Yup, that's what I've got these days. It's summer. There's so much going on....
600 tomato plants....
900 strawberry plants....
300 new asparagus roots ...
Package after package after package of sweet corn seed, enough to cover two acres.... planted by hand.
A seedbed of 3000 cauliflower babies (so stinkin' cute!!!!!)...
100 green pepper plants
30 rows of Indian corn. An acre of pumpkins, half-acre of gourds and don't forget 1000 Butternut squash and 650 Acorn squash...
A cute kid dressed like Jeter:
A sweet contemporary wedding industry novella set in Philadelphia for Zondervan... DONE!!! And I love it, I had so much fun dipping into my eight years of wedding planning fun at Bridal Hall in Rochester, NY!!!!
A fun prairie romance novella set in 1868 Nebraska for Barbour's "Prairie Romance" collection: DONE!!!!
:)
Big smile to have contracts fulfilled, planting done, the upstairs hall painted because we're getting new carpet and yes, once again it took THREE COATS of cream paint to cover up the very pretty (sigh) dark teal moldings. The first pic is the original floor at the top of the stairs (part of the original 160 year old house):
And then there was this under the really old, horrid green shag carpet:
It is gone now...
(Happy sigh....)
Oh, and 13 laying hens and 50 baby chicks:
And cute kids and 3 baby kittens:
And last weekend was 3-Cake Weekend. Don't ask. Suffice it to say that the remnants of three cakes found their way to our dining room table. One homemade yellow cake with homemade frosting, one carrot cake (totally my fault, no wonder my clothes don't fit) and the remnants of a SHEET CAKE from the bakery.
CAKE OVERKILL.
Enter: Cake Ball Technology, 101
I mushed up the bakery cake, chocolate and vanilla, with the frosting....Froze the cake balls for about fifteen-twenty minutes (or until I remembered they were in the freezer when they almost crashed to the floor!!! OOPS!!!!
Smushed, then rolled into balls, just like making meatballs.... Note that I mixed the chocolate and white cake in this one and it was/is MARVELOUS!!!!
I shared some carrot cake with Finn who is getting big enough to FEED HIMSELF, how did this happen?????
So then I did the same smushing thing to the homemade yellow cake and homemade frosting. Honestly, the difference in consistency is huge when you're using a good homemade recipe. Not as mushy or artificially soft, so the texture is great. Brownies make great "cake balls" too....
And then I warmed the Ghirardelli chips over a small kettle of warm/hot water until it was smooth. I added about a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the dark chocolate and twice that (2 tablespoons) to the white chocolate.
And here's a mix of both I brought out for my daycare moms....
Wait, do I have a cute kid video???? (runs to check camera.....)
I laugh at this time of year because sandwiches and take-out are not uncommon. I keep thinking about dragging out the Crock Pot but I've got the babies outside most of the time, and there's not much in the house opportunity! But summer is fleeting up here, so we'll soak up some rays, take care of the two-legged and four-legged babies, and just let the warmth bathe us...
Sweet summertime.... Who needs food????
Oh my goodness, you've become the Blodgett Farm!! I want to live near you so I can come buy my produce!
ReplyDeleteWill y'all sell at a farmer's market or do your own roadside stand?
Missy, come live in WNY!!!! You would love it, except for the snow!!!! :)
DeleteRoadside stand for now, we're getting things ready for that, rebuilding our old one AFTER the molding for the upstairs hall gets cut tonight! I'm trading good molding cuts for food with Mandy... And then they can come install the carpet! I think Dave is having fun. I know he's tired, LOL!
OK, we have a lot of people here and we love to feed neighbors but even WE do not have THAT MUCH FOOD. What are you doing? Are you going to sell produce?? Is it organic? Are you getting certified? How do you fertilize it? Do I want to know?
ReplyDeleteWe don't spray... we just let out the chickens... and then they help fertilize, too. The circle of liiiiiife.
I love this, VCM!!!!!! We'll sell it at a roadside stand. We did this for years when our kids were young (TORTURED THEM TO HEAR THEM TELL IT!!!) and they really understood the value of a dollar and a work ethic when all was said and done... and probably hated us, but it spurred them to college, LOL! Seth and Jon (Beth's husband) are helping re-ignite this project and it's fun to see the two young men with the cute older guy, working the fields. This is a six-acre plot we're using right now. And then we'll see how this year goes and plan for next year.
DeleteWe use IPM "Integrated Pest Management". We try not to spray anything unless absolutely necessary. We figure we're eating this food right alongside our customers. We're using a chemical fertilizer this year because our farmland's been rented for twelve years. We'll do a soil analysis and see about having our neighbor farmers dump some manure here for next year. The problem with that is that everyone runs out of time in the spring when it gets dry enough to get on the fields. So it's hard to take their precious time away from them, but we'll see about it for 2015.
Our fertilizer is granular and we sprinkle it around each plant. What it costs in labor easily offsets random spraying or distribution which just feeds the weeds. So it's old-fashioned in an Ingalls sense of hands-on production, with a little help from the fertilizer company to balance lost nutrients.
I can't wait to taste my first Dave-Seth-Jon tomato and cucumber salad!!!!
Oh, I remember how I thought my parent were torturing me when they made me work in the garden!! LOL
DeleteLOL, YES!!!!!!
DeleteOh my goodness, I just got up but I'm going back to bed after reading all that. You've exhausted me!!!!!
ReplyDeleteHow ambitious!!! And fun. You should do living on a farm holidays. Throw up a tent in your backyard and invite folks to come see what living off the land looks like...and get free labor. :-)
What do you do about watering all those tomatoes? Or are you just going to trust Mother Nature to do her thing?
I haven't planted a single veggie this year. My landlord hasn't fixed my outside water tap so without water, there's no point in planting veggies. This will be the fourth year that I don't have water. He keeps saying he's going to fix it...but then he doesn't. Sigh, the perils of cheap rent.
Oh -- and I thought spit washing was a mom thing. Too funny.
Kav, we don't water, we let Mother Nature do it for the most part, and if we need to???? WE CARRY GALLON JUGS OF WATER into the field and water each plant individually. Isn't that a HOOT?????? But that way the plants get the water and the weeds don't, old world weed control. So yes, when we need to water something, it's a parade of gallon jugs of water. :)
DeleteWOW that's a lot of plants! I thought picking my grandpa's garden way back when was bad- I'd run for the hills if I had to pick all this stuff! yikes!
ReplyDeleteSusanna
Susanna, hahahahahahaha! I'm pretty sure that's why they all ended up with university degrees, to help them stay off the farm! :) LAUGHING!!!! But it's kind of cool that Seth's back helping on the farm and the Jon loves farm work. It's like passing a torch.... I love getting dirty myself, but there's so little time that right now I'm more of an office assistant who orders the plants/seeds/supplies and the men are putting it into action. Although I do get to raise the 50 baby chicks and take care of the layers. Who knew that folks would be so excited to buy farm-fresh eggs?????
DeleteRuthy, I'm amazed at all you do and maintain your sanity!!! That's a huge garden! I suppose you freeze and can the bounty, as well as sell it. Glad you've got some help from your sons and dh.
ReplyDeleteAnna is adorable.
Oh, and the cake balls look yummy and easy but then so is snarfing down all the leftover cake as is. LOL
Janet
You know Janet, I haven't done a lot of freezing or canning in years because there's so little time, but this year I might just have a little "preserve" with Grammy day!!!! That kind of sounds like fun, doesn't it?
DeleteAnd I couldn't get excited over so much leftover cake, hence the creative edge to making the cake balls (which my waist and hips do not need!!!) but the three leftover cakes was just crazy... Like Anne Shirley noted about the twins in the opening of Anne of Green Gables "I like babies in moderation, but twins three times in succession is too much."... That's how I felt about all that cake!!!!
AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you do with all those vegetables when they are ready for harvest??
I think the daycare kiddos just learned to love gardening LOL!
Deletesusanna
Well, hopefully we'll sell them. That's the goal. But this is our first year back doing this, so we'll see how it all goes down!
DeleteI was wondering about your watering schedule as well. How is it done?
ReplyDeleteMostly nature.... but via gallon jugs of water, watered by hand, if needed.
DeleteSo you don't think you are overly ambitious? Over reaching? Over doing it?
ReplyDeleteOver over over???
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!
DeleteIf IT KEEPS DAVE BUSY, EVERYONE'S HAPPY!!!!! Big grin here....
Remember we did this for ten years when the kids were young, and then college claimed them.... and it was too much for Dave and me to handle on our own. So now the new generation is coming on board, and who doesn't love fresh veggies????
Mmmmm..........
:)
Wow. That's all I really can say. Wow.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I can say more. I'm a writer. Ruthy-you are ah-mazing, and my hero. You go girl.
Now I need cake balls and a baby chicken.
AREN'T THOSE BABY CHICKS THE CUTEST THINGS???? I must get pics of the layers and the babies because while chickens will never be accused of being the smartest creatures on earth (fairly dumb and they somewhat cannibalistic, so I don't mind that folks eat them!!!!) those gorgeous eggs.... and the baby chicks... Too cute for words!!!!
DeleteOkay, read the comments. Road side stand. Kids are going to do the actual standing for you?
ReplyDeleteGrown up kids.... and a lot of self-serve, very normal for up here to have a lock box for money (which thieves do steal now and again, the snots!) and the produce out for the taking. It will be an interesting summer/fall, right?????? :) I consider it story fodder....
DeleteWow, that is a massive garden, Ruthy!!!! Cool. All this and cake balls, too?
ReplyDeleteWell. I don't want to BRAG.... ;)
DeleteI buy eggs from a guy here at work :-)
ReplyDeletesusanna
Fresh eggs: TO DIE FOR. Good for you Susanna!!!
Delete