Around The House and Gardens

Feeling so much better. Although not completely well. There's been a terrible virus going around. My daughter Talia caught it first. Me next. Now my daughter Seleste is lying listless on the sofa. Sooo...I haven't done much lately, and I've just lately felt like venturing outside to check on my crops. Nice surprise! Boy they've grown.

I've also been thinking alot about those who have endured Hurricane Sandy.  Another awesome category one hurricane.  Storm surges are amazing, powerful and unstoppable.  Humans are just another piece of debris in the wake of a storm surge.  You cannot, cannot, cannot, stand up to a storm surge.  If caught in one you can just find some sort of shelter and hope it holds up and you survive. 

During Katrina there were stories of people who stayed who heard the sound of popping and explosions.   They looked out there windows to see the surge coming in.  The sounds were houses exploding as the storm surge hit.  These are houses of fishermen that were built many feet off of the ground.  One fisherman friend of mine only had three pilings left of his home.

This is one more reminder that you must, must, must, prepare for these things and be responsible for your own safety and future as much as you can.  The government can not and should not be your mother and father.  Everyone must learn to look out for themselves, their neighbors and those not capable.

While inside I put some Christmas cactus cuttings in rooting medium.  I hope plenty of them take so I can share.

I also made some tiny soil cubes and planted cabbage, broccoli, kale, onions, leeks, lettuce, and boc choy.  They sprouted right away.

The beds are looking beautiful again.

Look how large the cabbages are getting.  There's something snacking a little on them.  They are also forming heads now.

See!

This is self blanching cauliflower.  It's leaves gather around the center hiding the forming curds from the sun.

My green beans love the weather and are producing prolifically.

I've collected enough recently to cook for the family and put up three full quart size bags in the freezer.  Nice.

The purple cabbages are just lovely.  With the sun shining behind it's outer leaves they look like purple angel wings.

Carrots are about 5 inches tall now.  Remember you can eat the tops to!  Throw them in your green recipes.

This is Thai Roselle.  It's the hibiscus you find in Celestial Seasonings Red Zinger tea.  It makes a very red health drink that is popular in Asia.  Supposedly it's extremely high in vitamin C.  I'm anxious to try this.

 My puny banana tree now is a beautiful clump of six trees of various heights.  The leaves were shredded in Hurricane Isaac.  The nice unshredded large ones were grown since.

Finally the Asian Winged Beans are blooming.  It takes a long growing season to get these babies to bloom.  I'm not sure it could be done further north without protection.  I'm very excited about this crop.  Lightly steamed and eaten with salt when young they are very delicious.