Leather Britches and Mora of da Flora

First da flora...don't you just love to speak Fwench?
Yes, I'm kiddin'. Of course. Of course.
A zinnia from the garden. Ze gardin. Yes, I agree, that's enough Fwench for one post.

Purple coneflower. I must have scared all the butterflies away with my Fwench. They usually love it...the flowers, that is. oO

I'm still pickin' beans from our two little seven-foot rows. I've already tired of canning them so I strung up about a peck of them. They're, now, called leather britches. Well, they're "leather breeches" north of the Mason-Dixon line, but here in the good ol' South.. leather britches. The flavor is different than when they're canned. They taste a lot stronger...and they're chewier. I'm a-thinkin' that's where the leather part comes in, but what do I know?

Would you like to see the inside of a blackberry cobbler? Of course, you're inquisitive and brilliant so here it is. After adding the top crust and baking...it was spectacular. Goodman and I like ours warm topped with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream. Have a good week, Y'all. :)

Signs and Times

Gardening the old-fashion way. (Zinnias in one of our vegetable gardens.)I've been scratchin' and diggin' in the dirt and harvesting way more (emphasis on way) produce than expected and loving it to pieces. I haven't mention this before, but heretofore, we'd never planted by the signs. Yes. The signs.  With the economy wobblin' like a fresh egg on a brick wall in an earthquake epicenter, Goodman and I decided to till and plant by the signs in the heavens. We used a farmer's almanac as our guide for the best days to till, plant, water, weed, etc., and the result is well... simply astounding. And I have Biblical backup lest you think I've gone around the bend. Check out Genesis 1:14. There are over 30 tomatoes on this plant alone. You can count nearly 20 if you look closely at this one-sided view.Did you know according to the signs of the moon, etc., there are days that are best or worst for a a lot of different gardening related activities? Have you ever heard that potatoes should be planted in the dark of the moon?  Well, I'm convinced it's not. As a matter of fact I think it would be better classified as much needed wisdom.I was skeptical in the past, but truly, y'all, older folks know best. My garden, full of large healthy vegetables hangin' heavy on the plants speaks for itself...
Tell me, do you plant by the signs? We took a li'l trip up to Virginia over the weekend. Not far from where our youngest lives in Virginia there is a magnificent overlook view of Draper Valley. If any of you have the book, The Frontiersmen (Time Life or just look it up on the 'net.), there is a great, true-life story about the Draper family of Virginia in early American history.
Here's a picture of the historical marker (sorry about the angle) to offer a bit of the history.Hope your week is full of lots of plump, natural vegetables and everlasting wisdom from above. :)

Linking to The Art of Home Making Mondays, From the Farm Blog Hop, FarmGirl Friday

Summertime Doin's

Hey, Y'all. I hope you all had a great 4th of July weekend. We had a good time, especially with the grandgals. Goodman bought fireworks (perfectly legal here) for them. They have some of the cutest things for kids like parachutes and colored smoke bombs..too cute. Otherwise, I've been immersed in the garden and more spring cleaning and..and...well, you get the picture.My four little ol' cucumber plants have blessed me with several dozen jars of pickles...well, I did the picklin' part myself, but the plants just keep makin' more cucumbers. These are lime pickles. I just followed the directions on the bag of lime I got in the canning section of the grocery store. They are quite good, but bread and butter pickles are my all-time favorite. I've made two batches of both kinds so far. I think I have enough to make a run of whole kosher dills this afternoon....Oh, my birthday was very swift. It's from Knitpicks and it works very well. And it looks like I got it in the nick 0' time. Goodman and I trekked up to Ohio on the 4th and met up with some friends at Treasure Aisles Flea Market just north of Cincinnati. We had a terrific time and found treasure after treasure. I found five skeins of this Irish Knittng Wool that is tied like most hanks of yarn are tied before they are twisted. I'm going to need the swift to wind it into balls for sure.Plus the same folks had these twenty packages of wool. Each package contains 2 balls of pure wool in worsted weight. 80 ounces of wool in the sealed packages. I'm still stunned over this find. I paid $9 for all of the yarn. Somebody pinch me. I found these very cool Japanese lantern style patio lights for $3 and this hinged-lid tin to add to my collection for $3.25.
I'm still working on the lace border for my shawl. I've go one last skein of yarn to go. I'm hoping I can finish it before the yarn runs out.
Hope your week is a good 'un. :)