If you like chili with vegetables and a little spiciness, you might like this. One of the nice things about chili, soups and stews is that the recipes can be easily adjusted. Perfect if you want to use what's available. More or no meat, fewer beans and other vegetables can be used. Light red kidney beans, black beans or a mix would probably taste as good as the dark red kidney beans.

I used a container of the *sun gold *tomatoes I grew in my garden. I had cooked them with garlic, green peppers and a little basil, then froze them, so they had a lot of liquid. I drained this to add later if needed.

If you want to use leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, skip step 1 then saute the onion and garlic together briefly (just to soften the onion) with a little of the creole seasoning (1/2 tsp) in water or oil. Then go to step 2, adding bite-size pieces of the leftover turkey.

Ingredients:
Tony Cachere's Creole Seasoning (other brands may work, too)
1/2 pound ground turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1 can (15 ounces) dark red kidney beans
1 1/2 cups frozen (or fresh) corn (off the cob, of course)
1 can (15 ounces) sliced okra
1 can (2.5 ounces) tomato paste
5 cups of sungold tomatoes cooked (see * above)

(1) Cook the ground turkey in a skillet or slow cooker. Sprinkle the creole seasoning on it, then break it apart. (I use a good tablespoon of the seasoning.) Drain any fat. Add the onion and garlic, then sautee a little longer to soften the onion. You may want to add just a little water to do so.

(2) Add all of the other ingredients to the onions and garlic, draining liquid off the canned items before adding. (I rinse the canned beans multiple times.) Don't drain all of the fluid from the crushed tomatoes; save this in case you need it in step 4.

(3) Simmer the mixture for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes; if using a slow cooker, adjust time accordingly. If the chili is not spicy enough for your taste, add more of the Creole seasoning until satisfied.

(4) If the tomato "broth" is too thick, add some of the reserved liquid from the canned tomatoes. Heat a little longer then serve. A salad and pieces of pepper jack or other cheese would be good accompaniments.

H.O. SMITH BOTANIC GARDENS

I believe that quite a while ago, I mentioned in a blog entry about the botanical gardens being built at Penn State University. There's not a lot to see yet -- just dirt, construction equipment -- but there are some foundations being placed. They are visible in this shot from the webcam across Park Avenue.



According to the site http://www.arboretum.psu.edu/index.html, this is what is happening now:

• October, 2008 – Work will begin on stone and stucco for the garden walls, masonry and steel for the pavilion’s portico and two wings, and plumbing for the fountain.

• November, 2008 –The rose arbor, a major structure, will be built and the fountain will be completed. Work will commence on the irrigation system and on the roof of overlook facilities.

Here's an interesting feature about a historical "prairie" in Pennsylvania:
http://www.arboretum.psu.edu/research/prairiepatch.html

"STAY-CATION"

This is one of my favorite places to vacation. Atlantic water is warm in September and October because the sun heats it all summer. I won't be going there this year, but it's nice to think about.


One of my sisters and her husband spent a week in Cancun. So, thanks for the pictures, Nancy!








Hibiscus -- a beautiful flower.







Another sister and her hubby spent roughly a week motorcycling from central Nebraska into the mountains of northern Arkansas with a bunch of fellow bikers. (I have no pictures.)


I haven't been to the beach or anywhere in a while for vacation. This year is no different. I'll have to enjoy my garden, back porch, fall foliage and maybe a little hiking or a drive. So, I may have more pictures in a few weeks. (If I'm not just recovering from dental work, that is. Oh joy.) Leaves are changing color. There are a lot of reds and striking orange trees.

Sometimes relaxing at home with the pets, taking a few naps, reading, and spending time with friends and family when not rushed is a good vacation.

A FEW PESTS AND WELCOMED GUESTS


Something sees your garden from this point of view. A well-tended and productive garden is an invitation to bugs.


True to their name, cabbage moths seek out cabbage; they like other plants in the same family such as broccoli. The moths lay eggs on the underside of the leaves. When the eggs turn to larva (worms), they eat holes in the leaves. They have smoky white wings with a black dot (or multiple dots) that some think looks like an eye.

On the underside of potato plant leaves, orange eggs indicate potato beetle infestation. Adults are large enough to hand pick and crush as are the egg bunches.


Store onions properly and grow them in loose, well-drained soil in the hopes of avoiding this as much as possible: Maggots aren't repulsed by onion odor.


When it comes to these, you usually (if not always) want to leave them "bee". Many are pollinators, besides being attractive photo subjects. They're not always obvious. When I took this portulaca photo, I didn't realize a tiny bee had landed in the flower on the left.

Even wasps, despite their reputation for being nasty, can be good. Some prey on garden pests.

If you see either of these "guys", don't worry.


Dragonflies are nice to have around.



This little fellow wheeks when I bring greens from my garden. He's very nice to have around!!

PLEASANT SURPRISES

My container plants surprised me this year.

In late September, the morning glories slowed and moonflowers appeared. I did not think the seeds I planted would germinate. There's no dialog on the second video, but you might want to turn the volume down because of the wind noise.


The first and third videos have a little dialog. Taken last week, the day was quite windy, so that overpowers my voice a little.







Keep in mind that the wind was blowing (you'll hear it). I was the camera person, narrator, and demonstrator. I'm not a professional broadcaster. No special tools to reduce wind noise or stop the plants from trembling in the gusts. If you don't like the sound, just mute it.

One of my medium-size (8-10 inches in diameter) Tera cotta pots contained pennyroyal last year. I attempted to nurse the herb indoors through winter and almost made it. By mid-February it had died down and apparently returned twice with a good soaking. In March, I thought it revived once more until I realized the leaves were not the right shape. I allowed it to grow.

'Even if it's a weed,' I thought, 'It may be a pretty flower.' My curiosity played a roll, too. In previous seasons, I've had corn seedlings in containers, courtesy of the birds who visit and sometimes nest on my back porch.

Shortly afterward, I moved it outside. In the sun, the seedlings grew several inches quickly and were easily recognizable as tomato plants. They seemed to be happy there, and I don't mind this kind of freebie. So, I watered them, then transplanted some to a larger pot to grow. This video shows them as of last week.




Click on this to see more videos from my garden. It takes much less time to upload them there than on here.

If you would like to see still photos, click this.

I get to play tag in my garden.

So I got tagged. Thank you R.W. Ley for the tag. Now it's my turn to share the fun. I'm IT!!!

Okay, these are the rules;
1. Link to the person who tagged you (I did that)
2. Post the rules on your blog (I'm doing that now)
3. Write six random thoughts about yourself (see below)
4. Tag six or so people at the end of your post (see below)
5. Let each person know he or she has been tagged (I will do that)
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is posted (I'll do that, too.)

Random Thoughts About Me:

1. My Cavalier looks like I live in it most of the time.

2. Despite all of the years I've lived in central Pa after graduating from Penn State, I never got into football. I do like the highly charged atmosphere of downtown State College when there's a home game.

3. I can't pick a favorite color. There are too many beautiful ones!

4. I know how to ride a horse, play the piano, belly dance, garden (of course), ride a bike, and swim.

5. I sleep best in complete darkness.

6. My knowledge of miscellaneous facts sometimes impresses people.

Now, for those I'm tagging; be careful out there because YOU'RE IT!!

http://www.mychurch.org/fumcallen

http://queenspalace.multiply.com/

http://coyotedreams.multiply.com/

http://www.mychurch.org/debnjim

http://yjustbreathe.multiply.com/

http://incrediblyrotten.multiply.com/


Enjoy the tag game and let's share the fun!

HERBS

I love herbs. They smell wonderful, add an attractive feature to a garden spot or a container, and are a great healthy way for flavoring meals and cold beverages, making soothing teas and so on.

Just yesterday, I used rosemary, cherry tomatoes, potatoes, a leek and two yellow peppers I had grown. Prostrate rosemary, the kind in my porch container, does not grow like a tree, but instead along the ground as you might guess from the name.

I roasted a small chicken. Springs of rosemary and cloves of garlic can be placed under the skin of the breast, the wings, and the legs. Also, place several sprigs and garlic inside the chicken.

In appearance and aroma, rosemary reminds me a great deal of pine trees. In colder climates, it can survive winter if brought inside in a container. However, it needs light and some humidity. I haven't been able to carry it through the dry indoor heat of February and low light of my apartment.

At least two types of rosemary exist: bush type (similar to a small tree), and prostrate.

Dill has long been one of my favorite. I think of pickles that are made pleasantly tart and tasty with dill, mustard (seeds or powder) and black peppercorn. Here are a couple of dill pickle recipes

http://www.bigoven.com/10486-Quick-Fresh-Pack-Dill-Pickles-recipe.html

http://www.bigoven.com/10464-Quick-Dill-Pickles-in-a-Crock-recipe.html

I'd like to direct you to an article on a very interesting urban Chicago gardener named Carl Walton. Read about him here.

SURPRISES ARE MANY


Much of the latter weeks of August into the first week of September was dry here. It looked as though my garden was finished. Amazing what a little rain -- well, we had a lot -- will do. Among the dry and dead plants, color appeared in spots I had given up on.

Bright fresh red raspberries welcomed me last week when I arrived at my plot.
(Thanks to Sharon and Mark for the plants!) I loved the Shasta daisies, too, when they bloomed. Are you surprised that I never got to my car with the berries? Sweet, fresh and ripe and rinsed just a little with the hose. A nice snack from the garden.

Daisy-like flowers of pink, blue and yellow appeared in the second bed. I don't remember planting them, but I was tickled. Perhaps they were from the unproductive seeds I planted last season.

More tomatoes, of course. I have pink medium-size tomatoes, and both red and orange cherry tomato plants.

THE EXCESS AND ABUNDANCE OF HARVEST

Zucchini's reputation for proliferation is well-deserved. Even a bad year for the vegetable can provide enough to share with others. According to the book The Vegetable Gardener's Bible (Edward Smith, Storey Publishing), stories circulate in New England about gardeners so desperate to get rid of their excess "zukes" that neighbors find a zucchini-filled car when leaving the house to go to work in the morning.

It stands to reason that the vegetable has been incorporated into many meals and recipes. BigOven.com lists 250 results with a search for zucchini. Some recipes are really unbelievable -- Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies for instance.

Tomatoes are often equally prolific. Some years it seems like they'll never ripen, so recipes for green tomatoes pop up in women's magazines, cooking and gardening websites, and on morning TV shows.



My cherry tomatoes often become ripe in large numbers on the vine, split, and become fruit-fly food very quickly. Even if I discard these, the numbers still favor enough for tomatoes at every meal if I want.

I planned my garden for salsa this year. Some is in the freezer. I didn't plan well enough. My cilantro dried and "went to seed" before my tomatoes began to ripen. Cilantro seeds can be saved though if you want to start your own plants next year. The seeds from this plant, also known as coriander, are used in cooking.

Perhaps I should look into an earlier producer for tomatoes, and one that goes all season. Patchwork Farms used to sell Arkansas traveler, which is supposed to produce all season. Maybe I can find it or something similar.*

BigOven.com has some great ideas for storing tomatoes:

Store tomatoes away from sunlight and heat and at cool room temperatures.

Do not refrigerate tomatoes for any length of time (don’t buy them from refrigerated cases). Low temperatures destroy the flavor. One convenient method is this:

"Freeze tomatoes in slices, chunks, or even whole. These can be used for cooking. Double bag them and use within twelve months."

Onions did well this year. I grew a number of red and sweet white ones. Certain types are best-suited to storage, and conditions must be right. Sweet onions are more susceptible to damage when stored. All onions, in the ground and afterward, can be eaten by maggots, as I discovered. Thankfully, I only lost a few. It's not pleasant to cut through an onion that has rotted. Blah!



Here's another sample from my garden ... Sunflowers on the right. Lavender, oregano in flower (dried) and fresh basil from right to left.




An arrangement from earlier in the season. (above and below)

The miniature decorative pumpkins grew in my garden, too. Last year, I bought some at a farmer's roadside stand. I decided to cut some and scoop out the seeds. Then I spread them on layers of paper towels on a cookie sheet to dry. I stored them in a plastic baggie over the winter. One vine produced the same type of fruit as the parent seeds. The other vine had larger squash in different shapes. Perhaps this was from cross-pollination. One was green, and somewhat round, when I picked it. One my living room table it has been turning pumpkin orange. (Perhaps I will have a photo of it to share soon.)

Enjoy the abundance of tomatoes, onions, potatoes and anything else you get throughout the growing season. It's better, I say, to be blessed with too much than to be disappointed by your garden's production. I have fantasies about storing greater amounts through canning and drying since I have a small freezer; however, I have come to realize that I must take it a few steps at a time. I'm only one person and I work full-time. In anticipation, I'll keep learning in the hopes that those skills grow, too.



Zucchini oatmeal cookies

tomato storage

*Here's the story behind the tomato, including its name. Arkansas Traveler tomato.

A little bit about onions

Article on seed saving with links to others