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keljonma
Epicurean Goddess
Even though our high today was only 68, the sun was shining and the weather was just perfect for getting stuff done.
TR got home from the ramp project just before lunch, so he mowed the front and side yards while I made lunch. We had our white garlic veggie pizza on the back porch with some iced green blueberry tea.
Then TR did some more yard work, while I finished up the house work; and then he helped me hang some winter blankets on the line to dry.
TR also dug some more huge rocks out of the veg garden area. If I didn't know any better, I would swear that this piece of yard hasn't ever been cleaned out before. Last year we got an over-full wheelbarrow full of large chunks of concrete. This year we got more of the same plus large rocks.
Obviously, this part of the yard used to hold a dairy building on it. As a result, the entire garden had to be dug by hand.
We have had so many problems with the veg garden this year, as most everyone else has, because of the weather. Most of our veg plants drowned this spring...twice. Very frustrating for all of us who want to grow our own food.
TR suggested we visit our friend B who has a greenhouse nearby. I called B and she said, "Come on over, I still have lots of veg available". We got
6 Amish paste with buds
6 Polish paste with buds
8 beefsteak-style w/tomatoes started
6 cherry-style tomatoes (red, chocolate, and yellow) with buds
8 sweet bell pepper plants with buds
8 sweet basil
2 sage
2 parsley
2 different nastursium varieties flowering
2 buttercup winter squash with buds
2 yellow summer squash with buds
4 burpless cucumbers with flowers
....and a partridge in a pear tree.
Okay, I'm only kidding about that last one.
Anyway, the grand total for all that wonderful garden goodness was $10!
After paying B, TR decided it was time to hit the Cherry Valley Amish Bulk store, where we shopped for groceries. We just got the newsletter in the mail on Friday, and I was looking forward to talking to Lizzie about her fresh fruit availability this year. Anyway, I got Qualitate flour, which I use for bread and general baking for 40 cents/pound and peanut butter at 10 pounds for $8.
We also looked at some pre-built chicken coops, bunnies, homemade preserves, and some canning and cheese-making supplies. I also looked at the large All-American pressure canner that Lizzie has with the canning supplies, but still am looking around for a used one. This is why I love Cherry Valley Amish Bulk store - I can get everything there.
Our next stop was Yorkie's in Espyville, PA for ice cream. We have to drive across Pymatuning Lake to get there, and there were white caps on the lake today due to high winds. We had the car windows open, and my hat blew off my head onto TR's lap.
Once at Yorkie's, TR got a mint flurry (minus oreo cookie chunks, with tunnel of fudge instead) and I got a French roast coffee ice cream sundae with hot fudge. Yummy! We started sitting at a picnic table, but the wind was too much with the shade of the large maple we were under. So we moved to a picnic table in the sun.
Then we headed back towards home and stopped at the library, where they had 3 books on reserve for me from a previous order. Today is the first day of EBooks at our library, and as part of the introduction the library is going to raffle off a Nook EReader in August, so TR bought a raffle ticket. Our friend C was working the desk today, and we got all wrapped up in talking goats, goat cheese, honeybees, gardening, muscovies, and the 3 Paul Heiney books I got from the library today.
Back home, TR mowed and weed-whacked some more of the yard, including some of the really tall grasses behind last year's garden area. The grasses behind the garden and by the old milk shed and barn are about 6 or 7 feet high. I love that they completely hide all the junk that the landlords have stored in the yard. And not only is the grass beautiful swaying in the breeze, it makes for a much better view from the back porch.
Then TR got the entire veg garden planted, fenced and watered. Then we sat out on the back porch drinking some more iced tea and watching the sun go down. We have just gotten back into the house and are just getting ready to have dinner!
So I hafta run. But I just had to brag on everything TR got accomplished today - his only day off this week!
It was a perfect June NE Ohio day! I hope yours was perfect too! 
TR got home from the ramp project just before lunch, so he mowed the front and side yards while I made lunch. We had our white garlic veggie pizza on the back porch with some iced green blueberry tea.
Then TR did some more yard work, while I finished up the house work; and then he helped me hang some winter blankets on the line to dry.
TR also dug some more huge rocks out of the veg garden area. If I didn't know any better, I would swear that this piece of yard hasn't ever been cleaned out before. Last year we got an over-full wheelbarrow full of large chunks of concrete. This year we got more of the same plus large rocks.
Obviously, this part of the yard used to hold a dairy building on it. As a result, the entire garden had to be dug by hand. We have had so many problems with the veg garden this year, as most everyone else has, because of the weather. Most of our veg plants drowned this spring...twice. Very frustrating for all of us who want to grow our own food.
TR suggested we visit our friend B who has a greenhouse nearby. I called B and she said, "Come on over, I still have lots of veg available". We got
6 Amish paste with buds
6 Polish paste with buds
8 beefsteak-style w/tomatoes started
6 cherry-style tomatoes (red, chocolate, and yellow) with buds
8 sweet bell pepper plants with buds
8 sweet basil
2 sage
2 parsley
2 different nastursium varieties flowering
2 buttercup winter squash with buds
2 yellow summer squash with buds
4 burpless cucumbers with flowers
....and a partridge in a pear tree.
Okay, I'm only kidding about that last one.
Anyway, the grand total for all that wonderful garden goodness was $10!
After paying B, TR decided it was time to hit the Cherry Valley Amish Bulk store, where we shopped for groceries. We just got the newsletter in the mail on Friday, and I was looking forward to talking to Lizzie about her fresh fruit availability this year. Anyway, I got Qualitate flour, which I use for bread and general baking for 40 cents/pound and peanut butter at 10 pounds for $8.
We also looked at some pre-built chicken coops, bunnies, homemade preserves, and some canning and cheese-making supplies. I also looked at the large All-American pressure canner that Lizzie has with the canning supplies, but still am looking around for a used one. This is why I love Cherry Valley Amish Bulk store - I can get everything there.
Our next stop was Yorkie's in Espyville, PA for ice cream. We have to drive across Pymatuning Lake to get there, and there were white caps on the lake today due to high winds. We had the car windows open, and my hat blew off my head onto TR's lap.
Once at Yorkie's, TR got a mint flurry (minus oreo cookie chunks, with tunnel of fudge instead) and I got a French roast coffee ice cream sundae with hot fudge. Yummy! We started sitting at a picnic table, but the wind was too much with the shade of the large maple we were under. So we moved to a picnic table in the sun.
Then we headed back towards home and stopped at the library, where they had 3 books on reserve for me from a previous order. Today is the first day of EBooks at our library, and as part of the introduction the library is going to raffle off a Nook EReader in August, so TR bought a raffle ticket. Our friend C was working the desk today, and we got all wrapped up in talking goats, goat cheese, honeybees, gardening, muscovies, and the 3 Paul Heiney books I got from the library today.
Back home, TR mowed and weed-whacked some more of the yard, including some of the really tall grasses behind last year's garden area. The grasses behind the garden and by the old milk shed and barn are about 6 or 7 feet high. I love that they completely hide all the junk that the landlords have stored in the yard. And not only is the grass beautiful swaying in the breeze, it makes for a much better view from the back porch.
Then TR got the entire veg garden planted, fenced and watered. Then we sat out on the back porch drinking some more iced tea and watching the sun go down. We have just gotten back into the house and are just getting ready to have dinner!
So I hafta run. But I just had to brag on everything TR got accomplished today - his only day off this week!
It was a perfect June NE Ohio day! I hope yours was perfect too! 
