When Paul pulled the potatoes out of the ground, he loaded them into crates and they have sat in our garage for…a week?  They were sitting there, waiting for us to get a good idea of what to do with them.  Granted, we would eat some here and there.  So now, Paul is on the floor picking out the mushy, rotten ones.  Let me tell you, it is not the most pleasant odor.  The lesson is:  clean and scan through the crop immediately, so that this doesn’t happen.  Put that one in your pocket.  It’s free.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=106457956&sc=emaf

An interesting tail of future woes.  Listen up.

Oregano, keeping it real.

My parsley is finally making its debut.

Basil and carrot action.

My beautiful chard experiment.

The little cilantro that could!

What’s going on in the herb garden as of NOW.

Not too shabby.

The bed I installed to keep my kids off of that stump…so far it’s working.

My black bean, I assumed was a bush bean until it sent out a “climber”.  You live, you learn.

Sugar-pie pumpkin #2, stone sink-ing it up, trellising on the fence.  It’s working okay, the stem-boring beetles have attacked it though.  I only hope it stays alive long enough for the fruit on it to mature.

The stem-boring beetles eat a hole in the stem and it kills the plant, notice the yellow.

This one isn’t doing as well as the pumpkin on the trellis.  It is experiencing a lot of blossom drop.

I tied this on to give it support and later in the day it grew ever so much and broke free from the restraints I tried to keep it under.  Nobody keeps my pumpkins down!

Yeah, not so much.

By the by, Paul dug up over 200 pounds of potatoes!

He deserves big props, for it was no small task digging them all up.

Our first run of squash are almost done, a new run were planted about a week ago.

This is a carving pumpkin in its infancy.

Cantaloupe melon (yuck), I hear some people like these.

Watermelon!  Do a little dance.

Bottle gourd blossom.

Oliver helping Paul out.

Did I mention over 200 pounds of potatoes?

This is a broad view of my flower bed, inviting all of the pollinators into the space.

Some more pumpkins in the mix.

A view of this way.

Watermelon mania!  Do another little dance.

Whoop!  Whoop!

A view of that way.

Pie pumpkin out in the field.

Just to let you know, this is a pumpkin called “Big Max”, can you say county fair winner?

Okra!  I just cooked some for the first time in my life tonight and let me tell you something, all of you non-southerners, okra is delicious!

Pickle me PLEASE!

MMMMmmmmmmmmmm.

Currently turning all of that basil into pesto.

The never ending post, it’s okay, almost over.

Me, trying to be edgy.  But then there’s my foot.

Back view of my “keep off the stump” garden.

I’m proud of this fruit right here, love you boo.

The newer babies, thing 1 and thing 2.

The new space for the bigger babies, there’s five of them.  Thanks for checking out these pictures, sorry for the jumbled order, I don’t blame you if you need to get a drink right now.  Actually, that sounds like a great idea.  Until next time.

Every time I go outside, I head straight for my planting beds.  I assess the backyard first, then venture on the the main “op”.  It’s chronic, sometimes ten times a day, I look at the same pumpkin, the same chard, the same beans.  Any new growth?  Mostly no, but sometimes yes.  I don’t know what I’m looking for exactly.  I guess I want my plants to show me their eyes and mouths and tell me what’s up, that it will be a great season.

This is a pie pumpkin that I am compulsive about checking.  I’m happy with its progress.  I constructed tee-pee for it to trellis on.  So far so good. I have counted up to seven fruit on it, however, each time I count I find one more or one less.

I check this bad boy ten times a day, expecting it to be doubled in size.

Babies, babies and more babies!

I love this plant.

We do a lot of “skillet meals” in this house.  That means whatever we have, throw it in the pan and see what sort of magic comes out on the other end.

Potatoes, carrots, beets, basil and zucchini.

Uhmmmm, shred the beets and carrots?  Sure!

There it all is, along with a fresh onion from the garden who was too shy to be in the first picture.

I made some pesto with the basil and threw it all on top of some polenta.  Believe it or not, my kids loved it!  Fresh and yummy, still has a pulse, the way it should be.

I tried to make my own egg noodles the other day and what a mess I made. I used a vague recipe from a baby cookbook, yikes! They didn’t dry completely and turned out chewy and weird. If anyone out there has a recipe for egg noodles that is spectacular, let me know.

A complete failure.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andrew-kimbrell/the-obama-organic-family_b_224398.html
Excellent! Must read.

I talked the talk and whinnied about making my own laundry detergent, I wasted no time in trying it.  I can’t believe how fresh my clothes smell!  I’m totally sold and I hereby tell you to try it for yourself…where’s Billy Mayes when you need him?

This much closer to what?  I’m not sure, maybe you can tell me.  I did hoof all over creation today, lugging my two patient children  all in the name of “washing soda”.  Right here is where I should talk about natural cleaners and why you should make your own, I won’t, but it’s coming.  I am going to say that I made my own laundry detergent today!

A special shout out here to friends, Roy and Becki, GREAT IDEA!

You only need a few ingredients to make your own laundry detergent, which saves the Earth and saves you money.  All it takes, is a bar of soap, borax, washing soda and water.  I have to say that I went on a wild goose chase searching for washing soda.  It was at the 9th store we checked, not very Earth-friendly, and it was the store closest to my house….lessons learned.  When I went to the natural food store, store #7, they looked surprised that I asked for such a thing.  One man asked “to make your own laundry detergent?”

“yeah.” I say.

“Yeah, I don’t know if we sell that….can I recommend any of the ones we have for you?”

“No,” I say, “I’m trying to make my own, I just need washing soda.”

Guy number two says, “I haven’t seen that in years, you should try looking…”

Well, the next place didn’t have it, but the place after that DID”!  Listen up, washing soda is not baking soda!  They are different, it is supposed to be found in a box in the laundry isle along with borax.

The recipe that I used is:

1. Shred one bar of soap (about 2 cups)

2. Put that into 1 qt. of water until all is dissolved

3. Add to that 1 cup borax and 1 cup washing soda

4. stir that all up and then pour it all into two gallons of water.

5. If you put it in jugs or old laundry containers, it’s easy to shake before you use it.  It will gel together somewhat.

6.  Use 1/4 cup per load.

I used 1/2 bar of white laundry soap (bar) which cost $1.  The washing soda was $2.90 and the borax $3.90.  Just factoring in the cost of the material, it cost me $1.23 to make two gallons of product.

You should totally give it a try.

visit http://www.harmonygardens.blogspot.com, and make an effort to go and see Dr. Calvin Bey’s garden tours this weekend.  Even if you don’t garden or don’t have any desire to garden, you should see it anyway, it’s a work of art.