Good food

Some of the best foods of summer come from the grill. The one thing that can make any grilled food good or not so much so is the sauce. I just thought I would share a recipe for a good Kentucky BBQ sauce. As we near the Independence Day and the celebrations that come with it may I recommend this sauce for your next grill-out.

Bourbon Chipotle BBQ Sauce
(can be used with the meat of your choice)

1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4cup water
1/4cup molasses
1/4 Kentucky bourbon
1 tablespoon chipotle flakes or powder
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon black pepper, freshly ground

Combine all ingredients in heavy saucepan and bring to boil, lower heat and simmer for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. If possible make a day or 2 ahead and refrigerate for flavors to blend. Stir well before using.
Apply sauce to meat last 5 or 10 minutes of grilling to prevent blackening. In oven sauce can be added sooner. Sauce heated can be used for dipping. Enjoy!
Till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
stella

Garden fence

The electric fence around the garden was finished today. The solar powered fence box is in place and just waiting for some unsuspecting rabbit or deer to have dinner on me.
The plowing in the garden is done for the season for the most part with exception of the new corn that was planted just last week. Looks nice without all the weeds that had started to grow between the rows. Tomorrow I will get the shredded paper mulch put under the tomatoes to keep them off the ground and keep down weeds. We shred all junk mail, paper and light weight card board that comes into the house for use as a weed barrier and mulch under garden plants. It will decompose nicely and add to the garden next year when it gets turned under.
It has been really hot here today so now we are looking for a cool place to relax a bit. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

Just my thoughts

I would like to take some time to share my thoughts on gardening and heirloom variety vegetables. As I was looking at my garden yesterday, I noticed some things that were too coincidental. All the varieties of veggies that I have planted that were heirloom varieties have done well under adverse conditions. We have had the excessive rain, limited sunshine and still the old stand-bys have thrived. We have open pollinated Boone County White corn planted for cornmeal, and it is dark green and 6 ft tall now. The sweet corn, being hybrid is an abnormal 2 to 3 ft tall and tasseling. It did not thrive under the conditions. Both planted and treated the same. The tomatoes are all heirloom varieties and are setting tons of tomatoes. Peppers are another hybrid that has not done well at all. They do have peppers on them but will not by any means be considered a success. Watermelons and cantaloupes are heirloom varieties and are doing great. And again hybrid squash not so well. This leads me to believe that the heirloom varieties are stronger genetically and can adapt whereas the hybrids are bred for limited conditions and cannot adapt. I draw this conclusions knowing that all the crops in my garden got equal care and nurturing. Hopefully I will live to garden another year and if so blessed I will strive to plant all heirloom seeds. The old ways are still the best, tried and true. This is just one gardeners humble opinion. Til next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

How to Formulate Your Own Chicken Feed

How to Formulate Your Own Chicken Feed

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Just keep trying

We just keep trying to beat the weather and get things to grow like we think they should. Abundant rainfall in our area and limited sunshine has really stunted all the garden. The sweet corn is a disaster. Plants tasseling too short to be very productive if at all. But made another attempt today to boost them a little bit. I decided last night to not plow the sweet corn under, and just planted more in some empty spots in the garden. Now we will wait and see. Today we plowed the garden and then added a bit more fertilizer to the sweet corn and green beans to see if it will make them productive.



The tomatoes are small but there are lots of them on the vines. The other vining crops are starting to produce some fruit. So maybe we just need to be thankful for what we do have. I think the motto "make hay while the sun shines" has some merit. Thank God for the bountiful garden of last season, I did can way more than we needed, so have plenty if this one doesn't produce well. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.

stella

Simple Pesto

Just something I stumbled across that you may enjoy.
stella

clipped from rss.clipmarks.com Simple Pesto Wednesday, June 24, 2009 2:04 AM clipped by: sbemt456 Clip Source: www.organicgardening.com Simple Pesto 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup Olive oil 3 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts 3 garlic cloves, finely minced Pulse basil leaves in food processor until evenly chopped, add nuts, then cheese. Add olive oil to the ingredients while pulsing, until the mixture has a smooth, paste-like consistency. Use immediately or freeze. Makes 2 1/2 cups

The good and the bad

Just had to go check the garden this evening to see how my war on the potato bugs was progressing. It seems that I have made some real progress on them this time. There were a scarce few on the plants. Dug a mess of new potatoes and in spite of the bugs they have done well to this point. Also cut some more broccoli, and got 3 ripe tomatoes. So this is whats for supper tomorrow night. Checked and pulled one beet and with the size I will be pulling them and making beet pickles next week for sure. Took a good look at the sweet corn and am so disappointed in it. It is no more than 3 feet tall and is tasseling. Which means, no corn. Think I will give it one more try and plow it under and re-plant the whole patch. I guess I missed the obvious with all the rain. Too many rainy cloudy days and no sunshine to help the plants make their own food and grow. So till next time, blessings from the McGuire homestead.
stella