Peanuts, Grandaughters & Sweet potatoes

We had 5 of our grandchildren Saturday. The twins (2&1/2), Jasper (3), Hannah(7), and Isabella (8) the oldest. Their parents are training for an adventure race and they needed to practice their biking and canoeing skills. So we had the kids. We had a grand time.
We picked kumquats, the twins, Audrey and Emma, loved those. Jasper enjoyed picking them. We picked a few ears of corn and had some others that needed to be shucked, so they all joined in as my husband and I sat on the swing in the back yard. The corn was so tender we were eating it as soon as it was shucked. Of course there were a few worms, but Audrey wasn't scared at all, she wanted to hold them.
The 2 older girls wanted us to plant some more corn and some lima beans, so they stayed overnight to help us get them in the ground Sunday. We also had some peanuts that needed to be planted.
Hannah's and Bella's job was to drop the seeds in the trench and after Dan covered the seed they had to water them. Not a good idea. They got FULL of mud and started having a mud fight and a hose fight. They thought it would be funny to sit on my lap and get me full of it too. They had a jolly ole time and forgot all about the planting business, but isn't that what summer is all about? We finally finished the planting and all looked forward to a warm bath. The joys of the simple things, that's what grandchildren bring to us.
The next day, after they went home :) we got some sweet potatoes in the ground. That's our 1st try with those. We'll see how it goes.

I love staying home

I wish I didn't have to work outside my home 4 days a week. I enjoy staying home, doing homey things.
I like being home to see the weather changing so I can dash outside and get my clothes off the clothesline before the rain storm.
I like being able to have a nice meal on the table for my husband when he gets home from work.
I like watching the birds come to their nests in my birdhouses and watching them come to eat from the feeders.
I like checking on the growing things and taking care of them.
I like planning a menu for the week and getting the groceries.
I like taking a nap if I am tired.
Ohhhhh.....I guess I can try to wait 3 more years for all that sweetness.

Meyer Lemon Blueberry Scones

It's almost blueberry time again around here and I still have some frozen in our freezer. I need to try to use them up because they are only good for a year frozen. Friday morning I made some delicious lemon blueberry scones.

I don't recall where I got the recipe but it isn't very difficult.

Meyer Lemon-Berry Scones
Total preparation time: 10 mins Serves: 8
Ingredients:
3 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1 cup Juice from one Meyer Lemon and enough Milk to fill
1 cup Fresh or frozen Blueberries
1 teaspoon Grated Lemon Peel
1 Lightly beaten Egg
1 Egg White
3/4 cup Granulated Sugar
2 tablespoons Granulated Sugar
Steps:
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees
2. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in large bowl. Add butter and mix with pastry blender or fork until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Gently stir lemon juice-milk mixture into dough, along with blueberries, lemon peel and egg until just mixed.

3. With floured hands divide mix into six to eight rounded circles and place on baking sheet 2" apart. Brush with egg white and sprinkle with sugar.

4. Bake at 400 degrees for about 18 minutes or until golden brown. Cool and serve warm or at room temperature.

These are very good, not too sweet and just right for me to bring to the office for breakfast. I am going to freeze them individually and bring one a day.

Corn

We picked about 2 dozen ears of corn late yesterday evening. They are small and the ears are not filled out completely, but the silks are dark brown almost black. I don't think they were going to get much better and the racoons would have found them soon. There are a few ears still left on the stalks, but the corn is just about done.

Garden

I am day-dreaming about my vegetable garden. I want a beautiful weed-free garden. But then reality sets in...there are weeds as high as my knees, (almost). The corn is a fiasco....hubby decided to run the tractor over the rows while the corn was still short and got too close to the roots. We ended up with some stunted corn and the racoons have found what little we did have. I guess I can kiss the corn goodbye for this season.
I spent the late afternoon last Friday weeding one little raised bed with squash and tomatoes in it. I thought if I weeded after a rain the weeds would come up easier. It almost killed me. Truth be told, I looked like a very happy bovine. Mud was all over me and I was sore all day Saturday. There is another raised bed that needs my attention, but.....I dunno....
The strawberries aren't doing too well this year either. We get a few every other day, but only a handful. I really need to work on getting those runners rooted. I don't know if I should cut them off and pot them or just make a hole in the black plastic mulch and try to root them still attached to the mother plant.
The green beans are growing very tall, but no flowers yet. They are surrounded by weeds also.
Same with the cukes.
Tomatoes are flowering and there are few green ones on the bushes. The bushes look good. They are planted on black plastic mulch, so weeds aren't a problem.
We have harvested our first 3 peppers. Dan thought they were banana peppers, but found out they must be hungarian wax. They were medium hot. My son, Danny loves them that way. The other peppers have flowers on them now.
There are flowers on the yellow squash planted in the raised bed. I think I saw some small ones coming along.
The potatoes were really slow coming up this year. They are flowering now. I think we must have planted them too late. I dug one up and it had teeny tiny potatoes on it the size of pea. Will have to wait to see how those turn out.
We planted some blackberry bushes this spring too. They had some flowers on them and now I see some small green berries, but not too many.
The blueberry bushes finally have some blueberries on them. I planted them 2 1/2 years ago. Last year they had 2 berries ann the birds got them. This year we must have maybe about 30 0r 40. I fertilized them with some Ammonium Sulfate. It's supposed to help them take up the nutrients they need and acidify the soil.

I don't see any baby satsumas on our 2 trees and there are maybe 3 oranges on the orange tree. I fertilized those with citrus fertilizer last week along with the lemon tree which is loaded with little green lemons. That tree has been very productive for us the last 3 years. It is about 5 years old.

New Barn

Whenever I ask my dear husband to fix something or make something for me he can't find the tool he needs. We can't walk in our garage because of all his stuff. He can't find anything. We have a camper that needs a home, a tractor, a boat that needs protecting, and a tool trailer, in addition to all his "things". He has been wanting and needing a barn since we moved here 6 years ago. Well, finally, he's got his posts in the ground. They are really like telephone posts. My son came over with a boom truck and a huge augur he borrowed from work and they worked on putting those posts in Friday evening and Saturday morning. I haven't seen my husband that happy in good while. He is going to get his BARN!! It is far from being finished, and I will submit posts as it comes along.

Back to Reality

We got back from our visit to Destin FL, and Gulf Shores AL last night. We had a busy 6 days. The children were good, but the twins had trouble sleeping at night and woke up very early..5:30 a.m. every morning. They would come to wake up me and Paw and play in our bed. We enjoyed that. They had a grand time at the beach and camping.

Catherine, my older granddaughter had fun too. She floated down Turkey Creek in an innertube with her uncles. She returned home on Monday while the rest of us continued on to Gulf Shores and shopping at the outlet mall. I spent lots of money, but learned the prices are only about $5.00 off the regular store prices. We asked for coupons at the Welcome Center in Alabama and received a coupon for a book of coupons. Only problem was that there were restrictions on almost all of the savings. You either had to spend so much money or you couldn't use it on sale merchandise. I did spend so much that I received a "free", reuasable shopping bag advertising the mall.

Had tons of laundry to do today. I got the sheets and most towels washed and on the line today. I am organinzing my pictures and videos of the trip. Still have to put up the groceries and clean out the camper.