Playing in the Dirt

Many years ago I asked my younger brother what he was doing outside in the yard, and he answered, "playing in the dirt." Well, he is a grandpa now, and I saw his beautiful vegetable garden last week where he has been "playing in the dirt" just like old times. Great job, WFC!

This morning I spent almost 4 hours "playing in the dirt" in our garden. Our raised beds aren't as big as F's, but we have beans, onions, garlic, asparagus, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, lettuce, eggplant, bell peppers, arugula, and herbs. If we can keep everything moist in this heat, we should be able to enjoy our garden veggies in a couple of weeks. We have already sampled the red onions, arugula, and asparagus. Our artichoke plant produced like crazy, but I just cut off the old branches and it continues to be leafy. We have Brussel sprout plants from last fall, and they look like they are going to try to produce again.

Today I was just pulling weeds and getting rid of the old lettuce plants from the sowing in March. Most of the weeding I do by hand, since I am famous for scoffeling the wrong plants. We grow marigolds and some herbs in and amongst the veggies to keep out the critters. I have heard that garlic helps, too. When the veggie beds are plantless in the winter, I throw mandarin orange peelings around on top of the soil to keep out the "playing in the dirt" beasts. That seems to help. What also helps is that our beagle likes to take a leak along the wooden sides of the beds. He protects our territory, LOL.

Whenever I have a weeding morning, I am usually useless for the rest of the day. Today was no exception. But I still need to get through these cookie recipes. Here is a healthy one from Memaw's Just Plain Cooking.

One Fruity Cookie (Memaw's)

2 cups Fruitful Bran cereal ( or something similar like raisin bran)

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter or margarine (softened)

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon almond flavoring or 1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

Combine cereal, flour, soda, and salt. Set aside.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add egg and flavoring. Continue beating until smooth. Gradually add cereal mixture mixing until well blended.

Drop by level measuring tablespoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 8 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 2 dozen cookies.