It all started here, at the beginning, with Mr Wren making a poor choice.
He changed his mind though when he caught sight of these palatial digs and eventually caught the woman of his dreams.
he got married,
and raised a family.
And I really wanted to show you the baby birds learning to fly or something, but I guess wrens don’t fool around. One day they were here, with a nearly endless cacophony of baby bird chirping and countless trips by the parents to feed them and they next day it was silent and they were gone. For a good part of the summer, I received the benefit of enjoying their antics and songs and a lot fewer nasty beasties in my gardens. Now I will take down the wren house, clean it and put it away for next summer. Well – I will do that soon – I am not really ready to let go of summer quite that much yet.
Wrens – the Final Chapter of 2008
A few more newbies from the garden
I am up to my elbows in tomatoes this morning. No, I don’t have photos of that. Maybe another time. What I have are some photos of daylilies. I know, shocking, right? These are all new to me in the last year and with the exceptional weather we had for flowers this summer, they are really something to see.
This is “Open Hearth“, 1976, Lambert. It is considered an Unusual Form – the petals and sepals aren’t quite narrow enough to be a spider – they are described as being “spatulate” He has been a wonderful performer in this first year of bloom.
If you hang around here much at all, you are aware that I am most drawn to flowers in shades of yellow, red and orange. I know a lot of people are going to love this one though, which was given to me by a friend. You don’t turn down free plants! It is “Edge of Paradise“, 1998, Stamile. Doesn’t really fit the color scheme where it is planted right now, but very lovely.
Finally, “Mauna Loa“, 1976, Roberts. Definitely a favorite of mine – tons of blooms and they stay nice all day.
Back to the tomatoes for me – what are you doing today?
Blowing hot & cold
One item that takes up quite a lot of real estate in our veggie garden is hot peppers. We have 18 plants this year, with 6 of those being jalapeƱos. There is, of course, no way we can eat 6 plants worth of jalapeƱos before they go bad.
Why hot and cold though? The peppers themselves are the hot and how I save them is the cold.
Nothing could be simpler. Wash the peppers and dry completely. Lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet, lined with paper towels, parchment paper, or as I do here, with a woven kitchen towel.
Freeze until completely solid, probably about 4 hours or so and divide among containers – I usually use freezer grade zip-lock bags. You can use containers if you prefer, but you will never be able to use them for anything else because the flavor of those peppers is forever married to the plastic by the time you use them up.
When you want to use the peppers, just take out however many you need and let them thaw slightly, and using a very sharp knife, slice them up. These little slices are perfect on pizza which is what we use a lot of them for. I also chop them up and use them in soup, stew, casseroles, chili, burritos, tacos, quesadillas, or sprinkled over my bran flakes on those mornings I have trouble waking up.
Don’t have a garden? Because they are so cheap in the stores right now, you can buy a good supply and get some put up for your own pizza. Then, you’ll feel all Little House on the Prairie this winter when your guests remark on the fresh zippy flavor. Don’t tell them how easy it was – better they should think you had to sweat.
Skywatch # 7
Time for Skywatch Friday! Visit the Skywatch site and see beautiful photos from bloggers all over the world.
I took this from my front yard last Saturday night, just as the moon came up over the hill.



