blog break

I am taking a blog break.
Too many tech difficulties.
Be well.

Rednesday

I am participating in Rednesday again today, but have been experiencing

technical difficulties due to the very wet wires outside my house.

Today I will show you where I blog from...

no, it's not red...

it's Happy Green, but look closely,

my vintage tablecloth has lovely strawberries

perfect for my blog pal, Sue..host of Rednesday

this and every other week.

Go see the delicious redness over at her Secret Garden.

Still raining in the Garden State

Alert the butterflies...we have flowers on their bush! We also have some lovely plums...

Farmer Dad and I both thought we would get up to our Community Garden plots today to

weed and mulch some more, but it is not to be. It is raining again in the Garden State.

In case you are all concerned, we are safe and sound inside today, the Ark is coming along

just fine, but we are still waiting for the two Zebra, and two Ostrich to show up.

All the other animals have arrived, but sad to say we took a vote, and the Ground Hogs

will be turned away on this voyage. Please don't cry too long over their fate, there is far too much water here already, and we are leaving them with plenty of provisions.

Before the rain started up again this morning, we were out picking more peas, and

golden raspberries, and a bit of lettuce, and we even weeded a bit and planted two new

raspberry plants my sister picked up on Freecycle for me (Thanks Shell). The bees were making sure we will soon have blackberries as well.

We also re-planted a baby blueberry bush that something had pulled out of the ground, and re-filled the bird feeders. Then we watched the birds from the dry kitchen.

This little gal was watching me watch the other birds at the feeder.


Here's hoping the rain doesn't wash out all the crops, and the sun returns someday soon.

Vintage Thingies Thursday

I'm back to celebrate Vintage Thingies Thursday, I've been absent as I try to
figure out how to get my photos on my brand new lap top Farmer Dad and Princess
got for me as a Birthday gift. (Yes, I finally found one I liked, and he thought was good
enough, that I didn't think was way too much money.lol)
Anyway, I wanted to post about these dishes, and couldn't figure out how to get the photos
on here, when I remembered I posted them on my homeschooling blog originally, so here
I give you that original post, along with some small editing. I still LOVE these dishes,
but I was never able to use the beautiful Vintage garbage can for my potato growing, Farmer Dad is using it to store tools or something. He confiscated my lovely,pristine garbage can,
to prevent me from "damaging" it by filling it with compost and soil!
Just a reminder Farmer Dad..you still owe me a can for said potatoes!
One Thursday, I saw an ad on Craig's List about people clearing
out stuff from their house a few blocks from us, and had thought
about going, but just hadn't done it. Friday afternoon I drove past
on my way to the library, and recognized the house as having belonged
to a friend of my Grandfather's who died a year or two before my Grandfather.
I didn't stop and after reading a bit at home, I thought about it and realized that
they may have some old
pots and pans or canning jars, I should stop by. It was raining again, but I got out and saw
stuff lining the driveway next to a dumpster, and a box of canning jars was there amongst a bunch of stuff I didn't need or want. I rang the doorbell to be sure it was all right to take what was there, and the man told me they had more on the side porch. He gave me a garbage bag
and pointed out some stuff I might want. I put them in the bag more because he thought I should than because I wanted them. He went back inside and then came out and said he had some dishes in the basement..would I like them? I asked if they were heavy and he said yes, but he would drag them to next to the stairs and I could look at them. He went inside and came back out a minute or so later with his son carrying one of those old metal garbage cans.
My first thought was "I'm taking whatever it is to get that can!" (perfect for my potato plans)
He shows me a dish with a pretty pink flower and I said "oh that's pretty" and he said
"you'll need a truck to get it home" I told him I had one. He went inside and I carried the can
(boy was it heavy!) to my truck in the drizzle. It took me a bit to get it up high enough,
but I did it. (I really wanted the can!) I went back for the plastic bag and the box of canning jars,
and he came out again..shocked that I got it by myself. He had gone in to put proper shoes on
to help me carry it apparently. We laughed, he thanked me for helping him get rid of the "old stuff",I said thank you petted the poodle who had befriended me and drove carefully off to my house. I honked twice to alert Farmer Dad that he should come help, and he carried the can inside.
It was musty smelling from being in the basement filled with old newspaper (1961 and 1963)
on top was the plate he showed me,
and then we unwrapped, and unwrapped until we had unwrapped all of this.
They are Stuebenville ! Service for 8 and only a few pieces even have any signs of wear.
Who tosses them out? They were going to toss these
into the dumpster if no one wanted them. The jars are old jelly jars..9 of them just like this
One man's junk truly is this gal's treasure! Baccala..wherever you are..we are enjoying your dishes..thank you.

Golden Raspberries,Lettuce and Peas, Oh My!

A view from my kitchen window...

Begs you to get out to pick these...

That is pretty much what our weekend was filled with.

Along with mowing the overgrown lawn, weeding the flower beds and garden.

Deadheading the flowers. The rain has everything looking soggy and sat upon.

We did have a small yard sale this weekend, while we weeded and all that.

It was pretty good for last minute, and we cleared out some much needed space.

I have big plans this summer, which is right around the corner, and I need to make some room.

We were able to harvest more lettuce, beet greens,swiss chard,some herbs, and the first of the

golden raspberries and peas. Snow peas and pod peas. Yum!

I have about a billion mosquito bites in places no bug should be, and Princess

and Farmer Dad? Not a one. He claims it is all that British "Blue Blood", I guess mine

is more Sicilian Marinara, cause the bugs sure LOVE me!
Can't you just feel summer coming closer when you see this cone flower getting ready to flower?
I am not sure how these roses still had petals it after the hard rains we had here.((hugs))KateinNJ

Still Got Milk? Crisis for Dairy Farmers

Things are bad for family run dairy farms right now folks.
Really bad.According to Farm Aid’s Hilde Steffey, we are at risk here in the U.S. of losing upwards of 80% of our dairy farmers by year’s end, leaving us with just 12,000 dairy farms total. That’s 1 dairy for every 25,000 Americans.
This dairy crisis, and its solution, comes down to a question of fairness. It is unfair that large dairy companies are undercutting U.S. producers by importing cheap milk protein concentrates from other countries(do you really want more food from China?) and using them instead of U.S.-produced milk? (And theFDA does nothing to stop the practice, even though MPCs aren’t approved as a food ingredient) It is unfair that the dairy industry is so consolidated that a few large companies can manipulate the price of milk to their own benefit.They are pocketing huge profits while dairy farmers are left barely hanging on to their farms, or worse.Our Dairy farmers have shelled out more and more for feed and hay in the last few years, but the prices they receive for milk have fallen.We, the consumers are still paying for milk what we were earlier this year, while farmers’ prices dropped 30% in January alone. How is that possible?
There are a lot of things that need to be fixed here, but the most urgent task is to keep dairy farmers on the land while we figure out what to do about the rest. That’s where the government comes in. Way back during the Depression (around 1937), when farmers were pouring milk out on the side of the road because of Depression-induced low prices, Congress passed a law that allows the Secretary of Agriculture to adjust the price of milk to reflect the price of feed and other economic conditions that impact their production costs. Well, if there ever was a time for the Secretary to roll out that authority, it’s now. We can help by signing a petition to Secretary Vilsack before the end of the day on Monday, June 15. It’s being circulated by Farm Aid, a nonprofit that works to keep family farmers on the land, and it asks Secretary Vilsack to use his authority to adjust the farm price of milk as a stop-gap measure.
If Secretary Vilsack doesn’t do something, fast, Farm Aid predicts we could lose up to 20,000 dairy farmers almost immediately. Where does that leave us? With imported milk,(really think Chinese Milk will do your body good?) empty farms, out-of-work farmers, and a whole lot of dairy cows off to become hamburger. Please click on the picture of the milk carton on the right and help our Dairy Farmers.I have a whole cookie jar filled with chocolate chip cookies
just waiting for a cold glass of milk. Care to join me?Spread the word!

Some pictures from the last sunny day here

The rain has finally stopped, but now everything is soggy, so I bring you some
photos of blooms on the last sunny day..enjoy!

Thank you for stopping by to visit our little corner of the Garden State.

I am hoping to hit the Community Plots this weekend, I'll post pics of that and the peas

when I come back inside. (hugs)KateinNJ

Vintage Thingies Thursday

It is that time of the week again... We live with a lot of vintage pieces here in our little corner of the Garden State.
Especially in the kitchen. Here are a couple of juicers...this one I got at a yard sale
last spring. It was an awesome sale that sent me home with a truckload of goodness
(boxes of canning jars,canning pot,a bike,etc) all for under $40.00!

we love fresh squeezed orange juice...

so easy, and fun.

Princess finds it easier than this one, but they are both fun for her.

I picked this one up at a flea market almost twenty years ago..

This little pitcher came from the same yard sale as the first juicer.

Doesn't she look proud of herself? Be sure to head over to Coloradolady

to see more Vintage Thingies Thursday!

((hugs))KateinNJ

Rednesday

My Gal-Pal, Sue is hosting her Rednesday event again today,

so be sure to click on over and join in, or just admire the

loveliness! My contribution this week is.....a lovely vintage apron I picked up for free from

a lady I met on Craig's list,she gave me a bin filled with vintage linens, including these pot holders..

not quite as old, but still vintage, this apron from my Grandmother.
Be sure to head over to Sue's and see all the other Rednesday contributions.

Weekend in the garden

A little time spent watching the flowers grow..with this at my side...

some weeding..

and mulching..

and watching the "running of the Princess"...

we even found time for hanging out with our neighbors....

I hope your weekend was at least as good.