Morels!!

You'll never believe what DR found over the weekend. 

He was pulling up a dense patch of  bean plants that I didn't like when he told me to bring the camera. 

Morels!

Well, they looked like morels but they didn't quite have the right density or texture as a morel and they had a weird covering to them but still, a pretty darn big mushroom! And in Kansas in the middle of a drought! 

They were probably 4 inches long....should have brought out the ruler. 

We didn't eat em' but were still shocked they were there.

Guess their existence goes to prove we've been pouring on PLENTY of water to our garden this droughty summer! 

Guess the Grain Game!!

Welcome to Prairie Mother's Kansas Agricultural Guessing Game.

We've found two agricultural products out here in Southwest Kansas that I've never seen before. Let's see if you can guess what they are!

#1 - The Mystery Grain.

These pods are about 1 1/2" long and dried out.

DR just brought them straight from the field to me this week.

The seeds inside (small little buggers) are what are harvested and processed.

More than likely you have a bi product of this grain in your kitchen right now.

Give me your best guesses on the mystery grain!

#2 - The Mystery Mulch

DR came home with 4 bags of this...this...stuff to mulch our garden with. It's very light weight.

Need a closer look?

So far this has done really well at holding in the moisture; my tomatoes have really perked up after mulching them with this stuff. I know that everyone has some of this stuff in their house as we speak.

So, leave me your best guess in the comments below! The winner receives.....well, they receive the bragging rights of having a lot more agricultural knowledge than most people! I'll reveal these mystery products on tomorrow's post. Good luck!

The Great Garden Plan, 2011

Okay, it's not so much a Great Plan, as a Really Vague Idea.

A while ago I posted about DR fencing in our back yard to keep in the riff raff, you know the riff raff...my kids! Well, I'm finally posting pics of the finished project. Not so much because it's a great fence or anything but because it is going to play double duty. Keep in the riff raff and garden duty.

Here is what the perimeter of the yard fence looks like. Yes, I know those tall posts with holes in them look silly (the farmers around here keep threatening to cut them down) but trust me there is a reason for the too tall posts.

Quick view of my clothesline! Yay! I know, some town people think it's tacky but I'm not out to win a popularity or yard beauty contest. My clothesline saves me money...wind is free.

Okay back to the fence, we have a section between the fence and the road that is going to be our garden. It measures roughly 4 yards by 14 yards. Long, narrow and by what I'm used to, a really small space. DR has decided we need to wait til spring to till up the soil and work in our compost. Because the climate here is SW KS is so arid he is thinking of putting in a drip tape when we plant the garden. I'm not exactly sure how this will work but DR assures me he can get it done.

Every other garden I've had has had plenty of space for me to grow whatever my little ol' heart desired; popcorn, pumpkins, peas, beans, tomatoes, carrots....the list could go on and on. But...I can't grow everything in a little town garden. I have a small space!

That's where the tall posts with holes come in. The plan (i.e. vague idea) is to run a cable through all the holes, the 14 yds of the garden, and use it to create some sort of trellis for plants to climb up. I know this will work with peas but I'm really not sure what other types of vegetables climb well. I'm not even sure yet what plants/varieties/seeds I will or should be planting here.

I'd also like to hang sheperds hooks on the inside of the tall posts and hang buckets of tomatoes on them. I love tomatoes and am hoping to have a bucket on every post.

So, that's all I've got. That's the Great Garden Plan!

Help!! Any tips or hints for gardening in a small space? Plant varieties? Tools? Equipment? Books or magazines I should read? Any advice would be greatly apprecated!!

Foody Friday - Great Grandma's Tomato Soup

* Don't forget to enter my book giveaway!

For today's post I have decided to share a family recipe with you. My Great Grandmother's Tomato Soup recipe....*sniff*....excuse me while I go get a tissue. This is very emotional for me.

No, it's not that I'm emotional about my Gr. Grandmother...I barely remember her. I'm crying over this jar of soup. See this jar? It is my last jar of tomato soup.

I love this soup. It's thick and hearty and brings up precious memories of my childhood. Yip and Yap love this soup. They call it running soup. When they were 3 years old, they only ate it after I told them it would make them run faster. A little white lie to get my kids to eat healthy; I don't think God would mind.

See the date? It's almost two years old. I've been saving it for a special occasion...you know, for when the Queen comes to visit or something! 

 

We had a garden during the summer of 2008 and we had tomatoes!! Boy, did we have tomatoes. I juiced and sliced and canned tomatoes. I put up over 50 quarts of this tomato soup. Life was good!

But last year our tomatoes hardly did a thing. They were planted late because of the wet spring and the summer wasn't hot enough. By September, I had a garden full of green tomatoes. *Sniff* I didn't get any tomato soup made last year! Now, we are moving to Kansas and I won't have tomatoes this summer either. It has been a heartbreaking thought; no tomato soup.

However, I'm going to turn my depression to joy and share my recipe with you.

For all you gardeners, I hope you can use this recipe this year!  

Great Grandma's Tomato Soup

7-9 qts. of tomato juice

2 bunches of celery

6 onions

3 green peppers

10 or so large carrots (or a couple bags of baby carrots)

1 t black pepper

2 sticks of butter (not margarine)

1 1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. flour

1/4 c. salt

Chop and puree all veggies and add to tomato juice. Boil for 30 minutes. Pull out a few cups of juice and allow to cool. Blend the remaining ingredients into the cool juice with a blender then return to hot soup. Cook 15 more minutes.

While soup is place canning jars and lids upside down in a few inches of boiling water to sterilize. Fill jars, one at a time, with hot soup. Wipe rims and fasten lid and ring. Sit on counter to allow it to self seal. Leave jars sit for 24 hours before moving. 

Note: I'm not sure if this method of canning is FDA approved but my family has been doing it this way for at least four generations and none of us have died yet from eating this soup!