Time for Camera Help

I spent 20 minutes outside today taking pictures for the blog. Peppers, beans, round zucchini, epazote, cucumbers, strawberries, our new dog (yes you read that right), tomatoes. . . and this is what I came up with.


One lousy picture of the Fagioli Pavoni (I think; maybe Stregoni). Pretty blossoms - they're a light apricot in color, but seriously?

I'm pretty annoyed. There's some disconnect between the big zoom lens and the autofocus, and I just need to replace the lens I used before. I miss my Lumix camera. Sigh.

Bee status

Quick hive check today. Four hives. One weak, one huge and booming (that one got a queen excluder and a honey super), one all-medium one acting as the wave of the future and not yet needing a super, and one surprise.

The hive I gathered at night last week? My friend had told me that bees had moved in, and I made some assumptions. Today, when I moved it, I noticed it was very light. Pried up the top -- and there were bees in there, yes sirree.

What there wasn't was manmade frames. The bees were making comb attached to the hive cover. Argh.

It's going to need cutting out, but for now I slapped a set of drawn frames under it and have pretty much decided to combine it with the weaker of the three others. That means finding and offing a queen, unfortunately. Too hot and not enough time to do it today, though.

Just needed to make notes to tell me what was what for the next round of hive inspections.

Hide-the-Kale

For those of you who might want to eat more kale, or somehow manage to make other people eat more kale, but aren't quite ready for a big ol' pan of kale and garlic while it's so warm?

I present -- Disappearing kale!

My kids like smoothies for breakfast and snacks when it's hot. I buy .50c going-brown organic bananas from the local place, peel and chunk them and stick them in the freezer. When it's smoothie time, I throw them in the garage-sale blender with some frozen berries, either home-picked or store bought, some milk, some water (depending on how thick I want it to be), and maybe some flax seeds or psyllium husk if I'm feeling extra-crunchy.

This morning, for speed and blogging purposes, it was a straightforward banana-milk-water-raspberry smoothie to begin with:

Nice and smooth. Then, I stemmed three Lacinato kale leaves. Not many, because this smoothie was a) small and b) blueberry-free. The reason that matters will become clear later on.

Using the power of whirring blades, the kale gets pulled under. Aaaaaiiiieeeee. . . .


And then shows up again as greenish specks. Had this smoothie contained blueberries, the kale wouldn't really show.

The kids tried it, but said they didn't particularly want it, even though it tasted fine. I think looks matter a lot to them. I'm actually enjoying it just fine, and the extra serving of "smug" along with it doesn't hurt a bit.

Double or Nothing

We're supposed to be coming out of a heat wave here. While I know that many areas of the country suffer from much more extreme weather, I reiterate -- we're not prepared for this. With neither thick walls nor artifically cooled air, these old Victorians (especially in rooms under eaves) are just hot.

How better to enjoy weather like this than to drive inland, away from any errant sea breezes, and walk around on asphalt all day long? Yes, it's county fair time, and I'll be baking myself out there tomorrow like a crazy person. Let's hope the folks tightening bolts on the roller coasters were sober enough.

Oh, and why not, while I'm at it, throw in a little Eco Wool knitting? I can't stop working on this baby because I have finally (!) figured out how to knit two sleeves on two needles. It took drawing, talking to my sister, and many many rounds of "nope, that's not it, take out the needle and turn it around" before I finally wrapped my head and subsequently my fingers around the technique:


That's not so easy to see. one needle is I believe 24" long, while the other is 60". That way, I can tell them apart. But the shorter one makes spreading the sleeves out for a picture a bit tricky. Folded is a little clearer.


I don't think I'm ready to write up a tutorial, but for me, I divided the sleeves into "fronts" and "backs" and each one has one needle. Two sleeves, one side, one needle. To knit, then, one needle gets knitted across one side of two sleeves, necessitating one yarn change. If I start with the fronts, then I knit both fronts. Then I drop that needle and knit two backs.

It's easier, much easier, than I had managed to make it for a bit. Maybe this will pump up my speed on lots of things, like mittens! Christmas is coming, make no mistake. But first, this and a couple of other sleeveless sweaters.

Crazy for Kale

It would be so great to always be ready for pictures, to always have my hair just so and maybe the dark circles that lurk under my eyes softened a bit. . . but then I couldn't complain that there were no pictures of me, and anyhow, when your most avid photographer is six, you get what you get.

Kale makes me pretty happy.


I pulled about a pound of Lacinato kale out of the garden today -- it's all threatening to bolt, and I'm trying to gobble it up before that happens. So I'm going to share a "recipe" with you. It's more of a suggested approach, because I'm not actually measuring things. When out at a local restaurant, I had their Kale-Seaweed Salad, and it was so tasty I've been trying to match it ever since. There's still something off about my dressing, but I'm close.


If you want to try it, and you have access to kale and either Arame or Hijiki (Arame is less expensive here, and Hijiki tastes better, in my opinion), you can make it right up.

I lightly steamed about 1/2 pound of stemmed kale leaves, then chiffonaded them. Meanwhile, the seaweed was soaking in some hot water. I drained the seaweed and mixed it with the kale. Into that went some finely minced fresh peeled ginger (you might want to try some ginger preserved in sherry, or some shaved fresh ginger instead). The dressing was rice vinegar, sesame oil, and soy sauce. Sesame seeds on top.

And that's it. I find it really yummy and am always amazed at how much kale cooks down to how little. It tastes best cold, but I have yet to make it far enough ahead to chill it. If anyone has suggestions about punching up the dressing, let me know.

What makes a holiday for you?

On lazy holiday weekends, apparently my family likes to:

Gather a fourth hive of bees from friends leaving the hobby, at night, using straps to hold the hive together for the drive home.


It's clearly "seat of the pants" beekeeping.


Then we like to celebrate someone's 6th birthday with coffee and breakfast out:




Followed by a really long walk home, necessitating changes of ride:



Then we might eat something from the garden. This is leek, feta, and lemon quiche:


And today, we topped it off by marching in our hometown parade. It's the kind of parade where half the town is in the parade, the other half watching. Fun, and tiring:

We're all a bit tired. Mikey looks like a kitchen rug:


Happy holiday, everyone in this country.

Lush

I feel guilty for resting on the garden's laurels -- only because I know I should be making the next season happen already. Maybe I'll get some done this evening. It's been warm, after an unseasonable rain storm. The garden has reacted with raging growth:



Except for the pitiful peppers, of course. Every year, it seems that there is one plant which does much better than expected. Last year it was bell peppers. Next year, I'm going to plan them much more carefully -- I loved those peppers. Oh well. Guess I'll haunt half-off sales this summer so we have enough to grill, because I'm not going to harvest enough. But some thought-dead Padrons have greened up, so there will at least be a few of those. Yum.

This year, the unexpected performer was leeks:


I planted them partly as a lark. I love leeks, and hate to buy them. But these puppies really did well. Lisa had some issues with hers this year, so I was afraid that mine must have been bolting. This morning, before the heat hit (how the Victorians dealt with this I do not understand), I was nipping through the garden, eyeing the about-to-bolt-or-get-too-big stuff.

Apparently they weren't bolting. Now I have to sell the family on Vichyssoise as a viable dinner, I think.


The strawberries continue to just crank out berries -- we harvested a pound today with no end in sight. I did nip off runners conscientiously. How do you with strawberry patches deal? Do you transfer the plants via runners and rogueing out the originals? How often? Do you do a Lord of the Flies let 'em rip kind of system? Pull them all and replant new plants? So far, no disease or slug issues, and the birds haven't been bad. In fact, Mikey's been the worst pest so far, and we just watch him now.


The grapes are growing crazily. Some day I'm going to learn how to prune them properly. I hope we get enough for jam again this year. We're running low, and the grape was terrific last time. Reminded me of my pb&j childhood!


In addition to "junglelike growth," this year's theme seems to be "volunteering." My produce isn't bagging itself to give to neighbors and the soup kitchen, but extra bits of plants keep popping up. There's the kale on the brick patio, the squash in the compost and near the chicken coop, and tomatoes everywhere. Tomato alley:


Johnny Jump-ups make me smile. After finally getting some from seed last year, I had hopes of babies this year. They did not disappoint. How many years do you think it will be before I finally preserve some in sugar to put on cupcakes?


This is about how high an elephant's eye is, right? Ellie may actually get some ears of corn this year. Wish we'd planted more!


The Italian soup beans are rampaging. I still feel slightly guilty over not liking green beans enough to grow, pick, and prepare them. Dry beans are more my style. But really, they seem like a crazy use of home gardening space. These earned it by being flown across the Atlantic:


One of the kinds (either Fagioli Stregoni or Pavoni) has luscious apricot flowers.



Other flowers include the ubiquitous (though fortunately less-numerous than last year!) sunflowers, just opening up:


And a few sweet peas. Those fence beds are going to have to be dedicated lettuce beds, I believe. The things there are so far behind for lack of sunlight that it's perfect for a slow-bolt planting of lettuce. Remembering that is key, of course.


Speaking of bolting, I indentured two kids today to prepare and freeze about ten pounds of kale. It's got to get done or the chickens will get it all:


Finally, I assume that either from the planted plants or those multiple volunteers, there will be tomatoes. . . some day.


Sorry about the "everything but the kitchen sink" approach. I'm not blogging regularly and oh how I miss the good camera, but when I do get things photographed, might as well cover as much as possible. Busy times, as you all know.