hanging my lights from. So all is ready. I have made my list of seeds to start tomorrow, mostly herbs for now, and will start the messy task tomorrow morning. I just realized that hubby has been gone for several days now and time is flying by since I have been keeping so busy. This time is a breeze, only a couple of weeks, and I hope that the summer garden craziness will make the long upcoming deployment fly by.

By the way, unless you live in New Orleans, you need to show your loyalty to me by rooting for the Vikings tomorrow. Go Vikes!! :) :)

The Flip Side!

And for another take on the same subject.... feast your eyes on this!

What aspiring gardener, or architect for that matter, wouldn't want to be involved in this?! Read more here.

Honestly, I am in a good mood today! But...

This morning I had the displeasure of reading this article. Make sure you click on the link within the article to read the original story.

Normally, when I find something interesting in the news that relates to the garden, I will pass it along without any commentary, but it is also rare that any garden-related news event even requires it! This had me spittin' mad - as a gardener, parent, student, and teacher to my children.

You all can form your own opinions, but since this is my blog, here's mine:

1. The idea that a school garden fosters a propensity for manual labor and repression.

WHAT? If you ask me our children need a good dose of manual labor, sunshine, fresh air, and sweat. Maybe the diagnosis of ADHD would go down... As for the repression, don't get me started on that crap - last time I checked, there was no danger of our citizens inadvertently being sent back to sharecropping and slavery days because they learned to garden.

2. The concern that immigrants would feel their children are sacrificing an education to go back to manual labor involving lettuce picking and such.

Puh-lease.... and as far as opportunity goes, with CA being a state that has 50% of its students listed as immigrant with this supposed horrible child-knowledge of agriculture, how about letting them serve as teachers, coaches, and peers for our urban children that won't even eat veggies, much less cultivate them? There is a possibility to turn this complaint upside down and even have these immigrant children she is so concerned about not only become productive citizens, but assume leadership and mentor roles. I mean, it's a CLASS, not a whole day spent out in tobacco fields!

3. Our children are sacrificing the more important classes such as math, science, etc to go learn manual labor.

HUH? This one goes right back to parents. When exactly was it that parents stopped valuing manual labor and an honest day's work? Not everyone can be the engineer in the air conditioned office, and those that build our houses, farm our food, pave our roadways and sweat it out in a foreign country to defend us should not feel that their work is any less valued. They make our world go 'round. As far as gardening being a ridiculous class, maybe it wouldn't even have to be taught if parents valued food production and taught their children simple skills from a young age. I know that growing up I knew where my food came from, how to harvest it, even watched my mom freeze and can the garden for winter. For all the children and the parents out there that think those French Fries are a real vegetable, THIS CLASS IS FOR YOU!

Come to think of it, I am not a moron. I went to college, by most standards I succeeded at life and am happy, but guess what? I garden. I sweat. I work in the hot sun. I stay up way too late burning myself with canning tongs when I could be shopping at W@lm@rt for my veggies in a can. Why? Because I know how! And thank you, Mom, Dad, Grandma, miscellaneous farmers in my community, their children... it's because of you that I didn't have to have "gardening" taught in school! But what about those who don't have anyone to teach them? It seems to be the majority of the population...who will teach them?

I think some people just need to wake up and not be so damn stupid. Why can't students nowdays fit this class in? Is this really an issue? Schools have killed gym class, driver's ed, Home Ec (yeah, remember that one? more life skills that are apparently repressive, HA!)... are our children really so dumb that they can't be expected to learn more than a math and science class? Or is it that expectations of the new generation of children have taken a nosedive? We feel we have to allow for videogame time, TV time, "downtime"..........REALLY???!!!!

Okay, I'm done. I am up to my arms in manual labor washing out my seedling pots and trays and I really wasn't going to blog until this evening, but nooooo, I just had to read an article I saw. I feel so repressed...

End rant.

Don't you DARE laugh!

Yes, they're for me.... SHUT UP, SHUT UP.... I TOLD you not to laugh!

You're just jealous of my happenin' Friday night, I knew it.

Litchi Tomato

For lack ofbetter way to link the l author of this post, I just copied and pasted the entire message board page here!
In my quest to find out more about this strange Litchi Tomato plant, I came across this message board thread. It sounds as if it is better suited to be out amongst regular landscaping plants or even potted up somewhere, due to its thorny nature, but also very good for bees, and works as an effective means of luring some undesirable insects from other veggies. I think I will be planting this near my potato cages! Read on for interesting info on it! For lack of a better way to link the author of the original post, I just copied and pasted the entire message board page here with the name of the original poster. I am surprised however, that this person is growing these in Wisconsin! Sometimes it pays to push the boundaries and experiment!

For lack of a better way to link the original author of this post, I just copied and pasted the entire message board page here!

April 6th, 2008, 01:20 AM	#16
zeedman Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Wisconsin USDA Zone: 5a Posts: 298	Re: Can you tell me more about the Litchi Tomato I have several good photos, but haven't figured out how to post them here yet. The Litchi Tomato can be started indoors at the same time as eggplant or tomatoes, and transplanted along with them. The seedlings develop thorns very quickly - only a curiosity when small, but as the plants grow larger, the thorns become numerous & quite wicked. All surfaces are covered with them... leaves, stems, and the husk of the fruit. "To stake or not to stake"... My personal recommendation is to stake them, or better yet, cage them with fencing. The plants are quite rampant, growing easily as large as the tallest indeterminate tomatoes. Left to their own devices, they will sprawl 4-5 feet in all directions, and be virtually impenetrable. If you intend to harvest the fruit without injury, you will want to train them vertically. The plants are very free-blooming, and are actually good bee plants. They will bloom until frost, regardless of the fruit set. The 1.5-2" white flowers are attractive, as is the interesting foliage - just don't plant them where you (or anyone else) will be walking frequently. If you have small children, you might not want to grow it at all. The fruit are borne in long trusses like cherry tomatoes... but unlike the tomatoes, are covered with a thorny calyx. When fully ripe, the calyx peels back, and the fruit will separate from the stem with a slight pull. If not harvested promptly, some of the ripe fruit will fall; but they do not rot quickly, so you could still harvest them from the ground. The fruit are bright red, and anywhere from .5" to 1.5" across. The skin of the berry has a tacky feel, and is as tender as a cherry. To me, the flavor was a combination of cherry/gooseberry, sweet and very pleasant; it seemed to get better in the cooler days of early Autumn. You do have to get past the seeds though, which are larger than a ground cherry's. I add the fruit to apples cooked for jelly; it lends a wonderful flavor to the jelly. The yield starts slowly, increasing substantially late in the season - but to harvest them seriously, you'll need leather gloves (preferably with gauntlets) and a jacket with heavy sleeves... maybe even goggles! Litchi Tomato is frost hardy down to about 28 degrees F; while it may stop blooming after the first frost, the foliage will survive, and the fruit already set will continue to ripen. It is also a good trap crop for Colorado potato beetles; they passed up my eggplant for it. With the cut foliage & open habit, the beetles were easy to find & kill. One cautionary note (aside from the thorns): Even in my Wisconsin location, I have a lot of volunteers, so it shows the potential to naturalize. Birds didn't seem to be interested in the berries here (probably due to the thorns) but that may not be the case elsewhere. The volunteers didn't have time to mature here; but in Southern climes, it might become invasive. Last edited by zeedman; April 6th, 2008 at 01:23 AM.. Reason: typo

April 6th, 2008, 09:47 AM	#17
Denninmi Senior Member Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 4,212	Re: Can you tell me more about the Litchi Tomato Quote: Originally Posted by zeedman The fruit are bright red, and anywhere from .5" to 1.5" across. The skin of the berry has a tacky feel, and is as tender as a cherry. To me, the flavor was a combination of cherry/gooseberry, sweet and very pleasant; it seemed to get better in the cooler days of early Autumn. You do have to get past the seeds though, which are larger than a ground cherry's. I add the fruit to apples cooked for jelly; it lends a wonderful flavor to the jelly. The yield starts slowly, increasing substantially late in the season - but to harvest them seriously, you'll need leather gloves (preferably with gauntlets) and a jacket with heavy sleeves... maybe even goggles! Thank you for that excellent firsthand report on all aspects of this plant, but especially for the paragraph above -- after all, if it's an edible, I guess the most important aspect is "how does it taste?" If I enjoy them as much as you seemed to last year, I think this will be a crop which sticks around in my garden. I love any kind of fruit, but especially exotic ones.

April 7th, 2008, 09:53 PM	#18
zeedman Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Location: Wisconsin USDA Zone: 5a Posts: 298	Re: Can you tell me more about the Litchi Tomato OK, I found the instructions for posting photos on this board. Here is a photo of the plants in full bloom: And a truss of ripe fruit:

April 8th, 2008, 01:33 AM

Novelty Seeds to Share!

I don't have my entire seed order in yet, but I do have 2 varieties to share if anyone wants to give them a try! You will have to check your own growing area/requirements for these, and I have no advice since it's my first time for them, too!

Litchi Tomato (Baker Creek) - rare seed, heirloom edible plant but is more of an ornamental oddity, you can read about it here.

Purple Romagna Artichoke (Baker Creek) - not sure if this will produce for me this year, but it is a perennial that I have always wanted to try to grow because it is so huge and beautiful in the yard!

I have a few extras of each of these, and they need to be started indoors 8-12 weeks ahead, so for many of us, that is now! Drop me an email or leave yours in comments section with your address if you are interested in trying one or both of them, and I will get them out asap!

Happenings in Planet Random

Some random photos of what's been going on around the homestead while I have been busy doing my seed order and now getting files cleaned out for tax-time. I admit I have been neglecting some things around here such as laundry, learning to knit, blogging, but I have gotten a few projects started around here (cleaning closets, planning the garden) and have been making lists of "to do" items that need "doing" before spring! It's a little too early to start my seeds, but no doubt that will provide some good garden-related posts soon enough. Until then, my ramblings about miscellaneous stuff will have to suffice!

Brandywine Tomato in the kids' room has blossoms and we are actively pollinating!

My ficus bonsai had scale so that was lots of fun getting rid of that. Maybe it came from outside since that is my only houseplant that summers on the deck. I used an organic oil spray twice over the course of ten days and it seems to have done the trick.

Remember these? Loch got this for Christmas and he is having a hard time getting it away from me. I forgot how much I liked these when I was little. Potholders, anyone?! Now I will have to find one of those latchhook rug kits, I remember doing those too... maybe it will get my confidence up for knitting!

Sprocket is very happy with the new blankie Sailor/Husband crocheted for her, he has since made a hat and is now working on learning to knit a scarf. I still know nothing!

Pond is frozen. The goldfish are still alive, dormant at the bottom. Nature is amazing, this will be their 3rd hot summer and cold winter in the unheated whiskey barrel!

How did I go so long without this tool???!!!! Stirrup hoe for Christmas, and it was warm enough to use it! I weeded a whole backyard length of border beds that were choked with weeds and grass in just a couple of hours. I am sure my husband loved telling people he got " a hoe" for Christmas. No, his wife isn't that generous :)

Sad time... my husband and I built this kid kitchen together about 5 years ago and the kids loved it, but they are getting older and it is taking up a lot of space, so I sold it on Craigslist, sad but it went to a little 2 year old girl for Christmas, so I know it will be appreciated.

Cooking these days is involving a whole lot of comforting, hot foods! This is Wild Boar with Stewed Heirloom Tomatoes, spinach and herbs & penne from the freezer w/Homebrewed Ale - the garden is still giving!

Couldn't resist adding this photo of my niece, can you tell she's a Minnesota baby?!

I realize that this post is a rambling collection of completely unrelated thoughts and photos. Don't you feel sorry for my family? They have to live with this...