Thursday, May 2, 2024

I Got Myself Back To The Garden


 Mr. Moon should be home in an hour or so and it's about time. This cat needs her daddy human. I can't believe we call each other "mama" and daddy" when we're talking to the cats about each other. 
"Go kiss Daddy, now," I tell Jack when I'm about to turn out the light. And often, he does. 

A minute before I took that picture of Maurice, she was laying on my arm which does hinder my typing. She must have heard something that caught her attention when I snapped that shot because she's obviously in her alert mode. 

I've done something today that I have only ever done a few other times in my life. I've made a soup that may not be fit to eat. I'm not kidding you. It's a kitchen sink/refrigerator soup and I'm usually very good at judging what will and will not go together in a soup of that nature but something went askew in my judgement this afternoon. I think it might be the leftover cauliflower I put in with the chopped olive and lemon juice sauce on it. Or it could be the piece of chicken that I cooked last night with more lemon juice. Or it could be all the greens I put in the soup. Or it could just be that none of those ingredients want to marry and that's that. I keep adding things to try and bring those recalcitrant and diverse flavors together but it just ain't working. I threw in a few parmesan rinds to see if that will mellow it out but I have a feeling I'm throwing good food after bad. I know that when Glen's on the road he snacks a lot which is what we all do, I think, so he's never really hungry when he gets home and I thought a little bowl of soup would be good. Also, when I talked to him one night when he was with his guys, he sort of proudly proclaimed that there wasn't a vegetable in the house so I figured I'd get a few nutrients in him too. 
I have got a nice little loaf of bread rising that I made with yeast and a cup of sourdough discard which I'm hoping will give it some flavor. I let my starter sit idle so long it's taking more than one day of feeding to restore it. 

I worked in the garden today and yes, it was hot. We're up in the 90's now. I saw a meme on FB that said, "Hey, y'all. Florida is still preheating." Which it is. You think it's hot now? Haha! But I managed to finally pull all the bolted collards and lettuce. Under one of my collard plants I found these mushrooms. 



Aren't they amazing? 
As far as I can recall, I've never seen them before. I am almost sure they are Red Cracked or Red Cracking Boletes after doing some google searches. Supposedly you can eat them but they don't seem to be a big favorite for the mushroom gourmands. Plus, the last thing that soup needs is iffy mushrooms added to it. But they are pretty. 

I did some weeding and we have got to mulch. The ground gets hard as a brick. We have huge lawn bags of leaves that Mr. Moon brought home from suburban yards when the oaks were shedding but they're too heavy for me to wrangle. 
The tomatoes are coming along. Here are some cherry tomatoes that are looking promising. 


The tomatoes that I started from Jennifer's seeds that she sent me which are planted in the bags, are growing very well and look quite promising. 


They look a little droopy in that picture because they were just watered and their leaves are a little heavy. I see blooms! And the beans are what you see on the right, there. 


A week from now, I'll be picking baskets full of them. Maybe not the big baskets yet, but baskets nonetheless. 

I can't believe how well the squashes are growing. 


This acorn squash is bigger than my hand now. 


Look at those happy little summer squash! Or crookneck squash, as they are sometimes called. 


This one's going to be ready to eat in a day or so. I need to get out my recipe for summer squash soup with is so good that even squash haters change their minds when they taste it. 

And I guess that's all I have to talk about today. I didn't even leave my yard once and that was fine. As always, it'll be somewhat of a shock to the system to have another person in the house with me but I think I remember how that goes. 

Oh! He just got home! He startled me, and Maurice jumped up and ran outside. It'll take a little while for us all to become acclimated again. But we will. 

Love...Ms. Moon



19 comments:

  1. Wow! Your tomatoes are at least as big as mine, maybe bigger, and mine were started way before yours! I'm glad they're doing so well for you. My beans are growing fast and I can't wait to try them.

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    1. Jennifer, I think of you every day and am so grateful for those seeds. I can't wait to see what the fruit will look like and taste like.
      I sure hope you like those beans.

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  2. I think your garden was happy to see you again. I miss mine.

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    1. I know you must, Joanne. There is nothing quite like a garden.

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  3. I really envy you the fence for growing beans up. That's elegant

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  4. Everything is growing to perfection in your beautiful garden. I would be overjoyed to have no insects, wildlife or blight invading my garden. Soon you'll be eating those lovely home grown veggies.

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  5. I love seeing all the tomato plants. I don't have a yard to put a regular garden in but have some containers that I planted this year. I did a couple of tomato plants last year, this year I added a couple of peppers and some herbs.

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  6. Your garden looks wonderful. I've always wanted to grow food but that doesn't happen well in an apartment. Mercy would have fun with anything in a pot.

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  7. Your garden is so beautiful! I can almost smell the smell you get rubbing the tomato stems.

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  8. I fear the soup may be a lost cause.
    Home grown veges are the best.

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  9. Kitchen sink-refrigerator soup sounds terrible to me, especially when you keep adding stuff hoping to make it better. With all that brand-spanking-new freshness growing right outside, why not make a fresh spring greens vegetable soup? Without leftovers or even leftover leftovers? Surely there's a point where you throw stuff out? Maybe I'm being too harsh?
    I really love that long fence filled with beans, they are one of my most favourite vegetables.

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  10. It sounds like that soup might be a rich addition to the compost pile. Thanks for not eating those mushrooms. The garden looks splendid and so happy.

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  11. I think that your soup might be too "lemony". I have never had soup with lemon!
    A friend gave me 3 tomato plants a couple of weeks ago......they are now 1 inch tall, with only 2 leaves apart from the 2 " seed leaves". I can't imagine them actually ever having tomatoes !

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  12. Gosh, you have a lot growing already. Here people are just ready to start planting. They won't see produce like that until much later in the summer.
    I did a bit of gardening in my flower bed this week and I am so sore! I don't know how you keep up with it all! Happy Friday, Mary!

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  13. y'all plant so much! I have so little space that gets enough sun and some of it is over the back part of the drain field. they always tell you not to plant anything over the drain field. not sure if it's because it messes things up or if something needs fixing you have to tear out what you planted. well, I plant over it anyway, it's the only place I have. our leftover soup is usually pretty good but there have been a couple of time is wasn't. the last time it wasn't so good it was sweet and we couldn't figure out what was in it that made it sweet.

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  14. Your garden is amazing. y'all are lucky to have such a great climate for it. We be jealous. BTW, I really like your new header photo, really captures the "essence of Florida."

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  15. '...the last thing that soup needs is iffy mushrooms added to it.'
    That made me laugh, for it is so true in more ways than one.
    My eldest son is an avid forager but I have to say I am pretty conservative when it comes to fungi. There's an old joke about a chap who asked an experienced forager if a certain mushroom was edible,,, to which he replied, 'All mushrooms are edible,,, its just that some are only edible once!'

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  16. Oh, golly. You've got my mouth watering for tasty garden vegetables. I adore summer squash breaded in egg, flour, egg again, and then panko. Fry it to perfection in a little olive oil or if feeling even more decadent BUTTER.
    Hope you and Mr. Moon enjoy a perfect Friday martini even if the soup ends up to be a bust.

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  17. The garden is looking great, of course! :)

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