My Crazy Life as a Farmers Wife

Broccoli Bacon Ranch Pasta Salad

The kids and I have been picking and shelling fresh peas from the garden, and while I do freeze/can the extra garden produce to eat during the winter months, I also love to eat seasonally and make the most out of the fresh garden pickings. I found this delicious recipe on Pinterest, and was able to use fresh peas, onions, broccoli, tomatoes, and herbs from my garden. I mixed it up in the early afternoon and let it chill until dinner. I paired it with fresh potatoes (cooked in the pressure cooker) from our potato fields. It was a perfect summer dinner, straight from the garden.

BROCCOLI BACON RANCH PASTA SALAD

-2 cups shell pasta, cooked and drained

-2 cups fresh broccoli florets

-1 cup chopped tomatoes

-1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese

-1 cup sweet peas, cooked

-10 slices bacon, crumbled (or you can cheat and add real bacon pieces)

-2 green onions, chopped

-fresh dill and basil, chopped

-about 3/4-1  cup prepared ranch dressing (please don't use the hidden valley bottled stuff...i would suggest a dry pkg. mix or my homemade ranch dressing)

Cook and drain pasta, run under cold water to cool. Add remaining ingredients and toss with ranch dressing. Cover and refrigerate.

Hand Painted Garden Stakes

 

It's not secret that I love to garden, and year after year, I resort to marking my crops with cheap wood shims, written on with a sharpie. I've been wanting nice garden stakes for years, but because my garden is so large, and individual markers are expensive, I decided to take matters into my own hands this year. Inspired somewhat by a hand painted set I saw on Etsy, I decided to make my own. I purchased large redwood boards from Lowe's (12' long, and they are 2.5" wide). Redwood or Cedar work best because their wood won't rot in the wet ground. David cut each board into four sections and cut a sharp stake point at the ends. The next step was to white wash the boards. I did two light coats of white wash, and let the boards dry completely. I spent several evenings sitting at the counter painting, and while I love to draw, I must admit that I am not a painter. I simply used cheap acrylic paints from Walmart, and a few nice brushes. Again, I'm no painting expert. I just did a lot of layers, paint mixing, and it seems that the more layers I added to each vegetable, the better they looked. It's nice to look at online photos of each vegetable for reference. I plan on painting the stakes with two thick coats of polyurethane before I put them in the garden. I bought a special variety of polyurethane that has a UV protectant in the paint, so I'm hoping it will help protect my paintings.

This first set includes watermelon, tomatillos, zucchini, peppers, tomatoes, squash, broccoli, corn, cucumbers, green beans and pumpkins.

The second set includes cabbage, green onions, onions, raspberries, strawberries, lettuce, peas, and carrots. I would still like to make some for potatoes and my herbs.

I sketched the general shape onto each stake and started building layers of colors and shades.

Delicious Zucchini Bread

It's coming outta my ears...zucchini that is...and if you have a garden, you might be in a similar situation. This is one of our favorite recipes for old fashioned zucchini bread, and you can even take a few minutes to shred up that extra zucchini and put some in freezer bags for to use later on. I love to freeze extra zucchini and use it for this zucchini bread, and my zucchini muffins.

Zucchini Bread

-3 cups flour

-1 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. baking powder

-1 tsp. baking soda

-1 Tbs. cinnamon

-3 eggs

-1 cup canola oil

-2 1/4 cups sugar

-1 Tbs. vanilla extract

-3 1/2 cups shredded zucchini

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Beat cinnamon, eggs, oil, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Slowly add dry ingredients, and then zucchini. Divide batter between two greased and floured bread pans. Bake for45-50 minutes.