Fruits of our labors...

With all the rain, things have been growing very well here.  The flowers have been the best in years.The 1st crop of raspberries has actually been worth picking--often we just let them go and wait for the 2nd crop in September.  I've made several batches of jam, besides having berries on cereal or ice cream.

The leaf lettuce has been plentiful and delicious.  I had stopped planting lettuce years ago, because it always had a bitter taste and I preferred the taste of what you buy at the store.  But this year, I heard about the secret for making lettuce taste better:  cut it, wash it, and store it in the fridge for a day or two before using.  That allows the sugars to mature, and takes away the bitter taste!  And it WORKS.  We've loved our lettuce.

We've also had plentiful green onions (the ones that accidentally got left in the ground last year and came up again this year).  We got a second picking off the peas--since the deer ate off the first pods, that made the plants put out new blossoms, so we still had fresh peas.

But the biggest treat so far is the new red potatoes.

When I was planting the garden back in April, I had a few leftover red potatoes that had gone soft and had sprouts all over them.  I threw them away--then dug them out of the garbage and decided to try planting them.  Iowa is not known for producing potatoes, so in all the years we've had a garden, I've never planted potatoes.  I cut the potatoes so there was a sprout in each section, then planted them.  I was almost surprised to see plants begin to grow.

Just last week I noticed that the plants were dying off.  Either the potatoes were ready, or the plants were diseased--which wouldn't have been a surprise, considering our very wet weather.

I felt like a child on Christmas morning when I overturned the first shovel-ful of dirt and bright red orbs lay there.  What a gift!

We've since had a great potato salad and I'm looking forward to grilling some potato logs.

***

And here's the fruit of Elley's labor...

First, with flash, so the door is bright and the room is in shadow;

And then with no flash.  Elley purposely turned her head from the camera.

We LOVE the color--so peaceful, calm and fresh. 

Now, on to the hallway, and the front window boxes, and the white kitchen chairs, and the white trim in my bedroom...

Elley is going to be earning her money!

Secret Combinations...

I've told some of you the saga of the dutch oven cook-off at girls camp.  It started out like this: Each ward was required to supply 3 dishes for the camp cook-off--a main dish, a side dish and a dessert.  Being a novice at dutch oven cooking, I worried a bit about this, and did my best to prepare.  As I got ready for camp, I precooked or premixed the ingredients I could, to cut down on prep time there.

For the peach cobbler, I had a ziploc bag with the flour, sugar and baking powder.

The only problem was, when it came time to make the cobbler, I could NOT find that bag.

It was time to fall back on the first rule of camping--make do with what you have.

And I had pancake mix to take the place of the flour and baking powder and Tang to take the place of the sugar..

As the girls mixed up the bright orange batter, we all wondered how it would turn out.

We just hoped it would actually be edible.

I tried a tiny corner before adding it to the serving table, and it was surprisingly good!  A bit on the sweet side, but alright.  Then came the judging... and the eating.

The "YCL's" (youth camp leaders) got to serve, and

they made sure everyone got to sample all the wonderful dishes.

Then it came time to announce the winners...

Third place was announced first, and although I had no illusions about any of our dishes being "the best", there is always a hope that we might win something.  I thought , if we get anything, it would have to be a bonus prize for "making do."

Then came 2nd place, and finally 1st place was announced, and

our "Secret Combinations" or Tangy Peach Cobbler WON!

My jaw dropped.

We won a cake mix and a wooden spoon with a gold ribbon.

And, if I had been able to find the bag with the dry ingredients,

our peach cobbler would have turned out just like the other peach cobblers that were there--good-tasting, but hardly unique.

So there's my story of how losing a bag of flour led to 1st prize.

Our new rain "barrels"...

One side benefit of our gazebo is the opportunity to save rainwater. 

I'd never thought about doing it before--here, in the land of (mostly) abundant rainfall--yet, I have long been aware of the fact that when we did need to water our lawn or garden

that an inch of city water with its clorination and hard minerals did NOT equal an inch of rainfall.

When we set up the gazebo, we noticed the grommeted holes, two on each side, and wondered why they were there.  We soon found out.  They are "relief" holes.  Without them, the pooled water would get heavy and tear the strips that attach the tarp to the framework.

It wasn't until this week, when we've had about 5 inches of rain in 3 days, that I hit on the idea of using that water.This morning, as the rain started pouring,I put a bucket under each relief hole--and the buckets were full in about 20 minutes.

The rain gauge showed 1 inch of rain.

Now, we're seriously investigating getting rain barrels.  I'd LOVE to have all that soft, great rain water for watering my gardens!  Now, I just need the actual rain to stop ...

A summer project...

A summer dilemma... how to keep the girls busy AND earning money?

Hire them for some major projects!

Elley has spent several hours already, scraping wallpaper, spackling holes,

spraying "orange peel" to add texture over the repaired spots,

and is now priming the walls and will paint later today. 

She found out that some of the wallpaper had completely

adhered to the wall, and did not want to come off.

It's been a great learning experience.

And this is the color we've chosen for the wall. 

It will be a nice update. 

And when it comes time to sell the house,

it will be easier to just repaint with a neutral color

instead of having to do the wallpaper removal as well.