Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Garden Breakfasts

I planted strawberries a year ago. This year, I have had great yield. Every morning for a month I go out and pick berries for breakfast. I have lettuce too, too much lettuce, but it is really nice to go pick lettuce for a lunch salad. I also have green onions, that I just cut off, then they regrow.

I planted bush beans but bugs got them. I planted acorn squash and they're doing fine. I got a small yellow cherry tomato plant that is now flowering and likely will produce. I have potatoes but the neighbors cat "nested" in amidst the stalks breaking many. They're growing in an old tire. Once they bloom, I'll see what I have.

I got some roma tomato plants, just a couple, but they have not done well, and have repeatedly tried to bloom early. I should plant from seeds, to avoid such problems. Nurseries over fertilize their soil and sprouting plants and they bolt too often.

I'm bummed about the bush beans getting eaten. Maybe it's not too late to plant more.

The cherry tree produced lots of cherries. I've been eating what I can pick from a five foot ladder. The neighbor man and I picked a bunch this morning and were sick to our stomachs we couldn't get up to the loaded higher branches.

We ate a lot while we picked, and spit the seeds out into the lawn. Rain descended lightly from the gray skies.

I've made several fruit smoothies of my strawberries and the cherries. They are yummy! If I have extra, I freeze the concoction for a hot day. I usually add pumpkin seeds to the fruit and almond milk mixture, because I like texture.

My dandelion wine bottles, three in all, are corked and aging. When I went to West Fir, I tried two of my friends' home made wines. My friends there make a lot of their own everything. They are a self sufficient pair! They had home made prison wine for me to taste, which was as sweet as Kool Aid. Prisoners make wine in their toilets using powdered drink mix and moldy bread for the yeast.

They didn't make their prison wine in the toilet, however! But they did make it from drink mix and bread yeast.

Wine is easy and cheap to make. I am going to make some from my strawberries and cherries. They also have a beer making kit. One of my brothers makes a concoction from the walnut husks from walnut trees in their yard. If they make it now, it's ready by Thanksgiving. I tried some when I was up there last Thanksgiving. It was terrific!

Blueberries are finally ripe, I heard, from one of the caretaker's of yesterdays' cats fixed. She picks blueberries as a worker. They are currently harvesting in Corvallis. I need to get over there to one of the Upick places and pick a few gallons. Today would be a good day, since it's raining and not blistering hot. I don't mind picking berries in the heat though. I wear a hat and a long sleeved shirt to ward off the sun. It's very relaxing. I usually pick several varieties.

I only plant vegetables that grow without much work at all. I really don't have a green thumb, but some things just want to grow despite my bad gardening techniques and then I eat them.

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