Saturday, March 31, 2012

Update

There is really nothing different going on here today so this is another generic picture post.

 I did make ketchup today. There is a link to making ketchup on the sidebar. I have not had to make ketchup since that post and I have not bought any from the store. This time the corn syrup I had was dark corn syrup (it was marked down) but it seemed to make no difference at all from the light corn syrup.
 Here are the chicks again. They grow so fast. I also have 2 baby quail in the brooder inside that hatched. I am not sure why I only got two out of about 20 eggs but two was all that hatched this time. I am waiting on duck eggs to hatch as well but there are only 4 duck eggs in there.
This is just a picture of some of the ducks wandering the yard today. They wandered right up to me while I was taking pictures so I snapped a picture of them.
Mark had a nice post on herbs on his blog so here are a few of my mints this year.
 This is apple mint that is over-running its pot and desperately needs to be planted outside but I have yet to figure out where to put it where it can spread if it wants to.
This is chocolate mint. I used to have a lot of this growing in the yard but it eventually all died off.
This is ALL lemon balm and this wasn't even where it was planted to begin with. It spread when Phil cut the grass and ran through the lemon balm in the front garden. I love the smell of lemon balm but wish I could find something to use it for. I have tried making lemon balm jelly a couple times but it never jells. It is nice in tea but you can only drink so much of it. I suppose it would be good diced  and sprinkled on fish or mixed with mayo on fish but I have not tried that yet.
These are the potatoes. I am just amazed at how fast they have grown. I really need to get more dirt or compost in there.
This is a dead baby snake that I found in my garden while taking pictures. It is very odd, we have found several of these dead baby snakes this year, not just in the yard but on the way to the lake. NOT that I mind having less snakes but it bothers me that there are so many. It makes me wonder why.
Both of the little fig trees (you can see on in the lemon balm picture) have produced figs which is pretty amazing since the huge fig tree never did produce figs (it is not dead, just as I knew it wouldn't be, even though we cut it. It has a new shoot coming out from the base).
Hopefully I will have something more interesting to post tomorrow. I have a couple of projects that I am hoping to get done.

18 comments:

  1. I so love lemon balm. But yeah I make tea from it and then don't do anything else. I wish I could dry it for the winter, but it won't even do that without losing its scent. I swore I wouldn't bring it to my new garden. But then a plant popped up (from compost I'd dragged from the last one) and I couldn't bear to rip it out. So now I have lemon balm again. I've got to move it away from the asparagus bed though. I'm wondering where to put it.

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    1. I am going to try some lemon balm recipes tomorrow and see how they go. I have so much of it, I need to use it for something.

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  2. Great pictures Becky, Those little chickens grow so dang fast.
    Your ketchup came out great!
    Carolyn

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    1. The ketchup is just so easy and for that matter so are the chickens. If only everything could be easy like making ketchup and growing out meat birds...:)

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  3. I put my lemon balm in a container. It is thriving beautifully too. Like you even I have no idea how to use it in cooking. I have only used it once in making lemonade popsicle and I cant say it added much flavor.

    P.S. Do your apple and chocolate mint have apple and chocolate flavor respectively?

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    1. The apple mine does not really taste like apple to me but the chocolate mint does have a slight chocolate smell to it.

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  4. I bought a chocolate mint plant yesterday and it went under the name: After Dinner Mint. Mildly amusing. Intriguing about the dead snakes, especially if what ever's killing them isn't eating them.

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    1. It doesn't really seem like something is killing them, they are just dying which seems worse to me.

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  5. So the general concensus is that Lemon Balm is not very useful! What you say about Lemon Balm jelly not setting is intersting. That happens with Kiwi Fruit too. I think we just need to see it as food for bees.
    (Maybe Fig and Lemon Balm Conserve would work??)

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    1. Well, we'll see. I am going to try a couple lemon balm recipes today if I get the time between feeding animals, harvesting spinach, making sausage and visiting with a friend. I'll post about it if I get to do them.

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  6. Hi Becky,
    Like everyone else I love the smell of lemon balm! Doesn’t seem to work well cooked and better when added fresh to things. You can use it to flavour vinegar and also good when very finely chopped and added to cream cheese is nice. Probably my favourite use though, is Lemon Balm Cheesecake!

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    1. I printed up a bunch of recipes yesterday to try. I have never found a use for flavored vinegars either so don't make them.

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  7. How many pints of ketchup does your recipe make? I am almost out.

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  8. I ended up tearing out the lemon balm it was so invasive. Making ketchup sounds like a good idea~!

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    1. Well, we have space to let it wander and it does, lol, but I do want to use some of it anyway. I am planting my other mints in pots though and hoping I can keep them watered.

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  9. I really enjoy your photos of things in your garden. I can't wait to get settled on the 40 acre and get my garden going. Keep upthe good work.

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  10. Thanks for the ketchup recipe Becky. I've been trying some, but none has come close to my Heinz tastes. I'll give yours a go.

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