Thursday, August 21, 2014

back to normal now?

We're finally back home -- my husband, dog, canary and me -- after several crazy weeks!  YEA!  :-)

Our absences were hard on the tomato plants, potted on the balcony outside J's home office, because the work in the back yard would probably have been completely fatal to them.  This turned out to be a real "win" of a technique despite the constant hand-watering necessary.  Usually, the multitudinous squirrel population in our neighborhood has dictated that we were only able to harvest less-ripe specimens or they'd steal them, take a few bites, and leave them in the grass for the bunnies to finish.  DAMN -- i tried everything i could find or think of to discourage them, and nothing worked!  But this year, my half-dozen plants have yielded an impressive collection.  We ate quite a few as caprese salad and as BLTs in romaine leaves.  The ones i picked before our last drive to TX ended up as a large batch of "special tomato sauce," to be frozen in packets adequate for portobello pizzas.  :-)  I'll be growing my tomatoes in this squirrel-resistant fashion from here on out!

This isn't going to be as good a year for sunchokes as last year was (and the year before) -- i think we might have been too efficient when we dug them out last year, and didn't leave enough root-stock.  Oh well....  Our jalapenos are thriving, though, and i'm sold on the "chocolate" chiles -- the latter have so out-performed the poblanos that they're going to be a regular in our garden for rellenos (which my husband LOVES).

And it's finally "really summer" here in the midwest -- temperature in the upper nineties for the first time in a long time and humidity around 60% ... but it still feels better than Houston did!  :-)  Next week it should get a little better, and i have PLENTY to do indoors, in the meanwhile.

So life should be a little more normal for awhile, thank goodness.  ...Excuse me now -- i need to go launder some shorts and pull some oxtail out of the freezer!

8 comments:

  1. Welcome Home ....it's nice to go away but I always look forward to getting back home.

    As for squirrels - newly planted pansies were always a favourite in our garden for those anilmals that look so cute but ..........can cause mayhem in the garden.

    I've just poured you a G & T (virtually you know) enjoy

    All the best Jan

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    1. thank you! :-) ...one of our neighbors claims success by pureeing a jalapeno pepper in the blender with water, straining it into a spray bottle, and keeping the ripening tomatoes "baptized" with it -- i would have tried it this season, but with the potted-on-the-balcony plants, i didn't need to!

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  2. Happy reunion with your environment!
    I also have a squirrels problem, they eat everything except citruses.

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    1. thanks, Galina! :-) maybe the "jalapeno juice" recipe could work for you....

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    2. Somehow my last comment didn't go through. It was not an important one, just my recollection that at some point I tried to discourage squirrels from eating nectarines by placing habanero peppers among fruits. The effect was not long-lasting - it looks like squirrels have poor memory.

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    3. i understand that every time it rains, one has to re-spray, too....

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  3. Hmmm.. chocolate chilies.. Yummy. I've been more adventurous with buying chilies now that I'm making a few recipes from Every Day Paleo- Thai Cuisine. Welcome back.

    The squirrels totally took over my fruit tree. All that water and work 2 years for a weeping plumb tree in a pot and 1 afternoon for a squirrel. If my cats were outdoor cats, I could probably have fruit. But there are coyotes that will eat the cats... (oh, I think they are Paleo.. ;)

    I've resorted to buying plums from the farmer's market, in season and the cats can watch the squirrels for entertainment, now. Sigh... The water restrictions are back on in So Cal, so I've let my patio plants go..

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    1. i'm so sorry about your water situation -- i'll bet EB is chewing her nails, too, considering all the reports she used to give us about her garden and food-exchanges.... :-( yes, i have a dog (elderly now) who still loves to chase squirrels, but he's only outside when WE are.

      so far, we've only harvested one chocolate chili, and it got used in our daughter's recipe for stuffed jalapenos. it came out with a richer flavor than the "standard" peppers did, and now i'm avid to try them in more vehicles! :-) that recipe, btw, was so addictive, i'm going to get her to send it and i'll put it on my recipe page.

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