Catching up

We have been busy lately. FabHub is trying to start an annual before the new year starts party here on the farm. We now have year one done. We will be back again next year.

The best part of the whole thing was that the basement got finished! Well, mostly. The walls are done, the electricity is hooked up, some of the windows are trimmed out, and the whole place looks wonderful.

This is the very nice job FabHub did on the windows.

The windows with the glass blocks aren't trimmed yet, but progress is good.

Here we have the pot lights installed and...
Dimmer switches! WooHoo!! Very nice. We have more lighting options than probably seems right, but having lots of options is far better than light or no light.

This last part should make Mom very happy. I know it does me.

Light outside the basement door. YEAH! Inside the door is the mudroom. FabHub is still finishing a couple of things in there and then the ceiling tiles go back up and we will start working on the next step. Tile. Wish us luck.

I checked the garden when I got home tonight and found a few things ready to pick.

I said a few. These beans vines should be all over that line. I found about two dozen beans.

The cucumbers are a bit dry looking, but there are a few on the vine.
The hole between the marigolds is supposed to be a zucchini and a summer squash should be there too. Both of them got bugged early this year. I barely got anything off of them. Makes it hard to have baked vegetables for dinner.

As for the tomatoes, they are looking okay, but not awesome either. They should be a lot taller.
One problem is deer and the other is fertilizer. I can fix both problems.

The basil and marigolds are doing pretty good though.

So this is my haul for Tuesday.
We had the beans for dinner, the cucumbers will be good tomorrow and there are not enough tomatoes for a run through the steam juicer. I should be able to get some more from a girl at work though. Then I can make some tomato water to go in some soup mix that I plan to can. That should be a real improvement over regular water and very tasty this winter.

Speaking of the steam juicer. I picked up some peaches a few days ago.

First I quartered them and took out the pit.
And then turned up the heat. An hour and a half later I had 3 pints of peach juice which I can turn into jelly this winter. I also got a jar of peach stuff to use somehow one day. I used some more of the peach stuff to simmer along with some pork chops for dinner that night.
It was very tasty.

Tomatoes should be next. Tomato water. Tomato sauce. Some salsa. Soup mix. Apple juice and sauce will be along later.

And I have to work really hard on keeping this house ready for company. So come and visit sometime. We love to have people over.