The Mennobrarian

In and Around the Home This Week

09:35, Saturday, July 5, 2008 .. Posted in Small Homemaking .. 2 comments .. Link

Echinacea blooming in the flower garden.

This past weekend was a time of playing catch-up on a number of tasks around the home, with a little bit of visiting and fellowship time mixed in. My main objectives were to clean off my desk, finish sewing a dress, clean the house, and tend to the gardens. Having run out of space in our vegetable garden, (the addition of two cayenne pepper plants and some corn pretty much finished us off there) I have been planning to container garden a few leftover plants for which there is no room. Mainly, these are just two more tomato plants, some peppers, cabbage, lettuces, and cucumbers. They are now mostly planted in good-sized containers and off to a healthy start.

I've discovered a fun and thrifty way to help get rid of stubborn weeds: throwing boiled water on them. After I boil some water for cooking, I take the food item out and immediately pour the rest on some deserving specimen. It kills the weed right down to the root, making it easy to pull out the next day. This is especially handy for the obnoxious and impossible-to-pull weeds that grow up through the gravel in our driveway.

Our neighbor asked me if I could use some free canning jars. She has a sister who is moving to smaller quarters, and doesn't do as much canning as she used to. It turns out there are about a hundred jars. I have not gotten them yet, but am hoping for a variety of sizes.

On the Table: Jersey tomatoes are showing up at the farmer's markets, so I've been dicing them and making a delicious salad along with some baby spinach, basil from the garden, and mozarella cheese. Blueberries are abundant as well, and I'm freezing corn here, too.

In the Garden: We are slowly starting to harvest our sweet bell peppers. There was evidence of something (perhaps a rabbit) finding the leaves of my pepper plants to be very tasty, but only the container plants sitting out front were disturbed. It seems my thick border of marigolds in the garden out back has kept all pests away. At night, I put the container plants on top of my car so bunny doesn't use them for a midnight snack.

Good news for Homemakers: "It may surprise you that running your dishwasher actually costs less than doing a load of dishes by hand in the sink, according to the Department of Energy. You might also find it surprising that when you wash your dishes in the dishwasher, 80 percent of your energy costs are associated with heating the water, while only 20 percent are from actual machine energy usage. And because hand-washing your dishes can consume 9 to 24 gallons of water each time you wash whereas your dishwasher only uses 6 to 10 gallons, you can actually save energy, money and time by using the dishwasher. Just make sure you only run the dishwasher when it’s fully loaded and you’ll use even less water." -Mary Hunt, "Everyday Cheapskate"

Just Thinking: Faith makes things possible, not easy.

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11:23, Monday, July 7, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous
Congratulations on the jars! What a blessing.

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11:25, Monday, July 7, 2008 .. Posted by missourimom
Your garden sounds so wonderful. Alas, my garden is effectively heaving it's last breath. Maybe I'll post about my garden woes, but let's just say that between bunnies, bugs and mysterious "failure to thrive", my garden is not what I hoped!

Enjoy yours!

Leslie

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