Squash Vine Borers

The dreaded squash vine bores payed a visit this week.  I had my suspicions this past weekend when I noticed that a zucchini was no longer growing and that it was actually starting to shrivel on the vine.  I cut it off and inspected it but could fine no indication of a borer inside the zucchini so I left the plant alone. The only way to actually confirm that there is a borer is to split open the main stem and inspect it for debris; which then kills the plant. I was not willing to do that since the plant was still alive and growing.  Today when I went to the garden the plant was all wilted so my suspicions were sadly confirmed.

This is what I first saw when I entered the garden this evening. Yesterday it was really perky and full of life.  This plant had three baby zucchini that I could salvage that are now in the fridge.  Unfortunately there were about 5 tiny sprouts that would have ripened to nice sized zucchini over the course of the next two weeks.  There was no salvaging them.

This is what I saw when I dissected the main stem.  I searched for the caterpillar inside but could not locate it.  All I could see was the yellow debris that it had left behind indicating that it had been eating all the life out of my plant. Pesky little caterpillars.  It robbed me of my zucchini harvest this year.  I have one other plant that is not showing signs of infestation at this point.  I hope it just focused on one plant.  The still-alive plant has about 4 zucchini growing at this point.
Note to squash vine borers/moths:  
Watch out squash moths.......homeowner on the war path

Summertime dinner

Only 1 word is necessary to describe this: YUM

My Latest "Project Linus" Quilt

For those of you unfamiliar with Project Linus..............

Founded in 1995, Project Linus provides love, a sense of security, warmth and comfort to children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need through the gifts of new, handmade blankets, quilts and afghans. Lovingly created by volunteer “blanketeers,”  blankets are collected locally and distributed to children in hospitals, shelters, social service agencies, or anywhere that a child might be in need of a big hug.

This one was a lot of fun.  

A Riot Of Color

I harvested all these colored peppers from the garden the last few nights.  The yellow ones were a surprise as I thought I had all red ones.  However, three of the plants are producing yellow peppers so  I am fine with that.  Also in that pile are 2 pitifully small carrots.  They have not done very well this year.  Last year we had nice long ones.  Not sure what is different this year.  The leafy pile in the center is celery leaves.  All this (not the carrots) headed to the dehydrator Thursday tonight.  The celery turns to crumbles in about 90 minutes and is great in salad dressing.  The peppers run all night and once re-hydrated are used in lots of dishes throughout the year. Two different kinds of red ones are pictures here; the smaller ones are thinner-walled and the larger ones are those really thick-walled sweet peppers. At a dollar or more each in the grocery store I can't even begin to calculate the money I have saved growing these peppers. Not even to mention the enjoyment I get from seeing this riot of color on the kitchen counters.

Good Chicken Eats From Lisa's Larder

For your enjoyment.............Everytime we exit the back door now the chickens come running cause they think we might have a treat. When they see what is in our hands they start jumping up and trying to get to it. They do the same thing when they see the white oatmeal bowl.  Tonight I was giving them the last of the pumpkin oatmeal bars.  I think I will have to make some more of these. Tell me they aren't smart......okay okay; about some things.

Celery

I read that you can propagate celery from the leftover stem.  So I started a stem a few weeks ago and it is growing some nice roots.  Still not ready to go in the ground but I see it doing that by cooler weather. So today I started another one. We have 2 growing in the garden that we started from seed this past winter.  Celery is a slow grower which requires about an inch of water a week. It also needs regular fertilizing. God took care of the watering this summer for us. I wasn't as good about fertilizing it but it is still looking pretty good.  I will try to get some more growing next year.  Garden sites say it is really hard to grow so time will tell if we are successful or not.

Kitchen Failures.........or NOT

With the boatload of pumpkin we harvested I started trying some new recipes.  Patrick likes to have portable granola bars when he is hunting so I thought this pumpkin oatmeal bar would be a hit.  Boy was I wrong. These things are AWFUL. Patrick took one bite and said "sorry Lisa but this is chicken food".  Now why are some things good using the same ingredients while others are terrible.  So we took 2 down to the chickens to see if they would eat them.  They LOVE them.  So I guess this kitchen failure is actually a success.  Now we will have to see how much I start cooking for the chickens.  HAHA