This post has been updated, and moved to the new blog.
You can find it here: Cherry Vanilla Bean Ice Cream on The Creekside Cook.
Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream
A Daylily as old as me!
Regulars here know that I am especially fond of daylilies. Not a year goes by that I don’t plant at least 1 or 2 new ones, a situation that has me continually expanding the size of the big garden out front. There have been a few remarks around here that it’s possible for a person to have too many daylilies, but that is just crazy talk as far as I’m concerned. For one thing, the more I expand the garden, the less lawn there is to mow. It’s like I’m helping to decrease the amount of work you have to do, right? And when you look at the big picture – the fact that there something like 60,000 named daylily cultivars – my collection is quite puny by comparison. Stop that sputtering now – I have no intention of ever aquiring anywhere near 60,000 different daylilies. And crying is quite unbecoming in a man your age. Sorry folks – I got a little distracted there for a minute. Where was I? Oh right – daylilies!
Anyway – I have a tendency to stick with cultivars that are at least a few years old, because they are cheaper. A new, hot cultivar can cost in the hundreds of dollars, and I don’t think I could survive the amount of sputtering such a purchase might generate. This is H. “Frans Hals” and it is far from new. Yeah – like the title of the post says, it is the same age as I am, since it was registered in 1955. I think it was actually a free bonus that came with some plants I bought on ebay, so the price was certainly right. It is possible that you have even seen some around, since it is a pretty common cultivar, and widely available. There are people who are daylily snobs, who would turn up their noses at this oldie, but I am certainly not one of them. Beautiful, right – even at 55 years old?
I’m lucky that I have some gorgeous daylilies that I haven’t ever featured on the blog before & I’m going to show you a few of them over the next few days. It has been really hot and humid here, which is something the daylilies really like, but a big discouragement to me when it comes to spending a lot of time in the kitchen. I just haven’t had the gumption to make everything look all pretty and take photos of it. My main objective these days is to get a meal together as quickly as possible and go sit back on the porch with a refreshing beverage. Not exactly earth-shaking blog material ya know? It looks like it is going to cool down some in the next week or so and I am sure that will inspire me to get back to sharing some great recipes with you.
In the meantime, sit back and enjoy the pretty flowers :)
Posted in garden, photos
6 Comments
I never get tired of them
So. We are a little wierd. No, no – stop all that protesting, we are. [would it kill you to protest just a little? sheeesh] We try to get up north to visit Ellyn and Jason and the short people as often as possible. And every time, we go the long way, because on the long way, we get to drive through these.
Crazy huh? Cause you know I’m all about the natural stuff, like flowers and woods and waterfalls and all, and windmills don’t grow up outta the ground. They were put there by a man [name that tune!]. [many men actually, but whatever] Still, we love them just the same. They seem like they could have grown there spontaneously. If the earth could decide how to produce energy, I am sure it would start sprouting windmills.
There are other things I like about them, like the fact this particular bunch of them has helped some family farms prosper, and that they help make energy cheaper for an area that can use a financial boost. Mostly though, I just like to look at them.
You can find another post about these windmills here. It is from before I moved to WordPress, so the photos are smaller.
Posted in photos
10 Comments
Patience, patience
Last year, our veggie garden was not a happy place. Like nearly everyone in this area, despite our tried and true efforts at prevention, our entire crop of tomatoes fell prey to a very early infestation of late blight. We nearly always see some late blight, but it is usually – as you might guess from the name – late. Late enough that the tomatoes have a chance to get ripe. Last year? Late blight showed up in July, and by this time, we had no tomato plants left at all. That part of the garden was a wasteland. We were not alone but that didn’t make me feel any better when I had to buy canned tomatoes all last winter.
This year though, things are different. It is partly because of the almost fanatical dedication to spraying anti-fungal products on every single leaf until they were drenched. A lot is due to the weather which is far better this summer. Prayer certainly can’t be discounted either, because trust me, these plants have had some prayers spoken over them.
So far, it is all falling into place – as you can see. I think it is especially satisfying because this is the first year we have started our own plants from seed. The greenhouse where I worked for years has now closed, so we bought a grow light and started these in March, right before our trip to Arizona. We aren’t totally safe yet, because as you can also see, the tomatoes are still intensely green. Not even a hint of ripeness yet.
So – the spraying, watching and praying will continue.
And in the meantime – we get to enjoy the grape tomatoes which are racing to ripeness and just a hint of what we hope is still to come.
If we are all very blessed and fortunate, you will see lots and lots of tomato recipes around here soon.
Cuke Salad
This post has been updated, and moved to my new blog.
You now find it here: Jalapeno Lime Cucumber Salad on The Creekside Cook
Posted in Garden Fresh, recipes, Salads, Side Dishes
Tagged cucumbers, jalapeno, lime, salad, sides
14 Comments
