Aug 28, 2011

Apple Butter

 "In an orchard
there should be
enough to eat,
enough to lay up,
enough to be stolen,
and enough to rot
upon the ground." 
Samuel Madden

We picked enough to 'lay up'
some apple butter & some dried apples
 they required very little sugar
added along with
cinnamon and nutmeg
 cooking in the crock pot all day
until it becomes a delicious
apple butter
 the dehydrator worked its magic
and with time 
these apples became tasty treats

Aug 25, 2011

Apples

apple picking time 
 means baking apple strudel
 and apple crisp
 and a bowl of fresh

Aug 23, 2011

Fresh & Colorful

I love when fresh fruit
is in season
even if I have to buy it at a store
 hand picked garden fresh tomatoes
 and cucumber sandwiches
from a new picking
 vegetable palooza
 topped with fresh herbs
 and some chunked kielbasa
roasted on the grill
 and a little corn on the cob
to finish off our vegetable laden meal

Aug 22, 2011

The rewards of gardening!
and more coming soon!

Aug 19, 2011

Monarch Butterfly About to Emerge

(click on pictures to enlarge)
Our good friends have a monarch
butterfly about to emerge
 she called to see if I wanted to take
some pics and of course I did
 its hanging off their
topsy turvy planter
Note the changes in the
following two pictures
the colors in the wings are showing
the emerging seemed to slow down
so we wandered around the yard
 I'm still snapping pics of course


 I love the ducks on this fountain
and the old wagon wheel topped
with the vintage window box


 and as we strolled along ...
 she found a new chrysalis
hanging on the garage wall
 and the remains of last years
hanging on the house
 after an hour of waiting, I headed home
Enjoy the remainder of the summer
the bees sure are!
Tomorrow I will check the progress on the butterfly.

Aug 16, 2011

For Your Enjoyment:

Old Advertisements:
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head in disbelief!  









Aug 14, 2011

Thom and I took a hour and a half walk yesterday.  We started out by cutting across the lawn to check out the neighbors grapes.  He now lives in Florida so we watch over the place for him. The grapes are getting out of control, that along with the lack of rain this summer have caused the grapes to decrease in size and abundance. With so much foilage you'd think it would be loaded with grapes; but not so.  There are very few this year. 


 The plums seemed to be doing well this year. I can't wait for them to ripen. They are so sweet, almost as sweet  am!  lol
 The beginning of our nature trail walk takes us past a few medows.  We heard the sand hill cranes take off just before we came around the corner.  I guess they heard us as well.

 Dragonflies were flying around as if they had a full mission sent from head-quarters. I was able to capture this little fella as the big ones kept on moving about. 
 A couple of moths decided to land on the trail right in front of my feet. I guess this is how the little ones are made!  They didn't seem to need any privacy so I snapped the camera! Or maybe they were just wrestling!  
 Although we didn't see much of birds or animals on this particular walk, the dragonflies, moths and butterflies were all over the place. 
 The apples along the route aren't quite ready yet, I'd say about a month away from ripe.  But the dew berries were ripening.  They are like a bramble blackberry.  They grow close to the ground and vine about.
 We picked enough for a couple of fresh home-made dewberry turn-overs for breakfast.  Sorry no pictures because they went directly from the oven to our stomachs. But take my word for it, they were delicious!

 Then we headed down the road which took us from one end of 'the loop' to the other - back to home-sweet-home.