CHEERS!!! The first harvest of the season!

I know it's early, and my tomatoes are NO WHERE NEAR being ready to make salsa, but I harvested my first batch of cilantro yesterday!  I also know cilantro is extremely difficult to preserve -  drying makes it taste like parsley, freezing makes it mushy, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah...

But, it's worth a try, right?  I have nothing to lose but my beautiful cilantro.

I often speak of organic gardening, but I in no way consider myself "green", "earthy", a "tree hugger".  I'm really not worthy!  I do, however, frequent organic gardening blogs for guidance with my own garden.  I run across some of the most AMAZING blogs when searching for new ideas, and I must say, this one took my breath away!

My way of life is no where near theirs, yet, we have so much in common!  We are thrifty, we are family-centered, we are animal lovers  They remind me of a very sweet aunt and her family.  They are SO happy!!!  That makes ME happy!!!

So, I tried "Mr. H's" method of preserving cilantro.  I will be using that cilantro in my salsa in about six weeks and will let you know how it turns out.  Until then, I will be dreaming about his beautiful greenhouse, his beautiful dog, his beautiful family, and his beautiful way of life!!!

Here's to the first harvest!!!

Thank you Subsistence Pattern, for letting me share your amazing blog!

HELP!!! Organic Weed Prevention

I've had an organic garden for the past two years.  I don't by any means eat all-organic, but, I just can't bring myself to spray MY beautiful garden with chemicals.  Never really had a problem with bugs or weeds.  Hubby and I would trek to the garden about 4 weeks after our first planting, pull a few weeds, and be done with it once the intentional plantings got larger than the "grass".  This year is different!  Our garden now measures about 20x28 feet and has gotten a ridiculous amount of rain over the past few weeks.  The "grass" is quickly catching up with my tomatoes.  It is beginning to overtake the beans and carrots!

So, I tried the newspaper method.  It took an ENTIRE Kansas City Star just to surround three tomato plants and 2 dill plants.  I carefully soaked them down as directed and before Mr. Manda got home with the grass clippings he worked his butt off for all day (lawn care business), they had dried in the sun and blown up against my hog wire charming fence.  What's a girl to do?

Well, luckily unfortunately, my baby got in trouble at school today.  He only had ONE day left!!!  So, we have decided that he will be assisting Mr. Mama with the weed pulling tomorrow while Mama is toileting and dispensing pills to her 12 "guests" at the hospital.  Now, I can't count on my 13-year old son to get in trouble any more.  He really IS an angel.  So, I need a solution!!! 

Anyone???

BANANAS

Our darling neighbor, Mike,  gifted us two banana trees this week.  He has been trying to talk us into taking them for THREE YEARS now.  He has offered them to my boys as they rode their bikes through the neighborhood, offered them to me as we stood in line together at Hy-Vee.  But, when he told my Alabama born-and-raised  husband that they were originally from Alabama it was all over!  So, now, I have two "Alabama" banana trees planted in my back yard.  What's a girl to do?

Luckily, this winter, I found the MOST AMAZING recipe for BANANA NUT BREAD on southernliving.com and will never make anything else with my leftovers!  You can seriously use what you have in the pantry right now to make these!  I made them into muffins and they were FANTASTIC!!! I made 1/2 with nuts and 1/2 without.  Filled up my giant cookie jar!  The hubby and kids were FIGHTING over them!

The great thing about these is that you can use low-fat EVERYTHING and no one will ever know!!!  Bananas are so sweet, they hide all the healthy stuff!

I am told that my banana trees will grow to be 8-12 feet tall by end of summer and produce 2-3 new plants each.  I'll have to dig them up and bring them in for Winter, but, that's OK.. I will have organic bananas and I am so excited. I'll keep you all updated!!!