Stir Fry Vegetables & Leftover Roast Pork with Garlic:

White Potatoes simmering with vegetables
Broccoli rabe waiting to
be added

Powdered chicken broth to taste added

Shredded Cabbage spread over 
1. layer of finely cut white potatoes
2. layer of mini yellow, red and orange sweet
peppers.

3. Finely chopped roasted pork chop stuffed
with cloves of garlic. Cover an allow cabbage
to simmer 2 minutes.

 

Allow broccoli rabe to sweat in the heat of the
coveredpan for approximately 3 minutes.
Do not over cook.

Brown Rice

Serve vegetables and pork mixture
over brown rice
I usually save portions for the next meal.

Ingredients:
2 peeled & finely chopped white potatoes
8 sprigs chopped broccoli rabe
4 mini red, yellow, orange sweet peppers chopped
1 medium tomato chopped
8 whole cabbage leaves finely slivered
1 left over roasted pork chop stuffed with olive cloves
1/2 cup pre-cooked brown rice
1/2 tablespoon of olive oil

Heat olive oil slightly. Add potatoes and fry until tender. Cover potatoes with layer of peppers and tomatoes.
Add the slivered cabbage, cover and allow to simmer. I use a glass cover so I can see the condensation on the top. Add the leftover pork. Add the broccoli rabe and allow mixture to simmer. Fold the ingredients into each other gently. Serve over brown rice.

Pick 'Em Off One By One

This year there were so many groundhogs in our area that I followed the example set by my next door neighbor and planted the tasty veggies right outside my side door. Coyote urine is supposed to keep these pesky critters away, but it must be reapplied so often that it is not cost effective. I have thrown the granules under the shed, blocked off the many entrances with rocks and roofing shingles, yet they stay. 

Growing vegetables on a hot blacktop driveway/patio has drawbacks. The blacktop holds heat and forces one to water the potted plants more often. One day last week I noticed that my tomato plant was seriously wilted in one day. I had watered it the day before and here it was mid morning behaving as if it had not been watered for a week. Several leaves showed signs of nibbling.

Tomato hornworm

Upon close examination I found this little fellow and his friend. They were making a meal of my tomato plant. When I was little this tomato horn worm was picked off the plants by hand. We did not use poisons on edible foods. My Mom was terribly afraid of worms. She would attack the most poisonous snake head on, but would turn and run from a worm like this. Go figure. It fell to the kids to pick off these little buggers so she could return to her garden. I wasn't afraid of him. I just didn't like the feel of the thing when picking it up. I wore a glove when one was available and at other times I used a large leaf or a piece of paper or fabric to move the little critter to a container of water where he drowned. Over the years, I have gotten less amenable to touching them. I picked off the 2 in the water below while wearing gloves.

More images of hornworms

Don't get excited if you see the worm carrying around little white rice-like eggs on his back. These are the eggs of the braconid wasp and this wasp is a friend to the tomato and the rest of the garden because they are actually boring into the worm and eating him from the inside out. I know, euw. That little fellow to the left is a goner. The braconid wasp helps rid our gardens of this pest. Careful with the pesticides, because they might kill the wasp.

The guys floating in the greenish water to the left were eating their fill when I discovered them at their feast. The plant was leaning over near death. As soon as they were removed and the plant was watered it started to revive. I checked the plant for others and found none. It is amazing how much of the green innards of the tomato plant oozed from the worms without my coaxing it out. Methinks they actually escaped my notice for a time because they were mere tiny babies when I brought the plants home from the nursery. I will remember to examine my seedlings more carefully from now on.

Drooping with the life waters being sucked
out by the tomato horn worm

minutes after removing the worms

I know they look vicious with those horns, but just think of their next stage. They are moths. Check your plants before leaving the nursery. Pick 'em off one by one before bringing out the spray bottle filled with chemicals. 

Farmers Work with Mother Nature

Rows are made across the path of the rainfall. The objective is to slow the movement of the water in order to increase absorption and decrease runoff.

Rainfall flows downhill. See the sloop? The good traditional Farmer plows across the path of the rain. This will slow the water down forcing much of it to be absorbed into the soil and less of the vital nutrients to be washed away by the downpour. Seasoned farmers know that the rows should be spaced far enough apart so that the middle of the 2 rows has sufficient soil to heel up around the plants as they grow. This may be done with the tiller or with the old fashioned mule in front pulling or man behind pushing. I Actually prefer the antique hand push model here because it disturbs the plants the least. This is a method used
handed down in farming families in the south and probably around the world.

Teamwork is Needed to Make a City Safe and Beautiful...

Brenda L. Thomas, The Garden Nanny
on the left
brendathomas@mac.com

A group of ladies who work to bring beauty to our town. Thank you ladies.
We need more people who do not mind getting a little dirty.

The Perils of Periwinkle

Short lived, but Powerful