I’ve been working on some more mushrooms to put on Etsy.  Morels this time!  Gonna have them posted shortly!

Well, my friends, it’s that time again.  It’s time for another fascinating installment of  PIGS IN SPACE!

No, wait, that’s another show!  LOL  It’s time for a garden update!  Wahoo!!!

If we keep going like this, in a couple years, we won’t have to mow at all!

The potatoes are pretty sad looking, after our battle with potato bugs and some other kind of beetle.  The taters are good though.  And mine are bigger than Greg’s!  Mwahahaha!!! 

Here is our first little zucchini!

After the peas were finished, we put in lima beans.  They are pole beans, so Greg made a teepee shaped thing for them to grow up.  When they get a little bigger, I’ll tie some strings at the top and let them hang down for the beans to grow up, too.

Doesn’t this make you think “Feed me Seymour”???  Well, it did ME!  LOL

Here is the whole little patch of limas.  We should get a few messes from it!

If you look closely, you’ll see the green beans starting to grow up the corn.  Alton would be proud of our multi-tasking corn, by golly!!

Here you can see the cucumbers and tomatoes.  Well, some of the tomatoes.  There are cherry tomatoes in a couple buckets, too!

That’s pretty much it.  I didn’t want to bog down the whole interwebs with my photos.  LOL  If you have any questions or comments, leave them below or catch me on Facebook!

Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.  Psalm 119:105

I happened across these on YouTube, and had to share them with  you!  I just love June Carter.  She is just plain SPUNKY!

One morning, a husband returns the family boat to their lakeside cottage after several hours of fishing and decides to take a nap. Although not familiar with the lake, the wife decides to take the boat out. She motors out a short distance, anchors, puts her feet up, and begins to read her book. The peace and solitude are magnificent.

Along comes a Fish and Game Warden in his boat. He pulls up alongside the woman and says, “Good morning, Ma’am. What are you doing?”

“Reading a book,” she replies, (thinking, “Isn’t that obvious?”).

“You’re in a Restricted Fishing Area,” he informs her.

“I’m sorry, officer, but I’m not fishing. I’m reading.”

“Yes, but I see you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment. I’ll have to take you in and write you up.”

“If you do that, I’ll have to charge you with sexual assault,” says the woman.

“But I haven’t even touched you,” says the Game Warden.

“That’s true, but you have all the equipment. For all I know you could start at any moment.”

“Have a nice day ma’am,” and he left.

MORAL:

Never argue with a woman who reads. It’s likely she can also think.

This is a little guy I made years ago.  He never made it to a doll, but I’m glad, because he keeps me company while I work on other things!

I’m sorry it’s been a little while since I updated you on how the gardening is going.  You know how it is.  Life gets busy, or sometimes my back doesn’t let my motivation out to play.  LOL  Anyhoo, here is what our garden is up to.

This is Greg’s patch of potatoes. He used topsoil, which looks like sandy clay. They are growing, but not as well as mine are. We’re a little worried if they will form right, since the dirt gets pretty solid.

Here are my potatoes. They were planted at the same time, but see how much fuller they are? And they have a nicer color, too. I can’t wait to see how the potatoes do in the Mel’s Mix!

The peas are looking good, too! So far, the deer “fence” we put up has worked. We’ll probably do something similar to this with the tomatoes, when they get a little bigger. Right now, we’re covering them up at night with buckets.

The deer walked right through our little corn patch, and made a bee line to the peas. But I fooled them! *Mwa hahahaha*

I wanted to show you this little flower. Most people would call it a weed, but it’s a wild flower called Daisy Fleabane. I think they are pretty!

This is a photo of our grapes. Usually, you can see a pretty pink edge around the smaller leaves. It’s not showing up very well in this pic, but you can just barely make it out. Click the pic to go see a bigger version.  I’ll have to put deer net around them when the grapes start getting ripe, because last year they got all eaten up before I got to them.

Tonight for dinner, I made pizza.  And when I say, “I made pizza”, I really mean I MADE pizza!  Well, really, I should say WE, because my hubby did help by making the crust.  He is the official bread making type person in this house!  Also, I made the sauce from scratch.  Not so much because I was feeling like being all domestic or anything, but I just didn’t have any spaghetti sauce, which is what I normally use.  So, I made due with what I had.  And what I had was a couple cases of tomato juice that we canned last year.

So, with the pepperoni and cheese I had in the fridge, we had a very yummy pizza!  Of course, we didn’t eat all junk food (a misnomer, in my humble opinion), because we had a lovely romaine and spinach salad to go with it!  I love spinach in salad, and romaine lettuce is actually good for you, as opposed to iceberg, which is mainly water.

I forgot to take a pic of our pizza while it was still hot, so here is a pic of some of whats left.  And I’ll post the recipes for you below.

Pizza Crust Recipe

Ingredients:

1 tbsp active dry yeast

1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp vegetable oil

2 1/2 cups flour

Directions:

Dissolve the yeast in the water.  Add the rest of the ingredients in, and mix.  Dump onto a floured surface.  Knead into a smooth dough (five minutes or so).  Roll out and press down onto a greased pizza pan.  Add some pizza sauce and your toppings.  Bake at 450 degrees F for around 12 – 15 minutes untill the crust looks crispy and lightly browned.

Shannon’s Homemade Pizza Sauce

Ingredients:

2 quarts tomato juice (mine was some of  our homemade stuff, but you could use store bought, or use tomato sauce or puree)

1 tbsp dried oregano

3 small (or 2 large) bay leaves

1 tbsp dried basil

1 heaping tbsp garlic, minced

1 tbsp worcestershire sauce

1 tsp dried onion flakes

1/2 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

dash hot sauce

dash paprika

dash chili powder

1 tbsp sugar (near end of cooking time, so sauce will be less likely to scorch)

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Throw everything but the sugar in a sauce pan, and simmer until it’s your preferred consistancy.  When it’s getting close to that, add the sugar.  You can add it directly to your pizza, or store it for later.  The flavors and spices get stronger as it sits.

I almost forgot to mention the movie part of Dinner and a Movie.  LOL  After dinner, I watched Penelope, with Christina Ricci, for the first time!  I really liked it!  Like Mommy always said, Pretty is as Pretty Does.  And she sure knew what she was talking about!

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On a separate note, I also started a small batch of “fodder beans” for Greg for tomorrow.  You have to soak them overnight.

To tell the truth, I just don’t get fodder beans.  It seems like a terrible thing to do to a green bean.  I suppose, though, that it was a necessary way to preserve beans for some people.  But drying a green bean makes it dry (go figure), mangled, and moldy looking.  Totally unappetizing, in my humble opinion.  But Greg’s Granny used to make them, his Mom still does, and he really likes them, so I’m cooking them for him.

Here’s what they look like right after they went into the water to soak.

I cooked them in fresh water, with a little ham and salt and pepper.  They simmered for several hours.  Here’s what they looked like when they were done.

I know… Not much difference, huh?  LOL

But don’t fear, Sammy and I didn’t starve on Sunday (the day the beans were cooked).  I made a nice roast on the stove, in my wrought iron skillet, no less!  I LOVE cooking with my wrought iron cookware!  I also put some cabbage in the pan with it, and it turned out pretty darn yummy, if I do say so!

Plus, we had mashed potatoes and gravy. I love mashed potatoes! Boiled potatoes. Baked potatoes….. scalloped, au gratin, fried…. oh my!!! LOL Sorry, I digressed. We also had hot, homemade hot rolls, thank you very much Greg!!!

Have I ever mentioned that Greg, yes my hubby, my hard workin’, truck drivin’ man is one heck of a baker???? I kid you not!! And he out did himself today! Not only did he make hot rolls for dinner (plus helping with other parts of dinner making), he also made pepperoni rolls…

And, two loaves of banana bread!!!

And they were all excellent!!!

Well folks, that’s all for now.  Two days of dinner blogging is enough to bore you to tears, so I won’t torment you any longer.  LOL  Thanks for stopping by!  Don’t forget to leave me a comment, so I’ll know someone has actually been here.  LOL

Last year, I decided I wanted to try Square Foot Gardening.  I like the idea of it for several reasons.  First, except for the initial investment of wood and supplies for the soil mix, it’s a really economical way to grow veggies.  You don’t have to buy the soil supplies again, just use compost to top off the boxes each year.  And, I made my own compost from yard clippings, kitchen scraps, and old newspapers and such.  Second, you can grow the same amount of veggies in a regular garden, but in a lot smaller space.  Third, you don’t need to use fertilizers, so you can grow organically.

Today, we planted 10 lbs of red seed potatoes!  We’ve never grown potatoes before, so we are very excited to see how they do.  I’ve taken some photos for you to see how it went.  Enjoy!

The box closest to us is the main potato box. I also put some in a few of the squares in the box right beside it. For the main box, we will be adding to it, as the potatoes grow. It’s kinda hard to explain, but I’ll show you more photos as time progresses. It is pretty neat!

Greg and Sammy got some of my homemade compost from up on the hill. Thank goodness I have helpers for this, or I’d be working on it till midnight. LOL They are both very good to help me with anything.

Is this some good looking compost, or what??

You can’t really see them here, but there are about 27 generations of earth worms living in this compost. Yes, I counted! LOL (not really)

I had some seeds left after planting in the big box, so I decided to plant the rest in one of my other boxes. That’s catnip on the corner, in case you’re wondering.

Greg filled the box up, so that the soil was level with the top again.

We work so well together! He does the hard work, and I take pictures!

Max even helped by killing the stick I found in the soil! Aren’t I lucky to have so much help??

Hey…. who the heck took this photo??? Max…. what has Mommy told you about playing with the camera???

When you get to play with the hose and make rainbows while watering the garden, helping is a lot more fun!

If you’d like to try Square Foot Gardening, too, you can get the book below!

Square Foot Gardening: A New Way to Garden in Less Space with Less Work

[amazon-product]B001CT8762[/amazon-product]

I just watched a movie called Red .  It was really good, in my humble opinion.  It was about a man whose dog is murdered by some kids, right in front of him.  Really, the main point of the story is about taking responsibility for your actions.  I won’t ruin any parts of it, by telling you more, but if you haven’t seen it, I suggest you do.  And, it wouldn’t be a bad idea for older kids to see it, too.

That’s what I really wanted to talk about today, or rather, tonight…. this morning.  Ok, now that all my bases are covered.  LOL

Is it just me, or is there a whole heck of a lot more violence than there used to be???  Not only adults either.  Kids are killing people.  It’s a sad state of affairs, if you ask me.  But, it makes me wonder, why is this happening?

I’ve thought on this some, and I think it has to do with a few things.  One thing is, people aren’t brought up in God fearing homes, like they used to be.  Children are not brought up learning God’s law, and therefore, don’t have a strong moral background.  Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this is the case for everyone, but a lot of people. It seems like children aren’t even being taught good manners or common courtesy.

I think this lack of strong religious beliefs is partly to blame for the deterioration of Family.  People go into a marriage with the thought that if it doesn’t work out, they can just get a divorce.  Men aren’t supporting their families, neither monetarily or emotionally.  Women have to leave the home to work, and aren’t there for their children as much as they used to be.  It just seems like the problem has snowballed over the last few decades.  Again, I know this is not about everyone, and there are other factors that I’m not seeing.  This is just what my mind has come up with.

I just don’t know what our country is coming to when people have to be afraid of children.  Because children are becoming killers.  I know, I’m getting all upset over a movie, but it’s not just a movie.  This sort of thing is actually happening out there in our world.  In our country.  In our neighborhood.  How long before it’s in our backyard?

This post is part of a MckLinky Blog Hop.  Each week the theme is different.  This weeks theme is Fantabulous Foto Free For All!  So, without further adieu, here are my photos!

I have a friend on Facebook that was talking about ladybugs, and it made me think of this.  Ok, I know these aren’t ladybugs, but they’re sorta like bugs.  Ok, I KNOW they don’t even have legs, but they DO have the ick! factor.  Ok??  LOL

This is my youngest when she was little.  Brenda, she was starting to get over the ladybug incident.  LOL  But it shows how little it takes to have some fun!  And what’s more fun than snail races??