Scenes from the Summer

Liz grew these incredibly huge elephant ears from a tiny root.

The preying mantis grew up!

Results from the gourds - five pumpkins and two butternut squash.

Potatoes, Tomatoes, and Praying Mantis

All summer, this guy has been hanging out, literally, and has accidentally been in the house twice via laundry. Sure, it might not be the same one, but I'm saying it is. I was just reading about praying mantis on line and they have seriously strange procreation habits. You'll have to read about them yourself. Yuck.

I've harvested my first batch of potatoes. Aren't they cute?

I just have to figure out how to cook them correctly!

And not leave them out in the sun. Oops.

Compost Tea

It's the peak of summer. Watermelon, sweetcorn, iced tea, lemonade, peaches...

Midwesterners actually like living here this time of the year. We've so much to brag about.

To further the excitement, today was the day I emptied (mostly)my new composter and used it around my garden plants for that mid-season boost. It looked only ok. Not too impressive. In fact, a bit of a disappointment. However, if my plants suddenly take off again, I'll take that all back.

The label of my composter recommended making "compost tea." Always being intrigued by sun tea, my interest was piqued. Turns out, they are quite different. The label says to add "a little compost" to a gallon or two of water. Vague, isn't it? Perhaps it is like sun tea and it depends on how strong you like your compost tea. I went with about a cup of compost to two gallons of water. It came out pretty dark. Cool. The only hang up was some egg shells and roots got stuck in the spigot. Being the garden warrior that I am, I quickly adjust by yanking the roots out the spout. Problem solved.

First Fruits

About a week ago, the first cherry tomato was ripe. Each day, I walked by, watching its color change from dark green to a blush of orange to its eventual red. Only one more day, I thought, and I'd eat it!

No such luck. Liz beat me to it. She said it was delicious.

Harumph.

However, two days later, there was another one. So, I enjoyed the second ripe tomato of the season. Early - early July - imagine!

Second tomato. Sort of like second fiddle. Only more delicious.

Errol Flynn's Birthday

Today, Errol Flynn would be turning 101 years old. He died at 50 years of age.

How do I know this fascinating information? I just finished reading his autobiography, "My Wicked Wicked Ways." At the time, it was very scandalous as he disclosed his many affairs, allegations of rape, and ups and downs of acting, along with his "colorful" childhood and young adulthood.

What struck me is not that after attaining so much power, money, and women, he still was disillusioned. No, it was that this is a story repeated over and over and over. Now his story is the story of countless other men (and women) who sought fame and fortune and sexual freedom only to find it was hollow.

"Vanity, vanity, all is vanity." It's a timeless tale.

Errol's father was distant and his mother was, allegedly, cruel. He had a rocky relationship with both, but most particularly with his mother. He admits wanting to please her, yearning for a good relationship with her. He found faith in God challenging, though he yearned for it as well. Like so many others, he couldn't do the hard work of learning more, thinking more and self-examination. Instead, he went after the next "shiny thing" that came along. That what was before him, drew him. And he was deceived time and time again, but never did he try something differently, just different women, different thrills, and different homes.

Faith is a gift. What is it called when a gift is offered and never received?

Easy Homemade Pesto

How how I love basil. If I were a musician, I'd write songs about it. If I grew nothing else in my garden, it would be basil.

Through the wonders of enriched potting soil and plenty of rain, the basil grew quickly in the containers. Today was the big harvest. I didn't just double or triple this recipe, I quintupled it (is that a word?). I combined it all in a big container. It's marinating in the fridge. What I don't eat in the next couple of days (I hope it's not all of it), I'm going to freeze.

Here's the recipe (not quintupled):

Homemade Pesto

2 cups packed basil leaves (this is a lot!)
1/3 c. pine nuts
3 cloves garlic (I used 5 because I'm crazy that way)
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. parmesan cheese (freshly grated is the bestest)
salt and pepper to taste

Put basil leaves and pine nuts in food processor. Let fly with lots of whirring. Then add the garlic. Whir again. Add olive oil, whir. Next, cheese and salt and pepper and - you guessed it - whir it all up together.

That's it! Since I'm rather imprecise, I added the ingredients in various orders and didn't notice any difference.

Serve with hot pasta, bread or giant spoonfuls!

Freezes well. Yes, you can freeze it in empty ice trays then pack in freezer bags for adding to soup, etc. all winter long. And do save some for the winter. You won't be sorry. Just try to remember that when you're ready to polish the whole batch off in one sitting.

Beet It

Today I planted 12 beet plants. It's almost like Schrute Farms, minus Dwight and his looney brother. It would be more interesting if they were around, but a rapidly blinding dog, a one eyed cat and a variety of other odd animals is about all I can take.

The beet plants were free. Along with 2 6 packs of iceburg lettuce the nursery was giving away were the beets. I've never grown them. We shall see how they turn out. It was cool because even the roots are a red color, with some pink.

A second planting of potatoes went in as well. I tried to harvest some "new" potatoes but they were too new, so on they will grow.

The other news is the fireflies are here! I love them. I think they've been here about a week. Now that I know that not every part of the country has fireflies, I think they are even better.