In the garden the beans are winding down. I am really happy with the production from the pole beans this year. We grew the variety called “rattlesnake.” They get red streaks through the bean pods the longer you leave them but since we like to eat the pods, we pick them before they start to get the red stripes. I have left a number of pods on the plants, however, to produce seeds for next year. The pods get big and they have a satifying substantialness to them that their bush bean cousins lack.
The crickets are chirping like crazy at night and the cicadas are buzzing like crazy durning the day. We are picking tomatoes. And zucchini. Lots of zucchini. Today Bookman made relish. He did not use all the zucchini for this. There are more. He is going to make bread and butter refrigerator pickles out of them. And I put in an order for zucchini bread. The Dashwoods were really happy with the zucchini peels and seeds left from the relish making.
Also today we harvested potatoes. We planted Irish cobbler and Adirandak blue. We are quite pleased with the yield. We will be saving some of the larger ones for seed potatoes for spring and are considering expanding the size of the potato patch next year.
The pumpkin vines have lots of little pumpkins on them. We were worried for a little while because we only saw one. But looking today there are quite a few hiding under the big leaves. Yay!The Dashwoods are out free ranging in their garden today. Earlier in the afternoon we heard a chicken cry of distress and Bookman and I crammed on shoes and rushed out. There had been a cat in the garden this morning and we were worried it might have come back to pick on our girls. The Dashwoods are as large as a cat these days and not likely to become a tasty meal. They also have talons and beaks they know how to use (just ask my poor knees about the beaks!). That doesn’t mean a determined cat could not kill one or badly injure one though. So out we rushed. By the time we got out there the distressed calls had stopped. At first I only saw Mrs. Dashwood and she was obviously not in any trouble at all. Then the others came out from behind the compost bin as nonchalant and unconcerned as could be. What the heck Dashwoods? Are you all okay? And they gathered around my feet looking up at me wondering if I had a treat for them.
We have no idea who was in distress or why. We suspect one of them must have gotten herself stuck behind the run door or some other location and couldn’t figure out how to extricate herself but them managed before we arrived on the scene. Silly Dashwoods. They really had us worried there!
Biking
It rained off and on all day Saturday, sometimes heavily, with occasional thunder. Saturdays are my long ride days so Astrid and I stayed indoors hooked up to the trainer and riding on a virtual Zwift course. With the goal of the 200-mile/322 km race August 2017, I decided to work on both speed and endurance. I did 75 miles/121 km in a little over 4 hours which puts me on a pace to finish 100 miles/161 km in a little less than six hours. I want to finish the 200 mile race in 13 to 14 hours and the rule of thumb is take your 100 mile time and add two hours. So before I begin adding miles to my training, I am working on being able to ride 100 miles comfortably and without fatigue in 5 1/2 to 6 hours. After yesterday’s trainer ride, I am happily on track!
Puccini can’t be frozen I imagine because of the high water content?
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BookerTalk, it can be frozen but on thawing out it gets a bit mushy so we shred it and then plan to use if for things like zucchini bread or zucchini latkes.
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Haha, Karen, looks like autocorrect has been having fun with you! Poor Puccini, but yes, given the apparent water content of humans that is probably why he cant be frozen!
As for you Ms SMB, 100 miles riding? I continue to be impressed at both your commitment and stamina.
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I dunno, there are a number of humans who are hoping they can be frozen and brought back to life when technology and medical science has advanced enough!
Oh yes, Astrid and I like to go long 🙂
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Haha, yes, that cryogenics stuff is fascinating.
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What on earth did I mean to write – wish I could work it out!
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It’s more fun not knowing exactly 🙂
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Ha ha! Me too. I’ve had that happen occasionally.
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You have so many varieties in eating zucchini. As I like it very much I am going to investigate further.
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Cath, one can do many things with zucchini including making “zoodles” which means cutting it into long, thin noodle-like strips and then you can put marinara or other kinds of noddle sauce on it. A very versatile vegetable!
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I’ve had those beans from the farmers’ market in the past, but our favourite farmer chose a different variety this year. I’ve yet to ask what kind they are, other than the “good” kind!
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buried in print, if you find out what kind they are, let me know! I am curious 🙂
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Can I place a zucchini bread order too? 😉
Your garden yield has been so impressive! One day I’m really going to get my garden act together… So far I’ve been a committed dabbler.
I am so looking forward to fall – I can tell the days are getting shorter and today there was a cool breeze and temps in the high 60s this morning, which we haven’t had in quite a while.
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Laila, heh, I do love zucchini bread! We are pretty pleased with how well the garden has done considering we haven’t worked as hard in it this year because of the chicken learning curve. We are already talking about things to do next year when we don’t have to build a coop and all the other chicken prep. And it all starts with committed dabbling!
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Lordy Lord, look at that zucchini! What a beautiful crop – though I hope you don’t get tired of it… Zucchini bread sounds fabulous. My dad used to make it and it always makes me think of late summer.
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Elle, we planted extra zucchini this year because we liked the relish we made last summer so much and were disappointed when we ran out in January. So we are hoping to make enough to get us through to next summer. And zucchini bread, I really love it and it is easy to freeze . So hopefully with all the different forms it will be taking we won’t get tired of it!
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Good thinking 🙂 It must be so nice to have a garden, because you can make decisions like that! “Hmm… we like this, so let’s plant more” –> “now we have more”. It seems vaguely magical.
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Heh, it is kind of magical in a way only magic seems to also require a lot more work 😉
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Glad to hear the Dashwoods are all right and it was just a boy who cried wolf situation! I would be so sorry if a cat made off with or hurt one of them.
There’ve been a couple of cicadas around my area too — this morning on my way to work, I witnessed a bird’s unsuccessful attempt to catch a cicada. It may have been wounded unto death by the bird’s attack, but the bird did fly away, foiled. (I could not pause to check if the cicada was alive. Also if I could have I wouldn’t have because cicadas are prone to look dead but then suddenly and alarmingly fly straight into your face while making a loud noise.)
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Jenny, we would have been very sad if a cat had injured one of the Dashwoods!
That must have been entertaining watching the bird try to get the cicada. I have only ever seen dead cicadas. I had no idea they like to “play dead” maybe the ones I have seen weren’t really dead! It would scare the pants off me to have them suddenly fly up in my face!
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Zucchini bread????? How cool is that! I think you and Bookman should consider opening a food/book cafe…I mean you read great books and make wonderful dishes! Complete recipe for success! 🙂
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The Dashwoods – so enigmatic!
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Ian, aren’t they? I might have a flock of sphinxes instead of chickens.
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cirtnecce, zucchini bread is a delicious treat that you can tell yourself is good to eat because it is made from a vegetable (like carrot cake and pumpkin pie!)
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Well done on your training so far, it sounds like you’re making good progress. On the produce front, so much of it, how awesome! I’ve always wondered what zucchini was but forgot to look it up (we call them courgettes) so I’ve learned something today. Glad the chickens are all right, and hope it was just a mishap and not a cat.
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Charlie thanks! Ha! Yes zucchini are courgettes. Years ago my husband and I were staying with some friends in London and one night they made us dinner and asked if we liked courgettes and we had no idea what they were talking about until she showed us the vegetable! Very likely just a mishap. They get upset about something one second and the next everything is fine.
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A 200-mile race! Are you mad or something – or just training for the Tokyo Olympics?! Seriously, I’m impressed.
Love the overhead shot of the Dashwoods. What a pretty quartet they make. DO they get on well together? Or do they just get on with their own business ignoring each other mostly?
As for zucchini and courgettes, there are several vegetables that have different names, like rutabaga (Swede to us), arugula (rocket to us), aubergine (eggplant to us) which you need to learn when you live in other countries (or, start using recipes from the internet!). It’s interesting that in some of these namings we follow England and in others we follow the US – we Aussies ending up being pretty vegetable-literate I think.
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whisperinggums, I might be mad especially if I manage to do well on the 200 mile race the 400 mile one is a future option 🙂 Kristin Armstrong won the time trial at Rio at age 43 so maybe I can go to Tokyo and win at — let’s see I’ll be 52 by then!
The Dashwoods do get along well together with very little squabbling and when allowed out and about from the run they stay flocked together and no one gets pushed away.
Heh, yes it’s funny how the names are different with the vegetables. I wonder how it all came about? If I weren’t lazy I would do some research. Funny how you follow some English and some US names. There are stories there I bet!
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Yes, that’s what’s fascinating about the veggie names, the lack of consistency… Probably partly historical to do with when and by whom each was introduced where!?
Love that the Dashwoods get on.
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So I had to know about zucchini and courgette and found a great BBC article: http://www.bbcamerica.com/anglophenia/2014/10/7-veggies-different-names-britain-america that explains everything though unfortunately it does not go so far as to include Australia, an unfortunate flaw.
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Thanks Stefanie, Will read that. Of course they didn’t include Australia. We tend to be beneath notice when it comes to international discussions or comparisons! Not that we have an inferiority complex or anything!
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Oh, this is a hoot. I’ll share it with a few people. I love this one: “Beetroot vs. Beets
“Beetroot” comes from its Latin name Beta vulgaris. It’s known in the U.S. simply as “beets” because Americans are busier than Brits and don’t have time for a second syllable.” Of course we laid-back Aussies say “beetroot”. I’m glad Im not the only one confused about “turnips”. I though the yellow ones were turnips, and the white ones were Swedes but I’ve come to realise in recent months that it’s not that simple though I think this is usually how our supermarkets here label them.
As for scallions/shallots/green onions, I have to be very clear about when I want when Mr Gums shops on his own (even though he shops more than I do, he still needs clarity on this one!!)
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I laughed about the beetroot/beet too! It took me a long time to figure out what a Swede was since they are turnips here. And I always consider scallions and green onions to be the same thing but shallots are small bulbs that are usually sweeter than regular onions. But it is still all very confusing! I’m still not sure what the difference is, if any, between shelling peas and snap peas! Makes things interesting! 🙂
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It sure does. Funny re scallions and green onions … I think they ARE the same here. We don’t use the term scallion. Whether it has a tiny bulb at the end or not seems a bit immaterial? I grew up calling the shallots though, and didn’t discover that shallots are those small brown onion bulbs. I never really saw them here when we were growing up so we probably didn’t need a name for them.
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