Spring is certainly here on the Gulf Coast!
Blooming:
Azaleas, Camellias, Bridal’s Wreath, Bradford Pear, and so many more that the colors are just dazzling. Our azaleas on the Gulf Coast are particularly lovely this year. It is as if the entire county has brightened considerably in the past couple of weeks.
Collecting:
Eggs, eggs, eggs…in the doghouse, behind the doghouse, in the woods, and in the chicken pen (where they all should be laying!). Green ones, pink ones, bluish ones, and brown ones. Wish I could give you some!
Buying:
Local Alabama Produce:
Strawberries, fresh off the local farm — and at only $8.99/flat (but I first paid another farmers’ market $12.99/flat before I found that better price — ah, well)
Fresh local spinach at $2.49 for a huge bag of it (we use fresh spinach as our lettuce – shh, the kids don’t know you’re supposed to have anything else)
Almost Local Florida produce:
A whole box of “canning tomatoes” (they call it that when they have a slight blemish on them) for just $4.49 for the entire box (just over 20 lbs.)
A big bag of slightly blemished pickling cucumbers for $0.99
A big bag of slightly ugly yellow squash for $0.99
Almost Local Georgia produce:
Vidalia onion greens — mmm! $1.49 for a bunch of 4-6 big onions with long greens
Ugh….The apples weren’t a great price at $1.29/lb. for Fuji’s, but we can’t grow everything down here! And I don’t know where the $0.99/lb. green grapes came from.
In My Garden:
Late-February planting:
The onions are about 6″ tall; carrots are about 2″; radishes are doing well; the mustard greens are being eaten by my chickens before they can grow; early peas are about 4″ tall; can’t remember where the beets are, but I think I planted some!
March planting:
The watermelons are sprouting; I planted cantaloupe, yellow squash, zucchini, and bush beans a few days ago.
From the Burris Farm Market in Loxley, Alabama:
A recipe I am going to try tomorrow.
Strawberry Bread
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
4 eggs, beaten
1-1/4 cups vegetable oil
1 cup chopped pecans
2-1/2 cups chopped Burris Grown Strawberries (or, your local ones!)
Combine the first 5 ingredients and mix. Combine the remaining 4 ingredients and add to the dry mixture, stirring well. Spoon into 2 greased and floured loaf pans. Bake at 350F for 1 hour.
by Lori Seaborg
We had chickens for years………I sure do miss the fresh eggs!
Maureen
Unposted books are just books that are not yet on paperbackswap.com – books you might be able to buy elsewhere, but not there. I think the reason that they let you see those books is so you can create a wishlist of those items. I’ve only been on paperbackswap.com for a couple of weeks, but have already received a wish list book just because I added it to the wish list when it was an uposted book.
Oh, wow! It sounds wonderful down there! We don’t have too much going on up here in NC yet. Although the Cherry trees are in bloom! I just love them! We live on a mostly wood lot so we don’t have lots of pretty trees. I have an apple tree. The one apple that grew on it was very tasteless. Wonder if that can change? If not, maybe I should go get another one and try a dwarf tree?
The baby goat is so cute! I’ve wanted to try to raise a couple of goats, but I’m chicken! lol. I haven’t the foggiest idea what to do with them. We have 2 cats and 2 dogs. Oh, yes, and a Beta fish. Our parakeet died two years ago. She was sooo sweet. We could carry her around.
I need to get our seeds started. My dd has chosen her plants for the summer and we’ve got the peat pots. Now to go under the house and get the container to put them in.
Have a great week!
Sheila
Thanks for sharing, and I’llbe back.