Summer is for Sandwiches!

I don't know about you, but around here the busy summer time means sandwiches appear on the menu more than at any other time of year. Sometimes my hubby has to jump on the tractor first thing in the morning, especially at haying time; no time for a sit-down breakfast, and later I run a sandwich out to him at noon. Here are some of our favorites combinations .....

Breakfast sandwiches
1.Peanut butter, honey and raisins on cinnamon-raisin bread (mine)

2. Ham, bacon, or sausage and egg scramble, topped with shredded cheese in a skillet-heated tortilla wrap (his)

3.Fried egg and sausage patty or bacon, cheese slice and mayo on w/w toast (his)

Lunch on the run

1. Tuna salad with chopped celery and onions on w/w bread or wrapped in a tortilla shell with lettuce

2. Tomato and onion slices (thick sliced) with mayo on w/w or oatmeal bread

3. Swiss cheese and dill pickle stackers, mustard and mayo on multi-grain bread

Now for the meat lovers .....

4. Cold left-over roast rabbit or chicken, lettuce, cheese (any kind), tomato, onion, mayo and mustard on whole wheat or oatmeal bread (any choices of the above)

5. Sloppy-joe (with home-grown beef burger and home-made sauce) and cheese on whole-wheat buns, add pickle if you like

6. Shredded home-canned venison in bbq sauce, cheese and pickle in buns

To any of these meat sandwiches, a layer of potato chips under the top "lid" of the sandwich gives an extra interesting crunch, for those that eat them. And thats about as far as my time and imagination will take me.

Do you have favorites that you would like to share?

Memorial Day week-end .......

Hubby had to work Saturday so I busied myself with things I needed to get done....



... made fresh strawberry freezer jam



... cleaned the chicken coop ... and they just didn't know what to think of that ....



Then Monday afternoon hubby surprised me by building us a new raised bed for the rhubarb! just in back of the future greenhouse ....

Mini Vacation....

My internet was down the other day, and because we live soooo far out in the country, the maintenance guy would not be coming till the next day. I took a little jaunt to "trade days" looking for a couple more blueberry bushes. None were available, but what I did find was....

This beautiful wisteria vine for planting next to the future trellis near the herb garden, and it was at a bargain price! I also found some grape tomato plants, several varieties of sweet peppers, and a hen and chicks plant. On the way home I passed a place where the lady grows beautiful hollyhocks and many varieties of irises, all along a stretch of sloping bank along her property. I had been going to stop sometime (for the last 3 years) so today I did. We had a nice talk about all kinds of perennials, and she willingly dug several varieties of irises for me.

She said we should go around back where she had several more. This is what I saw as we rounded the corner behind her garage.....

oh .... my....! a pvc frame for a greenhouse!!! Just about the size I wanted to build! Now, I am a sight learner, so to see this and how it was put together, and listen to her instruction was like eating a big piece of cake! only better.... Our Father knows the desires of our hearts, and delights in giving us good things. I felt double blessed!

Sun Tea

My back deck is where I make "sun tea".

I use a regular gallon jug, 3 family-size tea bags, or 2 bags and some mint leaves in a large tea ball. The sun draws the tea without excess heat, thereby reducing the amount of tannins in the tea, producing a clearer tea and better for you health-wise.

The tea gets darker that this, as this jug has just started. I make sun tea all winter long as well as in the summer. It really does not have to be a sunny day to "make" tea. I change flavors by adding mint, or lemon or lime concemtrate, or peach or raspberry tea bags. You can sweeten to your taste. Sometmes water just does not quench my thirst, so this is a great way to keep up with needed fluid intake in the hot summer. It is more inviting to me than the old time vinegar-tea used by farmers in the field in the old days. I will have a glass and sit to relax after cleaning my hen-house :)

Rain, rain, go away......

I find it hard to believe that here it is the middle of May and the only thing growing in my garden is last fall's garlic sets and weeds! It just has been inpossible with all the rain to be able to plant, and my neighbor tells me her plants have about drowned anyway. The way it is going, the scare-crow may be in the garden before the plants are :/

Meanwhile here are a couple pictures of our garden last year, just to keep me encouraged ......

I had ordered sweet potato plants this year because I like the compact bush variety, which I hope to save some over winter and grow my own slips next spring ..... but I am getting way ahead of myself. The plants came on Monday and the ground was barely dry enough last night to get them in the ground. We had heavy thunderstorm rains this morning so I hope they will survive. So now there are 3 things in my garden

Plans are to plant when possible, and I am hoping for another shot at cool weather crops in the fall. The areas that don't get planted will be broadcast with buckwheat seed to grow and be tilled in to feed the soil.

We humans like to think we are in control of our lives, and until a little thing like rain lets us know better. We may as well choose to be happy :) and just do the best we can. I am going to!

I choose to be happy with whatever I can get in my garden and not worry about the rest.

Future site of .......

...... the Green Potter's Shed. Once I get the left over kennel wire stashed away for the turkey yard (shhhh!) ... ahem ..... the plans are to make, from scratch, a small green-house attached to the hen-house on the 12' x 6' cement slab, same size as my hen house. It would make a wonderful green-house, don't you think??

I intend to use it to to 'winter-garden' lettuce and other salad things. (I get sick easily on the store stuff with all the chemicals ) and to start herbs in the late winter that I can sell in the spring time. It will be a hoop type structure using flexible pvc and heavy plastic. I plan on at least one roof vent, and a door at the 6' end. I figure it will have about 72' of usable shelf space with a 3' isle, and room underneath the bottom shelf for potting soil and such.

Now I want to ask, if any of you have ever made your own green-house, and can you give me some pointers? I would appreciate all the helpful suggestions you would care to send my way.