[gardeners] Saturday in the garden
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sat, 29 Jul 2000 18:49:08 -0500
Sleepy Dawg and I went out this morning and picked a good-sized mess of okra and
chiles, both hot and sweet. The okra got washed and chopped for freezing as did
the sweet chiles. The hot chiles went into a bag in the freezer for later use in
yet another batch of hot sauce.
I had gone to Big Lots, the remaindered goods store nearby, last week and
purchased some jars of salsa, made by, of all people, Seeds of Change. Got a jar
of Jamaica Jerk and a couple of jars of Smoked Pasilla. Today I marinated some
chicken breasts and boneless beef ribs in the Jerk and then put a nice sirloin
steak in one of my gallon jars, covered it with the Smoked Pasilla and pulled a
vacuum on the jar. Both were just grilled about an hour ago and both were good.
I prefer the steak with the smoked pasilla chile salsa as the vacuum opened the
pores of the meat and allowed the salsa to penetrate deep inside. Right tasty
stuff. Of course it was served with green beans and onions from the garden plus
a tater salad made with store-bought taters, home grown onions, and some
free-range eggs one of the neighbors brought us from her son's farmette. Also
had some homemade pickle relish in the tater salad along with some mustard I
made, just a dab of course, and then the Miracle Whip Fat Free in homage to my
heart. All of this was eaten with great relish by Miz Anne and myself as we had
been working around the Shirley Swankienda most of the day. She vacuumed the
house and dusted. I cleaned the kitchen, checked out the garden, and fertilized
most everything out there. Both of us took our time and didn't wear ourselves
out as much as we usually do when we get the cleaning bug.
Today we got a goodly rain, all told about an hour's worth, and about half an
inch by my estimation. Everything on the place perked up and looks good. If the
weatherman isn't lying we will get some more rain later this week and we
honestly need it.
Too hot out normally to do much in the garden so we go out in the early morning
and the late afternoon and still sweat a lot. Hope all are keeping their gardens
alive.
Anyone heard from Allen and Judy Merten lately?
George