I Love To Go A Gardening
Growing Our Life in Northern Michigan
If You Give a Woman a Shovel…
I woke at 8 a.m. and had to immediately begin making challah bread. Challah is a beautifully braided bread used for Shabbat. After preparing the dough, I let it raise for an hour, punch it down and let it raise for another hour, then braid it and let it raise for another hour, and then bake it for 40 minutes. I make it every Friday. If I do not begin preparing it early enough in the morning, EJ cannot enjoy it with us before he goes to work.
While I was making the challah, I finished drying the laundry from yesterday. After a night of only three hours of sleep, I stayed up late again drying clothes. I couldn’t stay awake to finish it all so I went to bed at about 2 a.m.
(Photo from Allrecipes.com)
I also made pancakes for breakfast. I was going to make meatloaf for lunch but discovered at the last minute that I did not have any ground beef thawed, so I quickly made Albondigas instead. It is quick to make. Since I didn’t have any thawed ground beef for the meatballs, I cooked the ground beef in a fry pan and added it to the soup. It is a yummy soup.
After EJ went to work, I took Danny for a walk. JJ left for work a couple of hours later, and I really wanted to take a nap. I am exhausted from my battle with the fleas and a week of little sleep. However, first I decided that I better plant the rest of the ginger root that is growing on the window sill. I planted half of it the other day, but didn’t have another pot in which to plant the rest. Then EJ said I could have the sixth pot we had bought at the thrift store the other day. Planting the ginger would take five minutes, tops, and then I would come in and take a nap.
I got the shovel out of the garage and filled the empty pot with dirt.
While filling the pot, I noticed the lawn needed mowing. JJ didn’t get the lawn mowed yesterday because he was helping me with laundry. He said he’d mow it at the first opportunity but…I particularly noticed the extra long grass in the back part of the yard. I had mowed the lawn for JJ last week, but wasn’t able to get the grass mowed in the back part of the yard because access to it was blocked by logs from the stack EJ was using to make his raised beds and a heavily-laden wheelbarrow that I couldn’t budge (I think there are bricks in the wheelbarrow under the dirt). I decided to move the logs out of the way to the very back edge of the yard so I could mow the extra long grass. Then I thought that I could just mow the WHOLE back yard, and I also mowed the brick path through my garden because I haven’t had time to weed it. I would have mowed the whole yard, but I knew I didn’t have enough gas in the mower and I didn’t have enough money with me to buy more. I didn’t want to have to go to the bank and then walk to the gas station to fill the gas can…I wanted to take a nap. I also didn’t want to get half the front yard mowed and be unable to finish it. JJ can get gas and mow the front yard.
As I was mowing the back yard, I remembered that there are plants I needed to rescue from areas we are converting to other purposes. I got the shovel and transplanted a couple of flowers (I am not sure what they are) which surprisingly appeared among EJ’s raised veggie beds. He said he wouldn’t touch them until I moved them. I also transplanted a pretty iris from an area of the back yard that was part of my garden, but which we hope to turn into a grape arbor. I also noticed a pretty flower growing in Danny’s dog pen. I transplanted all these into a place in my garden where I had yanked out lemon balm this Spring. I had planted wildflowers there, but they didn’t grow. (I also planted wildflowers in another area of the yard, and they are growing well there). I also transplanted a couple other flowers to that area, such as Black-eyed Susan and an Impatient or two. Next year maybe that area will look very nice.
While walking back and forth, digging up and transplanting flowers, I was amazed to notice what I think is a Butterfly Plant. I had planted a Butterfly plant in that place YEARS ago, when JJ was very little, but after I planted it, it disappeared and I thought it had died. Apparently not.
My garden often surprises me, suddenly growing plants that I thought had died, or which I didn’t plant. Although I don’t like that some plants spread–like trumpet vine or poison ivy, I do like that the flowers are spreading. Because so many of my flowers were given to me by friends who were getting rid of excess plants, I have limited colors in my garden. Mostly I have yellow, orange, and purple. But that’s ok. I love them. I’m hoping that in a couple of years, flowers will fill my garden.
After I transplanted the flowers, I carried the shovel back to the garage. On the way to the garage, I noticed that my Strawberry Garden could use weeding, so I paused and weeded the garden. When I finished weeding the strawberries, I put away the shovel and carried the pot of newly planted ginger to the front porch.
I filled my watering can and watered all the plants I had planted and transplanted. It is supposed to rain later today, but I didn’t want them to die of thirst before it did. Besides, often the rain misses us.
EJ had gone to the store this morning for more flea spray, and he also stopped at the Farmer’s Market and bought eggs. (I would have loved to go with him, but I was too busy.) When I finally got back inside, I sprayed the upstairs again with flea spray, even though I have only found about four fleas on my socks ALL DAY. Although I think I have won this battle, I will not rest until every flea in the house is dead.
My five-minute afternoon task ended up taking me about 2 hours to accomplish. I never did get a nap. However, the heat has broken and the temperature is almost autumn-ish, the fleas are mostly dead, and I enjoyed working out in the garden.
I Love To Go A Gardening 
GREAT POST AGAIN!!! I can almost taste the Albondigas all the way in Missouri! When is dinner ready? Your flowers look very good…
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Aw, shucks, thank you Belmont Rooster! The Albondigas was VERY delicious but I’m sorry to say it is almost gone. 😀
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GEEZ!!! I guess I’ll just have to check out the recipe.
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Here is the recipe I use, Belmont Rooster. It is VERY good and easy to make. EJ said it’s one of his favorite meals. You can also click on the word Albondigas in my post.
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/albondigas/detail.aspx
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Thanks! I already went there and got the recipe. That sounds REALLY GOOD!!!
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