I have been working on ....

our garden approx 30' x 50'

Amelia Tomato Plant

I counted over 30 tomatoes

they were just hanging in clusters

will plant this variety next year

Fig tree

The figs have just started ripening

I have to pick them slightly green.... the birds

 will eat them when theyare ripe. They will continue to ripen inside

on the counter.

A creature (skink) in the garden. I was getting compost

with a pitch fork from one of our compost piles

and I noticed that the compost fell through the pitch

fork, which it usually comes up in clumps. I tried 3 times

and it kept falling through and them all of a sudden

I saw about 30 eggs that looked like bird eggs, and then

a big skink crawled out.  They were skink eggs..never

seen skink eggs before.   I hope

I did not disturb them so they will not hatch. I carefully

covered them with compost and hoped for the best.

Okra bloom..we have two 50' rows of okra and

it will produce til fall. I have never frozen okra because it always

turned out slimy, from the ice crystals that form.

This year I am trying a new way  to freeze it...

called "dry blanching"  Slice okra and spread out on a

cookie sheet and heat in a 350 oven for 10 minutes..

cool and pack in freezer bags.

Squash pickles..did 15 pints of these..

they taste like bread and butter pickles

Also processed 12 quarts of squash for the freezer.

Pina Colada Jam

made with zucchini

very tasty

made 3 pints

Zucchini Relish

made 2 pints

Salsa...11 pints and 6 quarts

Everything I canned is processed in a boiling water bath from 15-30

minutes, depending on the size jar. Also, everything except the jam has

vinegar as an ingredient, which also acts as a preservative. Tomatoes have

a high acid content, which is also a preservative.

If you would like a copy of any of the the recipes, please email me.

They are from  a Canning and Preserving cookbook by Taste of Home.

                                                       I made this Hello Kitty Annie for my

granddaughter Jadyn.

Annie is wearing a dress made from Hello Kitty fabric with

rick rack around the bottom of the skirt. 

I have added a tiny pearl necklace and stitched around

the top of the shoe with pink embroidery floss and then

added  tiny pink bows.

This little patriotic pig that I named Maxwell

The lining of the vest and

bow tie is a navy background fabric with

tiny white stars..and patriotic rag balls

I made several of these standing rabbits at Easter

I decided to dress this little guy in patriotic attire.

The vest has flags and stars and 4 red-white-blue star

buttons and the lining is navyblue background fabric with tiny

white stars. He is holding a rusty bell. He stands about 19" tall.

Pattern by: Sweet Meadows

Spinach from our Fall/Spring garden.  This is the first

time planting spinach..will definitely plant again.

Bread and Butter Pickles

Made 3 quarts and 3 pints..our friend gave us the cucumbers..

I planted seed 3 times and they never germinated...

guess they were old

I will be picking butternut squash  and making fig preserves next week.

There is no picture for this story..but it was pretty scary while it was happening.

All last week, every time I would go in the back yard this mockingbird would start squawking

and swooping down on me.  She did have a nest, but the babies came out 2 weeks ago.

Anyway, she did this all week long..I would carry the umbrella just to keep her off me.

Then Sunday afternoon my husband was sitting in the swing in the back yard and all of a

sudden he saw something move to his left about 10 feet away.  Now my husband really does

not deal with any kind of snakes very well and mainly all we have are oak snakes. And my I add we

live in the country surrounded by farm land.

Well this was no oak snake...it was a rattlesnake...over 5 feet long with 5 rattles.

Well, when all was said and done,  I started thinking...Sunday when I went to the clothes line

4 times...the mockingbird would sit in the dogwood tree and squawk at me..she was just about

4 feet away....and that's where the snake was.  I think the snake was in the yard all week

long and she was warning me. When I did some resarch, I found that rattlesnakes

will stay in an area where there is food..i.e. rabbits and  mice,  and living were we do we have

those...field mice and rabbits..and there were baby rabbits in this particular area.

  This week the back yard is peaceful and quite...no squawking

mockingbird and hopefully no more rattlesnakes.

What do you think...do you think she was warning me...do you have

a similar story?