Busy

Hello from my kitchen. I have been so busy these past few weeks. 24-hours a day isn't enough. But truthfully, I am loving it. There is no idle time. I just get overwhelmed with the lists of things to do, and accomplish in a day. I get confused which one to do first.

The weather here is gloomy and wet. It's been like this for a couple of weeks already. My daily walks and lunch break bike rides have been on hold. I really miss sitting outside when it's nice and sunny. Gardening has been on hold too.

Oh! ...and I am so happy today. I got an email from someone very famous, and one of the kindest and the most generous person I know from afar. I only know her online. Her message made me jump for joy. I'll blog about it one of these days.

Yesterday, I had ginisang ampalaya (sauteed bitter melon) for lunch with my steamed white rice  mixed with red quinoa and brown rice. But I also wanted to have soup. I had okra and squash in our refrigerator, but I ran out of greeneries---spinach, bok choy or kale will do. What to do?

By the way, my ginisang ampalaya wasn't really plant-based. There was one egg in it.

I remember the previous night that the mister told me about his mother using talbos ng kamote (sweet potato tops) in her Sinigang. And I remember too that we have a kamote growing in a glass goblet by our dining room window.(I forgot to boil this potato and it grew in a basket from my kitchen, and I let it continue to grow in a goblet with a small chip.) I wanted to plant it in the new garden plot that the mister built but the weather wouldn't let me.



Since, we are growing food indoor, I chopped off some of the kamote tops, and added it in my all vegetable Sinigang. There are more food growing inside in those plastic containers beside the kamote. (Check above photo.) We also have some spring onions in our family room. There were mint and thai basil too but it died when I left it outside last month, and it suddenly freezed overnight.



Okra, squash, tomatoes, onion, and kamote tops in my sinigang. Yum!

I can be an indoor home farmer now. Until next time.

I Spoke Too Soon

I asked the opinions of my siblings the other afternoon if the reddest one was ready for picking. One said that the largest one (the bottom) was, but I decided to wait for another day instead. The following day, to my surprise, the two redder ones were missing. Holy smokes!



In my mind, I imagined that the gophers found and took them. But why just the two riper ones and leave the not-so-ripe-one? Such a crackerjack!

I knew the animals took them but still,I asked the mister if he harvested two. You know, I had to make sure before I point any finger. Of course, he answered no, and suggested to put the pots on top of our deck table. So, I did.



I don't know what to do with these animals that burrow from the neighbor's yard to ours. Killing is not an option though. I guess, finding ways to outmart them is the only choice I can do.



Today, I had my first taste of my organic strawberry. Here's hoping for more harvests. May I continue to outsmart the gophers, and may they realize that there isn't enough food in our yard and move to a different hood--- to a far away gopherhood!

Till next time!

The Home Farmer

I planted strawberries in pots this year. This is a first time. I put the pots in our deck hoping that the gophers wouldn't find them. I have been checking on them almost everyday, and then this week I noticed red to pinkish fruits. This is so exciting. I don't exactly know when is the exact time for the picking, but I'll just imagine the redness of those strawberries I see at the grocery store.

This photo was taken the other day. I send it to my sister, Charmaine via Viber in Austrlia. As I said, I am so excited that I had to share it.


The following day, both were turning red. I just can't believe this. I fooled the gophers this year again (Read about last year here.) I was really happy that I sent this photo via text message to my friend, Tita Su who's in Las Vegas, and to the young lady who's traveling around America with the rest of the Korea-America International Student Conference (KASC) delegates.


All four strawberry plants in four different pots are bearing fruits now. I am watching them like a hawk. I don't want the gophers to harvest them before we do.



This year, what are new in my backyard are four strawberry plants, a pot of spring onion and two pots of tomatoes. Hopefully, the mister and I can find time to fix our yard and have a permanent garden bed for more fresh harvests of herbs, fruits, vegetables and other greeneries in the future.