However, since I was not quite so smart last Friday, I had to come up with another remedy.

It all started so innocently.  We needed to leave for our homeschool PE class that morning, but I was trying to get some of the peppers from our garden cut up and frozen before we left.  Matt has been the pepper guy at our house most of this summer so I was not aware that some of them were of the very freakishly hot variety.  (They were shaped like tiny sweet bell peppers.)

I got all the peppers cut up and put away, cleaned up my mess and washed my hands.  I then proceeded to help get the boys ready to head out the door for PE.  My eye was itchy…and so I scratched it.

Bad idea.

As if someone had lit a match on my eyeball I shrieked and turned in a circle (because I didn’t know where to go or what to do).  I believe that little move is called the Eyeball Fire Ballet Step. I then ran out of the kitchen and upstairs to Matt, who was thankfully home that morning.  Neither of us really knew what to do, but I quickly put a cold, wet washrag on my eye.  This brought a small amount of relief, which is good because all four boys (who aren’t used to seeing their mom run screaming out of the kitchen) had made their way upstairs to see if I was still alive.  At least I was able to look up at them with one eye and a half smile to give them a little assurance that I was okay.

Matt went ahead and loaded up the boys to take them to PE.  I decided to stay home and be miserable.  The pain was not going away, and was in fact creeping all the way up to my forehead and all the way down to my chin (not kidding), making me feel as though I might pass out.  I have a pretty high pain threshold, but wow. 

With the cold wash rag over my burning eye, I somehow did a swag search on “hot pepper in the eye” to see what I needed to do.  Did I need to go to the ER?  Could they maybe take off my face so that the intense pain would stop?

I finally found a suggestion to use a shot glass full of whole milk to wash the eye, which would neutralize the capsaicin in the peppers that was causing the burning.  Whole milk I had, a shot glass…not so much.  In the meantime, one of the homeschool moms (who had heard of my woes at PE class) called to say the exact same thing (although she didn’t mention the shot glass).

Using one of our little drinking glasses, I was somehow able to get milk into my eye.  (Don’t ask me to demonstrate.)  I also did a fairly good job of making the milk run all the way down my face and neck, but whatever.

Instant relief.  I stood there, blinking milkily in unbelief.  Could I really have just gone from that much pain to practically no pain with just a few swishes of milk?  Indeed I had.

I then decided that I should make cookies, both because I deserved and needed a cookie after my trauma…and because I thought that when the boys got home, they might like to see that their mama was normal (relatively speaking) and okay.

Kinda brings a new dimension to the idea of milk and cookies bringing comfort, doesn’t it?

So let’s review:

1. Wear gloves when you cut hot peppers and don’t touch your eye.
2. But if you don’t and then you do…swish your eye with milk. 
3. And then make cookies.

(P.S.  It wasn’t until after the flame in my eye was extinquished that I realized that my hands were also burning like mad.  Funny how the eye pain overshadowed the pain in my hands.  I’m still a little afraid to put my contacts in normally.  Good grief did I learn my lesson.)

I can take absolutely NO credit this year for how the garden looks.  Matt has worked VERY hard and keeping the weeds under control and everything looks so, so pretty.

I basically started on one end of the house and went all the way around the back to the other side taking pictures.  Yes, we have more than one garden spot.  If it has the capability to grow things (and it isn’t an area used regularly to kick soccer balls), it has been tilled and it shall bear fruit.  Well, vegetables as the case may be.

Here we have several tomato plants and some pepper plants. 
Looks like the beginnings of salsa, wouldn’t you think?

Ah, more tomato plants.  Yes, there will be many tomatoes.  We are not afraid.

Ooh, the first fruits.  Vegetables.  Wait.  Tomatoes are a fruit. 

We planted the corn in two stages so that it would be ready at two different times. 
The first round is just a bit taller than me.  We’re so proud.

Here are more pepper plants growing in the raised garden bed Matt made last year. 
Our yard is really not crooked.  I just took a crooked picture.

Here’s our little garden of potatoes.  See all the blossoms? 
That means there are lots of french fries growing underground.

Beside the potato plot grows our beloved peach tree. 
There are only a few peaches on it, so this year we will be mooching peaches off of others if possible. 
The tree sure looks pretty though.

And last but not least, the green beans.  Four long rows of green beans.  And look:

I picked a whole bowlful on Tuesday!! 
When I steamed some that night, I thought perhaps I was in  heaven. 

And then we may or may not have steamed more of them for breakfast this morning.  Who could resist?

Before Saturday, I STILL had not had a chance to get my hands dirty.  I hadn’t had a chance to get into my garden at ALL.  (You’re shocked at me, aren’t you?!)  I had longed to get out there, but just not had even one moment to think about the garden yet.

Thankfully, Matt had found a few bits and pieces of time during the past few weeks to get our garden areas tilled up and to plant a few things.  Ooh, and he even brought us home a big truck load of horse manure.   Crazy how excited I was to see him that day.   Saturday, we were finally able to both work in the garden together and get several more things planted.

The day was sunny and beautiful.  Just ask Matt…I was completely giddy.  I was running my  hands through the soil…just for fun.  It felt so good.

Yes, in case you didn’t already know that I am a garden geek…now you know for sure.  I can’t help it.  The garden gives me so much joy.

Wanna take a look at a few parts of it with me?  (There’s more to be planted…these are just a few shots.)

We have lettuce ready to eat…it is so beautiful!

You can’t see it…but there’s corn in these rows!!

Aw, cute little pepper plants.

Oh yes…I did plant potatoes in my trash can again!!

I’m just so thankful for our garden.  I love how we can see God in the entire process of watching food grow from a seed.  I can’t wait to share more with you during the coming months!

What are you thankful for this Gratituesday?  Write about it on your blog, then come link up with us here.  If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

If you are linking up a blog post for Gratituesday,
please copy and paste the following sentence into your post!  Thanks!

Join us for Gratituesday at Heavenly Homemakers!

My husband and I decided that this year for our little Green Project, we’d show you how we manage our compost.  Composting is SUCH a great way to use produce waste to put nutrients back into the soil.  See, we have this great little plot out in our back yard that we…

Hold on.  Why don’t I just let Matt tell you about it.  For the record, can I just tell you what an honor it is to have my beloved describing the contents of my bucket of garbage to you?

And there you go.  Our compost plot. 

As you can imagine, digging a hole and burying our slimy banana peels and cantaloupe guts is one of the boys’ favorite summer chores.  Nothing…I repeat nothing is more fun for them than being sent out with a shovel on a 103° day to bury a bucket of slop. 

SO…what’d you come up with for your little Green Project this year?  Tell us about anything green:

• Saving Green
• Eating More Greens
• Earning Extra Green
• Going Green
• Your Green Thumb
• Crafting Something Green

You’re welcome to link up an older post if it fits the above categories.  You’re welcome to link up more than one post.  If you don’t have a blog, please leave a comment letting us know of your little Green Project!  Then let’s all go visit everyone’s blog and learn more about their little Green Project!

If you’re linking up a post, please copy and paste the following link into your post…

Join us at Heavenly Homemakers for the little Green Project!

Here are a few tips for digging up and storing potatoes:

• Once the plant turns crispy and brown and dead, the potatoes under the ground are finished growing.  ( I suppose this is obvious.)
• When the plant is crispy, you can leave the potatoes under the ground for several more weeks and they will be fine.  This will toughen them up a little, which is good.
• On the other hand, if you’re experiencing a lot of rain, you want to get the potatoes out of the ground so that they don’t rot.  Rotten potatoes don’t make good french fries.
• Use a big spade or potato fork to dig up your potatoes.  Look for the base of the plant, then dig several inches away from the base.  There are likely to be four to eight potatoes with each plant.
• Occasionally you will stab a potato with your spade or potato fork.  This is a bummer…and also kind of funny.  Throw those stabbed potatoes into a separate box and eat these potatoes first.
• Green potatoes can make you sick.  Potatoes turn green when they are exposed to light. Some people say to throw away any potato that has even a little green on it.  I just cut off the green part and eat the rest.  I have lived to tell about it.
• Russet or kennebec potatoes store the best for a longer period of time.  We usually eat up our red potatoes and yukon gold potatoes first and keep the brown potatoes in storage longer.
• To prepare your potatoes for storing, lay them singularly on a newspaper or old sheet in a darkish room.  Cover them with another newspaper or sheet and let them sit this way for about a week.  This will help “harden them off”.   Their skins will toughen up, which will help them keep longer.
• After your potatoes have been hardened off, put them into covered boxes or baskets.  We usually put about 15-20 pounds in each box. 
• It is VERY important that the containers for your potatoes do not allow any light in.  Light will cause the potatoes to sprout.  Without light, potatoes will not sprout for months.
• Place your containers in a dark, cool room.  We have a room in our basement that has been great for storing potatoes.  It doesn’t have windows to allow any light in.  It is cool but not cold.
• Cold potatoes will “sugar”.  That’s why you don’t put potatoes in the refrigerator.
• You may want to occasionally sift through your potatoes to check for any that may be rotting.  One rotten potato can cause the whole box to rot.  It stinks (literally).
• Potatoes will keep well for several months if stored correctly.  Ours usually last until about March, at which time we use the remaining potatoes for our seed potatoes!

Sometime in the next few weeks we’ll be dumping out our potato container to see how it did!  I can’t wait to see if we have a whole bunch of potatoes in our bucket (and I’m trying not to get my hopes up just in case they didn’t grow well).  I’ll share pics of that experience when we get around to it!
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This post is linked to Kitchen Tip Tuesdays.

I know I’ve already shared how much I love my garden…but everytime I go out to water the plants or pick veggies…I am again reminded of God’s goodness and of how He provides.

Here are a few current pictures of my garden areas.  I love to see how much it has changed in just a few short weeks.

Our potatoes are big and full.  AND a random pumpkin plant decided to grow right in the middle of our potatoes.  What a fun treat for the kids to find several big pumpkins growing!

Our broccoli plants are pretty well finished for the year.  It doesn’t get much better than fresh broccoli.  Just beyond the broccoli, our hot peppers are starting to form.  And…the okra plants have teeny tiny okra growing.

Here are our sweet pepper plants!

Check out how crazy my potato container looks now!  The plants grew up huge over the top and now they are toppling over the sides!  I can not wait to dump it out in the fall and see all the potatoes!

We are just now starting to pick green beans.  A few butternut squash are growing on the plant there beside the beans.  Can you believe that squash plant is from ONE tiny seed? 

I’m not sure why I saved the ugliest picture for last.  Yikes.  Here are our tomato plants which have grown huge and gangly all over the place.  We have lots of little green tomatoes which will soon be lots of big colorful tomatoes.  I can not wait!  Just pretend that you can tell that those are tomato plants in the picture!

Seeing God’s goodness and power as He makes awesome food grow from a tiny seed just brings me such joy!
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What are you grateful for this Gratituesday?  Write about it on your blog, then link up with us here.  If you don’t have a blog, be sure to leave a comment letting us know what you’re grateful for!

But…if you plan on going to garage sales or auctions this summer…here are a few things to keep your eye out for so that you can try to get a better deal:

Jars.  Jars…jars…and more jars. 

Ball® 16oz. Wide Mouth Jars with Lids

Jars are a must if you plan on doing any canning.  Not a lot of people do much canning anymore, so they are ready to get rid of their jars.  I’ve seen big boxes of them for super cheap at garage sales.  I buy all I can get my hands on anytime I see them for a good price.  I don’t even need anymore jars (I have over 300!), but I have friends who need them so I still grab them when I see them at a sale!

My favorites are the “wide mouth” jars, which tend to cost more at the store.  I consider it to be a big score if I find wide mouth jars at a garage sale.  

And…here’s a little tip I learned from a friend of mine (who likes jars almost as much as I do):  If you see a box of jars at a garage sale…ask the owner if they have any more jars anywhere they’d like to get rid of.  When my friend did this…the lady hosting the sale went down to her basement and brought up bunches of boxes of jars she was happy to part with!  It NEVER hurts to ask!!!

Hot Water Bath Pot

 
Granite Ware 21-Quart Covered Preserving Canner with Rack

If you’re just going to be canning in small pint sized jars, you can use a big soup pot.  (The water has to be high enough to cover your jars as you process them.)  But, if you’re canning in quart sized jars you’ll need a Hot Water Bath Pot.  It’s just the right size to hold seven quart sized jars.

My dad found two of them for me at an auction once for about a dollar.  At that time, I hadn’t even learned to can yet…but that was motivation for me to learn!!

Cherry Pitter 

Norpro Deluxe Cherry Stoner/Pitter

If you have a cherry tree or know someone who does…it saves a lot of time (and broken teeth) if you take out the pits with a cherry pitter.  Mine is probably an antique, but it works great and saves me a lot of time!

Food Mill

Mirro 50024 2-quart FOLEY Food Mill, Stainless Steel

I usually make my applesauce in a blender, but if you prefer to leave your peelings on your apples…cook them down, then run them through a food mill like this one.  I have one and while it takes quite a bit of muscle to get a big batch of applesauce made, it’s yummy!

Funnel 

Norpro Stainless Steel Wide-Mouth Funnel

In my opinion, a wide mouth funnel is a must-have for canning.  I use mine ALL THE TIME.  I paid full price for mine through Azure Standard and it was well worth it.  But, I wouldn’t mind a second (or third) one, so I’m keeping my eye out for them at garage sales.

Ziplock bags

Ziploc® Double Zipper Plastic Freezer Bags, Gallon (94604ZIP) Category: Plastic Ziplock Bags

Okay, you probably won’t find these at garage sales, but while we’re on the subject of saving money while you preserve food, I recommend stocking up on quart and gallon sized freezer bags when they’re on sale and when you have coupons.  Two tips:  Only use freezer bags for freezing produce.  Regular storage bags won’t cut it.  And…stick with name brand Ziplock bags for produce.  I won’t tell you about the time I made real apple cider and froze it in generic freezer bags.  Let’s just say everything in my freezer was sticky for six months and I lost a lot of my apple cider.  :(

Have you found any great deals at garage sales and auctions for canning jars and etcetera?  What else am I forgetting to mention that we should be looking out for at garage sales?
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This post is linked to Frugal Fridays.

So here…without any more excuses for lame video footage…is the garden that grows in spite of me:

I’ll try to make another video in a couple more weeks.  We’ve had tons of rain lately, so everything is growing like crazy!!

If you have one…how’s your garden doing?  Enjoying any yummy produce from it yet?

Where do you buy heirloom seeds?

I order them from Azure Standard.  You can also find heirloom seeds in a Gurney’s catalog.

Any tips for a “garden” on an apartment balcony? I’m interested in growing a few veggies in pots — are there particular veggies that work better than others for pot-gardening?

I’ve heard that tomatoes and peppers grow well in pots.  And of course, growing potatoes in a container is a blast.  Otherwise, I don’t have much experience in this area.  I saw a post over at Passionate Homemaking that has great information about growing veggies when you have limited gardening space.  Check it out!

Do you have your own tiller?

Yes, but do you mean a working tiller?  No.  My dad gave us his old one a couple of years ago but it never worked great for us.  Then it stopped working at all.  This year we borrowed one from our friends.  Yay for friends with tillers!

What type of fertilizers do you use?

We’ve done a variety of things through the years.  One year we got some from someone who had horses.  Thus…horsey fertilizer.  Another year, we got some from someone who had chickens.  This year, we’re pretty much using our compost pile since we’ve been working on it for a few years now.

Do you use anything for pests?

Yes.  I screen my phone calls. 

Oh, but for garden pests…no not really.  Grasshoppers really like my green beans, but I’d just really rather not use any chemicals in my garden.  As I mentioned before, planting marigolds is helpful for some pests.  I’m researching other ways to keep away buggies. 

Once when I planted a bunch of potatoes with a friend of mine we had a terrible problem with “potato beetles“.  We finally just started going from plant to plant finding the bugs, grabbing them off, and squishing them with our fingers.  After saying, “Eew…eeew…eeeeeeew” for the first seven or eight bugs, I got over it and started squishing (their guts out) gleefully.  When you know they’re ruining your crop, the gross factor isn’t so gross anymore.  It’s war.

Do the boys like to help?

Eh, sort of.  At first it’s all fun and games, then it gets tiresome for them.  They like planting…especially potatoes.  And they like digging up potatoes.  Asa’s really good about bagging the grass when he mows…then he puts it down as mulch. 

How do you work around the boys when they don’t want to be out there?

If they don’t want to be out there, sometimes I make them anyway…because I’m fun like that.  Or, I’ll leave them in the house doing some of MY other jobs so that I won’t have to work double time when I come back in.

They are very good at snapping green beans and washing and tearing lettuce…some of the jobs that have to be done after the outside garden work is done.

Do you know if you HAVE to use seed potatoes?

No, you don’t have to.  You can use some of your potatoes that you grew last year.  You can use regular potatoes from the store…although they have probably been treated with chemicals to keep them from sprouting…and if you’re planting a potato…you want it to sprout.  I’ve usually stuck with seed potatoes, or some of my scrawny sprouting potatoes from last year’s garden.

**UPDATE** Did you see Candace’s comment?  She said, “FYI- We tried potatoes from the grocery store last year, organic ones. They grew great above ground and flowered and all. But, alas, no potaoes underground!”

So, maybe not potatoes from the store?  Anyone else have any experiences with regular potatoes?

How do you store your potatoes and how long do they last?

I put my potatoes in covered boxes in a dark, cool room in my basement.  They keep until about March before sprouting. 

How much sun/heat can potatoes take? I live in the desert and am not sure where they would best be placed.

They need lots of sun.  Bring on the sun.

Any other questions?  How’s your garden growing?

There are a variety of ways to plant potatoes in a container.  For me, the easiest way is to use an old rubbermaid garbage container.  (Hint:  remove garbage first.)

Here are the simple steps:

1. Poke or drill several holes in bottom of garbage can.
2. Scoop about one foot of soil into the container.
3. Push five whole seed potatoes into the soil, spread apart evenly.
4. Make sure the potatoes are completely covered by about two inches of soil.
5. Water the seed potatoes.
6. Sit patiently and wait for them to grow.  You may want to take up knitting.
7. Once the plants have grown to 7-8 inches in height…scoop more soil into the container.  The soil level should be about three inches from the top of the plants.
8. Water the plants as needed.  As soon as the plants begin to flower, be sure to water generously and consistently.
9. Each time the plants reach 7-8 inches above the soil level, scoop more soil into the container, maintaining the soil at three inches from the top of the plants.
10. At the end of the summer, dump out the contents of your container (which will, by that time, weigh approximately 368.4 pounds).  Dig all around the dumped out soil and gather potatoes. 
11. Jump and cheer each time you find a potato.  Have an “I found the biggest potato, neener, neener, neener” competition. 
12. Go make mashed potatoes.

Don’t ask me how many potatoes you’ll be able to grow using this method.  I’ve read that you can grow several pounds of them.  Last year when I first tried doing this, I didn’t do a very good job of continuing to fill my container with soil like I was supposed to…therefore I didn’t have a very high yield.  This year…I’m planning to do better!

By the way, with the exception of poking the holes in my container (because I had done that already last year)…this process took only ten minutes.  That included digging up soil, planting, watering…and yes…stopping to take a few picture.  (Wonder what my neighbors were thinking?  Weird lady.  Takes pictures of her dirt and trash cans.  Weird, weird lady.)

A few more things you might be wondering about…

How should I poke holes in my container?  Well…I had the kids stand back while I went to town with a pitch fork.  But a much safer and more effective way is to use a drill.

What kind of soil should I put into my container?  I dug up some good soil from the compost area in our backyard.  You can use packaged soil from the store…but keep in mind that you’ll need quite a bit.  I remember being surprised last year with how many bags of soil it took.

Does my container need to have the left-side handle missing?  No.  Your potaoes will grow just fine in a container that has both handles attached.

Will you show us updates on your blog as your potato plants grow?  Absolutely! 

Will I get dirt under my fingernails?  Yes.  When you push the seed potatoes under the soil, you will get dirty.  But don’t worry.  It will feel good.  You’ll feel like a good farmer.  You’ll feel like you’re working hard to feed your family.  You’ll feel like you accomplished oodles of work because you got dirty.  (Don’t tell anyone it took ten minutes.)

Oh…be proud of those dirty fingernails!  See…I was so proud of mine I took a picture for you.  (Weird, weird lady)

Do any of you have experience planting potatoes in a container?  Any of you planning to give it a try this year?  Anybody want to send me a picture of your dirty fingernails?