Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Watering the garden and plums....

      Hello! I hope everyone had a safe and happy Memorial weekend! The weather is still hot and humid here. And there's been no rain! Everything is getting so dry! I have the hose going in the garden as I write. The only good thing is, the grass won't need to be mowed. It's turning brown! There is some chance of rain today, but I don't think it will, by the looks of the sky.


      We had a house full Sunday and we cooked hamburger, brats, and beans on the Primo. Everything turned out so nice! We even made homemade ice cream! My brother was here from Mobile and hopefully he'll be moved to this area, soon! My great-nieces surprised us, too! We weren't expecting them until next weekend when Yasmine turns three. It's hard to believe how quickly children go from being infants, to little girls and boys! Speaking of infants, we visited baby Kassie's family yesterday, and although she's still so small, I saw changes in her from a week ago! It's going to be fun watching her grow up like her big sister. They all seemed to have adjusted well to the changes and Mom is doing real good! I forgot my camera, so there are no photos of them, sorry!


      I finally got to the plums! Really, this was the right time because any earlier, and they would not have been ripe enough. It was amazing to see the color go from a cream-like color, to a beautiful red! I have some juice straining now, and hope to get at least five and a half cups of juice. That was from almost two bags full. Did I tell you the man brought us two more bags? Yes!!!! I will cook that juice later today or tomorrow. I'm just doing one at a time to see how it turns out. Once I get the juice strained, I can put it in the refrigerator until I'm ready to make the jelly. Have you ever made plum jelly? This will be my first time but I'm following the instructions on the Sure-Jell package. Stay cool! Hope to talk to ya later this week! Blessings from Bama!


Barbecue chicken pizza with leftover chicken and veggies from the grill. Like my hand tossed crust?

Hubs cooking on the Primo.

Winterlynn was so pretty in her dress!

My brother.

She loved playing in the sprinkler!

I
Close up of a rat snake. Glad it's not a chicken snake! The dog got right up at it and the snake lunged at the dog! That was before I got my camera. It is laying in the flower bed next to the front porch.

She discovered my rollers. Do you like the See Rock City birdhouse? Almost everywhere you go on the interstate toward Chattanooga, you'll see a sign like this.

I could barely wait to get to the house and photo these and wash them so I could eat them! I usually don't wait that long but I wanted ya'll to see the first blackberries.

The butterfly bush has gotten so big!

This one isn't quite as big. The snake was to the left of it.

I like to photo these a lot because they won't bloom forever!

The bees are doing so well multiplying and all that we got to add the super. Our honey will be harvested from this.

A closer view. Either the hive is leaning or I was when taking the photo!

I think the sunflower will hit the ground. I had one to do this last year.

Plums before.

Plums after. I did get my five and a half cups! You can see the reflection of the camera in this!

10 comments:

  1. That pizza looks so yummy!!! Glad you had such a great weekend with your family! And the butterfly bush is amazing! To think that snake was so close to your porch makes me shudder! Hope he moves on and finds a new home! ha! :)

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    1. Thanks Rhonda! The snake has moved on, but where, is the question!

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  2. Hi Bama Girl, So many things I could comment on. Never saw such a large butterfly bush! Sure glad that snake was not in my yard. I have never made plum jam or used plums much at all. Is Plum juice good to drink like grape juice? Nancy

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    1. Hi Nancy! Thanks! I'm sure if you sweetened the juice a bit, it would be delicious!

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  3. Hey Bama Girl! Your pizza looks DELICIOUS! We love homemade pizza with lots of veggies and will have to try BBQ chicken. What a great way to use up leftovers where they don't seem like 'leftovers! And what a nice brother... hope he's able to move up soon. You showed much more.... what's the word I'm looking for here... discipline?... by NOT gobbling up those blackberries IMMEDIATELY upon picking! I don't have as much discipline as you as I've been gobbling ours up as soon as they hit my fingers in the blackberry patch these last few days!! That's why I've not 'talked' about it on the blog.. no pictures :) Plums.... never made plum jelly and I LOVE plum jelly... never had access to plums, come to think of it. You have a nice friend to bring you fresh-picked plums. The plum juice turned into such a beautiful color.... who'd of thought with how it looked at first! Let us know how your jelly turns out. With all your canning, you are a pro, so I'm sure it'll be yummy!

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    1. Thanks Lisa! You don't know how hard it was for me to walk all the way up here without eating one! I'm definitely not a 'pro', but thanks for the compliment! The jelly turned out nice. I'll tell you about it in the next post!

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  4. I have made plum jelly before, but it's been a long time. Yours looks wonderful. You're going to love spreading it on toast in the mornings! That snake looks scary! I hope you killed it. Makes me cringe just looking at the picture! Your butterfly bush is giant! How beautiful! Gosh, I almost bought one at the garden center, but instead put it back on the shelf. Now I wish I would have kept it in my cart! I'm growing sunflowers for the first time this year. Good to know they might hit the ground. I hadn't thought of that!

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    1. Hi Holley! Yes, the plum jelly is delicious spread on toast. No, we didn't kill the snake since it's not poisonous. It will be beneficial in killing the mice.
      The butterfly bushes were Mother's Day gifts from my son several years ago, purchased in small pots. They have grown so much! Yes, I'm sad about my sunflower plant, it hit the ground as is now perched by the fence!

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  5. I love seeing how other's gardens are progressing... not so sure of the snakes though - I really don't like snakes. Where I live we just see very small garter/grass snakes - that I'm ok with.

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    1. Hi Janet! Snakes are really not a problem with me any more since I'm getting used to them being around. I just don't want to run into a poisonous one!

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