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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 again. This morning on our garden walk, I found a writing spider on the yellow tomato bush. She must have known that the yellow bush would be safe since there…
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Matt’s Wild Cherry Tomato
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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 went into the dining room to fish out my other seeds from the bottom drawer of my dresser-turned-sideboard. Like a good engineering student, I opened up Excel and began cataloging…
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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 cloves crushed garlic3 eggs1 tomato petite diced or 1 can1 tsp saltblack pepper to taste1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs** 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbsa sprig or two of fresh rosemary,…
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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 tastes lighter and fresher but still delicious. Ingredients: Bell peppers – enough to spread and fill a 9×13″ casserole dish 1 5oz package Mahatma Saffron Yellow Rice 1 lb ground…
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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 drop off my time sheet. I had planned on carrying Wookie and letting Scooby walk, but when I went to unload the boys, neither had shoes. Whoops. So I carried…