Today was slow. We finished cleaning the last 20# of strawberries. I took my daughter grocery shopping as she just moved into a new place. She wanted to go to several places, which took more time. I came home and we had a large salad for lunch and then rested for awhile. We don’t have air conditioning and I think the heat slows us down.
When it cooled off, we fertilized the tomatoes and what other plants are still alive in the hoop house. It hasn’t done well, which I think is partly because we have had temperature issues and partly because with my knee issue, it has been semi-neglected. I am just really happy we have a Sunday market that I can purchase products to fill in the gaps. The tomatoes, however, are happy and have lots of little green tomatoes on them. We should have a good crop. The potatoes have died back, so I should go looking underground and see what is there. We only planted about 20 feet for an early harvest. The rest we planted outside and I am hoping they are doing better.
When one can’t get it all done, it’s best to just be thankful for what one can do. There’s always next year, right?
We have been in the car enough this week, that I’m just past the half way point on this afghan. I have also been working many hours on the picnic quilt, but I don’t have a lot of progress to show other than the individual blocks.
With the warmer weather, we have somewhat slowed down and enjoyed being outside more.
In case you are interested in quality meat, we have found this to be a good place to get our chicken (we are vegan, but our dogs aren’t) They carry a variety of meat and it is delivered to a central area near you. The prices are good.
It was exciting to me to finally get enough done to be able to put a block together.
In addition, there are more sodas and more drumsticks done, with more to do.
On a hot day, a cool lunch is terrific. We had a salad in a wrap, with chips and hummus, plus slightly pickled beets and hummus dressing. For the dressing, I put some of the hummus in with vinegar of choice and shake good. Be sure to refrigerate after using. ( I did chop the tomato, but when I make salads for several days, I leave the tomato whole until time to eat the salad)
And to make it a perfect day, Mary came over, bearing berries and had lunch with us. Of course she also had to spend a few minutes playing with fabric. She had another appointment and left all too soon.
I love it when the market opens and I can buy fresh foods that didn’t make it into my garden, which this year is many foods. There are a number of these booths with foods, flowers, and handicrafts.
We purchased some apricots, cherries, asparagus, apples and lettuce. It’s still early and there will be more items added weekly. Since most of these farmers are not certified organic, but use organic practices, I try to remember to ask if the seed is coated. Most commercial seeds are now coated with insecticides, so I try to find out about that. If they don’t know, I go shopping at another booth. Today, I only found two that knew their seeds were not coated. One man was vehement about not using those coated seeds. He said he farms the old way, with compost etc. And he will not change his prices. He says he knows the value. And because he has great produce, I buy from him.
Market is at the bus/train station, so the city has made it a nice place to go.
I worked some on the quilt. I was delighted the way the drumsticks turned out with the crinkled fabric. I also found that I did not make enough of that fabric, so made the rest of what I’ll need.
Today I made the “no-egg” salad. It was so good, we had it for lunch on bread and dinner on crackers. Not what I planned, but when I came to the kitchen to make dinner, I found DH was already eating this And now it is gone without a photo. The thing I would change in this recipe is the mustard which was a bit much for me. I think if pickles were added and a bit of the garbanzo juice, it would be a marvelous dressing for potato salad.
Did I mention the temperature was 86 today, so tomorrow we will be spending time watering. It was warm enough that the two dogs were in the pond as well as at least one sheep and the alpacas.
jk
20 peppers have been planted. I really wish more of the red and green mild peppers had grown. Most of these are hot.
Picture taking day – not their favorite.
This is what happens when you forget to follow mom. You stand there and bawl your head off until she comes back for you.
Often times the hens would rather choose their own place to lay eggs, even though they have several very good next boxes. They want to see if we are on our toes, or if they can be a mommy this time and we won’t catch them. There are few dull moments when you have animals.
l had to show you our delicious meal. This is stir fry over rice.
Our prayers are going up for those of you in these Texas rain squalls. Please do everything you can to stay safe.
In more ways than one we circle.
I spend those little waiting minutes spinning – still working on the dog hair.
I have made some progress, but still more spool to fill.
The other spinning area was spinning car wheels. We started out with a scheduled doctor visit, then to the sewing center, then to AT&T to find out if they could get my Fitbit to work again. No, but they had an idea we could try at home. Meanwhile, they had them on sale for $20. off until Mother’s day and we had 14 days to return, if the other idea worked. Ok, we went for that idea. Then off to Costco for a few groceries. As we walked in their door, they had a better deal on the Fitbit and longer to return it if we could make the first one work, so we bought one there. After Costco, we returned the one to AT&T, gassed up the car and went home, just afraid one of the sheep had lambed and might need help. No, but we are still watching that “pot”.
So we had lunch* and headed back out to the grocery store and to get a few more tomato plants that someone recommended. They also had alyssum, so must have some of that to put in front of house that is half weeded. Home again, I collapsed on the bed for a bit of a nap. Today was one of those days that I woke up at 3.30, so told myself I deserved a rest. 
Afterwards. I went back out and finished the tomato bed in the hoop house. Tomorrow morning, the plan is to plant the tomatoes.
Please tell me this sounds like some of your days? If so, know you are not alone. We can certainly empathize. Oh, and after we came home the last time, the dentist called and said they had a cancellation for teeth cleaning tomorrow afternoon. Could I take that slot. And that is why the tomatoes have to go into the ground in the morning.
* Quickie bean soup. Because I guess on a lot of ingredients, these aren’t exact. Also I cook my beans and then can them, which make them very soft, but you could achieve the same thing by cooking until really done. I opened a pint of red beans (could be another type), into the blender with a pint of hot water, some Brewer’s yeast, chicken-like seasoning, garlic and onion powder and salt. Using a high-speed blender, I blended them for about 2 minutes. Meanwhile I opened another jar and heated the contents one minute in the microwave. I put 2 tablespoons of beans in each bowl of soup. It was so very good and it was fast. I had salad ingredients prepped and so lunch was on the table in 5 minutes.
