Saturday, April 7, 2007

I had to make a change in meal plans today because of the rain. We were SUPPOSED to be having smoked pork ribs. Instead I decided to cook my ham today instead of tomorrow. But I didn't want to have the same sides today and tomorrow so I just made a few deviled eggs and opened a can of green beans and a can of sliced new potatoes. Make a simple cream sauce with a handful of cheese stirred in for the potatoes and we had a quite good meal for having to change our plans. Tomorrow we'll have ham again with a different selection of sides since it's supposed to rain again. Guess the ribs will just have to stay in the freezer until next week.

BTW, Fitzy asked about my dishes. They came from Wal-Mart a few years ago. Service for 4 for about $20. I loved them so I bought 2 sets. David HATES them. LOL! But I lived for years with his plain white with a blue rim. About 4 different sets all about the same. So he can live with my bright cheerful ones for a few years. :-)

On a gardening note. There won't be one this year. :-(You see the spot where that pile of wood is? THAT'S where the new garden was supposed to go. And it still looks like that so not likely to happen this year. Especially since it's rained every freakin weekend all winter/spring!And this is the old garden. It hasn't been planted in 2 years and the last time was just as my back was starting to give me problems so it was allowed to go to pot and hasn't been cleaned up since. So nothing going to get planted there this spring either.

And you know what? That's okay. I'll just spend this year getting the old garden cleaned out and set up for planting this fall. It's not as convenient to the house and means I'll have to use a 4wheeler to get back and forth as I'm not able to walk that far at a time. And it's on the other side of the creek that runs thru our property so it's harder for David to get to it to help me. But he's said if I'll get it laid out where he can get between the beds he'll just toss his wheelchair in the trailer and haul it over there behind his 4wheeler. So I will be setting this up in raised beds. Probably with cinder block sides so the planting area will be 32" wide by 12' long. I have room for 8 of those beds in my 40'X40' fenced in lot with 4 foot between each bed and 5 to 6 feet all the way around the outside. This will give David plenty of room to maneuver between the beds. And to answer another question asked by QuiltFitzy. (Who is probably the only reader of this blog. LOL!) I do have the Square Foot Gardening book by Mel Bartholomew. I have the original that I've had for years and recently purchased the updated version. I will be following his methods pretty much exactly with a few changes. Instead of filling my beds with only Mels Mix I'll also be blending in some good rich, black dirt I have a huge pile of on the back of the property next to the creek bank. When this lot was originally cleared about 20 years ago everything was pushed to the back of the property and burned. What didn't burn was left to rot. For the past 20 years. Which left a HUGE pile of the best dirt you could possible use for planting. I'll never in my lifetime be able to use it all. I've dug into it almost every year for the past 9 years and you can't even tell a shovelfull has been taken out of it. When I need dirt I just mow the end of the pile, run the tiller thru a small spot to loosen it up and dig out what I need.

So this will be my exercise program this year. Getting the garden cleaned out and ready to plant this fall. If I just do 20 to 30 minutes a day I should easily be able to get it done in plenty of time. I plan to post pictures of the whole process here so feel free to skip them if it bores you silly. :-)

3 comments:

QuiltingFitzy said...

Ain't gonna bore me, even if I AM the only reader, lol.

Just completed my move to AZ so I'll be back posting in the next few days myself.

Think I'll do Kalua Pig today, it's a pork shoulder in the crockpot with seasalt and liquid smoke..to die for!

Now I have to figure out how to garden with cacti~

Pam said...

Hi Nancy

I just happen to click over to this blog this morning. I just wanted to offer a word of encouragement. As a nurse I can't tell you enough how important it is what you are doing. I have seen the incidence of Diabetes rise so much in the past ten years - and because of it the number of terrible chronic health conditions in overweight women. Devastating strokes, heart attacks, terrible mobility problems with hips and knees. I myself need to loose some weight and I know how really hard it is. You go girl!!

Holly said...

Nancy, my favorite dish lately is roasted vegetables. I cut up yams or sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts, onions, red bell peppers, zuchini, garlic (and whatever else a person likes- red potatoes would be great as would asparagus, mushrooms). I toss the potatoes, brussel sprouts and onions in olive oil, spread them out on a foil covered cookie pan and bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes. Then I toss the rest in olive oil and add to the potatoes, sprinkle with whatever seasoning one likes and bake for another 5 minutes. Leftover ham can be added, too. I've been eating it for weeks now varying the vegies and just don't get tired of it. It's fast, easy, healthy and delicious!