It's About Time!

What a beeeautiful weekend!

I spent Saturday with my mom and some friends in celebration of the-day-before-mother's-day. We went to Kalona and visited nurseries in the rural Amish country. They had gorgeous flowers and, even though I do not do well with flowers because they don't provide me any nutritional sustinance and therefore I do not take good care of them, I couldn't stop myself from buying several purple African daisies. The day was also great because I had an actual conversation with an Amish woman. Not just any Amish woman, but an elderly Amish woman! This might not seem exciting to anyone else, but you have to understand that I am completely fascinated by the Amish way of life. Art and I have agreed that we could totally be Amish if it weren't for having to have dozens of children, three hours of church on Sundays. Usually when I visit Kalona, the Amish people keep their distance and rarely socialize or talk to 'englishers', so you can imagine how excited I was when this elderly woman shared her recipe for canning ketchup and the best way to prepare chicken. I could have talked to her all day but, alas, there were other nurseries to visit.

I started planting my garden Sunday because the Amish woman told me I could (everyone is saying to wait until after May 15th after the supposed last frost, but I'll believe an elderly Amish woman above the weather man any day). The onions, black beans, tomatoes and green peppers are planted. I have butternut squash, pie pumpkins and Brussels sprouts coming in the mail tomorrow, so I'll finish up next weekend. While the garden space is remaining about the same, there will be far less vegetation which I'm hoping will keep me from going insane and mowing over the black beans like I did last year. I put milk containers (and a few apple juice bottles) around each of the plants to protect them from the wind as well as keep them and the soil around them warmer to force a little faster growth. Last year I put the cages around them and covered the bottom half in plastic wrap, but that turned out to be a mess and ineffective. I used the milk jugs because the Amish woman suggested it and, as stated before, I will believe her above anyone else. When the plants get larger and stronger (or when the spring winds die down) I'll cut them off and put the cages around the tomatoes.

UPDATE:
The dandelion and violet jellies turned out beautifully! They jelled up perfectly and taste wonderful. The violet jelly is sweet and the dandelion tastes like honey. I thought I would make more today but apparently I pushed my luck because even though I did the exact same process, they didn't set up. I'll try again next weekend. I'm not sure if I will have enough violets, but I have dandelions galore (and while I prefer the color of the violet jelly, I prefer the flavor of the dandelion) so I can keep trying.