Still thrilled with micro-irrigation…

It’s September, never a good month in my garden.  By September, I’m tired of watering, doing it sporadically, the plants are fading away, the ferns are dying.  But not this year, oh no, it’s a jungle out there.  Just look at the size of these plants!  And I haven’t watered one single time since mid July when John installed the micro irrigation system.  Isn’t it awesome?  Check out the size of that impatien next to the the chiminea,  it’s huge!

Some of you may think, egads, that’s overkill.  Of course it’s overkill, it’s me, ladies, I’m always over the top.  But I lo-ove it.  I think it’s wonderful! 

We’ve had such a hot dry summer here, it just astonishes me how well this works.  Hubby installed it in the front, also, so I don’t have to water the plants in my little courtyard.  I’m 100% maintenance free.

Think about it for your gardens next summer.  I can give you all the info.  It’s very inexpensive, it’s all commercial products, not consumer, prices are much better.  It’s an amazing sight to behold… 

~ jan

 

Fish stew, first attempt….

Okay, after several emails back and forth with Carlene this morning, I decided to give fish stew a try.  She was skeptical because flounder is thin, she thought it might disintegrate in the soup.  She lives in Maryland, has great access to all kind of fish and seafood, unfortuanately, in Heavensville it doesn’t happen.  I have to use frozen.

So here’s what I did, here’s how it turned out, and here is my take on it…

• 1 can diced italian tomatoes (a few herbs can’t hurt)
• 3 cups chicken stock
• 2 yukon gold potatoes, diced, with peeling left on
• 1 large carrot, diced
• 1 onion chopped
• handful of chopped cabbage (I didn’t have bok choy)
• 1 cup frozen lima beans
• handful of frozen peas.
• salt and pepper to taste

I simmered the veggies in the stock, then added two whole pieces of frozen flounder, and let it simmer for about 10 minutes, then I took the fish out, gently, and let the rest of the soup simmer until done. 

Carlene likes her soup without cornstarch, we like the broth a bit thicker, so I added a tablespoon or so of cornstarch mixed into 1/2 cup water at the end.  Then I flaked the fish into chunks and carefully put it back in so it didn’t fall completely apart.

And????

It was good, it could have been better I think with a splash of white wine or sherry as Carlene suggested, but nothing was open, and I didn’t want to open a bottle for this.

It does taste like fish, but it’s not overpowering.  I added a few chow mein noodles (no croutons in the pantry) for some crunch.  And yes, that’s a dip bowl I put it in – it’s my favorite bowl for soup….

I would do this again for sure, but I don’t think I would want it more than a couple of times before tiring of it.  However, if I would have had bok choy, I would have worked in 3 of the five cancer starving ingredients, cooked tomatoes, bok choy and flounder.

Starving Cancer: Anti-Angiogenesis–Dr. Oz.

New research shows that 40% of women in their 40s have microscopic breast cancer. Even more shocking, almost 100% of people in their 70s will have microscopic cancer in their thyroid glands.

I was in the kitchen last week, turned on the television, Dr. Oz was on, and was very interested in what the segment was about, starving cancer by eating five foods regularly.  It’s pretty simple, ladies, we can do this and it could save our lives.

I was talking to Ryan about this earlier this week, he suggested making a fish stew, eating a cup of it a few times a week, using all the ingredients in this list, except for the strawberries.  I’m going to talk to my foodie guru buddy, Carlene, see if she can come up with a recipe for us… 

Here’s the video

And here’s the list of foods 

• Bok Choy
• Cooked Tomatoes
• Flounder
• Strawberries
• Artichokes

Exciting news at our house this weekend….

John and Deanna are engaged!!!!!  He proposed in Europe last week, and we are all absolutely thrilled about it!!!

Deanna is absolutely, positively adorable.  She’s spunky and cute, kind and gentle, funny and sweet, a true southern lady, and we’re all so lucky to have her in our lives. 

John is so happy, I’ve ever seen him as contented with his life as he is now.  All of our friends and family are so excited for them, oh what a wonderful gift this is. 

They came home to tell us this weekend, we’ve just had the best time!  Life is good for our family, we are so blessed.  ~ jan