And it was a great night indeed!  With amazing food, fellowship and good ol' fashion music (guitar, banjo and flute) with renditions of Angeline the Baker,  Cluck Old Hen, Orphan Girl Wildwood Flower, Down by the River to Pray I'll Fly Away and a few other old Appalachian Tunes.

Hadn't had so much fun in quite sometime.

How'd you spend your holiday, care to share?

Socializing

Incoming! LOL Don't quite know why we both ducked at the same time.

Ooolala. A HUGE Apple Pie

Give me some of that old time music!

We sing & play some old tunes for the guests

Some even join in the foot stomping music fun

Gift of Music

Speaking of homegrown music, our dear friends and fellow homesteaders in Tennessee sent us a stack of their CD 'Father Along'

Here on the urban homestead we really enjoy playing their CD.  In fact, we play it over and over and over and over again - singing along too!  Their songs just brighten our day and are such a wonderful blessing to listen to.

We are selling their CD's this holiday season, so get them while supplies last! - BUY NOW

Beautiful family harmony from the Appalachian hills; ballads, old country and originals written and sung in their timeless way.

The West Girls consist of a close knit family of a mother and three daughters. The West Girls latest CD, Farther Along, is rich in family harmonies, old hymns, and beautiful originals that will encourage and bless your spirit and soul. Featuring their hit song, “ Green Beans in the Garden” which children especially enjoy.

Seven of the ten songs were written by the West family. These songs that reflect their home life, growing up where the “creek is bubblin’ too” and show their love and thankfulness for all life.

The West’s make their living at home in the beautiful valley which is a horse and buggy community literally flowing with milk and honey in the hills of Tennessee.

Green beans in November? What a treat!

and Sweet Peppers too!

The weather's turned chilly and the fall winds blow so out have come the hoops and row covers to protect the young greens and brassicas.

What summer hold outs do you have in your garden?

On another personal note....

Our family would like to thank all those who took time to share their sympathy over the loss our "Darling Clementine." It was nice to read that she was the first chicken many of you ever met and petted - thanks for sharing those memories with us.

Life goes on, another chapter with pages to fill and so we look forward with good memories in our hearts.  Now, who's gonna replace Clem as the poster chick for the urban homestead?

Perhaps we should hold a chicken tryouts?  Just kidding!

This rain is so unusual for October.   We've give up on "normal" weather for awhile now thanks to global weirding.

Rain is a blessing but, so much at this time of year, when the weather is still warm we've seen something that we've never seen before - MOLD!    It's so wet that there's fungus and mold growing on wood, walls and walkways -- even some of the veggies are showing signs of mold.  Young beans are molding on the vine! So looks like we won't be having green beans in November.

Ladybug and raindrops

Is it spring yet? Apple blooms again!

Pink guavas

Pineapple guavas

Cassidy finds shelter under the eaves and whines "when's this rain going to stop?"

Peppers heavy with water and fruit

Young citrus shoots

Limes

Squash blossoms

Eggplant

Baby squash

Squash vines

Young peas

Fall tomatoes

Flowering Blue Basil

Sleepy kitty

Mushrooms

Basketful of sweet red peppers

Young duckies enjoy the rain

Edible driveway

No sun as of yet but at least the rain's stop, and none too soon, because there's lots of outside work to be done!

On the Food Front

June's been a pretty mild month, thanks to the morning gloom is not too hot nor too cold - just right!

But the first day of July is a HOT one.  Summer is officially here and it will only get HOTTER.

June is the tipping point month were things can either go up hill or downhill ... and fast!  So far, we are holding steady.  Some things are growing well, while others not so much.

No new news hear, we do have a problem with some worms that are randomly cutting round holes in the chard - cheeky buggers.   In the morning I go thru and cull the bad leaves from the green beds - those go to the critters who chow down on box load of leafy greens each day.

We've spotted a few grasshoppers too.   If they are big enough, Justin who's just about as quick on the scissor trigger as Wyatt Earp, cuts them half.    Bye, bye grasshopper.  The ones that are the hardest to combat are the teensy tiny ones that wreak the most havoc in the garden.

A few harlequin bugs are still around but now there are some spider mites on the cucumbers and beans.  Justin sprayed Neem Oil to control them a bit.

We are harvesting another bed of carrots.  Like I said, best carrot year EVER.  Next big harvest will be the beets.  I've fallen in love with roasted beet and apple salad.  Green beans are pouring in - can never have enough of those.

Tomatoes are coming in by the handful, but hopefully not for long.  So too are the cucumbers, peppers and squashes.  Eggplant are not far behind.  If you drop by the urban homestead these days, you'll

On the fruit front:  there's baskets full of apples, blueberries, peaches and pretty soon figs!   Life is good.

Tally Hoe

730 lbs produce (fruits, vegetables, herbs)

Eggs:   32 Ducks /  68 Chickens

Year to Date Tally

2,540 lbs produce

205 Duck Eggs

440 Chicken Eggs

Happy Interdependence Day everyone!

Veggie pot pie filling

Veggie pot pie warm out of the oven

Pasta cooked in the solar oven

Slice of veggie pot pie and salad

Vegetable casserole version one

Version one casserole with salad

Veggie soup

Vegetable casserole version two

Version two with salad

Whew doggie!  It's been a busy week here at the urban homestead   Busy with bees (getting ready to harvest some honey!), battling bad bugs, moving the tender greens to cooler spot in the yard and getting things ready for a major can-a-thon.  I might as well admit to the fact that it'll be awhile before we come up for breath!

The summer produce has been, for the last few weeks, lapping at the dam.  This week it finally topped and now the fun begins.

When the trickle becomes a tidal wave.  you gotta be prepared for the onslaught.  It can come at you fast and, if you aren't prepared, can bowl you over, leaving you buried under a load of veggies and fruit.   For me, this time of year,  there are just too many darn veggies to choose from!  Should I make this dish, or that, or how about this one?   Heck, there are only three meals in a day; but, with the baskets of fruits and veggies, I feel like a kid in a candy store!  I want to eat them all.

This week with so much work, we opted to "keep it simple" and stick with "one pot" meal for lunch which we then can re-heat in the solar oven for dinner.   Saves time and uses a LOT of veggies at once - not to mention it's filling!

The trusted ol' casserole ruled the week as we tried out two versions.

WEEK OF EATS AT THE URBAN HOMESTEAD

All food items are homemade/homegrown/home preserved  unless otherwise specified

and ...

If not from backyard, then locally produced
If not locally produced, then organic.
If not organic, then family farm.
If not family farm, then local business.
If not local business, then fair trade.

SATURDAY

Breakfast - blueberry pancakes with strawberries
Dinner - flour tortillas with spanish rice, topped with sauteed green peppers and red onions

SUNDAY

Breakfast - grapefruit from Farmer Sergio
Lunch - garden tea party!

MONDAY

Breakfast - skillet granola (organic oats, sugar and oil) with strawberries and yogurt
Lunch - vegetable soup (onions, green peppers, turnips, carrots, winter squash and greens)
Dinner - leftover veggie soup that was warmed up in the sun oven

TUESDAY

Breakfast - french toast with honey
Lunch - veggie pot pie (green beans, carrots, turnips, winter squash, herbs) with salad
Dinner - leftover veggie pot pie that was warmed up in the sun oven with salad

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast -skillet granola with strawberries and yogurt
Lunch - veggie medley "Casserole I"  (green beans, carrots, turnips, winter & summer squash and greens) with shredded carrot and lettuce salad
Dinner - leftover veggie soup that was warmed up in the sun oven with sun cooked pasta

THURSDAY

Breakfast - french toast and honey
Lunch - veggie medley "Casserole II"  (green beans, carrots, turnips, winter & summer squash and greens) with salad
Dinner -herb pizza dough topped with tomatoes, basil, peppers, garlic with salad

FRIDAY

Breakfast - grapefruit
Lunch - leftover veggie "Casserole II" with salad
Dinner - no knead bread, fresh tomato sauce over spaghetti

Care to share what you've been enjoying, eating recently? Are you making more meals from scratch or homegrown ingredients. What new dishes have you tried and liked?

Me want beans!

There's green beans in the garden (and clean clothes on the line!)

Summer is here and so are scrumptious vegetables that we've eagerly anticipated for nearly 1/2 a year.   After so long, isn't it just a blessings to sit down and devour a heaping plate of green beans slather in butter.   MMMMM

Ms Fairlight, our Nigerian dwarf goat, wants in on the green bean action.  Now, here's the funny thing: with our goats (especially Ms Diva here) she could care less about beans, or any other food for that matter, unless humans put it into a container - then that means food and she, like Cookie Monster, says "me wants it!"

We have a busy weekend ahead!

Hope to see ya'll at Encinitas Environmental Day on Sunday!

It's starting to FINALLY feel like FALL! To celebrate the change in season we cut open one of of our first winter squashes (Burgess Buttercup) yum!

SATURDAY

Breakfast - homemade/homegrown pancakes topped with homegrown strawberries
Dinner - homemade flour tortillas, homemade spanish rice (homegrown onions, peppers, tomatoes) with homegrown sauteed pepper and local avocado  and onions with raw cheese

SUNDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - leftovers from Saturday dinner
Dinner - homeraised eggs - omelet with homegrown green peppers, tomatoes, jalapenos, celery topped with raw cheese

MONDAY

OUT

TUESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown winter squash topped with homegrown pomegranates with ca organic rice with homegrown peppers and herbs
Dinner - homegrown winter squash topped with homegrown pomegranates with ca organic rice with homegrown peppers and herbs

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown squash, limas, green beans, peppers steamed on top of organic CA grown rice
Dinner - homegrown squash, limas, green beans, peppers steamed on top of organic CA grown rice

THURSDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - summer homegrown vegetables (red & green peppers, tomatoes) mac & cheese casserole topped with homegrown herb seasoned bread crumbs
Dinner - homemade/homegrown herb pizza crust topped with homegrown roasted eggplant, peppers, basil, tomatoes and mozzarella cheese

FRIDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch -  homegrown tomato sandwich
Dinner - homemade tomato sauce (homegrown garlic, celery, onions, peppers and tomatoes) with pasta and parmesan cheese

The meals last week were certainly very colorful and tasty.  We are still working on using up the huge bag of carrots we harvested a few weeks back so we enjoyed an easy and very delicious carrot salad with almost each one of our meals.

The tromboncino squashes are young and very tender and sweet - perfect for summer squash dishes.  We tried a new squash casserole recipe that caught our eye and it turned out really delicious.  The guys even asked for seconds and that's always a good thing!

Enjoying sweet and plump figs on sandwiches, in flour tortillas and toppings on pizza.  Figs are a very versatile food and enjoying using them in savory dishes.

Not to mention for dessert we've been devouring Jordanne's scrumptious avocado and chocolate cupcakes.  Thing is they are so good - too good in fact they are dangerous!  Dangerous to the waistline (well, for me anyway)  I'm the kind that looks at desserts and can gain 5 lbs.

SATURDAY

Breakfast - homemade/homegrown blueberry pancakes with homegrown strawberries
Dinner - homemade flour tortillas, homemade spanish rice (homegrown onions, peppers, tomatoes) with homegrown sauteed pepper and local avocado  and onions (from Farmer S) with raw cheese

SUNDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - leftovers from Saturday
Dinner - homegrown carrot salad (honey and orange dressing and ca grown raisins) with homegrown green bean salad with homegrown fig and cheese sandwich

MONDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown squash, basil and herbs with pasta homegrown carrot salad (honey and orange dressing & ca grown raisins)
Dinner - homegrown squash, basil, tomatoes, peppers and herbs with pasta homegrown carrot salad (honey and orange dressing)

TUESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown green beans with homegrown carrot salad (honey and orange dressing with ca grown raisins)
Dinner - homegrown squash casserole with homegrown carrot salad (honey and orange dressing with ca grown raisins)

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown tomatoes and avocados, cilantro sandwhich with homegrown carrot (honey, orange dressing and ca grown raisins)
Dinner - homegrown squash, herbs, tomatoes, peppers pasta cheese casserole

THURSDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown fig quesadillas with homegrown cilantro, peppers, tomatoes and homemade flour tortillas and cheese
Dinner  - homemade herb pizza crust topped with homegrown homegrown-preserved marinated peppers and homegrown tomatoes, roasted eggplants, basil, figs and mozerella cheese

FRIDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch -  summer veggie pasta (homegrown tomatoes, peppers, squash) with organic cheese sauce
Dinner - homemade tomato sauce (homegrown garlic, celery, onions, peppers and tomatoes) with pasta and parmesan cheese

I've noticed too that there's not been many June bugs either.  Spotted only two this week, last year we had a whole army of 'em - it was like an invasion!

Well, we are just going to see how the weather plays out this year.   Certainly at the mercy of its whims and all we can do is roll with it.

Here on the urban homestead we still are harvesting blueberries, strawberries, apple and the figs are FINALLY starting to ripen (a little late if you ask me)

Guess what that means - fig quesadillas!

Fig queso's have turned out to a favorite summer meal here on the urban homestead.  I remember when I first came across this recipe a few years trying to figure out how to use up all the figs (sans desserts)  Sounded interesting but wasn't sure how it would go over with the others.  So what I did (learned this trick a long time ago - never tell people if something has an odd ingredient as it always clouds or prejudices their taste buds) served it without telling what was in the flour tortillas and waited for their reactions.  "These are good, what's in them?" they asked.  "Whew," I thought, "they like it!"  Now that they tasted it and liked it I can now spring the mystery ingredients on them.   "Figs!, I replied, proud that this new dish passed the tastebud test.  Of course, when they heard about the figs, everyone looked surprise!  Update: Since then we've used figs on cheese sandwiches, pasta and even pizza!

We had another treat this week!

Jordanne our little baker here whipped up a tasty chocolate dessert which was made with a surprising ingredient - avocados.   Since we had a lot of 'em thanks to Farmer S and one can eat so much guacamole or chopped raw we decided to try them in a dessert.   The chocolate avocado cupcakes turned out to be incredibly moist considering there were NO eggs and very delicious.   Of course, when serving it to the guys we withheld the fact that they were made with avocado (remember the little trick) till they tasted them and commented "these are good!"

Just another tasty covert way to eat those veggies!

Care to share your covert measures when it comes to using up all those extra veggies?

SATURDAY

Breakfast - homemade/homegrown blueberry pancakes with homegrown strawberries
Dinner - homemade flour tortillas, homemade spanish rice (homegrown onions, peppers, tomatoes) with homegrown sauteed pepper and local avocado  and onions (from Farmer S) with raw cheese

SUNDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - leftovers from Saturday
Dinner - homegrown carrot salad (honey and orange dressing) with homegrown tomato and avocado ( from Farmer S ) sandwich

MONDAY

Breakfast - homemade homegrown apple crisp
Lunch - homegrown green beans, carrots with organic potatoes with herb (homegrown) butter
Dinner - homegrown tomato and cucumber salad with homegrown tomato, cilantro and avocado ( from Farmer S ) sandwich topped with raw cheese

TUESDAY

Breakfast - homemade homegrown apple crisp
Lunch - homegrown carrot and sorrel soup
Dinner - homegrown tomato and cucumber salad with homegrown tomato, cilantro and avocado ( from Farmer S ) sandwich topped with raw cheese

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - homegrown carrot and sorrel soup
Dinner - homemade flour tortillas, quesadillas homegrown figs, peppers, tomatoes, cilantro red onions (from Farmer S ) with homegrown carrot salad (honey and orange dressing)

THURSDAY

Breakfast - homemade homegrown fruit bowl (homegrown grapes, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, apples)
Lunch - homegrown tomato and cucumber salad with homegrown tomato, cilantro and avocado ( from Farmer S ) sandwich
Dinner  - homemade herb pizza crust topped with homegrown homegrown-preserved marinated peppers and homegrown tomatoes and basil

FRIDAY

Breakfast - homemade homegrown fruit bowl (homegrown grapes, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, apples)
Lunch -  summer veggie pasta (homegrown tomatoes, peppers) with organic cheese sauce
Dinner -homegrown cucumber and tomato salad, homemade tomato sauce (homegrown garlic, celery, onions, peppers and tomatoes) with pasta and parmesan cheese

What's with the weather?  Today and yesterday morning it feels like fall?  I know the coolness will burn off once the sun comes out but it really doesn't feel like the August we are so used to.

Jordanne and I were commenting on the sound - it changed.  Yeah, sounds funny but it's not.  We can hear when the weather change thanks to the 11 lane freeway just a stone's throw away from our property - it's like our ghetto weather barometer.   The freeway sound changes when the weather does.   With all the windows open (no AC) and our being outside a lot we tend to notice things like that.

I do hope this crazy weather doesn't affect the garden too much.  Still waiting for the "motherload"  -- the surplus harvest that we rely on to preserve for fall and winter.  We can only do so much after we sow the seeds and care for the plants, the rest is in God's hands.  So we are praying for a bountiful harvest this season.

Well, as you can see,  last week I really didn't do a good job at taking pictures of our meals.  My apology's to all your photo loving foodies.

I was preoccupied with other things....

SATURDAY

Breakfast - homemade/homegrown blueberry pancakes with homegrown strawberries
Dinner - homemade flour tortillas, homemade spanish rice (homegrown onions, peppers, tomatoes) with homegrown sauteed pepper and local avocado  and onions (from Farmer S)

SUNDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch - leftovers from Saturday
Dinner - homemade herb pizza crust topped with homegrown roasted eggplant,  homegrown-preserved marinated peppers and homegrown tomatoes and basil

MONDAY

Breakfast - homemade homegrown apple crisp
Lunch - homegrown limas and herb butter with organic ca grown rice
Dinner - homegrown-preserved pickled squash with homegrown tomato and avocado ( from Farmer S ) sandwich

TUESDAY

Breakfast - homemade homegrown apple crisp
Lunch - homegrown vegetable soup (limas, green beans, carrots, and cabbage  from Farmer S
Dinner - homemade coleslaw ( cabbage from Farmer S , homegrown turnips, apples, carrots) with homegrown tomato, homegrown lettuce and local avocado (from Farmer S) sandwich

WEDNESDAY

Breakfast - homemade skillet granola
Lunch -homegrown vegetable soup (limas, green beans, carrots, and cabbage  from Farmer S
Dinner - homemade coleslaw ( cabbage from Farmer S , homegrown turnips, apples, carrots) with summer veggie pasta (homegrown tomatoes and peppers)

THURSDAY

Breakfast - homemade homegrown fruit bowl (homegrown grapes, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, apples)
Lunch - homegrown steamed carrots and cabbage from Farmer S with organic ca grown rice
Dinner  - homemade herb pizza crust topped with homegrown roasted eggplant,  homegrown-preserved marinated peppers and homegrown tomatoes and basil

FRIDAY

Breakfast - homemade homegrown fruit bowl (homegrown grapes, blueberries, strawberries, peaches, apples)
Lunch -  homegrown steamed limas, carrots and cabbage from Farmer S with organic ca grown rice
Dinner -homemade tomato sauce (homegrown garlic, celery, onions, peppers and tomatoes) with pasta and parmesan cheese