The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Bringing Spring

I don’t care what the groundhog has to say. 

Spring is where you plant it…

Field Trip!

We took a little road trip today to Wetherfield, CT to visit Comstock, Ferre & Co. to buy heirloom seeds for this year’s gardens.

We’ve wanted to go for a while now, and I’m so glad we went!

Make Your Own

We had salad for dinner last night. 

All four of us.

Salad and some leftover rice Bill had made the other night.

That’s all.

And everybody loved the meal.

I feel like I need to say “even the kids,” except that I don’t have that problem, for the most part.  My kids like their vegetables.  Most of their vegetables, anyway.  Enough so that if they dislike one or two, I don’t worry about it.

I know.  I’m lucky.

Planning

These are seedlings from one of the rogue squash hybrids that showed up in our yard last year.  They were a blend of butternut and black futsu, and Bill wasn’t sure if the seeds would be viable.

They are!  So we’ll be planting some this year, along with more butternut and perhaps a new winter squash variety.

I love this planning time of year.

October in the Garden

A tomatillo husk.

Bill’s been closing down parts of our gardens in preparation for the colder weather.  He’s harvested the last tomatillos, the last peppers, the last eggplants…

September’s Banner

I just put up a new banner for this month. 

Finally.

It went through several incarnations, but I knew I wanted to include images of yesterday’s harvest.

September is a big transition month, I think, garden-wise.  Lots of harvesting, lots of clearing out and preparing for the winter and the following spring.

Hunkering Down

The post title is solely for my sister, with whom I had this IM conversation this morning (we were each watching the news on Irene in our respective homes):

Her:  did you hear that doom and gloom Today show music?  geeeeez

Me:  noooooo.  didn't hear it, or i just wasn't paying attention

Her:  good god.
that was enough to scare anybody

Me:  they are all talking like they're at a funeral

Her:  i know..
i hate the term "hunker down"

Me:  hahahahahaha
i actually like it.

Her:  figures
hunker?

Me:  makes me think of not having to go anywhere and being snug with plenty of food and something good to read.

Her:  what does it mean?

Me:  i don't know.
i think it means "don't go anywhere and be snug with plenty of food and something good to read."
along the lines of "batten down the hatches"

Her:
hunk·erVerb/ˈhəNGkər/
    1. Squat or crouch down low: "he hunkered down beside her".
    2. Take shelter in a defensive position: "hunker down and let it blow over".

Me:
well there you go.

Her:
but can you use the word "hunker" alone?  or does it have to be with "down"

Me:
i don't know.
you should give it a try today and see if people look at you funny.

Her:
what if I hunker up?

Me:
hahahaha
brb, i have to cook bill some eggs

Her:
ok

Me:
i'm back.  just before i went upstairs, some reporter said "everyone is hunkering down" and i burst out laughing and everyone just looked at me.

Her:
hahaha i heard that
not you, him

Me:
hahaha

~~~~~~~

Well, in terms of hunkering down, yesterday we picked up the yard and put potential flying missiles in the garage.  We also picked a ton of tomatoes – red and green – because we don’t want them getting smashed by the heavy wind and rain tomorrow.

Then we did a bunch of cooking.

I prepped tomatoes and onions for a relish I’ll be canning later today.

So pretty!  And we grew EVERYTHING in that bowl.  Tomatoes (red, green, and white), and onions (white and red/purple). 

I salted all of that, covered it with plastic and put it aside to sit overnight.

Bill worked on a HUGE batch of veggie burgers.  We picked up some zucchini and yellow squash at the farmers’ market in the morning; enough for 7 batches, which will give us about 35-40 burgers to pack away.

 

After sauteeing everything, Bill added in some shredded cheese, eggs, and oatmeal.  The whole mess is in a huge bowl in the fridge.  Today he’ll shape it into patties and cook them all.  Then we’ll freeze them, and we’ll have a whole bunch of future meals ready to go.

I love the fact that my kids LOVE veggie burgers – especially the ones Bill makes. 

Another cool thing is that this summer their tolerance for heat has increased.

We love hot and spicy food, Bill and I.  Julia likes to occasionally show how tough she is by eating something we’re eating, but only when she’s sort of competing with Alex.  (Never mind sports, we compete with chili peppers here.)

But a few weeks ago Bill made a red Thai curry and both kids LOVED it.  We’ve been making fresh salsa with the tomatoes, onions, and jalapenos from the garden, and both kids love that, too. 

This is AWESOME.

Yesterday Bill picked some ripe tomatillos, and I made a fabulous salsa with them.

And – again – both kids LOVED it.

Oh, and we also got two huge, beautiful eggplants at the farmers’ market:

The one on the left weighed over two pounds.

I made a double batch of eggplant parmesan with them and a vat of tomato sauce I’d simmered for most of the day.  The kids loved that, too.

~~~~~

I’ve come to the conclusion that our kids can pretty much do whatever they want in life – teach, play instruments, become professional athletes, rob banks, run for office – anything, and as long as they continue to be adventurous about eating, we’ll always be proud of them.

~~~~~

And that’s where we are at this moment. 

The calm before the storm, in whatever form Irene takes by the time she arrives.

OH – one more thing.  Yesterday I invented a term:

Hurricaniacs:  The people who go crazy buying up all the water, bread and milk and batteries in preparation for a hurricane, leaving nothing behind for people who have actually and legitimately run out of something.

Gotta go now.  I want to finish the laundry, just in case we lose power for more than a day.

Are you in Irene’s path?  How have you fared (if you’ve already been hit), and how are you hunkering down, if you’re still, like me, waiting.

Close Ups in the Garden

For a change, I decided to use the 10x macro lens this morning.  I also used an “auto enhance” feature in my photo editing software.  I told myself I’d just hit the “auto enhance” button and whatever the software decided, that’s what I would post.  So here we go. 

I was going to tell you what everything is…but I changed my mind.  Any guesses?

Tomatillos!

We were hacking our way through the jungle this morning and made an exciting discovery…

In a Flower Mood

Bill and I just took our morning perambulation around the gardens, and I brought my camera.  Maybe it’s because of this morning’s earlier brief post, but I felt like taking pictures of any flowers currently in bloom, both on vegetable plants and on plain ol’ flowering plants.

I also took a few shots of other things…dew drops…assorted bug life (and death)…bird poop.  But mostly flowers.

No more words now…just the pictures….

Sunflower

My sister gave us several sunflower seedlings a while back, and I think both my kids had brought home little sunflowers in plastic pots toward the end of the school year.

Bill planted them all in various spots around the yard – mainly in places where they wouldn’t shade out the important stuff – the vegetables – and we’ve been watching the sunflowers get taller and taller and taller.

I noticed this one yesterday while we were dealing with the wood pile.  Must have just bloomed because you can see that some of the petals still haven’t finished unfurling.  I really like this rust-colored one a lot.  I’m hoping there are more around that just haven’t bloomed yet.

Notes From Yesterday and Today So Far

Okra! 

We’ve never grown it before, so I had no idea what to look for in terms of the actual ripening fruit.  But here’s what it looks like.  Pretty interesting, no?

Rogue Vegetables

For the last several springs now we’ve had the fun of discovering tomato seedlings popping up in the darndest places.  Sprung from seeds dropped last year, either by tomatoes that rotted off the vine or from seeds that ended up in compost, we’ve been finding yellow pear, cherry and – best of all – brandywine tomatoes.

We also get cilantro/coriander and dill showing up in unexpected spots – another bonus.

THIS year, however, we’ve got the biggest rogue ever.

Toxic Potato Fruit

Bill and I were outside a little while ago checking out the back forty (haha), and we came across these little things dangling from one of the potato plants.

We haven’t been growing potatoes for very long (last year was our first year), so we had no idea what these things might be.

Now That We’re Back Home

We took a walk around the garden this morning.  Haven’t done that in over a week, and we wanted to see how things were doing.

Garden Pictures

Regularly scheduled posting will resume shortly.  (The rest of the bacon-related posts.)

For now…a few shots I took the other morning, during the whole overnight smoked pork butt and other food-making extravaganza.

The Fog is Lifting

Most of yesterday is a blur.

I’d had great plans to continue posting about the whole overnight pulled pork adventure, but it got harder for me to form coherent thoughts after a while, and so I gave up.

Bill got up around five thirty and made coffee, and I went downstairs to sit on the couch – just to get off my feet for a little bit – he brought me a big mug of coffee, and I fell asleep without even taking a sip.

Garden Slaw

When I asked Alex what he wanted besides ribs for his birthday dinner, he asked for curly french fries (I bought them frozen and then totally forgot to bake them that night.  Ah well – we had them at lunch the next day.) and some cole slaw “so you and Daddy have something that you won’t have to share.”  He’s not a fan of slaw – particularly any mayo-based versions.  But that’s okay – it was his birthday.  I wasn’t about to force anything on him.  And I knew his main focus would be the ribs anyway.

So I decided to make a slaw using whatever we could to pull from the garden.

Garden Pictures

Years ago I used to watch CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Kuralt.  (He wasn’t at my house watching it – he was the host.)  I loved the show for its varied stories – long pieces, compared to sound bites on news programs.  The show was always interesting, informative, sometimes fun, sometimes sad.  There were reviews, done by that guy whose name I can’t think of at the moment – I loved his way with words, though…and then, for the last few minutes of the program, there was silence.

Well, an absence of human voices, which is about the same thing, in my opinion.

The camera would pan across a vast prairie, for instance, and all you would hear would be the rush of the wind…distant birds…the ssshhhhhhhhhh of leaves.  Such a lovely, peaceful way to close a program.

I don’t have audio, so there are no sounds of nature for you…but here are some pictures from my gardens…and I’ll shut up now, too.

A Few Recent Meals, Courtesy of Our Garden, Farmers Markets, and Other Local Sources

Baby Bella Mushrooms stuffed with Ricotta, Fresh Herbs, and More Mushrooms.

I love being able to throw together dishes like these.  I have no real recipes for any of them; no measurements, quantities or times.  I just had a garden, a recent trip to the Farmers market, some homemade cheeses, and a few other ingredients – mostly local.  And a hungry family.

Viewing Our Land

Those (above) are blossoms on one of our potato plants.  I’m very excited about our potatoes this year – several varieties and they’re growing well.

I’m posting the pictures I took this morning as Bill and I walked around the yard and looked at what’s growing.  We do this on weekend mornings right now, and once school lets out, it will become part of our nearly-daily morning routine.

Pea Pod Pickin’

First harvest!

So, this morning Bill and Julia went out to pick peas.

Peonies

I think these have become my favorite flower.

Irises used to be my favorites, and I still love them…but these peonies have climbed a little higher over the years.

These peonies in particular.  We’ve got these, and we’ve got dark pink ones that have slightly smaller blossoms.  Both had grown in Bill’s mom’s yard, and when she passed away, they were among the plants we brought to our gardens.

Blauwschokker Update!

Remember the other day when I showed you the pretty pink blossoms on our Blue Podded Blauschokker pea plants?

Well I’ve had a couple more surprises since then.

The Blue Podded Blauwschokkers are Blooming!

The what??

The Blue Podded Blauwschokkers!

I have to slow myself down and sound out that last word, so don’t feel bad if you do, too….

Not My Favorite Vegetable

 

But I’m still very excited about it….

First Strawberry!

That picture was taken on Thursday – the 19th.  I didn’t pick it then because the underside was still white.  But still – a red strawberry!  May 19th!

Abundance

Updates from the Garden

Last night we had, in addition to some scrod and rice, a great big salad.

Most of that salad came from the garden, which makes it even better.

Spring Flowers

A quick look at some of the flowers blooming right about now…

Farmer Julia

We’re able to get free compost from the town.  Last week Bill nearly filled up the truck bed with gorgeous, dark compost.  Most of it is out, but there’s still some that needs to be removed.

Julia likes to help.

Potatoes

Over the weekend, Bill and the kids and I went to Gillette's Home & Garden Agway, in Exeter, RI to get some stuff for the gardens.  (We used to just call it “Agway,” but I think in recent years it was bought by the Gillette people.)

Among other things, we got seed potatoes. 

Seedlings and Condensation

This first shot is my favorite. 

Here are the other two.

Welcome, Spring!

See this girl?

She’s been busy today.

Spring Things

Just ran outside and took a picture of the first  crocuses.  They first bloomed a few days ago, but it was raining, so no picture that day.

So it’s March.  Nearly halfway through.  I haven’t done a whole lot of interesting (to me) cooking or baking, or, more importantly, a lot of photographing of cooking and baking, so in that department…I got nuthin.

But I did start brining some brisket, transforming it into delicious corned beef.

It has to brine for 8 days, which will take us a bit past St. Patrick’s day, but for us it’s not so much about the date or being Irish (I’m not, and if Bill is, it’s only a smidgen) – it’s about Hey!  We should make some corned beef!

A few years ago I blogged about the whole process.  We had a big Corned Beef dinner, which included both home-brined and store-bought Corned Beef, the requisite vegetables, and a couple of Irish breads, and some condiments for the meat.  I followed the whole thing up with some excellent (if I do say so myself) corned beef hash a few mornings later. 

You can read about everything that went into the meal here, and how I make corned beef hash over here.

And Bruce Aidell’s Corned Beef recipe (which is the one I followed) can be found right here.

I know it’s a bit late to get started if you want to be eating the Corned Beef dinner on the 17th, but there’s no law that says that’s the only day you can eat the meal.  If you’re feeling adventurous, give this recipe a try, and, if you’re really feeling adventurous (and hungry), get some pre-brined corned beef at the store, boil them both, and compare the flavors.  Just for fun.

What else is going on…

That’s spinach.

Spinach that survived outside in the winter garden and gave us these lovely leaves for a salad the other night.

Pretty cool, huh?

And speaking of gardening, Bill and the kids planted all kinds of things outside today.

Broccoli rabe in these spots:

And in the very back garden…

Cilantro, mustard spinach, scallions, mizuna, shallots, pac choi, tatsoi, swiss chard, spinacio, wild arugula, carrots, radishes, arugula, lettuce, and marche.

Didn’t need to plant parsley – it survived the winter!

Didn’t need to plant kale – it also seems to have survived, so we’ll see.

And Bill moved the cippollini onions into one of the winter gardens for now.  They’re still in their little peat pellet things, but they’ll be a touch warmer this way, and we’re planning to leave them outside from now on.  Eventually (when we build another one or two raised beds) they’ll be separated and replanted in a more permanent spot.  But for now, they’ll hang out here.

The broccoli is also going to stay outside now, too.

AND, in the tray where the onions used to be, Bill’s going to start impatiens (they’re flowers that like shade) for the shaded side of our yard.  They do well there.

Indoors, the Spring Cleaning Bug bit me hard recently, along with the Green Bug.  So, instead of actually cooking anything recently, I’ve been mixing up a bunch of eco- and economically – friendly cleaning products.  The recipes I used are right here, at one of my current favorite websites, Chickens in the Road.  You should check it out.  Not just for the cleaning products, either.  There’s so much more.

And then I started cleaning.  Yesterday I cleaned the downstairs bathroom – from top to bottom, including the curtains and the shower curtain. 

By the end of two hours, that room sparkled blindingly.  Yes.  Two hours.  I sprayed and wiped and cleaned and scrubbed.  I washed the floor by hand, with a sponge.

It felt good.

Today I repeated the process with our upstairs bathroom.

And after cleaning the bathrooms so thoroughly, I just have this to say.

Men are gross.

There, I said it.  For a gender so overwhelmingly obsessed with sports (that involve, mostly, aiming at something), and shooting things, it’s amazing how out of control they are when simply aiming a short distance.

I don’t pretend to understand.

I just wish I didn’t have to clean up after it.

And that’s all I’ve got for today.

A Look Around Some of the Gardens

…now that MOST of the snow has finally melted.

(And I know, I need to change the polish on my toe nails.  I will, I will.)

Spring is Here!

No, really!

Don’t look outside, though.

Look inside…

Winter Gardens

Want to take a peek inside the winter gardens?

Here’s a new post for you….

Asparagus

Photo inspired by a bit of my morning reading - here.  These came from our asparagus bed, which grows wider every year.  I picked them yesterday, and I plan to pick a few more today and tomorrow, as they become tall enough.  Favorite way to cook asparagus?  Actually, there are two:  either tossed with olive oil, salt and pepper and grilled on our charcoal grill...or sauteed in a pan with a little butter, little lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Yum.

9 Pounds, 14.5 Ounces

Our Giant Pumpkin, 2007.

Winding Down

It's finally starting to feel like October, temperature-wise (80 degree weather does NOT, in my opinion, belong in October.  Glad THAT's over.) and so yesterday Bill picked some more herbs and I packed them in oil and froze them, like I talked about in this post a while back.  This time I added oregano, chives, tarragon and thai basil to the collection in the freezer, along with some more sage and basil, because we just have so much of them.

Bill also pulled the cilantro plants, which had ceased looking like cilantro and had transformed into seed-bearing coriander plants, like so:

While he and the kids pulled up the strawberry bed (we need to put them in a better spot next year - they just haven't been doing well where they were.) I picked all the little seeds off the coriander plants.

This was not as tedious as it may sound - it was kind of relaxing, actually.  No thinking involved.  Just picking the seeds....

I've left them in a bowl to finish drying out, and then we'll put them in a jar with the other herbs and spices and use them for spice mixtures and rubs throughout the winter.

Zanahorias grandes! Ay yi yi!

It's the Great Pumpkin! And the Great Hubbard Squash!

This past Saturday morning we got together with friends of ours to go to The Southern New England Giant Pumpkin Championship at Frerichs Farms in Warren, RI.

I've never been before but our friends went last year.  It's very much a country fair, only on a smaller and single-themed scale.  There were a few fun things for the kids to do, including a pony ride, and there was food.  But most importantly, there was the 1,000 lb pumpkin drop.

That was at noon, so we made sure to arrive in time to watch this most exciting part of the event.

A crane was set up in a fenced off area and a big pumpkin was lifted way, way up high.

And then, the pumpkin was released,

And it fell down, down, down...

Until...

It smashed

And then the crowd cheered.  Hooray!  We've dropped a vegetable from a great height and it smashed!  Yay!

Almost immediately, people rushed to examine the remains.  Small children carried around chunks of pumpkin innards as souvenirs. 

Later on, they held the weigh-off.  First, they weighed the giant hubbard squashes.  There weren't as many of those - it's a newer category, and there aren't as many brave hubbard squash obsessives growers out there.  Yet.  After the hubbards, they started in on the pumpkins. 

After each vegetable was weighed, it was transported out of the competition ring and set off to the side, where children and their parents could pose for pictures with them.

Like this.  (It was a very bright, hot, sunny day.  Can't you tell?)

And where was Julia?  See that orange, pumpkin-shaped cage way in the back, there?  That's the pumpkin ride.  When I heard there was a pumpkin ride, I thought kids would, you know, ride on the pumpkins.  Um, no.  It's a hayride in a big pumpkin frame, drawn by a tractor.  Bill and Julia bravely took the ride.

They also, as I mentioned, had pony rides, which was probably the highlight of the day for my kids.

We stayed a couple of hours - but eventually the heat and overwhelming pumpkin-ness got to the kids and they both wanted to go home.  So we did.

They ate some Halloween Dunkin Donuts Munchkins on the way home...

It was about a 45 minute ride.

And within twenty minutes...

And they were both out.

If you want to see all the pictures, they're posted here.

Princess Brandywine

Bounty

Last weekend the onslaught began.  The tomatoes are coming in.  We were getting some here and there for a while, but last week they began to ripen in earnest, and so for the next few weeks, our house will be smelling like warm tomatoes and chopped herbs on a regular basis.

I've got 4 baking dishes of tomatoes in the oven right this moment - with more tomatoes in the wings that will be ready in a few days.  And plenty more ripening outside. 

Transformation...

And then they're packed up and stashed away in the freezer. 

I've also harvested a ton of basil and made a sort of pre-pesto mixture - just the basil and some olive oil, and a clove or two of garlic to get the fun started. 

From the garden...to the food processor...

to the freezer.  I top each container off with a bit more olive oil, cover them, and they're done.

I pack them into fairly small containers, since a little pesto will go a long way.  I'm set for the next two years, I think.

And I also thought I'd see what would happen if I did the same thing with other herbs.  So last Sunday:

Are you going to Scarborough Fair?

 

At some point today or tomorrow I'll do a few more batches...we still have tarragon, oregano, thai basil, and another variety of thyme (the above is creeping thyme...we also have summer thyme, which has a stronger flavor.  We had lemon thyme for a while, but it hasn't come back in the past couple of years...something to think about for next year.  I love it with fish.).  We have chives, too, but they tolerate the cooler weather, so we'll probably just use them up as we head into winter.  And we have mint - but much of it has been depleted by several recent rounds of mojitos. 

Anyway, that's the update from the garden and the kitchen for today.  Time to go check the tomatoes again.  The aroma is intoxicating....

Our Little Visitor Yesterday Morning

Yesterday's post

You're right - there wasn't one.  I had typed in this long garden update post, with pictures from the garden, a couple of basic recipes - and at the very end, suddenly I couldn't upload the picture of the eggplant in the garden...and I tried again and again...and then finally figured FINE, I'll just save what I've got as a draft and try again later.  Nope.  Couldn't do that either.  (Of course now that I think about it, I could have saved the whole thing as a word document...but it didn't occur to me yesterday.)  So anyway - yesterday's post?  Gone.

So here's the shortened version:

Our gardens are a tangle of greens - leaves and vines and tendrils and thorns.  It always looks crazy and unkempt at this point - but it's the best time as well, because everything is producing.

We've got cucumbers and zucchini aplenty - good thing the kids like them.  And we've got tomatoes ripening - actually, Bill found some red ones yesterday - they're small, a bit bigger than cherry tomatoes - I can't think of the name at the moment (I'm hurrying because I have to leave for work soon) but anyway - two ripe little tomatoes yesterday afternoon.  I cut one into two for the kids to share, and cut the other for Bill and I.  There is nothing better - NOTHING better - than a warm tomato, just picked.  Unless it is a tomato sandwich made from a warm, freshly picked tomato - on white bread with mayo, salt and pepper.  Don't go gussying it up with other stuff - no, if you're going to have a tomato sandwich, then be pure about it.

Anyway.  We've also got tons of basil, which I will cut back soon and run through the food processer with some olive oil and pack in small containers to freeze.  I also do something like that with the tomatoes - I've probably mentioned it before...you slice the tomatoes in half, or smaller if you've got different sized tomatoes working together.  You put everything - cut sides up - in a baking pan and pour a generous amount of olive oil over all them.  I sprinkle some salt and pepper on too.  You can sprinkle herbs on too, but I don't because I like to be able to do that later, depending on what I'm making.  But I jump ahead.  You put the pan of tomatoes (or, if it's August and you're drowning in tomatoes, many pans) in an oven set around 300-325 and bake for at least an hour.  You're looking for the tomatoes to give up a lot of water and to shrivel and shrink in the process.  They will cook gently in the warm oil, and at the end they will be sweet and heavenly.  It's up to you how long you cook them.  You don't want them to burn, of course, but a little brown or black is okay. 

After you've taken them out, let them cool and then scrape the whole mixture into a container, cover, and stick them in the freezer.  You can use them later for sauces, pasta dishes, pizza - whatever and however.  The point is - it's the best thing in the world to have a taste of summer produce in the middle of January.

Gotta go - talk to you later!

Good Morning

  I was outside around 6 this morning while the kids watched "Stuart Little 3" and Bill slept. 

I love this time of day...I like the angle of the sun and the dew on everything.  Here's a bit of what I saw out there...

Now do you see the little pink reflection in the water droplets above?

It's a reflection of the pink rose above it.  Isn't that cool?  If I had a different lens, I could have captured more detail...but still...kind of a fun little moment in my morning.  (Yes, I'm goofy.)

(Mere?  This one above is the one I was talking about...can't remember what it's called.)

And that's the lot.  Well, there were more, but this is a representative sampling.

Today we've got Alex's preschool "graduation" to go to - that's a bit later this morning.  After that we may go to the pet store and get another lizard.  The frog that shared the tank with the anole was found dead last Saturday morning in a corner of the tank.  So no more mixing of amphibians and reptiles in the same tank, according to Bill.  He saw some other kind of anole that he wants to get, so I think we'll be adding that creature to the menagerie this afternoon. 

For now, that's all.  Have to start figuring out what the cute clothes I can make the kids wear for the song-fest today.  Alex told me they will be singing "We love our flag," "My country 'tis of thee," "Take me out to the ballgame," and a couple of other graduation-themed songs like "hello kindergarten" and "bye bye preschool" or something like that.  He says he has to stand during all of this (because he's in the oldest of the 3 preschool groups...plus he's tall) and he doesn't want to because then his legs will hurt.  Uh huh.  You're singing anyway, buddy.  Your legs will be fine. 

The other night he told me he didn't want to sing because all his teeth would pop out.  I don't know where he gets these ideas.  But I told him that he could bring a bowl with him to catch his teeth if it happened.

Have a lovely day, wherever you are!

There's a bright golden haze on the meadow...

...and the corn is as high as...

...well, okay...not exactly...and not yet....

From Mere's Garden

After my walk Saturday morning, I went back to my sister's house to take some pictures of her flowers. 

She has a TON of gorgeous pink irises that are blooming.  Mine haven't bloomed yet, but I'm thinking within the next day or so they'll start.  Here are some of hers:

And a bit of detail...

Anyway, the rest of the batch can be found here.