wiggle wiggle

roley poley puppy


wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle wiggle, yeah


the dogs just love rolling around in the grass

garden picture update

my biggest watermelon


second biggest melon. watermelon are very challenging to grow in minnesotas short growing season.


picture of the trapped watermelon thats growing between two fence pieces


cantelopes


zucchini. the only ones that grew, and they all died this year. i got nothing.


cherry tomatoes


amish paste tomatoes


broccoli


i had to do some repair. the pole beans managed to weigh down the trellis so much it fell.


with some extra bamboo posts, i managed to reinforce the corner


another edge got pulled backwards


more bamboo posts set up as counterpull

sweetpea out and about in the yard

sweetpea crawling the the grass


she kinda plows her way thru like a tank


puppy and molly checking her out and sniffing her


sweetpea isnt afraid of them




she just keeps on trucking wherever she wants to go


she's headed right underneath molly






molly giving sweetpeas rump a sniff


sweetpea doesnt care, she just keeps on walking


the bunnies chewed another hole in my garden fence


and i temporarily lost sweetpea. found her inside the garden. the bunny hole is perfectly sized to let sweetpea in.

japanese beetle lure trap

no poison involved. no danger to pets or pollinating insects. i highly recommend this if you have problems with the japanese beetles.



there is a lure up at the top. the bugs come near and end up falling into the trap. then they cant get out.


there is a zipper at the bottom of the bag to empty out the bugs.


the bugs are still alive in the trap. you have to empty the trap into a bucket of water and let the bugs drown. caught this many bugs the first week alone.


caught this many just the second week!


things slowed down after that. this was a months worth.


caught this strange bug in the trap too.

basil harvesting

basil plant #1


basil plant #2 (with stevia plant growing in front of it)


i pinched off the buds that were trying to form blossoms and threw them on the ground next to me. only to discover that puppy thought those buds of concentrated smell were FABULOUS and he had to roll all over them. molly seemed confused by puppys behavior. she just sat there and watched him roll and roll and roll.


i cut the basil plants way back harvesting leaves




SO MANY LEAVES!


big bowl full of only the biggest leaves, soaking in water to rinse them clean. there were so many that i only took the biggest ones and left the little tiny ones.


after picking off all the large leaves and leaving the tiny ones, i thought perhaps the tortoise would be interested in eating basil. sweetpea was not interested at all. she plowed thru the pile and left it behind. the dogs were interested, but only to smell it. they didnt even try to taste it.


filled up the salad spinner and spun the water off the leaves


basil in the food processor, with a small amount of oil to help them get chopped up better.


so many leaves that i had to do two separate batches. they wouldnt all fit.


squishing into an ice cube tray. the internet suggested freezing the basil this way. and from freezing heavy cream this way, i know that each ice cube is 1 tablespoon. i pushed and packed the basil as tight as i could into the tray.


it was a messy process. but the amount of leaves i pureed managed to fit the ice cube tray exactly. the leaf bits were rather dry and loose, despite the small amount of oil i added while chopping up. i was afraid they'd freeze, but not freeze solid/together, so i added more oil. i'm glad i did.


frozen chopped basil


close up, you can see the top bits arent well adhered to each other.




dumped out of the tray and into a bag. you can see how the lower part, with the oil added, is frozen together quite well.


i STILL have not made pesto. i keep forgetting to pick up pine nuts at the grocery store. for now my basil cubes remain in the freezer.