Sincerely, Emily

First tomatoes of the season

Sincerely, Emily — Wed, 22 May 2013 09:01:05 +0000

On May 15th my neighbor called to tell me that he had one of my tomato plants planted in his garden and I needed to come pick some of them.

This is the neighbor where I plant some peppers and the zucchini from last fall. He and his wife helped pot up my seedlings into larger pots earlier this spring. Even with all the care that was taken to keep our plants separate…. some of them ended up getting mixed up. I couldn’t find my yellow pear tomato and we were just waiting for things to start fruiting to find it. So when he called me I figured it had been found.

Nope! He has a golden cherry tomato plant of mine in his garden. I think it is called Sun Gold. It was a beautiful sight. I picked 4 cherries. I shared 2 with his wife and one with my husband. They were so fresh and sweet.

Tonight I will walk (yes, you read that correctly*) up to their house and do my weekly spraying. I spray a mixture of seaweed, fish emulsion and molasses once a week. Sometimes I will add a bit of BT (bacillus thuringiensis) if worms are overwhelming things. I bet when I get up there that there will be more sun golds to pick!

*Yup, I will walk up to my neighbors house!!! I have walked up there three times so far in the past two weeks. There is an ever-so-slight incline on the road to their house so I go when the sun is getting low and I take my time walking at a turtles pace. I let them know I am coming so they can keep an eye on me as I head up to their house. I am completely out of breathe with I get there, so I sit and rest, but I am so glad that I can do it. There are baby deer all over now, so I stay out of the field and stick to the road so I don’t disturb them. I take my sprayer with all the good stuff in it and just fill it with water when I get there.

When I walk back home I am just too exhausted to spray the plants in my garden (and I need a nap!), so I spray my garden on Thursday am or pm.

This is definitely a slow recovery, but day by day I get a little bit better. The heat has finally hit here and that has set me back quite a bit in my breathing and energy level. My tomato plants are covered with green tomatoes. I just take it one day at a time and looking forward to enjoying more tomatoes along the way, soon I hope!

How are your tomatoes looking so far this season?

Sincerely, Emily

REAL Renovations: Creative way to label your potted plants and herbs

Sincerely, Emily — Sat, 18 May 2013 09:01:05 +0000

I am a member of the San Antonio Herb Society and we do several outreach events each year where we work at educating people about herbs. The display we have is called Everyday Herbs and it is made up of many examples of boxed and packaged foods that you can buy in your grocery store that contain herbs. Along with those boxes and packages we have pots of each herb to show people what that herb looks like before it is added to those foods, and educating them how herbs are a part of their everyday life. We also focus on 12 basic herbs that grow well in our area.Head over to Not Dabbling in Normal to read the rest of my post.

Sincerely, Emily

It’s About Time: Recycling with a cause

Sincerely, Emily — Wed, 15 May 2013 09:01:06 +0000

It has been several years since I have purchased any soda for myself. I gave it up when I started making ginger beer on my journey to rid our kitchen and bodies of per-packaged and processed foods and simplify the way I purchase things, along with making many of my own things in the kitchen.

I used to crush and save my cans to take in to recycle for money, but just never got around to it. We have lived in this house for 5 years now and it has been 3+ years since I stopped buying soda…… Yup, that’s a long time to hang onto these crushed cans. There isn’t anywhere near us to take them to recycle for cash, and even though I could have recycled them with all our other recyclables, I just really wanted my cash….. but I don’t want to drive 30 miles (60 miles round trip) just to recycle cans. I can’t imagine I would get enough cash to make up for the gas I would use to get there, and I just don’t go to that part of town every often. So, the cans have been just sitting in our garage.

That all changed with I read a little note in our Home Owners Association newsletter. There is a lady a few streets over that is collecting cans to recycle for lung cancer. F A N T A S T I C !! A perfect place to take my cans.

I am happy to have finally cleared out the cans in the garage and I am happy to donate them to a good cause.

It is good to clear out another thing on my list!

Sincerely, Emily

REAL Renovations: watergarden project

Sincerely, Emily — Sat, 11 May 2013 09:01:34 +0000

The three water gardens we put in a few years ago are doing really well. In the one that is lower to the ground, we have frogs and toads using it and singing happily on various nights. The little minnow-type fish all also happy and multiplying in all three water gardens, keeping them clear of nasty mosquito larva. I also have one open 55-gallon drum that catches water from a leaky rain gutter that I have also put those little fish in and they are working hard in there too.

Head over to Not Dabbling in Normal to read the rest of my post.

Sincerely, Emily

Hanging pants on the line

Sincerely, Emily — Fri, 10 May 2013 09:01:55 +0000

In February, I mentioned how busy the wrens are around here, building nests where ever they can.

A few weeks ago my husband had quite a surprise when he put on a pair of jeans that had just been washed and hung out on the line the day before. His pockets were full of tiny branches. Now when I hang out the laundry I have a new system. All the pockets must be pulled inside out in make sure that those busy wrens do not get anymore bright ideas.

Has this even happened to you?

Sincerely, Emily

SSFC: swap and barter without money

Sincerely, Emily — Mon, 06 May 2013 09:01:20 +0000

Last weekend I went to my first Swap and Barter. I am familiar with swaps and barter, but I had not found one to join up with in my area. I was thrilled when a friend forwarded me a link to a swap that was just down the road.

There were a few guidelines to follow:

No money was allowed – this is all about the trade and bartering with what you have for what you want/need.
Items should be sustainably-minded. Something you have grown in your garden, something you conned/cooked/brewed/baked/preserved/dried, etc. Something your animals made (goat milk, hen eggs, lamb wool, etc.) Something you sewed/knitted/re-purposed, etc. Items to do with sustainable interests are also good (Mother Earth News magazines, cookbooks, cooking/camping gear, etc)
The items you should leave at home: this is not a garage sale, items should be about sustainability. Leave the knick-knacks at home.

Once we set up, we were allowed 15 minutes to walk around and check out the items other people brought so we could see what we were interested in.

I only found out about the swap a few days before it happened so I just went with what I had on hand. I brought:

Handmade soap
2 cherry tomato plants in gallon pots
2 french thyme plants in 4″ pots
2 loaves of no-knead bread

My plants went fast, and so did a lot of my soap. I am out of lavender soap, and short on Rosemary-spearmint, and Tea Tree soap too.

I have already made several batches of soap to be prepared for the next swaps in May and June. I want it to be cured for as long as possible and that means planning ahead. I also will have more plants to take and swap next time. Things like mint, oregano and more thyme. I am also thinking about potting up some garlic chives.

My brain is working on the months to come as things in the garden start to produce. Jalapeno jam and pickled okra.

I haven’t even told you about all the wonderful things that I came home with!

Blueberry jam (pint)
a loaf of banana bread YUM)
lip balm/chapstick
A wildflower book (for Texas!)
One antler
Fresh garden beets
1/2 pint of salsa
2 – 1/2 pints of pickled onion, garlic, jalapeno condiment
Dozen fresh hen eggs
9 fresh duck eggs

I know there were a few other things, but I just can’t remember what they were! I met some neat people and I look forward to the next swap in May.

When I did art shows and sold my beaded jewelry I did a few swaps over the years, but I must admit I had a lot more fun with this organized swap and all the wonderful food items I came home with.

Have you had the opportunity to swap/barter for something?

Sincerely, Emily

The sage is buzzin’

Sincerely, Emily — Sat, 04 May 2013 11:01:58 +0000

I love this time of year. The herbs and other flowering plants start to come alive and bloom. Sage grows really well in our hot South Texas dry summers and it requires very little water to survive and thrive.

Head over to Not Dabbling in Normal to read the rest of my post

Sincerely, Emily

What am I saving it for: Friendly Plastic

Sincerely, Emily — Wed, 01 May 2013 09:01:05 +0000

Just another box of “stuff” that I uncovered the other day. It’s not like I didn’t know it was there, it is just tucked away in the bottom of a drawer with other things on top of it, so it is out of sight….

So, what am I saving it for?

I am really not sure at this point.

It is one of those things that I just keep putting back in the drawer. I can’t seem to make a decision to get rid of it, so instead of breaking the streak of motivation, it has been easier to just put it back in the drawer and move onto something that I can make a decision on.

So back in the drawer it went.

A few other “What am I saving it for posts”

Sincerely, Emily

SSFC: My first Spring harvest

Sincerely, Emily — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 09:01:53 +0000

Spring has come on semi-gradually this year. We go from 90F to 47F to 80-something to 50-something and then repeat it all.

Click the badge to link to the other participants and see what they prepared this week!

That is fine with me, delay the full-on summer as long as Mother Nature wants to.

This post is a little different from my normal Southern SOLE Food Challenge. I didn’t make a meal, I just want to highlight my first harvest of the season. Peppers! What a big surprise right?

Cubanelle, Anaheim, and salsa pepper (new to me.) There are already a few more out there to harvest. I have not tried the salsa pepper yet, I imagine it is on the hot side, like a jalapeno.

The other peppers out there this year are serrano, cayenne, banana and jalapeno. Most of the plants are flowering like mad and have many peppers forming already.

I don’t want the tomato plants to feel left out. They are looking happy out there also. A few of them have tomatoes forming that are larger than golf balls already and the cherry tomatoes are forming too.

Just a quick mention for the okra – it just popped up today, so things are moving right along.

What stage is your garden in?

Sincerely, Emily

#@*! Fire Ants! (solenopsis invicta)

Sincerely, Emily — Sat, 27 Apr 2013 11:01:28 +0000

Every spring, for the past five years, I am amazed at the mounds of fire ants that develop in our yard and garden areas. Almost overnight (not really) it just suddenly seems like they are everywhere.

I definitely have a love-hate relationship with fire ants (also known as red imported fire ants – solenopsis invicta). Love and hate are both pretty strong words to associate with fire ants, maybe it should be more “like” and “dislike.”

Head over to Not Dabbling in Normal to read the rest of my post.

Sincerely, Emily