Keep Smiling

Keep Smiling

Monday, July 24, 2017

Eating From Our Little Acre



Fresh from the garden . . .carrots :)


 Zucchini and yellow crook neck.


 My first picking of green beans.


 We are getting onions and all kinds of peppers.


The cherry tomatoes are starting 
and the others are close behind :)



Our cucumbers are starting and
we have plans to make our very first
Bread & Butter Pickles . . .
I'm so excited!



Last but definitely not least, 
a slightly lopsided apricot pie :)

I love doing my grocery shopping in the backyard.
It just feels so good!
&
Everything is so fresh.

~~~~~*****~~~~~
I'm simply loving my new county life :)

Keep Smiling!
~~~~~*****~~~~~

Your blogging sister,
Connie :)



50 comments:

  1. Isn't it wonderful to be able to eat your own produce. I've never heard of a yellow crook head? xx

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    1. Yellow crook-neck, it's almost the same as a zucchini, a little more delicate.

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  2. Pretty veggies, until you grow people don't realize what's pretty about them and canning is the same. Once you pack your own pickles you won't want to go back to store bought. Do you realize you can pickle zucchini as well and the and the only difference is that "you" know what it is. Just pick a little early so the seed aren't too big.
    I wanna art barn too.8-( Your's is so cute and seem to be spacious.

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    1. Thank you for the pickling information. This will be our first time to try making them and we are both very excited. I'm grateful that my sweet husband is also interested in it. So, we started canning last year and it is something that we are learning together. I do most of the preparing and he watches the water-bath. My barn started out as 14 X 24 and then this Spring we added a 9 X 11 addition. It's a dream come true . . . I saved for a long time and when I had the money this is want I decided to do with it :) I feel blessed and wish every creative woman could have her own barn.

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  3. I must admit to been a tad jealous of your wonderful bounty. We are hopeful of getting some crops started next year once we have completed some more tasks in the cottage.

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    1. It's a lot of work, but so worth it . . . There is such a satisfying feeling from eating your own crops :)

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  4. No wonder! Such life is full of fresh flavours!

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  5. After reading your blog, I'm ready to move to the garden and plant a garden. We go to a produce market a LOT in the summer. Real veggies, instead of those hard tasteless thing found in the grocery stores.

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    1. When you think about the time it takes from picking to super market, then you realize that they have to pick things green to make them last that long. Then there are all the hands that they go through before they land on your table. We were amazed at the difference in flavor when you pick the vegetable at it's peek timing . . . and you prepare it the same day . . . Yum. There is nothing so fresh and good for you as that. I do hope that you have a garden next year :)

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  6. What beautiful garden produce! Ours is a few weeks behind yours, but I picked the first zucchini today. There's something utterly luxurious and satisfying about growing and eating one's own food.

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    1. Isn't it wonderful! Thanks for stopping by :)

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  7. Your garden bounty looks delicious. I miss growing things, especially the green beans I would freeze and we would have them all year. Yum!
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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    1. Gardening and putting things up for winter is new to me, but I am enjoying the process and the wonderful rewards :) Thanks so much for popping in to say hello :)

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  8. What a treat to have all that right in your own back yard. I remember growing up we had a garden and we would go out every day to pick fresh vegies. I would love to have a garden now but I just don't have the time or the ambition to take care of one

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    1. They do require time and work, maybe someday after you retire . . . it is a very rewarding feeling picking your own fresh home grown food :) I have extra zucchini to give away today, make super delicious bread.

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  9. My beans have finally started producing beans. The first cucumber has been picked and the tomatoes and peppers are coming along nicely.
    I have never been able to grow carrots. They are always just little things. Yours look wonderful as does all your produce.

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    1. Have you tried growing them in garden boxes? I use boxes for them and I add a lot of mature to the soil. I'm going out to pick beans this morning. They're not on tonight's menu so I'm going to blanch them and put them in the freezer . . . winter is coming :)

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  10. Beautiful produce that your grew yourself, Connie! I don't have a veggie garden as we have very little sun, but I do have some grape tomatoes that are in pots placed in the sunniest spot. It's the most amazing thing to watch things grow in our gardens--for you veggies and for me flowers. ♥

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    1. Our last home was filled with shade and so for thirty-three years I couldn't grow a garden either. That's probably why I get so excited about it now. I have a grape vine and some morning glory vines that I am training to grow a certain direction . . . they are so much fun because they grow 4 to 6 inch a day :)

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  11. Your garden is doing amazingly well! Right now we're picking bush beans and although we have limited sunshine the beans are producing well. Once those are done the Pole beans will be next. These days every supper has beans in some way or another,
    Have a good week!!

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    Replies
    1. Beans, beans the musical fruit, LOL. We love beans here, too :)

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  12. Beautiful fruits and vegetables of your labor. Isn't the garden-fresh flavor wonderful? And then, if you have enough to tuck away for the winter, all the better. Yum

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    1. It is wonderful . . . I plan on putting some green beans in the freezer today :)

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  13. I agree. I can't wait for our apple trees and cherry tree to produce. I would love to plant an apricot tree too. We have plum trees that have yet to produce too. I am hoping for many cucumbers this next week. We need to restock our relish.

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  14. Oh Connie, your vegetables are beautiful! Those carrots are amazing. I would faint to pull one of the carrots growing here and find one so long and pretty. Poppy laughed at the one carrot I brought in the house. That apricot pie looks amazing too.

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    1. I had never thought of making a pie from apricots, until last year when our neighbor bake one for us. They are so good. I even made cinnamon rolls this year, with bits of apricot in them, Yum :) Have you tried growing your carrots in raised beds?

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  15. You are getting quite the assortment of goodies from your garden now!! Our carrots didn't do quite as well, my hubby thinks it is the container we used, next time we will try something different. The green peppers we did are much bigger this year than in past so that is nice. I just need all the land you all have in order to grow more things :) It must be nice to just go out and pick what you need for your meals!

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    1. It is wonderful! Until we bought this place we never had a garden. So, this is my forth garden. The first year that we lived here, we started planting the garden before we were even fully moved in, LOL. Each year it has gotten bigger, but I think it might be time to stop making it bigger . . . then maybe not, LOL We'll see how I feel next Spring. It has been a joy and now learning to can and pickle is a new adventure. It's a blessing and we never forget it :) Thanks so much for stopping by.

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  16. I was here last night, and thought I commented...must not have got it done. All the veggies look so, so good. Most of all, those cherry tomatoes...

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    1. Cherry tomatoes are a summer treat, aren't they . . . my husband loves them in his lunch box. Much healthier treat that potato chips, LOL. I'm so glad you came back and left a comment, it is always a pleasure reading what my blogging sisters have to say about my posts. You sweet girls keep me on my toes :)

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  17. Your garden is just wonderful this year! All your veggies are beautiful. You will be busy canning, freezing and preserving. Do you dehydrate also? My courtyard is discouraging this first year which is my first. I could give up but I have too much gardening blood in me! Nancy

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    1. Hi Nancy, I feel very confident that you will figure out what you need to do for a courtyard garden and that next year you will show us all up :) Steve's nephew gave us a dehydrator this year. They were going to put it in their yard sale when they heard we were looking for one. I did dries apricots, but I haven't tried them yet. I cut them into small chunks with the idea of adding them to my boiling water for oatmeal this winter. It's all new to us. We mainly wanted it for peppers, Steve like drying them and then grinding them into spices in the food processor. We have some cayenne pepper flakes and some jalapeno pepper flakes from last year. They are great for making dry rubs for smoking meats, and for adding to a pot of chili :)

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  18. You amaze me that you create so many beautiful crafts and you grow your own food too.

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    1. Hi Carol, the craftiness just comes naturally, but the gardening just started when we bought our country home. I've been enjoying it and each year the garden has gotten bigger. Now Steve and I are learning to can and preserve our garden produce to last all winter. It's very satisfying :)

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  19. Hoping to start a garden next year. Your productive garden is inspiring.

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    1. I'm happy to inspire . . . there is nothing like fresh from the garden :) Thanks for stopping by.

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  20. I've never had apricot pie! I bet it is yummy. Do you have an apricot tree there? If so, I'm envious! When I lived in Waitsburg, WA, I had a dwarf peach tree that was wonderful... it bore so many sweet peaches that we had to prop up all the branches with 2x4's! our ground is so hard here in town that we can't plant any trees. Boo. I'm amazed at everything you re getting from your garden already! There was a time years ago when I did the same thing... huge harvests all summer and tons of canning and freezing.. not so much anymore.. just what we can eat and that's it. Everything here is grown in tubs.. I would like at least one raised bed though, for strawberries. All I grew this year was cherry tomatoes.. love them! They are so fun to just pick off the fine and pop into your mouth. Do you water everything every day? We have been, but I wonder if I might be OVER watering.. just not sure. I do let me tomatoes start to wilt just a little bit before I water.. usually do it every other day. And they are doing great so I must be doing something right. Have a great weekend! Marilyn xoxox

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    1. Hi Marilyn I try to water my garden areas twice a day, two hours in the morning and two in the evening or late afternoon. They are all on a drip-line than provides 2 gal and hour. Most plants (especially the tomatoes)have one drip per plant but some share :) I do have two apricot trees, this year only one had fruit because I topped the other one way back the year before. This year I think that I will do the same to the one that had fruit. I want to keep them out of the electric wires that run from the well-house to the shop. We are very dry and hot here so watering is so important, that and good drainage.

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  21. Oh, Connie...your vegetables are so beautiful! I could definitely dine on summer dinners straight out of the garden. All I have growing here and yellow and red cherry tomatoes (I'm eating some right now - I made a Caprese salad) and KY pole beans - though those are just now flowering.

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    1. My zucchini are starting to go wild & crazy. Three times this week I sat a free box out by the road filled with them. It doesn't take long and I notice that they are gone . . . it feels good, because I know that a lot of people do not have the space or the time to garden. The other day I was working in the yard and a pick-up truck pulled up to the box . . . I look up in time to get a big cowboy hat wave and a loud thank you, before they drove away, LOL

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  22. Connie, thank you for the beautiful photos of the fabulous veggies from your garden ! What an absolute success ! And the apricot pie looks so yummy. We really admire your gardening skills and all the delicious results of your productive work. Blessings to you, from Marina and Daryl Lynn

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  23. I love seeing the beginnings of your bountiful harvest ! How very blessed you're being with the fruits of your labor !

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    1. It's one of the best parts of summer . . . going out the backdoor and into to the garden for fresh food for the table.

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  24. Your vegetables look great, bet they taste delicious.

    All the best Jan

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    1. The difference in freshness between shopping at the grocery and picking from the garden is amazing. I'm loving it :)

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  25. First of all, that pie looks amazing! Ooh, apricot pie. Yummy. Your veggies looks like they should be in a garden catalogue. So pretty. We don't have much of a vegetable garden, just a few pepper plants, a zucchini and a couple of cuke plants, and a tomato plant that's doing very well. We've picked about 6 tomatoes so far, more coming. When I used to can for my family (back in the 90's) I made bread and butter pickles. We enjoyed them so much all winter long. I had a big vegetable garden during that period of my life. It's a lot of work, but very satisfying. Enjoy living your dream. Hugs.

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    1. Our Bread & Butter Pickles are lined up on a shelf in the kitchen . . . they look so pretty :) We worked together on them and it's so much fun learning to can. We're a couple of late bloomers in this department, but enjoying every minute. A bit proud, too . . . those pickles are our babies, LOL.

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