Come in, look around. Let me know what you think! Comments are always welcome and encouraged.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

cows, bees and pickled asparagus

I've done a terrible job keeping the blog up to date the last few weeks. My excuse is a combo of being busy or lazy; neither of which are conducive to writing. Anyway, I'm here now so that's the important part, right?

Last week I went with Greg to Nebraska to help him move and settle into the farm life. Even though it was really hard knowing that I have to continue on without him until we figure out the next step, I really had a good time out there.  Greg took me to a cattle auction where he will soon be buying his first herd, I got to ride on a big tractor, saw an enormous wind farm (see pics below), went four-wheeling and even "helped" mend fences. I was probably more of a pain in the a** than a help but I learned a lot and Greg looks good holding a chainsaw :). Now that I am home and alone I am trying to keep myself as busy as possible until I get to see him again in a few weeks.Every time I start missing him, which is pretty much every ten minutes, I think about how brave he is to quit a well paying but soul-sucking job to do something he is passionate about and I am extremely proud and happy for him.
found this cow walking down a dirt road. She wasn't very chatty. See the turbines in the background? So many more than the four here in bg.


The weather is finally shaping up so I finally got stuff planted. The zucchinis and pattypan squash are coming up, the tomatoes are slowly growing and the radishes are almost ready to yank. Unfortunately, the terrible May weather took its toll on my carrots, spinach and beets. Hardly any came up. My lovely heirloom eggplants also look pretty pathetic. Ironically, the non organic, non heirloom serrano peppers we bought at home depot have peppers already.
yep, this is of the sideways growing variety. Old computer + new camera = major headache
The bees are doing FANTASTIC! Two of the three have honey supers on them now that the raspberries are flowering. I did an inspection yesterday and am happy to report that all three queens are thriving and there are more bees in the hives than I ever saw last year. I am amazed by the difference. We'll never go back to the place we got them in 2010. Too many things went wrong to blame it on bad luck.
if anyone knows why my pictures show up fine on my computer but load sideways on blogger, please let me know. This is embarrassing and annoying.
Tonight I made my second batch of asparagus. For the first batch I used a recipe from Food In Jars but it turned out a little weird. I didn't like the clove/anise taste so I modified it the second time around (skipping the pickling spice and using garlic, peppercorns and mustard seed only) and added Greg's dried cayenne peppers to make it spicier. 
why does technology hate me?
I will be moving out of my apartment soon but haven't found a place yet. Nothing like waiting until last minute to induce a nervous breakdown. Oh well. Probably anything is better than listening to my upstairs neighbor learn how to play the guitar. I'm thinking about buying him professional lessons if he promises to NEVER play at his apartment until I love out.