Freezing Tomatoes

The process is simple for freezing tomatoes. First you put them in boiling water for 45-60 seconds, then you douched them in a bowl of ice cold water, then you remove the skins, then you smoooch them in your hands get remove the seeds and extra moisture and then you put them in freezer bags.  Simple.  The whole process took about 1 1/2 hours and now I have fresh homegrown garden tomatoes for the winter.

Black Walnut Time In the Garden....It's a Dirty Job But Somebody's Got To Do It



A Black Walnut...That Is Green With The Husk Still On





a black walnut tree

 Fresh Shucked/Hulled Walnuts



My process for gathering, shucking, and eating walnuts is simple.  Collect the Walnuts. Put them in Plastic Garbage Bags.  Run over them while they're inside the plastic garbage bags with a car or truck to smash the hulls off. Take the walnuts out of the bag,(or by this time peel the bag off the walnuts) clean the husks off with plastic bags or gloves over your hands so you don't get  the stain from the walnuts on your hands and look like you're turing a different color, namely black. Also wear old clothes and walnut shucking boots, which they sell at any Gander Mountain or Outdoor-sy Store.(*Note...that's supposed to be sarcastically funny) You'll be looking like a refugee, if you dress properly while walnut shucking.  No pictures please.

Put Them in a Cage or a Milk Crate. Hose them off.  Dry Them Out in The Sun. Crack with a Hammer and Eat.  Simple.

The squirrels will be out and about looking for a free meal. A shucked Walnut is like finding gold to a squirrel....so protect your nuts.(jock straps won't do)  Put your nuts in a safe place while you sing quietly or hum the Helen Reddy song "Sometimes I think, that it's me against the squirrels"

*Note (See You and Me Against the World by Helen Reddy for the song reference)




The Official Walnut Shucking Boots That Only The Finest Shuckers Are Wearing This Year

 


The finished product that awaits my mouth and my nut bread,...
gettin' straight to the nut cuttin' as a friend of mine has so eloquently put it.






 

This is what a black walnut looks like before the process of shucking and removing the hulls

My way of cleaning the walnuts and keeping out the squirrels Put them in a cage

One Grasshopper, 5 Photos

These PokeWeed Berries Helped In The Writing Of Many Of The United States' Colonial Documents

I love the bright pink stems of the pokeweed. berry plant. It makes them very photogenic. So I did a little investigating online and discovered a lot of good stuff about pokeweed, and a lot of not so good stuff.

The good stuff is that the juice from these berries was used to make ink that was used back in the colonial days to write a lot of our documents including the Declaration of Independence. Indians also used the juice to paint their horses.

The not so good stuff is that the berries are deadly and toxic to mammals..

In any case, the pokeweed berry is a very ornate berry that says "Look at me,...Look at me" You cannot miss the beautiful colors of the pokeweed berries, as you look about on the happy trails and paths of

weed-dom.

My !st Attempt At HomeGrown SunDried Tomatoes

It's been six months approximately since I started this gardening blog. Originally it was meant to be a place where I'd post my pictures of my nature and my oudoor life and work.  But it's become more than that.  It's become part of me.  An extension of myself. Just like my other 2 blogs Cheyanne's Campsite and Chef Vinnie's Kitchen Heat. That's why I adore blogging and sharing.

My first attempt at gourmet sun-dried tomatoes.....we shall see how they turn out.

This process of sundrying tomatoes in the sun may take 3-4 days but I'm willing to try it at least once.

And into the Sun they Go.

The Tiny ButterFly's Held a Convention Party At My House Today.

I have no idea where they emerged from or what cocoon they were hiding in, but these tiny butterfly's were the sweetest things to watch today as the flitted from one place to the other. All in all there were about 10+ that were having a party by my deadheads drying out in the afternoon sun.

Name 'em, claim 'em, and feed 'em peanuts.  Whatever their REAL names are they were sweet to watch.

Actually sometimes if I do not like their REAL names, I rename them anyhow. I do not care who discovered them.  I do not care what their latin name is. Sweet Little ButterFly's Fits.

One Bee, One Sunflower

Little Did I Know I Was Also Planting A ButterFly Garden When I Started Planting Flowers in April

Name It, Claim It, and Feed It Peanuts...Whatever the Name Of This Mothlike Butterfly Is.... It's Pretty

This butterfly moth alighted right outside my front door on the door mat, so naturally I had to take it's picture

What Else But More Sunflowers Because It's Sunflower Season In The Garden and Some StringBeans

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