I thought it might be appropriate and a bit odd to make the title for this (my very first blog) start with the word “second”. Plus, I have “Henry the 8th” stuck in my head – of all things!
A lot of my friends are really creative bakers and it’s been very inspiring to hear of their kitchen concoctions. It’s also a little discouraging to enjoy baking in my house! My husband doesn’t eat sweets. I don’t count brownies made from a box, sweets and I don’t count food that you make from a box, food. Its just how I was raised. My parents/grandparents/great grandparents all grew their own food. Vegetables, fruits and meat for a long time. They got out of the “meat” business when I was young. The last thing they ever did was raise chickens for Tyson. Still, it was fun to grow up and have thousands of baby chicks to play with! My grandparents raise hens now, but not for meat – for eggs!
Today, our list of fruits and veggies that grow on our 8 acres continues to expand! Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, kiwi, muscadine and scuppernong grapes, apples (many kinds), pears, peaches, rhubarb, strawberries and alas our plums. However, the plums have to be replanted – they seem to have contracted a disease that is killing the trees. In my own personal veggie garden, there are 3 Roma tomato plants, 1 Lemon Boy Tomato, 1 German Johnson (dark pink) tomato and a green grape tomato, vidalia onions, peanuts, zucchini squash, yellow straight-neck squash, 2 jalapeno peppers, 3 bell peppers, 3 yellow sweet peppers, cucumbers (straight 8), several heads of lettuce and a half row of carrots. Soon I will plant the remainder of my garden – sugar pumpkins and butternut squash.
This is my first year planting a garden on my own. I usually just help my dad with his, as he grows enough to feed an army – but this year I thought I’d try it myself! He planted okra for me in his garden, as it is about 75 feet wide and mine is about 40-50. He’s also growing Yukon Gold potatoes, green beans, eggplant and corn. My grandfather plowed up approximately 150 feet of space today to plant peas. Needless to say the harvest will keep me busy this year, freezing and canning food takes some time! I’ve already been quite busy trying to keep the weeds from growing! All I can say is thank God for power tools such as tillers!
Last weekend – I picked some of the most beautiful cherries I’ve ever seen from my grandparents’ cherry trees. I’ll be canning those this weekend for use in cobbler and as ice cream topping! I’ll post pictures & let you all know how the canning worked out for me, so you can do the same if you choose. Fresh cherries from your local farmers market, once canned or prepared as pie filling and frozen make the best cherry desserts.
I could continue writing, but I believe my daughter is starting to eat her own arm! Dinnertime!
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