I don't garden, can't even keep a houseplant alive. But I'm so impressed with the gardeners at our church, UALC. The healthy, fresh produce is donated, plus the workers who come from many cultures get to enjoy too.
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Thursday, August 17, 2023
Saturday, March 23, 2019
Pre-mow
Driving home from church this morning I heard a good tip from Ron Wilson on 610 a.m. https://ronwilson.iheart.com/ I certainly can't use it. He said today is a good day to do a "pre-mow." Set the mower down a notch and mow your yard. It will vacuum up all the crud and cut off the brown areas, making your yard look great. You won't need to mow regularly for a few more weeks, but this gives you a head start on the neighbors.
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
My summer of 1958, part 3
What does an 18 year old do all day while living on a farm with her grandparents who aren’t thrilled to have her “help?” See Part 1 and Part 2 for the story about why I was there and what the farm was like.
The diary I kept that summer reveals a lot of cooking and cleaning, certainly more than I do now. Also some gardening—surprise—didn’t remember that at all! Although I thought they were rather set in their ways and not too friendly then, 60 years later rereading the diary, I’m amazed and admiring at their flexibility and good humor at my housekeeping abilities.
June 1: “The food situation was bad. Bacon and cold baloney are the only meats in the house. For some reason there are about 2 doz. lemons. I fixed an orange and banana fruit dish and mixed some peas and potatoes for something hot—and also a meat sandwich.” Note: when I was a child I thought eating baloney sandwiches at grandma's house was a wonderful treat since my mother never made them.
June 2: “We had scrambled eggs for breakfast, chicken a la king, biscuits, pineapple-cottage cheese salad and tapioca for dinner (noon) and “left-over loaf” and a mixture of green vegetables and fruit salad and tapioca-applesauce.”
June 3: “I mixed up some apricot-buttermilk bread and put that in the oven at 7:30 a.m. I fixed grandpa and me soft boiled eggs and we all had mixed fruit. They seem to enjoy fresh fruit in most any type of combination. . . For dinner I fixed hot dogs with bacon, corn and fruit with the fresh bread. . . I bought $10.84 worth of groceries—12 boxes of Jello and 2 puddings to make sure we wouldn’t run out for awhile. For supper I fixed liver, boiled potatoes, orange-carrot-banana Jello salad and bread.” (My parents showed up around 8 p.m., I made coffee and Dad and I talked in the kitchen) “ and he sure liked that bread I made.”
June 4: I fixed pancakes for breakfast; they might have tasted better if the skillet were not so rusty. I fixed minute steaks, beans, orange Jello salad and bread pudding for dinner (noon). . . for supper we had soup.
June 5: “The oatmeal I made for breakfast tasted like paste. . . macaroni and cheese for dinner—not much better than the oatmeal. . . soup for supper.
June 7: “I dusted some before breakfast—we had cereal, eggs and juice. . .[ate lunch in Dixon] For supper I fixed liver, mashed potatoes, tossed salad, relish plate, and strawberry shortcake. I used the good dishes and really had fun, but what a clean-up job.. After dishes were over I tried to make a strawberry cream pie, but it didn’t work!”
June 9: A reversal of meals--onion soup and baloney sandwiches for dinner and meat loaf, cabbage slaw and melon for supper.
June 10: Oatmeal for breakfast; hamburgers, corn creole and pear salad for dinner; fruit plate for supper with custard.
June 11: Ham, asparagus, cabbage salad and custard. Soup, sandwiches and Jello for supper.
June 12: Grandpa's birthday. I baked a date cake for him, "a major project." Lima bean casserole. Took some cake to the neighbors in the evening.
June 13: Made out a menu and schedule for next week. Chicken pot pie for dinner; meat plate, potatoes & peas and tomatoes and banana bread for supper.
June 16: Hamburgers, mashed potatoes & gravy, tossed salad and blackberry pie for dinner.
June 20: Baked a coffee cake which didn't turn out, so I put it in Jello. Creamed ham and rice for dinner; hotdogs, corn and Jello for supper. Decided to quit, but had a long talk with Grandma and we worked things out.
June 24: Baked a raisin pie; baked chicken for supper and salmon for dinner (noon) trying to use up food due to refrigerator repair.
June 26: I baked all morning (complained to diary they weren't appreciative). Home made rolls, strawberry parfait, deviled eggs, asparagus and tuna cakes. Baked pinwheel cookies, ate 10, and sent the rest to my boyfriend in Minnesota. Supper was creamed dried beef and peas on hot rolls.
June 27: Baked rolls for breakfast and made cocoa. Macaroni and cheese for dinner, corn bread and creamed chicken for supper.
June 30: Cleaned out the kitchen cupboards; washed plastic bags. Pork chops, baked potatoes, corn and apricot tarts for dinner
July 2: Hamburgers, tossed salad, fruit for dinner and potato salad, tomato slices, beets and rhubarb parfait for supper.
July 3: Cess pool backed up into the basement. Liver, asparagus, corn and fruit for dinner.
July 4: Baked a cherry pie, meat loaf, baked beans, fresh rolls. Salad and soup for supper.
July 11: Fried chicken, lima beans, dressing, cranberry sauce, and crumb cake. Made Henny Penny muffins (uses left over chicken in batter) for supper, then baked a peach-butterscotch pie for the neighbors' anniversary.
I didn’t note in my diary if these menus were my choice or theirs, but reading them over in the following weeks I see a lot of hot dogs, liver and asparagus—which it seems I would go out and cut stalks along the lane. And they were a generation that loved Jello—one of the first convenience foods of the 20th century. Rereading the meals, it seems like a lot of food and they were probably not used to that.
The cleaning I mention makes me wonder how they felt about that—true, they couldn’t do a lot, and dust would blow in from the fields, but if someone came in my house and immediately started dusting everything would I be pleased or insulted?
June 3: “I took down the curtains in my room, washed them and the windows, dusted the halls and stairsteps and ran the sweeper. Every time I pumped a pail of water I felt guilty—but it does my muscles good even if the water supply is low.” There wasn’t a washing machine so I assume I hand washed the curtains. I always wrote about washing dishes right after a meal and what time I finished, because I think Mother warned me not to leave any dirty dishes around (not sure it was bugs, mice, or Grandma’s preference).
June 4: “I cleaned out the bread cupboard before breakfast and then had my coffee while I listened to the radio. **This “revolution” in France seems a long way off from the tranquility of the farm.” . . . in the shed “I found the clippers and decided to try my hand at sharpening them on the old wheel. I’m not much of a bush clipper, but I attacked the job with unusual pep and concern. Well, at least we can see the bird bath now from the dining room. . . After dishes I ran the dust mop around and swept a few rugs with the broom.” It seems Grandma wouldn’t let me run the vacuum cleaner which was the whole house kind with tubes built into the walls. I mentioned it several times in the diary, with no explanation why.
June 5: “I spent most of the morning sewing up the hem in Grandma’s navy blue slip and mending a pillow. . . In the afternoon we all went to Ashton to look at some cattle Dale wanted to buy, and they finally decided on 89 head. . . After cleaning up the supper dishes I cut a fresh bouquet.”
June 6: I put on an old shirt “and a pair of peddle pushers and went out to the garden for lovely 2 hours of sweat and dirt. I took my good old time about spading the garden—mixed it with a little tool shed browsing and knife sharpening. . . When I finished my “garden” looked like a fresh grave, but I was happy.”
June 9: “After supper I planted tomatoes and wrote letters."
June 10: "started in on the filthy stove. The mouse dirt was really thick and there were old nests behind the stove. I put clean paper in the drawers and put the pans and stuff in them."
June 11: Scrubbed the bathroom floors. Dusted 4 rooms, mopped the kitchen floor and washed the two porch doors. Scraped the paint off the dog door stop.
June 17: Cleaned the silverware and dusted my room and the two west bedrooms. I wrote that I was an intrusion on their privacy and they never said thank you.
June 19: Walked to town after supper, but the lane was like quicksand so it took longer. On the way back I spoke Spanish and sang hymns. (This sounds sort of pious, but I think it was boredom.) I had also walked in on the 18th after supper to the Ives Drug store, and because it was getting dark by 9 I cut through a freshly cultivated bean field and snagged my dress on barbed wire, was wearing sandals, so was a mess when I got back, but "saved 10 minutes."
June 20: Cleaned dining and living rooms, swept the pantry, clipped the grass on the west fence--was still pumping water.
June 27: Cleaned the dining room and 2 living rooms and mopped the porch; caught a ride with a neighbor to Ashton to shop for groceries.
**I have no recollection of a revolution in France in the summer of 1958, so I had to look that one up. And sure enough, there was one due to the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) which led to collapse of the Fourth Republic and its replacement by the Fifth Republic led by Charles de Gaulle who returned to power after a twelve-year absence (Wikipedia). So there I was sipping coffee and clipping bushes in Illinois and not paying attention while deGaulle was forming a new cabinet in France. Without TV and the Internet we just had no idea. . .
The diary I kept that summer reveals a lot of cooking and cleaning, certainly more than I do now. Also some gardening—surprise—didn’t remember that at all! Although I thought they were rather set in their ways and not too friendly then, 60 years later rereading the diary, I’m amazed and admiring at their flexibility and good humor at my housekeeping abilities.
June 1: “The food situation was bad. Bacon and cold baloney are the only meats in the house. For some reason there are about 2 doz. lemons. I fixed an orange and banana fruit dish and mixed some peas and potatoes for something hot—and also a meat sandwich.” Note: when I was a child I thought eating baloney sandwiches at grandma's house was a wonderful treat since my mother never made them.
June 2: “We had scrambled eggs for breakfast, chicken a la king, biscuits, pineapple-cottage cheese salad and tapioca for dinner (noon) and “left-over loaf” and a mixture of green vegetables and fruit salad and tapioca-applesauce.”
June 3: “I mixed up some apricot-buttermilk bread and put that in the oven at 7:30 a.m. I fixed grandpa and me soft boiled eggs and we all had mixed fruit. They seem to enjoy fresh fruit in most any type of combination. . . For dinner I fixed hot dogs with bacon, corn and fruit with the fresh bread. . . I bought $10.84 worth of groceries—12 boxes of Jello and 2 puddings to make sure we wouldn’t run out for awhile. For supper I fixed liver, boiled potatoes, orange-carrot-banana Jello salad and bread.” (My parents showed up around 8 p.m., I made coffee and Dad and I talked in the kitchen) “ and he sure liked that bread I made.”
June 4: I fixed pancakes for breakfast; they might have tasted better if the skillet were not so rusty. I fixed minute steaks, beans, orange Jello salad and bread pudding for dinner (noon). . . for supper we had soup.
June 5: “The oatmeal I made for breakfast tasted like paste. . . macaroni and cheese for dinner—not much better than the oatmeal. . . soup for supper.
June 7: “I dusted some before breakfast—we had cereal, eggs and juice. . .[ate lunch in Dixon] For supper I fixed liver, mashed potatoes, tossed salad, relish plate, and strawberry shortcake. I used the good dishes and really had fun, but what a clean-up job.. After dishes were over I tried to make a strawberry cream pie, but it didn’t work!”
June 9: A reversal of meals--onion soup and baloney sandwiches for dinner and meat loaf, cabbage slaw and melon for supper.
June 10: Oatmeal for breakfast; hamburgers, corn creole and pear salad for dinner; fruit plate for supper with custard.
June 11: Ham, asparagus, cabbage salad and custard. Soup, sandwiches and Jello for supper.
June 12: Grandpa's birthday. I baked a date cake for him, "a major project." Lima bean casserole. Took some cake to the neighbors in the evening.
June 13: Made out a menu and schedule for next week. Chicken pot pie for dinner; meat plate, potatoes & peas and tomatoes and banana bread for supper.
June 16: Hamburgers, mashed potatoes & gravy, tossed salad and blackberry pie for dinner.
June 20: Baked a coffee cake which didn't turn out, so I put it in Jello. Creamed ham and rice for dinner; hotdogs, corn and Jello for supper. Decided to quit, but had a long talk with Grandma and we worked things out.
June 24: Baked a raisin pie; baked chicken for supper and salmon for dinner (noon) trying to use up food due to refrigerator repair.
June 26: I baked all morning (complained to diary they weren't appreciative). Home made rolls, strawberry parfait, deviled eggs, asparagus and tuna cakes. Baked pinwheel cookies, ate 10, and sent the rest to my boyfriend in Minnesota. Supper was creamed dried beef and peas on hot rolls.
June 27: Baked rolls for breakfast and made cocoa. Macaroni and cheese for dinner, corn bread and creamed chicken for supper.
June 30: Cleaned out the kitchen cupboards; washed plastic bags. Pork chops, baked potatoes, corn and apricot tarts for dinner
July 2: Hamburgers, tossed salad, fruit for dinner and potato salad, tomato slices, beets and rhubarb parfait for supper.
July 3: Cess pool backed up into the basement. Liver, asparagus, corn and fruit for dinner.
July 4: Baked a cherry pie, meat loaf, baked beans, fresh rolls. Salad and soup for supper.
July 11: Fried chicken, lima beans, dressing, cranberry sauce, and crumb cake. Made Henny Penny muffins (uses left over chicken in batter) for supper, then baked a peach-butterscotch pie for the neighbors' anniversary.
I didn’t note in my diary if these menus were my choice or theirs, but reading them over in the following weeks I see a lot of hot dogs, liver and asparagus—which it seems I would go out and cut stalks along the lane. And they were a generation that loved Jello—one of the first convenience foods of the 20th century. Rereading the meals, it seems like a lot of food and they were probably not used to that.
The cleaning I mention makes me wonder how they felt about that—true, they couldn’t do a lot, and dust would blow in from the fields, but if someone came in my house and immediately started dusting everything would I be pleased or insulted?
June 3: “I took down the curtains in my room, washed them and the windows, dusted the halls and stairsteps and ran the sweeper. Every time I pumped a pail of water I felt guilty—but it does my muscles good even if the water supply is low.” There wasn’t a washing machine so I assume I hand washed the curtains. I always wrote about washing dishes right after a meal and what time I finished, because I think Mother warned me not to leave any dirty dishes around (not sure it was bugs, mice, or Grandma’s preference).
June 4: “I cleaned out the bread cupboard before breakfast and then had my coffee while I listened to the radio. **This “revolution” in France seems a long way off from the tranquility of the farm.” . . . in the shed “I found the clippers and decided to try my hand at sharpening them on the old wheel. I’m not much of a bush clipper, but I attacked the job with unusual pep and concern. Well, at least we can see the bird bath now from the dining room. . . After dishes I ran the dust mop around and swept a few rugs with the broom.” It seems Grandma wouldn’t let me run the vacuum cleaner which was the whole house kind with tubes built into the walls. I mentioned it several times in the diary, with no explanation why.
June 5: “I spent most of the morning sewing up the hem in Grandma’s navy blue slip and mending a pillow. . . In the afternoon we all went to Ashton to look at some cattle Dale wanted to buy, and they finally decided on 89 head. . . After cleaning up the supper dishes I cut a fresh bouquet.”
June 6: I put on an old shirt “and a pair of peddle pushers and went out to the garden for lovely 2 hours of sweat and dirt. I took my good old time about spading the garden—mixed it with a little tool shed browsing and knife sharpening. . . When I finished my “garden” looked like a fresh grave, but I was happy.”
June 9: “After supper I planted tomatoes and wrote letters."
June 10: "started in on the filthy stove. The mouse dirt was really thick and there were old nests behind the stove. I put clean paper in the drawers and put the pans and stuff in them."
June 11: Scrubbed the bathroom floors. Dusted 4 rooms, mopped the kitchen floor and washed the two porch doors. Scraped the paint off the dog door stop.
June 17: Cleaned the silverware and dusted my room and the two west bedrooms. I wrote that I was an intrusion on their privacy and they never said thank you.
June 19: Walked to town after supper, but the lane was like quicksand so it took longer. On the way back I spoke Spanish and sang hymns. (This sounds sort of pious, but I think it was boredom.) I had also walked in on the 18th after supper to the Ives Drug store, and because it was getting dark by 9 I cut through a freshly cultivated bean field and snagged my dress on barbed wire, was wearing sandals, so was a mess when I got back, but "saved 10 minutes."
June 20: Cleaned dining and living rooms, swept the pantry, clipped the grass on the west fence--was still pumping water.
June 27: Cleaned the dining room and 2 living rooms and mopped the porch; caught a ride with a neighbor to Ashton to shop for groceries.
**I have no recollection of a revolution in France in the summer of 1958, so I had to look that one up. And sure enough, there was one due to the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62) which led to collapse of the Fourth Republic and its replacement by the Fifth Republic led by Charles de Gaulle who returned to power after a twelve-year absence (Wikipedia). So there I was sipping coffee and clipping bushes in Illinois and not paying attention while deGaulle was forming a new cabinet in France. Without TV and the Internet we just had no idea. . .
Tuesday, April 11, 2017
Found with a birthday card, a letter from Mom
I used to joke with my mom about her crop and weather reports in her letters. I'm sorry about that now--they are really very sweet when rereading 30 years later. I don't have a date on this one (inserted in a birthday card), but she was looking for an out of print book with a copyright date of 1980, and she mentions her plans to go to Hawaii (with my sister Carol) which I think was in the early 90s. Reading the story of the mice reminds me of the stories she would make up while braiding my hair as a child.
"The tag end of the garden and fruit demand attention. The compost heap is full of seeds, cores and peelings. The apple crop is so huge, but of course lots of it is rather poor because we can't quite keep ahead of the small creatures. The one apple tree is especially bad but when an apple is good it is very tasty. It is a Jon-a-Del, I think.
There is a hole in the trunk where a little family of field mice are staying. Little Kerby Jasper loves to have Amy show her where Jon and Del live. One can peer into the hole and see their beady little eyes shine. They seem to know they are safe. The cats and dogs stand around and bark, but all is quiet inside where harm can't reach them. We have now an on going story about Jon and Del's family.
The grapes are more than we can use but so far 2 bushel have been turned into juice. The mosquitoes are so bad that it is torture to try and pick them while being bombed. . . .
Our trip [to Hawaii?] is drawing near and finding the lists are getting longer. Probably do a day of shopping for small items Friday. . . We will surely get out to see you and Bob this fall. We will talk about the time when I get back from Hawaii.
Monday, June 06, 2016
When cleaning up in the yard . . .
look out for these plants. I recognize the one on the far left--that's poison ivy--and I've seen it around our cottage, and sprayed it. The other two I'm not so sure. I think I've seen the poison oak too, and probably thought they were "volunteers" from an oak tree.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
There's still time to volunteer for the final harvest
The Community Garden at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church on the south side of the Mill Run campus has harvested almost 7,000 pounds of produce, and has some more harvesting to do. The food goes to Lutheran Social Services, Hilliard Summer Free Lunch program, Hilltop Lutheran and the Mid-Ohio Food bank. Tomatoes, greens, zucchini, squah, turnips onions, peas, beans, kohlrabi, cucumbers, peppers and garlic. UALC is in the NW suburban area of Columbus, Ohio.
UALC will be contributing $150,000 for a new church (North American Lutheran Church synod) plant on the east side of Columbus.
UALC will be contributing $150,000 for a new church (North American Lutheran Church synod) plant on the east side of Columbus.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
My new garden journal
In herb class today at Lakeside we made garden journals from plain brown 3 ring notebooks. We covered them with scrapbooking paper, magazine clip art, poetry, quotes, or our own art work. The instructor gave us 3 hole punch sheets with calendars, notes, layout sheet, wish list, etc. and 3 hole dividers to which we could add envelopes for saving notes.
I pasted this quote on the cover: "I appreciate the misunderstanding I have had with Nature over my perennial border. I think it is a flower garden; she thinks it is a meadow lacking grass, and tries to correct the error." Sara Stein, 1988.
Friday, October 29, 2010
The Cat Club Register of 100 years ago
The National Library of Agriculture has a digital archive of fascinating publications--The Cat Club Register, is one of them. I've chosen my cats' creative, interesting names from horse registries, because they seem to have all the great names. But 100 years ago, there were some good ones for cats:
- The Prince of Orange
Oliver Woolleepug
and Tortietumtee, a tortoiseshell female whose sire was unknown, but her mommy, who was out catting around, was named Toddiegoloddie
This one, Small gardens for small folks, 1912, is really precious. The author, Edith Loring Fullerton, uses photos of her own children, and it was published by W. Atlee Burpee for distribution by the USDA.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Monday Memories--Mother's garden
I've got beets and beet tops in separate pots on the stove; fresh zucchini, asparagus and green beans in the frig; a half finished blueberry pie on the counter; an ear of corn and a paper sack of peaches on the table. Except for the peaches, they all remind me of Mother's garden in Franklin Grove (the fruit trees were there, but except for the cherry tree, rarely produced). Raspberry bushes were along the west side of her garden, and blueberry bushes next to the corn field fence. Asparagus grew wild along the lane to the house and the country roads around Franklin and Ashton. Occasionally, we could encourage Mom to stop a few minutes to chat or have a cold drink of water, but could see her fingers twitching in her gloves, anxious to get back to the rich soil and pesky weeds.
Monday, January 14, 2008
My brown thumb
This could make me wish it weren't so. Almost. I could almost walk to this one. Almost. It's cheap, too. Here's another one in Columbus that looks good, although the website never mentions the city (I just happen to know the Historical Society is in Columbus).All these tips from Jim McCormac
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