A Day in My Life

Yesterday was a busy one....errand day always is!  It is also  my least favorite way to spend  the day.

Yesterday was our hottest so far at 92° and very humid. 

Farmwise

After several delays due to breakdowns and rain, they finally finished this y ear's hay crop.  The last 18 acres got rained on but will be  usable.  He has yet to remove the bales from the field for us.

Brush-hogging is coming along with about 40 acres yet to do.  Young man is coming this evening to begin on that.

I have been very impressed with the re-growth in the cut fields.  I have actually be doing my 'used to do' work of spraying fence rows and actually getting out of the yard and onto the farm itself.  The east field is almost knee-deep in clovers again and could be re-cut.  We will just graze I think.  Max is finally talking about selling the cows and just buying calves to graze each spring then sell in fall before winter and hay feeding begins. I support that idea (so far).  We change our minds almost daily.

My BIL has had and is still ongoing some very serious health issues which made us start thinking very seriously about our daily farm chores.

Off the Farm

Errands began around l pm.  We had our regular grocery run, then my make-up store (Merle Norman), a farm supply store (of course) and another quick stop at a second grocery (I forgot an  item or two).  By the time  we got home we were exhausted.


Yard and Garden 

 I finally got the trimmer  started.  It seems if I follow directions, it floods the thing.  I waited some  time and tried again without priming the motor and it started right up. Be interesting  to see how it goes this morning.

I was able to do a little trimming but still have a lot to go.  Have you noticed I am not mentioning my yard crew?  That failed  as I knew  it would.  The young man who we have known forever still works for  Max and me when his time is available.  The other 'landscape specialist' (so-called) has better fish to fry. 
His method of edging is not going to be much of an improvement in my style of gardening.  I may look a little more  finished at the edges but maintenance is still required.  The permanent mulch thing isn't too successful here either.  I have very vigorous  perennial things such as violets,  lambs quarter, poke, plantain and maple tree seedlings that come up through the mulch.  I will  still keep the garden fence border mulches but will not edge it.  My best method is intensive planting.....so no weeds can survive.  Makes it easy to pull out the odd one amidst the flowers.

Gardening like life is an ongoing,  changing process.  Age is making me introspective and hopefully adaptive!


A few pictures more:

This is a Texensis variety of clematis that is now growing on the ground beneath the edge of the kerria japonica. 

 This is a cheap dahlia I got from either Lowes or Walmart several years ago and leave in the ground.  (not the Japanese Beetles appreciate it too)

 My Oakleaf Hydrangea which gives me a lot of bloom over a long time in spring.  The Limelight will follow later in the summer.

 This is just to show what kind of gardener I am.  This is laughingly called the herb garden with parsley blooming. (I do save the seeds).  Note the garlic seed heads near the trash can.  They must go!

 This is to show what I mean by intensive planting.  Edge of new bed with violets,  daylilies ,sedum, and salvia  farinacea right next to a monstrous clump of flags.  A couple of roses are close behind.

 My favorite combo this year:  salvia farinacea, rudbeckia, phlox , all self seeded. 

 May have shown this yesterday, but it got included with this group moving.  A stray phlox seedling,  much paler than the rest.  That is more ss salvia in front of it and is just to the right of the rudbeckia group.

 Just loved the yellows  and blues so included it again.

All for now.  It is 6:11 am and Max is ready for his oatmeal.

Have a wonderful day.  

Bagel time

Our cooler weather has arrived and because of all the moisture we are under a fog warning.

We can't even catch a hint of  the red barn behind the Elm tree that we usually see.

I haven't  made bagels in a long  time.  My Sis was talking  about eating a bagel for breakfast yesterday......so this morning I have a batch on the rise!
I did make our favorite Hodgson Mills Honey Wheat bread recipe day before yesterday. It makes  enough for three loaves.  This time I  made two and buns.

 

Max is the cat whisperer here.  They follow him chore to  chore.  He is also the person who feeds and pets them (when allowed).  This is our senior gray  cat sitting patiently by the back door waiting for his lord and master to appear.

Not much left in the flowers, still loving the intense blue the salvia 'Victoria' gets with cooler weather.  She will soon be gone.  This grouping has white petunias (ss), sedum and two roses that are out of bloom now.  Tomato cages near tree, pruned clump  of Herbstonne rudbeckia,  The remaining green is oenothera speciosa which somehow ended up here from the front  ditch.  I plan to let it take over as a  ground cover.

A Senior Moment

Good Saturday morning!   Did my usual sleep pattern of a few hours in the bed and the rest in my kitchen recliner.  No matter, I got enough sleep.

Today is another hot one and I see they are already raising the heat level for next week.....also the Sunday rain seems to be fading.  I need to quit watching the weathermen altogether.

Cooking

I want to share this bit of a senior moment so you of my age group won't feel alone when you do something similar.

I froze 5 of the oatmeal scones before baking yesterday.  This morning I asked Max if he would like to have them  for breakfast.  He agreed.  When I bake frozen biscuits or, in this case,  scones, I just place them in the oven without preheating.  Turn on to desired temperature and add to the cooking time to allow for thawing.

Did this and sat back in my easy chair, sipping coffee, to wait.  A few minutes later I glanced  in the over and saw the biscuits melting down through the rack!  I had forgotten to place them on a baking sheet....not a good idea.

I quickly pulled them out but they were much to fragile to pick up so I turned the rack carefully over the pan and they fell gently to it.  I put them back in and they finished cooking.  Here is what they looked like:

They were fine; actually we like the crunchy tops.

My other baking trial was using extra gluten on whole wheat and whole grain breads to see if they were lighter enough to bother.  The first recipe I tried was my go to recipe of Annie's Honey and Wheat bread and make additions of rolled oats.  This time I doubled the recipe (12 cups dry ingredients) but just used 3 cups of white whole wheat flour and 3 cups of oatmeal to 6 cups of white bread flour.  I added 1/4 cup of wheat gluten.

The results were fine but I couldn't see too much difference.  That is bread pudding on the left made like Mom did with day-old biscuits.  I like it  much better than using light bread.

Next I want to try the recipe for Oatmeal bread that you dump all in mixer and mix and knead.  It always seems heavy to me but is our daughter and granddaughter's favorite.

Yard

Here   is an update on the Pumpkin landscaping feature (what my daughter calls it), actually the self -seeded Long Island Cheese Squash from previous Halloween decoration.

I know there will be a least two nice-sized squashes and who knows if more are hiding in there.  Makes me think of Lorraine's jungle growth in her garden in Florida.

and  only one more photo,

 Have a super weekend.