The month of August has been one of the busiest on record. Well my record and at this point, I am beginning to feel a little overwhelmed. At least at this moment. My mind is racing to one thing to the next as I create a check list on my mental "to-do" list. As a result, I am having difficulty collecting my thoughts which leaves me no choice but to create a list of the things that are on my mind.
1. I harvested my first carrots of the year today. Just 3. I didn't put too much of an emphasis on carrots this spring due to lack of room. They will go into my fall garden for early spring harvest. Had I known how my daughter would react, I would have made space. I showed her the carrots, her eyes got big and she exclaimed, CARROTS! My sons reaction was minimal in comparison. An "Oh" was about all I got from him. Tweens, I tell you. Anyway, after I washed, peeled and cut the three into sticks, my daughter happily devoured all three. She loved them. Who knew? I didn't.
2. A couple days ago, I had removed the potatoes from one of my plots at home. I canned the potatoes which resulted in 6 quarts and 1 pint of winter goodness. You may notice that the jars on the left have a slightly darker brine. That is because I canned those in corned beef stock that I had saved (frozen) from a couple months ago. I absolutely LOVE corned beef and cabbage with a side of potatoes. A little part of me is having difficulty not popping one of these suckers open to enjoy the goodness.
The skins on the potatoes were not tough enough for cellar storage so I scrubbed them very well and tried to make them relatively uniform in size by cutting them. Placed the potatoes in boiling water for 2 minutes, hot packed them into hot jars, added hot water with a little salt or filled them with hot stock, leaving an inch head room. Sealed and pressure cooked for 40 minutes.
3. I think the mosquitoes that have made their home in my garden are becoming obese due to all of the good eats they have had off of my arms.
4. I am holding a garage sale for a fundraiser at the end of the month. I really do not know what possessed me to schedule it right in the middle of canning season. It is for a good cause which I will go into in a future post.
5. I have taught my children to eat properly with utensils. My 3 year old habitually places a napkin on her lap for goodness sake. But what was her utensil of choice for dinner? See below. I don't know what possessed her to find this the perfect tool to consume her food, but needless to say, she ate very well. Besides, she ate 3 carrots so I didn't have to pester her about eating her veggies, how could I pester her about the utensil of choice. This also involves a relatively good amount of eye hand coordination. Good practice for a 3 year old without video games.
6. Now on to my addiction. If you're hoping that I will reveal something sad and desperate about myself, you may be disappointed. Regardless, I see a 12 step program in my future, that or the removal of all electronic devices. That in itself would be devastating. I'm a wired individual. My addiction has nothing to do with gardening, nothing to do with food. It isn't purchased on a street corner or at a bar stool. I'm Frugal Gardener and I'm an addict. I'm addicted to Bejeweled Blitz. You weren't expecting that were you! For those of you who do not know what Bejeweled Blitz is, it is a 1 minute, fast paced game where you must match shapes to eliminate them and gain more. The main reason that I am addicted is because I am competitive by nature and being this game is a socially integrated, I have the opportunity to compete against my friends for the highest score. All in all, to a competitive person, this game is addicting and I have fallen victim to it. Sad and desperate, maybe. A fun break away from the busyness, absolutely.
Ok so there you have it. My random thoughts for the day. Good night...after laundry.
I laughed out loud when I read you were addicted to Bejeweled Blitz! I was addicted to that game for months and months! (and still am) I always wondered how my friends were always getting 250,000+ points!!
That is so neat that your daughter loves carrots. We grew some this year, and we still have some in the ground. The ones we pulled were not as nice as yours. Ours were little stubby things.
as competitive as I am. Glad to know I'm not the only one addicted to it!
Potatoes look great! Can't relate to the video game thing, though LOL!
I'm a little addicted to mahjong's tiles. I think they are sort of similar :) It's so exciting to see the kids (er well the kid) get so worked up about eating garden carrots! Cool!
Your potatoes look awesome! Great idea to can them in broth. Hubby has been smoking lots of meat here, and I've been freezing the drippings/broth left over. I've got quite a supply in the freezer! Never thought of putting it in canned stuff. That means I would have to break out the pressure canner. Ugh. Not really my favorite. Oh, but that would be really good with green beans!! Thanks for the tip.
I have stayed away from Bejeweled because I know I will get sucked in. Already had to break addictions to Farmville and Mafia Wars. Love the post!
@Dirt Digger, stay away from Bejeweled. Stay far away. LOL. I had to break my Mafia war addiction as well. At least I moved on to something I can play one minute at a time.
@Dirt Lover, man I bet the potatoes would be incredible in the drippings from the smoked meat. My mouth is salivating just thinking about it. And the green beans...is it lunch time yet?
@Laura, I loved my daughters reaction. I promptly went out to the garden and planted a row just for her. She will be so surprised come this spring.