Recent Harvest

68 and 12 years and canning and...

cooking cauliflower, and baking bread, and all other kinds of good things.  It's been a good week.  My two beautiful cauliflowers were large enough to supply one breakfast, one side for dinner and six pints of pickles.

Byron loves to saute cauliflower florets lightly in a little butter, salt and pepper.  He then adds some eggs and scrambles them in the cauliflower and tops with an Italian cheese mix.  This is good eatin' in the morning according to Byron.  I doubtfully took a nibble off of his plate not expecting much...I cleaned the rest up...yummmmm

Here are store bought carrots, home grown cauliflower, green chilies and red bell peppers soaking in salt water while I prepared the jars....

Next I boil the jars to sterilize them, and then I put a lid on the pot and reserve the hot water for the canning water bath...

Here are the packed jars waiting to be covered by the seasoned vinegar mixture I have made in another pot...

...after filling the jars with the seasoned vinegar mixture, lidding and capping the jars I processed them in a boiling water canner for ten minutes.  Here are the beautiful jars of pickled cauliflower and carrots.  My girls just opened one.....yummmmmmmm

For dinner I sauteed the cauliflower in a little butter, sprinkled a little Italian cheese mix on top and served as a side with turkey spaghetti and.....

fresh baked bread.  Byron then discovered that the cauliflower tastes great with the turkey tomato sauce on top....maybe I can skip the noodles next time?  Hmmm?

My friend Debbie has been teaching me to decorate traditional birthday cake style.  My roses were a little droopy because my house was a little to warm.  Not too bad though...Fun to do...very fun.  This is a carrot cake with cream cheese icing....Seleste's request...and again...yummmmmmm!

This is my Dad's first birthday since his terrible stroke in April.  He is 68. We celebrated his and Seleste's birthday together.  He always called Seleste one-baby because she was born one day after his birthday.  She turned 12..eek.

My heart was so happy to see my Dad enjoying himself and participating like he always used to do.  He was teasing the kids, clapping and singing "Happy Birthday".  Even though every word he sang wasn't understandable, it was the most beautifully I've ever heard him sing....I love you sooo much Daddy.

Seleste loved all her presents....and Naomi was wondering why she didn't get any presents...it was her birthday too....at least according to Naomi....Naomi you're just the cutest little pumpkin liver ever...I love that little Bootsie Barker...and Seleste...I love you soo much...continue to be the wise little owl that you are!

Life is beautiful and so are turnips...

...and cabbage and cauliflower and peppers and potato plants and....all veggies...they're just beautiful.  Look at them really well....form, line, color, pattern, and....function!  Beautiful and useful....sometimes I catch myself just sitting, looking, absorbing and admiring all the beauty of veggie plants....

This a great time of year for planting in south Louisiana.  Some summer plants are still producing such as peppers, tomatoes, eggplant, basil and squash.  I even have an Asian silver line and banana melon or two.  Until frost hits they'll keep on loving the warm days....

....almost every flower is loving the warm not scorching days and are blooming and blooming....

....there are few pests this time of year.  They mostly consist of children (who knocked several large navel oranges out of my tree with the golf cart) the occasional stray caterpillar, and a couple of other bothersome bugs...see the little caterpillar trying to escape my view....squish....

...my second try a tater towers...the others went kaput...I think blight.  I'm trying it again using pine straw to fill the towers instead of compost...I will post on the results and whether I think it is worth it or not.  This advice should be taken with consideration of my very limited experience in growing potatoes.

These cauliflowers take my breath away.  They are so fluid and lovely looking.

The cabbages are forming heads nicely.  The lines in cabbage are a thing of beauty as well.

The peppers are still chugging along....

My wagon load of harvest....oh yes... the satsumas are ready.  Mine are yummy because I watered them.  There was a drought in October.  We didn't have rain for eight weeks, so many of the growers locally who didn't irrigate have a very limited crop of citrus this year.

And inside....I have been crocheting these really cute popular headband/ear warmers.  They sell downtown in the French Market for $10.00 to $15.00.  I plan to sell a few for extra Christmas money and make some for gifts....

...and presenting the newest member of our family.......(drum roll)....DELTA....Isn't she completely adorable...and yes she is as sweet as she looks!!!

The Girls Dressed For The Harvest Party

My computer finally died and Byron's best efforts at resuscitation failed....So I'm typing at my very new computer.  So much has happened since I've last been able to post so.....expect a barrage of unrelated posts...

Here are my girls dressed for the harvest party....An eighties girl complete with working walkman (looks exactly like I did as a teenager)...a Greek princess....and a flower!

....Byron as a cowboy....I love cowboys....