A Sad Day for our Neighborhood

Tuesday morning we were wakened at 4:30 AM by the sound of sirens. They really didn't sound that close to our home, but they were. Through the dark, we could see smoke in the distance and some flashing lights less then a block away. "The Italian" thought it may be our lovely neighborhood restaurant.....and sadly enough it was. Some of you may have read this post. Not only we were sadden by the thought of this 105 year old restaurant burning. We were also sadden by the thought of all of the bee hives that were most likely lost.

We sat and talked about what we could do to help. "The Italian" decided to offer to donate his services to help our neighbor get through all the bureaucracy that lies ahead. After I left for work, he walked down and talked to the owner. "The Italian" is meeting with planning and zoning today to start the process of variances that will be needed to rebuild this historic restaurant in our neighborhood which is now zoned residential.

The fire early

You can still see the tops of the bee hives here

Our brave firefighters in the frigid cold

A later picture of the fire. The section on the right is where the bee hives used to be. Most of the building was torn down later in the day due to structural instability.

At our last Community Garden meeting, we had discussed getting some hives at the garden. I was planning to talk to the owner this winter about putting a couple of hives at the Community Garden. If the owner would like to start some new hives and the committee agrees, we can help each other and have his hives at the Community Garden.

Our Neighborhood will not be complete until this sign is hanging once again.

 

Out with the.......

OLD!!!!!

Yep, this old baby is gone!!!

I think this was the first Jenn Air Range manufactured!!!

It was old and weary......maybe even older then Granny!!!

 

 

It's been a long time coming.....but, I finally got a new range!!!

This baby is Dual Fuel with Two Ovens..... 

and Five Burners!!!

 

Look out.......Mama's got a new stove!!!

Decisions, Decisions.........

It's that time of the year....time to make decisions! My seed inventory has been done for a couple of weeks now. Then I had to decide what seeds I "needed". Once that was done. I placed a couple of small seed orders. Which should have been enough. Then I started reading everyone's blogs. That got me thinking about some other things that I "needed" I mean "wanted". So, I placed just one more small order. Hopefully, I will have enough will power to stop! But, you all know how this is! Maybe I should join or start some type of group.....Seeds Anonymous????

This week I have been updating what varieties I am going to grow and how many of each I should plant. This leads to.....how am I going to fit everything in??? The next thing that came up is my tomato supports. The way I support them at home, doesn't work at the plots. So, I need to come up with something better. That got me doing some on-line research on tomato supports. There are a lot of great ways to support tomatoes. But, I really need to come up with something that won't take me forever to build, doesn't cost a fortune and is easy to store.

So far I have come up with two different supports that I think will work.

This one has really peeked my interest.

It's made out of PVC & Conduit.

 

I also really want some of these

Yes, the Texas Tomato Cage!

I know they are pricey.....but, "The Italian" got me the pressure canner for Christmas.....and maybe I can out live them and make the investment worth it!

 

So, what have I decided???? I think I'm going to buy one 6-Pack of the Texas cages and make some of the supports out of the PVC. I guess I better see how much they are going to cost to make first!

 

If any of you have any great support ideas....I'm open for suggestions!!

 

How's your garden planning coming along????

 

Boy What a Year!

I finally got most of my gardening "things" organized! The seed inventory is done. My Excel Gardening Journal is updated. I ordered my onion plants and a few seeds. I sent in my order to Wintersown. I have most of my pics organized on the new computer and I'm starting to figure out how to use this new Windows 8. Truthfully, I don't like it.

While organizing everything, I started looking at my photos. Boy, what a year it has been!

The Community Garden move was unbelievable! Who would have thought that it was go from.....

this in March........

 

to this

 

in April.....

 

to this in May...

 

and this in July

 

to this in September

 

and this today.

 

 We had a lot of great ....

Harvests!!!!

 

and our Cupboard

 

 is well stocked

 

"The Italian's" daughter graduated from college

in May

Isn't she just beautiful??

And as happy we are....no more tuition!!

 

 

"The Italian" and I had a couple of wonderful trips!

 

We took his daughter to our favorite place

 

New Orleans in May

the sounds on the street

 

our favorite place to sit!

 

We had some Garden Bloggers visit

from Spring Garden Acre

and they made homemade Ice Cream!

 

In October we

saw some beautiful sunsets in Florida and

 

then headed to Mexico

and saw the Mayan ruins in Tulum

 

just amazing!

This stuff is older then Granny!!!

what a wonderful view!

 

Then we headed to Belize.....my favorite place on the trip

and saw the Mayan ruins Altun Ha

when we got back from the ruins we have some wonderful Adult beverages and listened to these two sing. They were great!

 

Next we headed to Honduras

and were greeted by a rainbow

we saw some beautiful scenery

 

 and we walked this bridge

we saw some amazing wildlife

and the female monkeys could keep their hands off "The Italian"!!!

He became know as "The Monkey Man" on our ship!!!

 

While we were on our trip we got to see

how a lot of the world lives

this is a very big home

and how the lucky ones make their living

And we are grateful

 

When we returned to Florida

we saw the after affects of Hurricane Sandy and were stuck in Florida for several days

 

we celebrated the Holidays

with some good food

and Santa brought me a Pressure Canner!!!

and the seed catalogs keep coming in!

They are so beautiful!!!

 

"The Italian" and I wish all of you a  Happy, Healthy & Bountiful New Year!!! 

 

Harvest Monday............12/03/2012

It's been quite awhile since I posted on Harvest Monday! This week we harvested three different things. The first one has been a long time coming.

My first Meyer Lemon from my little tree!

I picked the Lemon on Saturday and we still haven't decided what we are going to do with it. It's the only lemon that survived. As you can see, I also harvested some baby spinach to use in a wonderful stuffed flank steak. It sure was good!

Sunday, I decided to make some Leek & Potato Soup. So, I went over to the plots and harvested all of the leeks that needed to be harvested. There are still a few over there that are doing well. I will leave them in the ground until we need them or they need to be harvested.

 

Hop on over to Daphne's Dandelions, our host of Harvest Monday to see what's going on in Veggie Gardens around the Globe!