Taking a Hiatus

I will be working on a couple of other web projects for the next four weeks.   So when I return here with new articles and activities, I will be five months from turning 50!    

As you all know, the fall is a very busy time, and mine will be no different.   I will have plenty of football, holidays and perfect weather to write about.   I’m also starting a new indoor garden, using hydroponics to grow food during the winter – so more about that.   This month I will get my fitness on track, too.  I’m off to a good start so far — yay for me!

In the meantime, please follow me on Twitter (where I live) — my twitter name is @14monthsto50.  On Facebook, I post great links, photos and videos.  All of my followers are allowed to post to the wall, too.  The page name on Facebook is, aptly, 14 Months to 50.   Please feel free to email me at 14monthsto50@gmail.com

Enjoy the rest of your summer!   Stay healthy and be good to yourself.

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Planning and Planting (and Cooking)

THIS PAST WEEKEND HAS BEEN busy and has spilled over into this new week, starting with a trip to the nearby Moore’s Farmers Market on Thursday.  My friend Marcie lives up there and she took me around to introduce me to some of her new farmer friends.  I had a great time!  I also came away with some good zucchini, other types of squash, and onions.   I love the freshness of the food just brought in from someone’s farm!    Two of the farmers gave me info on their farms, which are open to the public — I can’t wait to go visit.  An Oklahoma winery was also set up there, and I grabbed their info on the way out, for yet another field trip. 

After some quick planning, I managed to get my act together for planting some vegetables and herbs.  I had my beds all prepared, but no plants.   I made a quick run to the local Lowe’s and grabbed a thyme plant, rosemary plant, and organic seeds for two types of tomatoes, two types of lettuce, bell peppers, and basil (omg I love basil).   Yesterday I got the plants into the beds, and all of the seed into trays.  (Side note:  Lowe’s also has a couple of different organic soils.)   The lettuce seed is unplanted as of yet, since it is sown directly outdoors and just sprinkled with soil.  We had a gully washer today, and I didn’t want my little babies washed away.   I’ll likely spread the lettuce seed tomorrow.    Once I get the plants hardy enough to move outdoors, I want to fill in spaces with plants that attract bees and butterflies.  I’ve posted a lot of good gardening links for homemade bug sprays and other things on my facebook page. I hope you can have a look and “Like” the page.

I took Sunday to begin planning a good schedule for this blog, and I am working on some ideas for a couple of new blogs (can’t wait!)  Tomorrow will be one more day of planning, and then food shopping, before I get back into the full swing of things. 

Tonight I threw together this soup for dinner:

Lisa’s Farmer’s Market Soup

32 oz. organic vegetable broth

1 cup broccoli heads

1 1/2 medium zucchini, sliced

2 carrots, sliced

1/4 white onion, chopped

1 cup cooked whole grain brown rice

Cracked black pepper & thyme to taste

Cook the rice ahead and put aside (check package, can take 45 minutes to an hour).  Into a saucepan or skillet, pour broth and add all  vegetables.  Add pepper and thyme,  and bring to boil until carrots are softened.    Stir in the cooked rice and serve hot.

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Patio Gardening

Another project Iam planning is a container vegetable garden for this summer.   I’m trying to decide what exactly to plant, other than tomatoes and exactly what to put them in.   I would like to watch the sun patterns across the yard through the day, if we would have a sunny day occasionally!   So right now I’m planning, researching seeds, plants, soil.

I’ve also been saving my seeds from some squash with hopes of planting them.  I saved seeds from a butternut squash, rinsed them and dried them, but was later told by my grandmother that an old wives’ tale is you don’t ever wash the pieces of squash off the seed.  I have a suspicion that it’s more about keeping water off the seeds than it is about keeping pieces of squash on them.  Nevertheless, I did it and we’ll see if they grow later.   After I was told how to handle the seeds,  I saved more from a spaghetti squash, and did not clean them.   So this is going to be The Great Uncleaned Squash Seed Experiment.    

I would love any suggestions or ideas about container gardening!   Any suggestions on what I should grow?

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