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We had some bumps in the road this week. The first was that my garden is a little sick . It has a fungus. We had to pull out 6 of the 9 squash plants, a few cucumber plants and I should have pulled at least one of the tomato plants out but I am trying to see if it will live. I went to a local garden center that has a lot of organic solutions to your garden woes. I had a branch of my tomato plant in hand and after careful inspection with a magnifying glass the man there declared it was a fungus. So we now have this stuff to spray on it. Guess what it is? It's another fungus! Who would have thought. So far no more plants have died and hopefully the rest of the growth will be healthy. We are still getting a lot of cucumbers and since they don't freeze well we are giving most of them away. We have probably had almost 20 of them now. We have eaten all of the squash that was picked but the plants that are left have stopped producing. Hopefully that will change.
The other bummer this week was that someone siphoned nearly a full tank of gas out of Charles's truck. It happened sometime over Memorial Day weekend and right in our driveway. And he had even installed a driveway light a few weeks ago that comes on by itself at night. Go figure. So now he put some thingamajig in that will prevent a tube from going down in the tank. That will hopefully stop them!
So it is a new week and hopefully things will be better! Hope all is well for everyone else!
Well it seems I have grossly overestimated the amount of things I can grow in a 9ft x 9ft space. Things started to get a little wild and we had to take some quick action. Last year our garden was a complete wipe out due to too much rain and poor drainage in the back or our property. So we have started to make some raised gardens. With only one completed I wanted to make the most it. We never grew things organically before and just relied on the standard Miracle Grow to guide us through. We never grew plants this big before. The cucumber started to spread out to the grass so Charles made a trellis. The tomato plants that we bought (Cherokee Purple) just started to produce some tomatoes and they are already to the top of the tomato cages. And the squash leaves are crowding out the basil. Maybe next time I will learn. Things need a little more space. But what we have had so far has been pretty good! We did have a problem with fungus on the basil and it started to take the tomato plants. But I found that sprinkling corn meal on the ground and the leaves inhibits fungus growth. I also spray garlicky, soapy water on the leaves to repel bugs. But it does have to be done pretty often. So far I have not had anything devastating that I needed to go out and buy some chemicals to fix. I gave each plant a few handfuls of compost two weeks ago and within days everything had lots of extra growth. Next year I will plan a little better. But looking at all those seed packets made me hungry!
A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle is one of the first new age type books that I really connected with. And it would have not been as enlightening without the discussions that you can watch or listen to on Oprah's website or iTunes. The ideas that I learned in the book that at least partly influence my life now are:
1. I am less irritated by people. I now know why people complain or get upset about things that are not in their/my control. Most of the time I can step back and see that reacting to things only fuels the fire.
2. I have a better vision about what I want to do with my life. I have been doing the same exact job for over 9 years (home health physical therapist) and I love it. But to advance means that I have to do less patient care, so I have declined all "job" opportunities to advance. I now know that I will need to make my own parallel opportunities instead of moving up. I started this when I decided to write a book and I didn't put it together with this concept until I read this book.
3. I appreciate and look for more "stillness" in my life. Not so much the running around and to do lists where every moment is planned. Now it's okay if things don't get done when I planned. (Do they ever work out that way anyways?)
There has been an overwhelming amount of controversy about this book online that mostly comes from fundamentalist Christian's and I suspect very few of them have actually read the entire book. There are a few parts (very few) that discuss religion, Jesus, and the existence of other religions and their parallels with Christianity. Of course you can't please everyone all the time no matter what your opinion. But like with any instructional, self-help book, you have to take the parts that apply to you and leave the rest. The three big influences that I listed above can be applied to anyone and have nothing to do with religion.
I recommend this book to anyone wanting to make more peace in their life.
I made this one last week for the second time and still love it. I found this recipe in a magazine at a doctor's office. I don't remember which magazine. I had just enough time to scribble down the ingredients and make a few other notes and I made the rest up.
Sauce:
2 pounds of tomatillos, paper layer removed and sticky stuff washed off
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 cup of chopped onion
1/3 cup cilantro lightly packed
1 teaspoon cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1. Cut tomalillos in half and place on a baking sheet. Broil 7-9 minutes turning once until it starts to brown.
2. Saute onions in oil until translucent.
3. Blend all above ingredients in a blender except broth and cream.
4. Heat sauce in a sauce pan for about 5 minutes until hot, stirring frequently.
5. Add broth and cream and heat for 5 more minutes, stirring frequently.
6. Set aside.
Enchiladas:
12 corn tortillas
2 tablespoons of olive oil
3 cups of shredded cooked chicken (I do this before I make the sauce)
1 1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese
1 1/2 cup of grated monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup of onion
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1. Mix chicken, half of the cheeses, onion, salt and 1/2 cup of the sauce together in a bowl.
2. Brush the tortillas with oil and heat in microwave until warm.
3. Put 1/3 of the remaining sauce in the bottom of a 9in.x13in pan.
4. Roll a couple spoonfuls of the chicken mixture in a tortilla and place in the pan. Do the same for all the tortillas.
5. Top the enchiladas with the remaining sauce and then the cheese.
6. Bake 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees.
They are supposed to come out as individual enchiladas, but for some reason the tortillas kind of falls apart and it turns out to be more of a casserole. Still tastes great! We usually eat half and freeze the other half for an easy dinner a few weeks later.
While doing research on the book, I have come across a little known benefit for veterans that served during a war. Click on the banner to get to one of the websites that explains the program. Unfortunately, I was not able to find much explanation about the program on the VA website. Another website called VetAssist also has very good information about the program.
This is a program for all eligible war veterans or their surviving spouses and pays a monthly pension. Click here to see maximum rates paid. Countable income is subtracted from the maximum rate to get your benefit. Be aware that if you already receive a military pension you may not be eligible. If you receive state benefits like Medicaid, food stamps or a provider service, this may jeopardize your eligibility for those programs depending on your state.
I have had a few patients apply and they are still waiting to be accepted. One co-worker's friend has been accepted and is receiving a monthly check.
I hope this helps someone. I posted this especially for my friends in home health near Fort Hood. Hope all is well guys!
