The Inadvertent Farmer

KinderGARDENS Wrap Up 2011

First of all I want to let you all know how much I have enjoyed touring your gardens this year.  Although we have survived torrential rains, blistering heat, and even hurricanes we have persevered.

I know some of our gardens did not live up to our expectations, but some passed them.  Either way our kids got to see the real life results of hard work and mother nature's whims!

So thanks to all of you who passed along in a very tangible way the love of gardening to the next generation...the world is a better place because of people like you!

So without further chit-chat from me...

Wait.

I forgot, I need to show you something!

This was a birthday gift from my sweet mom...yes as soon as the plum tomatoes are done where this is going to go, I will erect my very own greenhouse.  It will be 12 x 25' and I simply can't wait to be able to garden 12 months a year...yeah!

I'll be posting about this new project in upcoming weeks.

So again without any more talking,

Hold on just a moment...

I forgot to share this with you guys.  Remember how I always preach getting kids outside and into nature?  Well we did it in an unusual way lately...

We set up tables outside and with 12 little kids participating...we had a tie dye party!  Yes a whole girl's soccer team and one little brother got to tie dye their soccer uniforms.  Now this is my kind of garden party!

Like a rainbow came down and sat on one of my white pumpkins!

Ok now it really is your turn, link up your wrap up posts below...

 

 

If You Can't Beat Them... Photograph Them!

I have long given up on keeping weeds out of the 'lawn'.  This is mostly due to the fact that our lawn is just pasture grass we keep mowed down right around the house.

Even if we had a real lawn there is no way to keep the weed seeds from the fields that surround the property from blowing in and sprouting up in it...so we don't try.

So instead of worrying about dandelions I enjoy them for the photogenic nature.  This was taken at dawn on a morning that had quite a bit of dew.  The moisture made the seed heads less 'poofy' than usual, making it so you could see right down into the dark ball at the middle.

It is so easy to love a dandelion when you relax about your yard!

So don't freak out about weeds...photograph them!

Although I will admit it makes mowing a bit conflicted!

 

Whole Wheat Belgium Waffles with Blackberry Compote Recipe

I used to in my long ago past make Belgium waffles from a box mix.

Then I decided to try to give my family only (well mostly) real foods from scratch.

We have been without Belgium waffles for a few years now as I figured there could not be a good healthy recipe for those light sweet waffles we all loved so very much.

I was wrong!

I made these last Sunday and they were delectible!

Here is the Recipe (based on a recipe found here)

• 4 cups white whole wheat flour (I'm sure regular whole wheat would work too)
• 1/2 cup sugar (I used evaporated cane juice)
• 6 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 4 cups milk (I used coconut)
• 6 eggs (or egg replacer if vegan)
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce (next time I'm trying all applesauce
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Add milk, eggs and oil to the dry ingredients and mix until just combined (don't overmix as you will develope the gluten and make for tough waffles)
3. Use approximately 2/3 cup of batter per waffle (depending on your iron size)
4. Bake on waffle iron as per manufacturers instructions.

Being careful not to overfill...ahem.

 

com·pote Noun/ˈkämpōt/

1. Fruit preserved or cooked in syrup.

2. A dish consisting of fruit salad or stewed fruit. 

Blackberry Compote Recipe

• 4 Cups fresh Blackberries (unsweetened, frozen could work too)
  
• 1/2 Cup Sugar
• 3 Tbsp Lemon Juice
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Cook over low heat until very juicy and the berries are tender but no mushy.

I did not add any thickener to this as I wanted it to soak freely into the waffles, like this...

The combination of the sweet waffle with the tangy berries was divine...or so they all said!

 

At least I didn't have to scrape plates!

Next time you are wondering what to do for breakfast (lunch or dinner for that matter) give these yummy waffles a try...your family will adore you for it!

 

KinderGARDENs the end Part 2

There have been some odd goings on around our KinderGARDENs...very odd indeed.

We have sent out secret agents to investigate...

 

It seems like our secret agent girl has found hidden around the chard and under the cabbage a sneaky late season strawberry!

The case was soon closed due to the evidence somehow being misplaced...errrr, eaten!

Every last one!

 

In other unsolved cases we have peppers being eaten by slugs...the criminal or criminals have yet to be apprehended.  Such an evil thing to do to a pepper!

Mr Blue Man Scarecrow needs a little visit from the fashion police...doesn't he know that country folk just don't wear their pants down like that?

And lastly are these cute little babies...

My little watermelon cuties...they very little hope of every ripening.

You see the rains are back.

Which also means all my garden photos will once again be soggy!

Make sure you put up a post this week that is a good overview of you KinderGARDEN this season

Then come back the first Thursday in August to see the winners...

Scratch that....

We are ALL winners!

 

 

 

 

 

KinderGARDENs The End... part 1

Hey everyone, I'm a little late getting the post up today and am splitting it into two parts due to the overwhelming amount of pictures I have to share about the end of the season here on the funny farm!

Next week I need you to do a wrap up post so I can send them off along with some of my favorite posts that I'll grab from your blogs to the judges!

So without further delay I'm going to share what's going on around here...

TOMATOES...oh my goodness I have been overrun!  My canner and dehydrator will be exhausted by it all!

But it does mean I have lots of tomatoes to play with!

 

We have our first Brussel Sprouts starting to form...

They will be so very good in our late Autumn dishes!

 

Our daisies are still blooming...

 

The morning glory in the maze had started to really bloom...finally!

 

The peppers are starting to turn from green to yellow to red...its about time!

 

The eggplants are doing their thang, which means...

Which means I can do mine...playing with my food!

 

In other words we have been busy as bees around here!  Make sure to come back on Monday for the second and somewhat crazy half of this installment!

How about you?  What does your late summer KinderGARDENs look like?

 

 

 

 

 

 

KinderGARDENS what is it with September?

Last year around this exact time we found out my widowed mother had breast cancer, surgeons, oncologists, chemo, and radiation invaded our lives...she is doing great btw!

This last week we have found out that our 21 year old needs to have back surgery...BACK SURGERY at 21?  Ughhh it makes me crazy thinking this, my poor boy!

I have spent the last week starting homeschool, harvesting and all that entails, and...

Spending hours and hours on the phone talking, pleading, and threatening various health insurance people letting them know that I will not let just anyone operate on my baby.

I will not let him be sliced open by anyone but the most gifted cutting edge Neurosurgeon...even if that mean I have to raise hell and put a prop under it!

So my most sincere apologies for dropping of the face of the earth for a week but well...

September happens!

Ohhh and my camera is completely broken...won't even turn on...sigh.

So where does that leave our KinderGARDEN?  Well it has been slightly neglected, the weeds are creeping in and it could use some more watering.  The kids are still running out there for treats like tomatoes, peppers, beans and of course it is also blackberry season.

They come in each and every day with hands and faces stained purple with blackberry juice...love that!

 

I am hoping to have Sharon Lovejoy here next week to wrap up our series and start to looking over all of your posts to determine some of the very best KinderGARDENS!

So for today I'm going to turn this post over to you guys.

And if any of you have some advice for me about making a HMO do what you want please let me know!

 

The Winner Is...

Karen Mayes!

"What a nice garden box! I would use one to plant tomatoes along with a couple other vegetables. I grew up on a large farm that always had a big garden bursting with fresh produce. Now I live in a city and have little gardens sprinkled throughout my small yard. The garden box would be wonderful!"

Karen I hope you, Grant, and Wesley enjoy your new garden box! 

Email me at theinadvertentfarmer(at)gmail.com with your address and it will be shipped to you straight from the company.

And thanks to Greenland Gardener for this great recycled garden box to give away...anytime we gardeners can keep things out of the landfills we are happy!

Yes we are thiiissss happy!

KinderGARDENS week 18 Perseverance!

Its September...whoa...how did that happen?

Enthusiasm for the garden can sometimes wane in the last few weeks of summer.

As KinderGARDENers we have had to deal with hungry bugs, large weeds, unusually hot temperatures, unseasonabley cold weather, drought, ...and even hurricanes named Irene! 

No wonder we are all exhausted!

But as gardeners we must persevere...for we know that there is fall planting to be done, clean up to commence, and spring to dream about! 

I love that about gardening, it is a dream that begins anew each and every year!

Speaking of perseverance...we finally just may get some corn this year!  We have never grown corn to actually get corn.  We have always grown corn more for the novelty of a corn stalk here and there.  Since I cleared more ground in the garden we had room for a corn patch and we now have tiny ears starting to grow...come on summer last long enough to eat our own corn on the cob! 

 

Squash I can grow...I am the queen of squash! They seem to have no insect pests here...knock on wood. These are our Sweet Meat squash that will fill our tummies with all kind of deliciousness as well as rock the freezer all winter long.  Long live squash!

 

The sunflowers were a little slow to start (due to summer being a LOT slow to start) but they seem to have finally decided to grow...and grow the most certainly did!  I love how they are like giants with big pouty heads! 

 

We have been eating a lot of these...simple summer salads.  This one is yellow snap beans lightly blanched with tomatoes, cucumbers, and purple broccoli in a garlic vinegrette...yum!

Speaking of tomatoes...

 Sweet Girl asked me why I always wear a skirt when gardening.

These would be hard to stuff in my jean pockets was my answer.

But then she asked me why I just don't use a basket!

That would involve me remembering to bring a basket now wouldn't it...and we all know me too well to expect that!

 

So while the sun is quickly setting on this gardening season lets not forget to keep up the enthusiasm for our gardens...we shall persevere against sun and slugs and even hurricanes!

Remember to come back tomorrow to see who won the recycled garden box!