Preparing For The 3/5's Great Lakes Trip

Tim and I are getting ready for the 3/5's Great Lakes Trip that starts tomorrow.  We will be taking the Little Cabin On Wheels and heading north to Michigan and Wisconsin where we will spend two weeks traveling through.  We chose Michigan because we have not visited that state during our travels and Wisconsin will be family visits.  It is called the 3/5's Great Lakes trip because during our travels we will be visit 3 of the 5 Great Lakes; Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior.  We spent some of yesterday and will spend all day today packing for the trip.  I will still be keeping up with this blog everyday but to follow along with us on our trip please follow my Travels With Ruth blog:  travelswithruth-ruth.blogspot.com.

Garden Time

The garden is slowly coming along and our harvesting is hit and miss.  As you know we have lost one pumpkin plant and two zucchini plants but we have also lost half of the corn, all of the green beans and the squash is getting iffy.  The culprits, well let's just say between the squash bugs, raccoons, and poor nutrients in the soil this year's garden is struggling along.  We have already been making plans for next year's garden and we know what we have to do to get rid of some pests.  George has a plan to get nutrients back in the soil so next year's garden should be a lot better.  As far as this year's garden we will appreciate all we get from it when we harvest.

Dunkirk

We went to see the movie "Dunkirk" yesterday and not really knowing the story I had to closely follow the movie.  It was an amazing feat that the British people did to save their own and it showed the cruelty of war.  What amazed me was some of the protocols of war and the handling of the troops.  Seeing 400,000 men standing on a beach waiting for the boats to come rescue them all while the German planes fly over head dropping bombs and taking target practice with them showed the bravery and the will to survive these men had.  It was a powerful story and depicted in a way to show what these brave men endured to stop Germany.  It has given me even more respect for the men and women who are serving or have served in our Military.  Thank you!

Rest In Peace Pumpkins

We had an emotional day in the garden.  We had to say good bye to one of the pumpkins plants and it looks like we may be doing the same to our other one.  The culprit or murderer?  The squash bug!  This is the second year we have planted pumpkins and this is the second year we have been defeated by the squash bug.  The pumpkin plant that was removed yesterday had six pumpkins on it with four looking really good, one had already been eaten by some baby squash bugs and one that was still green and growing.  After much research we do now know how to treat the soil for next year and what we need to do battle with the squash bugs.  So, this is a warning to the squash bugs.  Be afraid...be very afraid because we will be hunting you and killing you to rid you from our garden.
For now, rest in peace Pumpkins!

The Relish Is A Success

We taste tested both relishes yesterday and they were both delicious.  The dill pickle relish had a great dill flavor and is going to be very good on burgers, hot dogs, sausages and added to tuna salad.  The zucchini relish is the star of the relishes.  It is sweet and delicious and will be good on anything and everything.  It was good alone too.  Last year we were at a craft show in Gatlinburg and purchase some zucchini relish.  The recipe called to mix it with cream cheese which we did.  It was a great dip or spread for crackers.  We will be doing this with our relish this week end.  The zucchini relish was so good we are making more today.

Making Zucchini Relish

It was another first for Lisa and I.  We made Zucchini relish yesterday and we will know sometime today how it turned out.  I tried zucchini relish last year for the first time and it was good.  It was even better mixed up with cream cheese as a dip or spread on a cracker.  It was not hard at all and it basically followed the same process as when we made pickle relish on Monday.  If both relishes turn out to be good we will have a dilemma of what to make...relish or pickles.  Check back and see how the relishes, dill pickle and zucchini, tasted!

Making Pickle Relish

Making pickle relish is a completely different process then making pickles.  I was surprised on how different it was.  With pickles you pack the jars, make the brine and pour it into the jars, process, cool and that is it.  With relish you chop up the cucumbers, thanks to the food processor it made this part easy, place the chopped cucumber in a bowl with salt and turmeric, add water, cover and let it sit for two hours.  After two hours you rinse and then add other ingredients to a large pot along with the chopped cucumbers and cook on the stove.  After the pickle mixture is cooked it gets placed in jars then processed and cool.  Later today Lisa and I will test out our dill pickle relish.  Today, we will try something new again- zucchini relish.