We May Have Enough

Today I taught myself to braid garlic! 

Isn't it pretty?

There are two types of garlic, as you know: hardneck and softneck.  You can't braid the hardneck variety.  (Guess why!)

But you can make bunches.

Once the garlic is braided and/or bunched, you hang it until you need it.

Here's hoping I did this right!

Oh, and I think we are going to have enough garlic to last quite a while.

Project 20 - Sea Turtle

I decided to make my own pattern for a sea turtle and I am so proud!  And I am counting it as a weekly project since I had to do math to figure out the pattern.  Math is hard!

Do you like it?  Do you want to see more pictures?  Do you want one?  (Cue shameless self-promotion...)  This one is up for sale on my etsy site!  More to follow!

Harvest and Plague

I forgot!  We harvested our garlic on Sunday.  A marginal harvest; most of the garlic grew larger, but only a few made full bulbs.  I am chalking it up to the iffy soil we still have, but that is a work in progress.

It should be enough to last.  For a little while.

Tragedy, though, was just discovered in the garden.  We have a major infestation!  OK, that may be a bit dramatic! 

Something is eating my potato plants!  But the confusing thing is that the beetles seem to be mostly dead (or comatose from gorging on my taters!).  I was able to flick them off, and they didn't get back up.

Anyone recognize these?  Better yet, anyone know how to prevent and destroy them?  This is war - I want my taters!

Does This Make Me A Farmer?

This morning the ground was so hard-baked that we had trouble weeding.  So tonight, after we had a colossal thunderstorm, a storm so heavy that it knocked over my corn,

what did I do?

Why I ran outside and staked all my tomatoes, of course.  What can I say?  The ground was soft.

And now I cannot find my boots. 

In other news, some of our garden is loving the heat wave.

A few of the tomato plants have started to fruit!

The pumpkins are in bliss.

The green beans are thriving (forgive the odd camera angle).

And the corn was happy until the heavy rain. 

I am hopeful that they will right themselves when they dry out.  Who ever heard of staking corn?

I think I am in love with my garden.

Project 19 - Turtles!

Finally, a new project!  I have been majorly distracted by the new job, and the broken well, and packing for the beach, and a huge review book I received (more on that when the confidentiality agreement lets me talk about it.).  But I finally found time to make another project.  I am a little behind, but I have plans to help me catch up.

This week's project was a snap decision when I found a tutorial on a blog I follow.  Funny how a turtle, notoriously slow creature that it is, can be a fast project!

And it was so fun and simple that I just had to make two.

Everyone needs a buddy, right?

This is the perfect project to use up scraps.  And if you cut all the pieces at once, like I did, you can make a bunch of them in a short amount of time.  They would make great baby gifts.  In fact, I may make a few more to have on hand for quick presents.

I gave these two to my sons, of course.  They think the coolness of turtles outweighs all the pink.

Today's Harvest

Tonight I wandered in the garden just for fun, but came back with these!

Our peas are starting to ripen!

I love them fresh off the vine.  So does the 7-year-old.  (Next year I am planting many, many more rows of peas!  I am not sure how much the plants I have are going to produce.)

And here, for your viewing pleasure, is a pretty and unusual moth we saw outside our window.

This year's garden has already produced more than last fall's ever did.  Win!

Wisdom From Unlikely Sources

We watched Craig Ferguson’s new special.  There is just something special about a Scotsman who is comfortable saying “fuck.”  It is sexy and confident.  Hmmm.

Anyway, he is funny as hell; well, funnier, really.  Hell wouldn’t be that funny and I, for one, am glad that the Rapture didn’t happen.  Whew.  But you should totally watch Ferguson’s special.  We were laughing out loud.

But Craig (we are on a first name basis, dontchaknow) said that there are three things you should ask yourself before you post anything on the internet, and I just had to share.  Sometimes comedians are actually pretty wise.

Three things you must ask yourself:

1. Does this need to be said?
2. Does this need to be said by me?
3. Does this need to be said by me, right now?

I know, brilliant, right?!?  I ask myself those questions all the time.  Heck, I am asking myself that now.