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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Tomatoes, Flowers, Apples and a Recipe

Yesterday I took a mosey around to see how stuff was growing. This summer had a pretty good monsoon season and the plants have been extremely grateful. I am grateful for the former lady of the house who, although only here on vacations, thoughtfully planned out the garden so that there is always something blooming during the growing season.

But I don't know what all these plants are, so if you can identify anything, please leave me a comment, okay?


Here's a closeup of one of the flowers:


Because we have no beef cattle around this summer, they didn't eat this vine and I discovered that it actually blooms!


Let me know if you know what this one is.


I admired the apples. I never had an apple tree before, so this is a treat.


I checked out the bee hives. Bears are out and about and the white fence is electrified. Yogi and Boo-Boo do not get this honey!


Inside the Growing Dome I said hello to Manny, Moe and Jack, the resident Wal-Mart goldfish who live in the large water tank.


This is The Tomato Thicket. It's a wall of tomatoes and I have to hunt around to find all the ripe ones.


The Roma tomatoes are sneaky and hide deep within the thicket. But I found them because I am a relentless seeker of errant tomatoes.


And I made this excellent tomato sauce from Smitten Kitchen.

http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/08/naked-tomato-sauce/

Then I went to Thread Bear, the local Las Vegas, NM quilt store, to buy fabric for a class I am taking in Albuquerque this weekend taught by Jacquie Gering, one of my quilt heroes.

4 comments:

  1. The vine is a trumpet vine... it can be invasive but I don't think you should have a problem with it since it's pretty dry there. I'm not sure of the shrub... maybe an althea?

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  2. In fact, it may be this althea:

    Hibiscus syriacus Ardens, Eibisch, shrub althea

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  3. I had to laugh at your tomato thicket...its awesome! THE FISH are so sweet looking! I visited Windstar (Snowmass, CO) back when John Denver was alive and vested in it...they had a huge dome with a fish tank in the center, full of catfish!
    The tank of water served 3 purposes, one to help heat the dome and the other to raise the fish and some hydroplonic lettuce!
    Those apples look awesome too!! Apple jelly maybe?

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  4. I just love reading about your activities on your ranch. The photos are lovely and yes that is a trumpet vine. We have loads of apples on our tree and three dropped off and I sampled one--can't wait for a bit more sugar in them. DH picked an Asian pear. They have the sweetness of a pear and the crispness of an apple. I think they would do well in your climate there. We planted two this spring after I tasted one from a friend last year. I'm hoping for a great crop next year. Our peaches are just about all frozen in slices for future smoothies. Love your beekeeping stories and pictures. Our neighbor has a hive and I think that really helps our garden. We had a hive move over here and we called his son to take them and he said that hive that moved here was worth about $75. I admire your tenacity at trying beekeeping! Good luck and have fun at your quilting class. I have to say I'm a bit jealous!

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