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Writing Spider
After a long dry spell in Raleigh, we have finally had several days of good rain. I’m nervous that the tomatoes will start splitting open, but hopefully I kept them well watered before the rains. Many of the tomato varieties have started to set fruit. The “Red Kiss” set fruit fairly early, and now I’m waiting on four luscious tomatoes to ripen. The heat seems to have slowed down fruit setting, but with rain they should get back to producing…
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Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomato
Matt’s Wild Cherry is the tiniest tomato I have ever grown, and yet it is one of the most vigorous plants. I have two of these indeterminate bushes, and they are sprawling into other plants’ territory. It is a great tasting tomato that I don’t even bother rinsing before popping in my mouth – the joy of not using pesticides! Today I need to go tie the branches up to the fence and start training them upwards, but I must…
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Seed Cataloging for the Home Garden
Every mid-winter I find myself in a Lowes or Logan’s perusing the seed displays. I cannot help myself. Today, the boys and I spent nearly an hour in Lowes playing on the mowers, looking at seeds, and talking to the staff. Actually, the staff was talking to my boys. They are cuties, what can I say. I left with a seed-starting kit, six packets of seeds and some starter refills. This evening, I spread my spoils on the floor and…
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Beef and Lamb Tuscan Meatloaf
Jen over at The Harvest recently re-requested my Tuscan Meatloaf recipe, claiming “it was the best EVER”. Sadly I can’t claim full creation rights behind that one as I concocted it from several different recipes, but I do have to concede that it is pretty yummy, with the secret being I use fresh herbs from the garden. This recipe produces a savory rather than sweet or tomatoey meatloaf. Enjoy! Serves 8 2.5 lbs ground beef and lamb*1 onion finely chopped2-3…
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Saffron Rice Stuffed Peppers
Last summer my bell peppers were sad due to the failed “Pillar of Peppers” experiment, but this year they have been growing large and fleshy and great for stuffing. We’ve already have two dinners with plenty leftovers, and it looks like we will get to have them again tonight! Last summer I posted a recipe for Three Cheese Stuffed Peppers which used bread crumbs and mushrooms, but this summer I have been enjoying using Mahatma Saffron Yellow Rice. This recipe…
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The Walk of Shame
This morning I went to the farmer’s market to buy the things that I tried to grow. Yes, this is probably a gardener’s greatest walk of shame. However, for $20 I came out with 6 lbs of peaches, 7 ears of silver queen, a pint of blueberries, three squash, two zucchini, and four sweet potatoes. Twenty dollars would not have covered my water bill to grow all of that successfully. Backing up a bit, I first went to school to…
