It was the best of times; It was the worst of times

I am almost done harvesting this year and have a few pics to share. How cute is that carrot drop? It's no bigger than my pinky fingertip :)
Here is a comparison of our carrots: Those humongous carrots are as big as large baking potatos!

All in all the garden was a success.... for peppers! I harvested over 175 lbs of anaheims (green chiles) and over 75 lbs of jalapenos. Our freezer is more than half full of anaheims and I have countless peppers drying for ristas.

Here's a comparison shot of our jalapenos. The ones on the right are called super nachos

and here is a shot with some Mammoth Jalapenos!

I wish I could say the tomatoes were a success, but everyone had tomato trouble this year. We had frosts turn to extreme heat, then hail and LOTS of rain. Had a few tornados blow through and just as the tomatoes were coming on we had a week of storms and the tomatoes filled up with water and many burst right open whether they were ripe or not. It was so disappointing to watch, but I am thankful that I was able to can 2 cases with these: After that the storms hit, and everything was waterlogged. We have had several frosty nights and last weekend I pulled all the pepper plants. I still have the tomatoes left to pluck and I think I am going to have to learn how to use the tractor for tilling, if Mr. Clay is able to learn me.

He has not done well lately. The pnumonia he had this summer took him down another peg. A shower is a major undertaking now, and he has trouble standing for more than 5 minutes. He doesn't venture outside the house much anymore :(

So it's been the best of times and the worst of times

Til next time...

XOXOXOXXOXOO,

Cindi

2 Month Old Garden

When did all this happen? Sometime between watering, weeding and mowing the lawn the garden sprang up while I wasn't looking. Take a look at the difference between last month and this month's progress:

Tomatoes are starting to set on:
The peppers last month and this month:
And the squashies:
And the different varieties:

Early Straightneck Prolifics-yellow squash

Bennings Green Tint

or "Patty Pan"

Yellow bush

(these are supposed to have a buttery taste)

I lubs me some butter :)

Cocozelle Italian Marrow Squash

(zucchini)

We had a huge storm pass through this last week-marble sized hail and flooding rains for almost an hour. I was so thankful our garden was spared. The only tell tale sign left is a mud line on the 7.5 tons of rock that we have our trailers sitting on. Even though we were punded with flash flood rains, the rocks remained above the flooding. So Mr. Clay's idea worked :)

Well, it's about time for me to mow that yard again...care to join me for a sit in the shade and watch the garden grow???

Until next time...

XOXOXOXOXO,

Cindi

Do you have an Idea?

Wow my articles are getting published faster than I thought they would! Here is my latest, and if you are getting a little thin in the memory area, this is perfect for you. It is something I have practiced for the last year. So instead of giving it all away here, I shall post a link to my Idea Basket. As always, please be sure to drop on by and leave a comment and a vote. This means a lot to our advertisers and keeps me in good standing with the editors.

It has been an extremely busy week for me, and here is what I have accomplished:

ClayItAgain is having a Christmas in July sale going on right now on Etsy and ArtFire. Those links will take you directly to the Christmas sale section. My most popular Christmas item of late has been my elves. I have discounted so much, I'm practically giving it away. And just for this weekend, I will offer an additional $10 savings on any wreath. With all the markdowns, they are 1/2 price now, and I would really like to get those out of here to make more room in my studio. Please feel free to share this info with all your rich friends :D

I also took the plunge and set up a fan page for ClayItAgain on FaceBook. My first goal, is 100 fans and when I reach that, I will have a drawing for a gift certificate good for anything in my shop. I also set up a fan page for 12MidnightOils. And I will also have a drawing for a gift certificate when I get 100 fans there.

Our garden has really kicked into gear now that the weather has turned hot. The 2nd round of lettuce is starting to thrive. I always thought that lettuce needed a cooler environment, but we've never had a shortage of lettuce...AS LONG AS WE KEEP THE SEEDLINGS WATERED ;) So maybe we will have something to donate to the food bank, after all, this year.

On Monday, I have a job interview. Yay! It's only for a temporary job while a lady goes on vacation. But heck! The $$$ I make in that 2 weeks could carry us financially for another month! So be thinking good thoughts for me on Monday afternoon.

Well I think that about wraps it up for this post. Don't forget to enter the drawing for my giveaway. There's only 2 weeks left til I announce a winner, and I think there are only 7 entries...incredible odds I must say!

Hubby, Job, & Garden update

I have been waiting for a quick break in features to post a bit of news that I had to share with you all. I got a "job" writing articles for HandmadeNews on ArtFire's home page ! I am in the Just For Fun section. See? click on that link...but come right back afterwards; you'll see a teensy weensy avatar of me. If you click on my name, it takes you to my bio. Soon, that page will start filling up with articles that I've written. My first two articles are due tomorrow, and I'm not sure how soon the articles are published, but you can count on me to rattle your chain and give me some love when they are published :) They have a comment section down below each article and a 'thumbs up,thumbs down. So at least be sure and leave me a thumb :)) I am hoping to get a widget or a button for my blog soon, so it will be easy to click your way over there. And hey-they still have a link up at the top saying they are hiring, if you are interested.

As for the hubster's health. Well, a few weeks back he was sitting up in bed and coughed at the same time. It wasn't a big cough, but it was enough that it separated the cartilage in his ribs where they went in and did the biopsy. He was in so much pain that I took him to the Dr. They gave him some pain pills, but figured that it was time to wean him off the steroids. So he had to cut it down 1/2 pill every week. The first day of the cut back he could already feel a difference. And by the second week he was noticably weaker. It also affected his attitude, and he was an absolute meany to be around. Constantly trying to pick fights over nothing. The worst part was that he couldn't see it himself. He thought everyone was trying to provoke him. He's now off of them completely, and is tolerable most of the time. And he gets so weak and out of breath even just watering the garden. It frightens me because I see what's coming. I don't say anything to him though.

We just got a letter today from the Social Security Disability and they want the hubster to go take a breathing test at the government's expense. But that won't be til July 1, so now we are wondering how much longer we have to wait til they make a determination on his disability claim. I also dread these breathing tests. It makes me cry to see him try and blow into a machine and then the coughing and nearly throwing up afterwards. Enough of that talk :(

I still have not been able to get a job, and financially, things are extremely tight. We've been able to survive this whole year on less than 5K. I'm not sure I know anyone who could do that. We are sooo fortunate that our house is paid off, but we still need water and electricity to make our beans and rice. I wish I knew how to make a donation button on my blog. And then I even wonder if anyone would help. I know things are tight out there. I wonder if some people know how fortunate they are right now.

We have begun to eat radishes from the garden. As as I suspected, the hubby didn't water the lettuce seeds enough and they didn't even sprout. So he planted some more and still hasn't watered them enough. He wanted to do this garden HIS way, so I have stayed out of it. I was going to plant some lettuce in a planter for us, but he nabbed my planter for radishes too. So... at least we have radishes lol

Well I better wrap it up for this time. I have another feature waiting in the wings. Take care everyone and think good thoughts for us.

Our Baby Garden

It finally warmed up enough for us to plant our garden a couple of weeks ago. We are having a small garden this year. Just enough to keep Mr. Clay busy. Our growing season out here in the desert is only from Memorial Day thru Sept/Oct. when Mother Nature decides to freeze it off.

Ms.Robin watched on as we planted.

I know you probably think with being in the desert, we'd have a longer growing period. But we still freeze all thru the month of May.

Normally we have a huge garden; it's a 40' x 40' area. We usually grow 30-40 each of tomatoes, cherry hot peppers, anaheim peppers, jalapeno peppers, 10-15 squash, zucchinis, and habaneros. Then the rows of lettuce, peas, radishes, and carrots. Even though we hook up a irrigation watering system, it's still a full time job watering and weeding. And then, when everything starts coming on, it's not unusual for me to be in the kitchen 10-15 hours a day roasting peeling, freezing, canning, and pickling. When I make salsa, it's not by the bowlful. I make salsa by the 5 gallon bucket full!

When I first learned to can, I would make batches of salsa and call it mild or medium or hot. It wasn't the greatest method of measuring hottness. Then I began to name them-There was the Dragon series-Baby Dragon, Dragon Spit, Dragon Fire; there was the cute name series- wimpy,wimpy,wimpy salsa, Killer Salsa, Killer H. Salsa, This Is The Salsa (TITS for short). That was a funny one. I was down in my kitchen one evening and one of our friends called and told my husband they liked my TITS. We got a good laugh over that one.

And people would continually ask me "how many peppers are in this?" Like I counted? Like I cared? I figured if it was spicy enough for Mr. Clay and me, then we were happy. So last time I named the salsas after songs with numbers. There was 25 or 6 to 4, 50 ways (renamed '50 ways to eat your salsa' in stead of 'ways to leave your lover'), Get your Kicks on Route 66, 76 Tombones..and of course 110 Clarinets were right behind, Around the World in 80 Days, You're Gonna Cry 96 Tears...and then the last batch was Mega H Death. The number in the song was the number of jalapenos in that 5 gallon batch of salsa...with the exception of 25 or 6 to 4-It was only a 4 gallon batch. Mega H Death was the last batch of the season and had all the last of the crops in it-over 200 jalapenos and the H stood for all the habaneros! It is pure fire in salsa form.

This year we only have 5 tomatoes, 4 jalapenos, 8 anaheim chiles, 4 habaneros and the peas , lettuce, radishes, and carrots, zuchini and squash.

Here is my gardening tip(which Mr. Clay refused to follow): if you mix your carrot and radish seeds together in a cup and plant them together, the radishes will come up shade and the delicate carrot sprouts. the radishes will be grown up and harvested just about the time your carrots really start beginning to grow their roots.

Our radishes have sprouted, and so have the zuchinis and squashes.

We bought the tomatoes and peppers, and they are beginning to shoot up.

Everything has sprouted now with the exception of the lettuce. I'm not sure Mr. Clay has kept it damp enough, but we shall see.

As for an update on his health-A couple of weeks ago he was getting out of bed and coughed and separated the cartilage on his ribs. So the Dr.s have begun weaning him off of the steroids. Not a fun time for either of us. His strength is waning and he is super grouchy, to put it mildly. It is difficult at best to be a caregiver to one who is terminal.

As for my job search- it still continues. Every week I get a few more good promising prospects. One of these days I'll land the right one. I hope it's real soon. We have survived this whole year now on less than $5K ! That's quite an accomplishment, I think. Have a Great Day everyone :)