ChaosCoati

Remember those “Martians” from Sesame Street? A friend asked me to make a couple of these for their kid. My first one is on the left and the pattern photo is on the right. I’m going to try to knit some eye balls instead of using ping pongs, we’ll see how that goes

Pattern

This came up unexpectedly and I’m waiting to see what it’ll be. I didn’t plant any squash or pumpkins this year. In fact I’ve never planted either in this garden bed. We affectionately call it our “pumquash” while we wait.

I have it under a greenhouse because we had our first frost warning this weekend, and I’d really like at least one fruit to mature so we can solve the mystery. This is the furthest along.

Today’s our first frost date, and I haven’t had a single ripe tomato yet. Time to break out the plant covers and cross my fingers.

I usually make green tomato relish. What are your favorite green tomato canning recipes?

Edit: Here’s the recipe. I couldn’t find a recipe that didn’t use already-made dill pickles, so I combined several recipes instead. I used the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s vinegar solution ratios for sweet pickles to make sure the pH was safe. Then I used a combo of spices from a sweet dill recipe and a sweet horseradish recipe.

My dill plants didn’t do well this year, so I used dried. It’s important to note, I’ve never made this recipe before and since I just canned yesterday I don’t know yet whether it’s good.

Makes 4-5 pint jars

• 4 lbs cucumbers
• 1.5 cups apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup white vinegar
• 3.25 cups granulated sugar
• 0.25 cup canning salt
• In each clean, sterilized jar add:
• 0.75 tsp mustard seed
• 1 Tbsp dill weed
• 1.5 tsp prepared horseradish Cut off a little of the blossom end. Slice and put in hot vinegar solution. When cucumbers are heated through, pack in jars. Add vinegar solution, leaving a 1/2” headspace. Water bath can for 10 minutes.

Between earwigs and wildlife this year, the only plants producing are the ones in my porch boxes. The cucumbers are gherkins so I’ve been picking them small so I can make them into sweet pickles. I have 3 jars put up already and enough cucumbers to make #4 this weekend. I just wish I had a small deep pot to can in, it’s such a waste to pull out my big canner. But until I can find one that at least fits pint jars I have to keep using the big pot.

I planted more peas this week and plan to do some more fall planting this weekend. I’m about 2 weeks behind but better late than never.

Edit: I forgot to mention, the leaves in the photo are just for our bunny’s breakfast. Although I will soon be drying some raspberry and blackberry leaves for her to enjoy in the winter.

Fewer people at home this week, so I made a half recipe of my usual Soft French Bread (that’s what the recipe calls it) and baked it in a sandwich loaf pan. Forgot the egg wash but it’s still tasty!

Edit: here’s the recipe

• 230g warm water
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1-1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp oil (I usually use olive oil)
• 355g all purpose flour
• 1-1/8 tsp instant yeast
• Mix all ingredients in bread machine on dough cycle. Let rise until end of dough cycle. Shape into loaf and let rise 30 minutes. Bake at 375F for about 25 minutes.

I don’t get much knitting done in the summer, so I thought I’d share someone else’s project. Saw him in the stands tonight watching the men’s doubles final and it looks like he’s already cast on something else.

Off and on this week I’ve been having trouble with some sites and apps - mainly Amazon, Walmart, Bing, Pinterest and Peacock - where they won’t load.

Other sites and apps are working just fine, and I don’t think it’s our internet as I’ll have videos streaming while those sites just sit and spin. I’ve also tried them on several devices (phone, tablet, computer) but no difference.

Is this maybe some carry over from last week’s CrowdStrike issues?

Earwigs or some other insect have been voraciously nibbling on my bean and radish leaves. I saw it mentioned in several places to put out a dish with oil and a little soy sauce. I figured it’s worth a shot.

Do you have a favorite way to keep the tiny critters away from your leaves?

We’ve noticed we don’t find monarch caterpillars on milkweed plants that have ants on them. We’ve also noticed if ants start coming on a plant with a caterpillar on it, the caterpillar disappears. It doesn’t seem to show up on a neighboring milkweed plant either.

I’m wondering if anyone has a way they keep ants off these plants so the caterpillars can continue their life cycle in peace.

Didn’t spot this one right away so it got away from me. They’re gherkins, I plan to make sweet pickles. Not with this monster though, we ate it fresh and it was delicious.

First try at making hot dog buns today. Next time I’m definitely going to do 8 buns instead of 6. Other than that, do you have any tips or tricks to shaping them?