[gardeners] Sunday in the garden and kitchen
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Sun, 06 Aug 2000 10:52:43 -0500
Gardening today just consisted of a foot patrol by Sleepy Dawg and me. Nothing
ready to pick, no hornworms in sight. The fall planting of green beans are
blooming and the zukes are growing bigger, the plants that is, no fruit as yet
but lots of blooms. Okra is producing about 1 pod per plant per day and that's
enough for us.
In the kitchen: Yesterday I made a big moussaka, my standard recipe, leaving out
the beaten eggs and milk, and the bechamel sauce. Got it all assembled in a
retangular casserole and then chilled it down. Today I froze it, casserole and
all. Now all I need to do is finish it off when I thaw it out. Also put up a
couple of quarts of chopped sweet chiles and about a quart of okra, all chopped
and frozen in previous days but waiting in the freezer to get enough to vac
seal. Oh yeah, the moussaka was vac sealed also.
Yesterday I finished getting the solar film on the west windows and it has made
a noticeable difference in the heat transmission into the house already. I sorta
of wish I had put the more expensive "platinum" film on as it eliminates 95% of
the solar radiation and helps keep more heat out. The neutral bronze is okay
though. Think I will get a small package of the "mirror" type to do the bathroom
windows with rather than trying to etch them. Keeping up this old house keeps
Miz Anne and I rather busy. We're looking at some porcelain 12X12 inch tiles at
Home Depot right now. They're on sale for 88 cents apiece and that's a pretty
cheap floor covering any way you cut it. They actually let me bang one with a
claw hammer to see how tough it was. Even if it does chip it's the same color
all the way through so won't be too noticeable. Oh well, have to wait for the
budget to get back up so we won't do the family room in the tile. Found out too
that we can get new carpeting installed cheaper than we can do-it-ourself with
oak flooring. I still like going to HD to just browse though. They employ a lot
of old geezers like me so it's an enjoyable trip just in finding out what they
know.
This is an experiment so if you read this send me a personal email message so I
will know for sure that my email is working again. If you would be so kind.
George