Musings from the Junque Pile

Good Morning!   The weather might cooperate today. It is supposed to be 60 and mostly sunny. Not quite shorts weather, but after the insanity that comprised of this past week, I'll take it.  We had 3 days of almost 100 degree weather earlier in the week, then temps plummeted to the 50's with lots of fog and rain. My poor tomatoes have no idea what do with themselves. My peppers are growing, though not as fast as I would like.

The rains damaged some of my strawberry blossoms, and I'm hoping they were already visited by the bee fairies and were already fertilized. I will be checking on them later today to see if there are any burgeoning berries. If I don't, I will lop off the damaged blossoms and see if I can coax the plants to re-bloom. These strawberries are heavy producers, and I can usually get them to bloom 2 to 3 times during their month of production.

The bin of potatoes that was constructed by DaMan has sprouted! I am so excited about this as it is our first time growing potatoes.

I am serious need of hacking back some of the more over-zealous herbs. The oregano, as usual is dominating the sage. I need to take it down a peg or twelve.

This year I planted borage, a lessor known herb. I want to see what it does, and it is purported to bring in bees and butterflies to our yard. We get a pretty heavy traffic of butterflies, which are always a joy to watch.

I need to get off my duff and plant the rest of my containers. I want to put chamomile in one, dill in another, and loofa in another.  That's right, I said LOOFAH!  LOL. Those sponges that you scrub yourself in the shower with?  Those! I saw a packet of seeds at the store earlier this spring, and I amazed. I never gave a thought to loofah, or if I did, I thought it was a sea sponge. But no, it's a squash!  You can even eat it. The packet says that if you pick it early, it can be sliced and sauteed like a zucchini. Or you can let it mature on the vine, and dry it for your very own personal scrubby.  How amazing is that? Anyway, I can't wait to try it. And report back to you, of course.  :)

I also need to get my booty to the nursery for a couple of flats of marigolds. DaMan and I like to plant them in between the veggies we are growing as a deterrent to rodents and some insects. Since we are not usually overrun by either, we want to keep up the tradition. Plus, it's a little bit of flowery colorfulness in and amongst the veggies. They have a strong menthol smell to them, which, I believe is part of the deterrent.

In other news, I spent a couple of hours trimming up our dog, Muffett, yesterday. The poor old girl had lots of winter coat that needed to be shed. She's got a very Wooky like coat, but her undercarriage and legs grow silky hair that doesn't take well to being buzzed with the electric clippers. So we sat outside yesterday afternoon, and she let me attack her fur with the scissors. She looks pretty good. Now, I need to clip her nails. She is NOT going to like that at all.

I also spent a good portion of yesterday cooking for the week.  I made a hugs vat of spaghetti sauce, that will also do double duty as pizza sauce. A loaf of bread was made, as well as a double batch of chicken curry salad for sandwiches.  We will be eating well on the micro-mini ranch this week!

Today's Junque Food

This weekend has been a moderate for cooking. DaMan is off doing DaManly stuff, and I've been prepping lunches for the coming week. We are expecting rain and cold, so I am leaning towards the warmth - temperature and spiciness.

I'm currently roasting a mess of sweet potatoes to mash with butter and just a wee bit of brown sugar. It's a good meal for me at work, easy to heat, and stays with me. It also helps my sweet tooth, so I don't crave candy - the vending machine in the lunch room is just EVIL! And the GI of sweet potatoes means my blood sugar won't spike and drop during the day. I really, really hate that feeling.

I made a double batch of Curried Chicken Salad for us for lunches, too. This spicy mix is great for sandwiches. I like to put some in a container, and put it on the bread at mealtime, so that the bread doesn't get soggy, as it can with mayo-based salads. It's wicked simple to put together, too, just use your favorite tuna salad mixings, swap out canned chicken instead of tuna, then add a heaping teaspoon of Patak's Hot Red Curry Paste:

This stuff is amazing! Try it, you'll see!