Confessions of a lazy wannabe homesteader
Today was the first of a local three-day festival. When it comes around every year we eat almost all of our lunches and dinners there. It’s definitely one of our guilty pleasures! Tonight’s menu: steak fajita. SO GOOD. And, for fair/festival food, not all that bad for you since it’s not deep fried.
I spent the majority of my Labor Day weekend rushing around trying to clean the house in preparation for Sunday’s birthday party for the teenager new adult in the family. I really need someone with me at all times to constantly remind me of how bad of an idea big parties are. It’s not that I don’t like people… it’s just that I really am kind of a crappy hostess. And I stress out way too much over trying to have everything taken care of.
Anyway. The party went along fine. The house was packed, we had good food, lots of cake, and I think the kid made out pretty well. I was so busy with everything that I completely forgot to take time out for pictures.
After the constant rushing around from the festivities I needed a break, so Monday I kicked back with some knitting. A little Baby Sophisticate for another friend expecting twins. It’s a really fast knit and really adorable in this yarn (Plymouth Encore Tweed Worsted in Grape Jam). I’ll have this one done tonight, then it’s onto the second one (in a pretty matching gray).
Found this little guy on my roses yesterday as I was out cutting a few for a little vase in the kitchen.
Another gray, cool morning. I quite like it. Fixed myself a hot cup of tea this morning. We visited a new local farmer’s market Friday evening and I picked myself up a small jar of local honey. They had a few different shades you could try, and I ended up picking the lightest variety despite my love of the deeper shades. I thought it tasted citrus-like, but I’m pretty sure the booth owner thought I was a little crazy when I mentioned it.
The garden has been kind of a disaster this year. Again. Sigh. Almost all of our Roma tomatoes were hit with Blossom End Rot. Our other tomatoes aren’t doing so great, either. I’ve resorted to picking tomatoes early – at the first sign of their color turning – and letting them finish ripening in the window of our kitchen. Our corn has been smacked around this season by the storms so I’m not even sure what we’ll end up with – if we end up with anything. There are ears on the stalks, but I don’t know that they’ll be any good. The tomatillo is huge, but for all the blooms it put out there’s only about 1/4th of them that actually resulted in fruit.
Overall, I feel like this has just been a really underwhelming gardening year. Which is no surprise, really, considering the struggles everyone is having all over the country with the lack of rain and whatnot. I doubt I’ll get anything canned this year. Oh well. I’ll just have to start planning now for amending our soil this fall for next year’s garden in hopes that I can fix the issues.
The one thing I can seem to grow is weeds. The front flower bed has been a mess lately, but today it rewarded me with some pretty Pink Smartweed to cut for a vase. I do believe this is one plant I won’t be ripping out anytime soon – it’s too pretty to rip out. (If it’s too pretty to remove, does that make it a proper flower?)
73 degrees and perfectly cool outside. Almost feels like fall despite being August. I’m going to curl up on the patio and work on some of my knits for fall tonight with a beer and enjoy this small break from the summer heat.
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