Living and Gardening in the Ozarks: oven

June 12, 2013, Wednesday

We trimmed a couple of trees and Max loaded the trailer with limbs. He also cleaned all the debris and old dog house out of Sugar's pen.

I mulched the tomatoes.

We had a very unsatisfactory frozen Microwave Healthy Choice lunch! No more of that for us.

In the afternoon, I made bagels. When they were in the oven for a while, I checked and noticed the oven was just warm.......they were not cooking. I tried the counter top oven but it was too late. The are now soaking in water for the chickens.

I scheduled a service call...can't come until Monday. We can limp along but it is bread making time so we will have to revert to 'store bought'.

Got a new Kindle Paperwhite today; Max wants my old one....he gets a used Kindle for Father's

Day....poor thing.

After charging it fully I managed to get it working.....I am still getting used to the 'touch' thing but have ordered some books from the library and Amazon and all went well. There is a bit of a learning curve with it.

Thursday, June 13, 2013

Up at 3:45AM.

It is cooler this morning.

Went out early and finished mulching the rest of the tomato row and hoed out the west onion rows.

Tilled the middle where the hills of squash are and will be ready to mulch it all once I water it well.

I should take pictures; it is the first and probably last time my garden will be this tidy!

Forgot to mention that I tested the oven this morning and, voila!, it seems to be working. I even made hamburger buns and Max's two loaves of white bread this afternoon and it went very well.

The service people called to reschedule me for tomorrow and I told her my story of the oven.....I have canceled the service call and will still keep my fingers crossed and be nervous for some time.

The stove is only 3 years old but I have terrible luck with appliances..........I do have the small counter top oven that we could get by with for a few days.

By 2 PM, bread is done and so am I!

June 14-15

For those who want to know: My only secret to bread making is: King Arthur Flour and SAF yeast!

I watered the garden even though they predicted rain (it came but has just been ¼ inch so far). I vowed to take a picture of the garden while it was almost weed free; so I did.

This is taken from the west end looking east (the other was the reverse).

This little white tags are hills of squash. If the borers don't get them, I will be overrun for the first time in a few years. I do have a hill of Butternut for keeping over winter for pies.

This is the east end where I have replanted corn amid the spotty patch.

I hope now to cover all with straw mulch. We are still getting a light shower. Some places in the area are flooded but not us.

Yesterday morning I finished planting some rudbeckia and vinca so all flats are now empty. I know it is getting late but I intend to sow some more annual seeds and hope for late bloom.

The poppies have been outstanding this year and the seed pods are huge on some. I got a full tablespoon of seeds from one pod yesterday.