The Mennobrarian

In and Around the Home This Week

08:32, Monday, July 14, 2008 .. Posted in Homemaking .. 4 comments .. Link

It's been a while since I invited you into my garden, and so much has grown since then. Massive sunflowers tower overhead, providing shade for salad greens and a lone cabbage that was squeezed in at the last minute. Space is at a premium back here in the garden. Out front of our house lies a mini-field of container vegetables. Tomato vines interweave to form a jungle of leafy arms and small green fruit. Peppers are harvested every day. Have a look!

That's a row of silver queen wedged between the peppers and carrots. It's highly experimental as the fields neighboring our property are reportedly not optimal for corn. I wanted to try some without taking up too much space for things we need.

Keeping up with the peppers is a labor of love.

Cayennes.

A pot of mesclun for salad. Delicious.

That tomato jungle.

Perhaps by the next time I post a garden update, the small corner of flowers that are hidden away behind the sunflowers will be in bloom.

In the Home: My neighbor dropped off those canning jars she promised. She arrived just as I was cutting a big bouquet of flowers, so I was able to give those to her as a thank-you. As expected, most of the jars were in very old, dusty, cob-web filled boxes. Some of the lids still had labels attached from the 1950's and 60's. Surprisingly, most jars were in excellent condition despite being dirty. I only weeded out four or five that had chips and could not be used, along with a handful of rusty rings. Having no place to store the jars right now, they will be taken down to my in-law's to be stored in an out building. Most of the jars are quarts, but I sorted and hosed off a box that had different sizes (including some small jelly jars) to keep here and begin to use. My neighbor also mentioned that canning jars are going for ninety-nine cents each at the Goodwill. Ninety-nine cents!

On the Table: Ice box pickles, fresh corn, yumasetti, and chow-chow. Peaches are finally here, and so are some early heirloom tomatoes.

Projects: The two new dresses I hoped to sew for summer are finished, leaving just some mending to tackle, and by the time that is finished, it will be time to start winter sewing. In about a month we'll go away to Lancaster for a week for visiting and relaxing, so I need to make arrangements and work on our schedule for that.

On the Nightstand: The "What Can I Bring?" Cookbook, by Ann Byrn, which has lots of great ideas for family picnics, church potlucks, etc.

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01:23, Tuesday, July 15, 2008 .. Posted by Kitty
Your garden is beautiful, you are being blessed in a big way with it. I cook with a lot of green peppers, so I cut them up and freeze them for cooking with. As for the canning jars being 99 cents, that is high. Here you can find a whole box at the thrift store of garage sale for under $4, if that much. I gave away a box full not long ago to someone on Freecycle. (go see my 1960s yard art on my blog, lol).............Kitty

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05:01, Tuesday, July 15, 2008 .. Posted by Titus2Woman
Yum, yum, and major YUM!!! My mouth was watering as I was looking at your beautiful garden, sister!! I wish I was close enough to stop by for a visit and embed my nose into those tomato plants. Ahhh... what a glorious smell those tomato plants give off. I could almost smell them through the pictures. :-)

Thanks for sharing!

God bless~ Andrea

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01:36, Friday, July 18, 2008 .. Posted by Anonymous
I have a question for you, and it might seem wierd. Near here there is an Chuch of God in Mennonite Church, and they wear black coverings. What type of head covering does your branch of Mennonites wear?
Christine

****Christine, we are not Church of God (also known as Holdemann Mennonite). I've been meaning to post a more updated picture of myself, perhaps I'll do that soon and you can see a more common type of covering worn in our church.*****

Edited by Mennobrarian on Friday, July 18, 2008 at 12:47

Green

08:23, Monday, July 21, 2008 .. Posted by missourimom
with envy!!!