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....

8 New Friends

Left to right:  Collards, green onions, bok choy, curly mustard, kale, purple Japanese Mustard, turnip,and arugula.  

According to local lore....when making gumbo zeb....the number of different types of greens you use...is the number of new friends you will make.....hmmmm...I should have eight new friends soon!

Gumbo Zeb:

As many types of greens you can gather chopped small

onion

bell pepper

cayenne pepper

green onion

garlic

salt

pepper

bacon grease

(you can season with browned meat or sausage if you wish)

Saute onion, garlic, peppers, green onions in bacon fat.

Add greens with a little a cup or so of water (depending on how many greens!) salt, and pepper.  Cook until greens are as tender as you like.

Serve with slightly sweet corn bread....and if you'd like....a pork chop.

Around The House And Gardens

Lettuce Box

View of path to the garden from the front porch.

My homemade take on the monogram garden flag...made from fabric scraps.

View from the other side of the path.

Gazing ball among the bushel basket gourd vine.

The new bright blue chandelier.

Seleste's painted apple snail shell on an oyster shell.  She found the snail shell in the ditch and the oyster shell on the other side of the levee.

Everything is growing fine.

The greens are lovely in all their different shades!

The pecans are starting to fall!

Lovely

Morning Glories

FCNOGC Founder's Day Tea

FCNOGC  stands for The Federated Council Of New Orleans Garden Clubs, Inc.....and I hosted their annual "Founder's Day Tea" in my garden this past Friday.

As usual before any "sophisticated" social occasion special help must be summoned to ready the premises for the honored guests!  So my two nieces came over and helped me clean up....Luckily they found Talia's stash of Valentine's candy under Talia's dresser and helped dispose of them properly before they drew ...gasp...insects of the undesirable type into the house....

...Naomi was quite efficient in her work....Thanks girls for all the help!

All in all the day was just about perfect!  My friend Willie and I....

I made the centerpieces from various types of foliage found in my garden....curly willow, variegated ginger, sedge, papyrus, lorapetalum, pittasporum, windmill palm, and asparagus fern.  It's amazing how dramatic and colorful foliage can be!

The food....way yummy....asparagus, mushroom, roast beef, ham, and egg salad sandwiches, pork, chicken, beef and shrimp spring rolls with peanut sauce, tomato mozzarella kabobs, veggie sushi, brie, feta, Parmesan, Swiss, cheddar, blue cheese tray w/ spiced pecans and fruit, oranged macadamia nuts, pecan pie, lemon cupcakes, chocolate dipped strawberries, brownies and pumpkin muffins with cream cheese icing, and Belle Chasse Garden Club's very own special pineapple punch....mmmmmmmmm

One of my many sweet and colorful guests!

...relaxing in the pecan tree shade...

....socializing in the house...

...talking with old friends...

....getting a few seeds for the garden....(I put out a few jars of seeds I had saved in case any one wanted to take home a few.)

Today's Harvest

 Many, many peppers....time to string them to dry!  The greens are finally coming in!  Tonight there will be a yummy pot of large purple Japanese mustard, Curly Mustard, Collards, and green onions.  There are still eggplant and okra.  Unbelievably it was 54 degrees when I woke up this morning.  I'm wondering if this is a sign of things to come?

A close up of the magnificent purple mustard.