Sights from around Crooked Acres.
Katherine asked if I’d take a picture of my watermelon with something next to it for size reference. I couldn’t think of what to use, so I went into the kitchen and looked around.
That last one is the biggest watermelon we have at the moment. We, of course, do not know what kind of watermelon we’re growing, because we’re terrible gardeners and like to do everything in a flailing and disorganized manner. (That’s a Thomas Everything Bagel for size reference.)
Oven-fried green tomatoes (using this recipe). We’ve been eating a lot of these lately.
I’ve never seen the Wisteria (the vines crawling across the ground) as aggressive as it is this year.
Wee eggplant.
Definitely a Bhut Jolokia “Ghost” pepper.
Sungold cherry tomatoes. I’m not having a lot of luck with the full-sized tomatoes this year (to be honest, I’ve never had a decent year with the full-sized tomatoes!), they’re all cracking due to uneven watering (blame Mother Nature for that!). Next year, I am growing ONE row of tomatoes and most of them are going to be Sungolds, because they’re our favorite!
The pepper plants are happy.
Corn’s getting tall – hopefully we get lots of corn this year (last year we didn’t).
In my experimental raised-bed garden:
Carrots in the center, a potted Meyer Lemon tree in that pot, and in the back left catnip!
Watermelon plants in the raised bed/ straw bale experiment. They seem happy, but I think next year I’m going to save my raised beds for herbs, and grow things like watermelons in the big garden.
In the back yard, Fred dragged these pieces of the fallen tree in the back forty into the back yard (using the tractor). There are no cats in this picture, but they hang out there a lot. See the metal around the tree to the far left? Fred put that up so that the cats wouldn’t climb up into that tree and scare me to death.
Blueberry bushes, getting bigger! And in the background, compost bins.
Dehydrated zucchini and yellow squash.
Butterfly in the chicken yard.
George, you are such a slacker.
One thing that brings them out from under the coop: snack time!
::chompchompchomp::
George lets his Alabama roots shine through.
“You haz a snack for me?”
Keeping an eye on stuff.
Remember the bagel I used up there for size comparison with the watermelons? The chickens found it tasty. They love their carbs.
They also love tomatoes.
Chicken George and her baby.
“What are you DOING over there, kid?”
Young Brahma hen.
I think that black chicken in the front is absolutely gorgeous.
The rooster keeping an eye on his wimmin.
Mama and babies.
The chickens have their own waterers, but of course they prefer the dogs’ water dishes.
Is it just me, or does this look like a Charlie’s Angels pose?
“GIVE. US. COOOOOOOKIE!”
I always worry that they’ll figure out how to climb that gate.
The good news is that Declan was adopted Tuesday evening! That leaves Maggie and Fergus Simon, and of course Ciara is still here with us. She’s going to just stay here with us until it’s time for the Spice Girls to go to Petsmart, and then she’ll go with them.
Ciara shows her attitude.
Ciara smiles.
Vampire kitty is thirsty.
Smilin’ Cori.
All three Spice Girls, giving me attitude.
Maxi likes to hang out by the tomato heap.
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Previously
2010: I circumvented Fred’s demand to name the little guy “Tony Rocky Horror” (The guy in Pulp Fiction who got thrown out of a window for giving Marsellus Wallace’s wife a foot massage.) and named him Martin.
2009: No entry
2008: “Be vewwy quiet, girlies. It will come closer and I will GET IT! Watch Mama at work!”
2007: No entry.
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
lol, that rooster’s all, “where mah beeatches at?”
Who doesn’t love their carbs?
You have an awesome farm.
Yay for Declan!! Yay!! Awww please please someone lovely adopt gorgeous Maggie and Fergus Simon asap!! Fingers crossed!!!!
Your chickens, chicken babies and cockerels are gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous! Your garden is amazing too!! Yay for fried green tomatoes!
Hello beautiful Spice Girls, Ciara and Maxi and George and Gracie!
Take care
x
The second Bagel picture is AMAZING!! How on earth did you manage to make a Bagel AS BIG AS A WATERMELON???????
LOL!!
It takes a LOT of flour, believe you me. 🙂
The ‘Charlie’s Angels’ caption on the piglet photo made me laugh so hard milk came out of my nose! I’ve got to stop reading your blog while I finish up breakfast!
The difference between your watermelons and the ones I once tried to grow up here in frozen New England is that my watermelons were that size at the end of the growing season!
Thanks once again for your blog, your wonderful photos and consistently amusing captions. It makes my day nearly every day!! Wanna start blogging on weekends hint hint hint hint?
I’ll put my vote in for that, too! 😉
I love wisteria, and bought a plant a few years ago. I was told I wouldn’t get flowers for a few years, and so I waited for the plant to establish itself. Last year I learned that in order for it to bloom you have to prune the living daylights out of it while it is dormant. I did that this year, (I was mildly aggressive) and I got one bloom. I plan to chop the living daylights out of it this winter.
Interesting tidbit. You will need to let us know next year how that works out!
I did not know that – I wonder if the fact that I chopped it back really aggressively last year is why it’s gotten so aggressive this year! I think Wisteria is gorgeous, but I’d rather it not take over the back yard. It’s nearly as bad as Kudzu!
Fried green tomatoes…is the green because that is the color of them or are they just not ripe tomatoes???
Ok, I found this info:
Traditionally, fried green tomatoes are prepared by cutting the tomatoes into thick rounds, dipping the rounds in buttermilk, and then dredging them in cornmeal. However, it can be difficult to keep the cornmeal crust from falling off during the cooking process when this technique is used. As a result, some cooks like to set up a more complicated assembly line which includes an egg wash.
To use an egg wash, the tomatoes are dipped in buttermilk, dredged in flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and then run through a dish of beaten eggs before being rolled in cornmeal. For a finer texture, a mixture of cornmeal and corn flour or cornmeal and regular flour may be used. At this point, the tomatoes are ready to be fried.
A heavy skillet is ideal for frying, with a thin layer of oil or lard, the traditional cooking medium for fried green tomatoes. Fried green tomatoes are cooked on both sides for several minutes, turning the crust a rich golden brown and softening the tomato. They are often served plain as-is, although some people add hot sauce, lemon, or salt and pepper, depending on their taste.
Green tomatoes work for this dish because they are still firm. Ripe tomatoes will fall apart in the cooking process, turning the frying pan into a sloppy, gluey mess of tomatoes and cornstarch. The use of egg also helps to keep the components together, ensuring that the result is a neatly cooked tomato round.
Yeah, it’s ’cause they’re unripe that it works so well. I really like the REAL fried green tomatoes, fried in oil, but the oven-fried ones are nearly as good and much less messy to make. And, well, healthier!
Garden, dogs, chickens, cats and an adoption. THE PURRFECT POST!!!
I love pic #6 with one of your dogs in it. That coal black nose gets me every time. So adorable!
Good news on the adoption front! I just can’t see anybody not snatching up and loving the long-suffering mama Maggie. She seems the type who can lactate at will if there’s a hungry kitten around.
If you’re tired of fried green tomatoes, maybe you can use them like tomatillos. I love a green pork/chicken chili with some white beans and extra roasted tomatillos. Just add salsa verde to cubed meat, veggies and white beans and heat more or less. Some sweet or hot peppers if you like and a dollop of sour cream.
Or of course skip the meat.
Ha – I bet Maggie WOULD lactate at will! She is just the most motherly mama cat I’ve ever seen. Lisa (a Challenger’s House adoption counselor and sometimes foster mom) put one of her little ones in with Maggie, and Maggie immediately started grooming her. Such a sweet, wonderful girl!
Thanks for the tip – I do have a green tomato chili recipe, but it doesn’t have beans in it, and I do like some beans! 🙂
I have to say, everything on here is super cute….but that baby watermelon and the little white chick are tooooo cute.
What is the watermelon sitting on?
Do roosters get aggressive to the chicks if one is another male?
As soon as the piggies work out that if they stand on each others’ backs…
And isn’t Maggie desexed? Can she still lactate? Huh!
PS: doesn’t unripe tomato taste “bluchh?” Must try some this summer.