Dangercat Family

Author: admin

  • Squashing squash bugs (and chiggers)

    Today and yesterday, Jeromey sprayed the garden with two products from Earth’s Ally (links below) to try to rid our garden of chiggers, squash bugs, and the adorable but terrible harlequin bugs. We’re avoiding using any chemicals that we don’t have to so these products are made with ingredients like rosemary and peppermint oil. Their support people say the sprays should kill these bugs. We’re going to find out and let you know!

    Squash bugs are horrible little buggers that kill the leaves and fruit of squash plants. They start out like this:

    And grow into this:

    And eventually look like this:

    Lots of people call them stink bugs but they really aren’t. They’re squash murderers and deserve to die. We’re just trying to fulfill our karmic destiny here by ridding our plot of these heinous vegetation thieves.

    Jeromey attempted to follow the instructions on the bottle by spraying the entire plant including the tops and bottoms of the leaves. With all of the plants we now have and how big they already are, it took hours to do this for our garden. He followed this treatment by spending several more hours spraying the ground to try to get rid of the chiggers and harlequin bugs. The chiggers have been completely horrible in a way that would steal our love from gardening if we can’t eradicate them, so we’re on a crusade to KILL THEM ALL (or at least get them away from our plant babies so we can care for them).

    I mean, seriously, if you had plants that you raised from seeds that you cared for by hand like this, wouldn’t you do the same?

    Wish us luck in our attempted bug massacre!

    • https://www.lowes.com/pd/Earth-s-Ally-Insect-Control-32oz-Concentrate/5005506545
    • https://www.lowes.com/pd/Earth-s-Ally-3-in-1-Plant-Spray-32oz-Concentrate/5005521997

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  • Sleepy Poppies

    Tonight we learned that poppies put themselves to bed at night by closing up their petals and how unbelievably cute is that? I mean gahhhh

    Sleepy time poppies at dusk. Goodnight little flowers.

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  • Pumpkins Ahoy!

    We have little (big) pumpkin seedlings sprouted! Oh my goodness.

    Our Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins take 110 days to reach maturity after “transplant” but we direct seeded, so I add 30 days to the 110 for an idea of harvest date. Friday, October 13, 2023 oh my gosh math is so good 🤓

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  • Harvest

    Harvest

    110 days. It was 110 days since we sat at the kitchen table and fumbled through planting Parisian carrots and cherry tomatoes. 110 days since we had ice on the ground. 110 days since we began this crazy journey. On May 23, 2023, we harvested our first harvest.

    The feeling when she picked that cucumber was wild. After so much time, to pick fruit from our lovely once-seedling was exhilarating and emotional.

    But cucumbers weren’t the only things ready for harvest.

    Beans were ready to be picked as well! Charlie picked about 15 beans from the three sisters too. Sophie went around and found three patty pan squash that were ready, too.

    Don’t mind our sweet Little Caesars pizza. Gardeners have to eat, too.

    In addition to harvesting, Jeromey ran 200 feet of drip irrigation emitter tubing which drips water onto our whole garden. Now, we can water while we work. How today’s garden adventure started:

    and how it ended:

    What a beautiful night.

    BUT…even though we were covered in permethrin, DEET, long sleeves and pants, tilled all of our plots, changed clothes as soon as we got home, and scrubbed ourselves in hot water immediately we still got covered in chigger bites. Jeromey has at least fifty right now on his body (two days later). He went and watered last night and STILL got new bites. What are we going to do? Like…if all of that doesn’t work, what will?

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  • Gazpacho Recipe

    Gazpacho Recipe
    • About 2 pounds ripe red tomatoes, cored and roughly cut into chunks
    • 1 Italian frying (cubanelle) pepper or another long, light green pepper, such as Anaheim, cored, seeded and roughly cut into chunks
    • 1 cucumber, about 8 inches long, peeled and roughly cut into chunks
    • 1 small mild onion (white or red), peeled and roughly cut into chunks
    • 1 clove garlic
    • 2 teaspoons sherry vinegar, more to taste
    • Salt
    • ½ cup extra-virgin olive oil, more to taste, plus more for drizzling
    1. Combine tomatoes, pepper, cucumber, onion and garlic in a blender or, if using a hand blender, in a deep bowl. (If necessary, work in batches.) Blend at high speed until very smooth, at least 2 minutes, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula.
    2. With the motor running, add the vinegar and 2 teaspoons salt. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil. The mixture will turn bright orange or dark pink and become smooth and emulsified, like a salad dressing. If it still seems watery, drizzle in more olive oil until texture is creamy.
    3. Strain the mixture through a strainer or a food mill, pushing all the liquid through with a spatula or the back of a ladle. Discard the solids. Transfer to a large pitcher (preferably glass) and chill until very cold, at least 6 hours or overnight.
    4. Before serving, adjust the seasonings with salt and vinegar. If soup is very thick, stir in a few tablespoons ice water. Serve in glasses, over ice if desired, or in a bowl. A few drops of olive oil on top are a nice touch.

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