corn porn

 

Yeah, baby!

=)

bb

eek! 9.2 lbs of tomatoes? On November 4th?

 
Decided that since I am a) totally sore everywhere and b) hoping to stem a produce panic (no pun intended) and c) SO not at my word count for the day, I will NOT go to the gym today (after 3 days in a row).

Laundry, dishes, maybe some pasta sauce, but def. lots of WRITING!!

Anyhow, harvested these pups today:

Aren't they adorable?

And weighed them. On the people scale, as it maxed out the cooking scale. 9.2 lbs.

And that's not counting the dozen on our counter, the dozens MORE in the garden, the 4 pumpkins I bought, and the 7 winter squash we grew.

Take a long, slow, deep breath...

... and there's the dried blue corn I have to figure out how to mill...

=) Everyone should have this problem. Too much fresh food.

So, here's a shot from the outside of the garden looking in.

You can see a) tomatoes looking like prisoners in a line up, and b) some of the tomato plants still green and happy, c) my chrysanthemums blooming (the purple and pink 'neath the middle of the railing).

The flowers tipped over 'cause I got them, the straggly creatures, at the $1 sale at the nursery. And I probably SHOULD cut the flowers and bring them inside, but the bees are so happy they're there, and the cats would probably just eat them, so they just lay out there, looking beautiful and forlorn.

So: the tomato sauce recipe in Joy of Cooking calls for 2.5 lbs of tomatoes. Guess I'm trippling that puppy. AFTER I figure out how in the world I'll fit everything into the already stuffed fridge.

Maybe tomorrow is tomato sauce day. I'm tired just thinking about it.

And I've still got to get the words out.

Happily, today I thought of something that will be a fun device. I think someone in the story will be a blogger. Then I can have blog posts within the book! OMG, HOW FUN!

Anyhow.

=) yes, bowl of cereal, brush teeth, then back at the keyboard.

xobb

weird harvest day... and sexy chocolate shot

 

Finally harvested the watermelons--the vines were all dead, so figured it's time. Yanked out the vines.

fling!

Watermelon for the season: Done.

 The last of the summer squash.

Growth rates super slow, and I want the plots for something else, so out they came, and into the chicken runs.

fling!

Squash for the season: Done.

More nightshades! Lotsa jalapenos.

Had to take a shot of the weigh in of our largest tomato this year

Large is not a priority for me re: tomatoes.

Taste and vigor are.

Nevertheless, I have been beguiled by this plump cutie.

Harvested corn, yesterday, until sunset.

Not flinging the stalks, yet, as they are still supporting winter squash.

Vast majority of the corn for the season: Done.  

Can you see why a color freak like me would grow this corn? YUM!

Not sure how to dry it, but hoping some day it'll be blue corn flower.

Then blue cornbread, maybe? COOL!

Cosmos seeds (and petals). Collected these, then...

fling!

Cosmos for the season: Done.

Feeling kind of ruthless in the garden, of late;
when in doubt, yank it out. =)

fling!

So, while in garden yesterday, after 1.5 hrs, covered in dirt, sweat, and a mixture of live and dead aphids (corn = aphidy), the orange sun sinking below the horizon, I remember: I'm supposed to make something today for Bear's potluck.

Hm.

My default if I space on said task is brownies. Easy, popular, smell good, and I usually have the ingredients.

And that's where this came from:

I love how glassy and smooth this chocolate looks in the pale blue bowl.

Chocolate is so beautiful.

sigh

And last, but not least, these folks stopped by to say Hi to y'all...

Cuties. Looks like a double date.

Looks like I'm not the only one running around this fall, preparing for winter. =)

biobabbler

seediness, corn boo-boo, + more Sierran shots

 
1. Garden "to do."
 

the seeds, not the nap

(not sure I have room, for everything, but...)

While my Nikon was out...

2. Corn timing = oops.

So, I had heard one thing re: how to tell corn is done. Well, that wasn't happening (corn ears pointing down) and it's now October, so I took a peek. And it looked fully developed.

So, then I grabbed my favorite gardening book (why didn't I do this 2 months ago?!?) and it said the corn is ready when the silk is dry.

!

The silk has been dry for WEEKS. ARF!

So, I picked an ear. Cut the kernels off the ear, cut up a few tomatoes, and sauteed them with onion. But, as the corn kernels started to exfoliate the pan, my heart sank.

I tasted one kernel. ew. WAY past eating-fresh mature; hard and pasty. ICK. As a matter of fact, the chickens are eating that entire meal RIGHT NOW.

So, it looks like my (I believe Hopi) corn will become corn flower, which is fine, as that was part of the excitement of getting blue corn. Nevertheless: it's beautiful.

Now I just have to figure out: a) how long I have to keep the corn on NOW for it to get super done and dry, and b) how much rain at this point is too much?

I have no idea.

Looks like it's time to hit the books, again. =)

3. a few more pics from this weekend

View east from Tioga Pass Road in the Mt. Dana vicinity--on the way to the fee booth, headed OUT of the park (east and down toward Lee Vining).

 Ellery Lake

Outside Yosemite. One freaky year, Bear actually got to ice skate here. Normally the road is closed in winter, but for some reason, it opened (uh, probably the snow on the roads melted...), so he got to cruise around this landscape on frozen ice. Too cool. I LOVE all the different colors on these mountains. Rainbow rocks.

Very nice beaver dam in Lundy canyon.

As mentioned, BEAUTIFUL fall aspen colors--amazing. But, was raining, so my camera hid in the car.

 So, why do we bother to drive to the east side?

These are the cinder cones south of Mono Lake.

I adore these cinder cones. I've painted probably 6 things in my life, but these are among them. A pretty good description of the freaky area that is the Mono Lake region can be read here.

If you ever get the chance, and haven't been, PLEASE do yourself a favor and go. It's bizarre, stark, and to me, irresistibly magnetic.

bb