Zucchini & Meat Casserole and Other Tall Tails

I got the first couple of zucchini from my garden last week. A beautiful green fruit about 14 inches long and 5 inches wide. My God, “Its Bigger than Both of Us” as Imogene Coca would say on “The Sid Caesar - 1950’s TV Show”. Most people like these zucchinis about half that size for cooking in casseroles or boiled and served with butter. Although the zucchini was almost picking size four days earlier, I had gone away for a few days and it tripled in size when I got back. It was like the pod people in the movie “Invasion of the Body Snatchers”.
See photos at the link …. http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/ZucCasserole72609

Zucchini plants are so prolific. They continue to flower and produce fruits all summer - (More Pod People). I usually will pick the first few and give them to my wife to cook in various ways. She has a ton of recipes which are all delicious. However, I know she has reached her cooking limit when I see the zucchini green color to her eyes as she imitates “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” and slaps me on the head with her giant green tail. At that point, I give away the rest of the “pod” crop to family and friends to spread the wealth and propagate the “alien” species.

I decided to grow most of my vegetable garden from seed this year and involved the grandchildren. Once the seedlings reached about 4 inches in height, I could plant them in the garden. You need to time this so you can plant them in the garden after Memorial Day and the last signs of frost. However, like most plans and several delays, I eventually planted the seeds in late April in the house and waited for them to grow to maturity. I hoped Bernie Madoff didn’t help produce these seeds.

I gave a bunch of seeds and seedlings to my grand daughter to put in a garden at her house. I also gave her some plastic fencing to put around the plants and keep them safe from “Space” invaders. She put up the fence her self and delicately put all the plants in the ground. She watered and weeded the garden and took special care of the little seedlings. However, “Alien Creatures From Outer Space” in the form of a ground hog ate most of the plants and the garden fell apart.

To make sure that I had a viable garden this year, I also bought some already grown plants at the garden center. They were duplicates of the ones that I was also growing from seed. I was now growing both seedlings and plants of zucchini, squash, tomato, carrot, lettuce, broccoli, pepper, egg plant, cucumber and a bunch of herbs. Nothing like “hedge hogging” your bets. I also moved the plants from the house to a cold frame outside in May.

After Memorial Day, I planted all the garden center plants in my regular garden and almost ran out of space. A few weeks later, the seedlings which I had growing in a cold frame were now ready to plant in the garden. Since I had no more space to put them in the regular garden, I cleared a spot near the compost pile and made another garden. My neighbor also provided some space on an adjoining compost area. We now have a “Farm Coop”. Maybe we should apply for Federal Stimulus Money.

Unfortunately, the area was also home to an invasive bamboo plant that grows like wild fire and is competing for the same space as the seedlings. This reminds me of the movie “War of the Worlds” where the space creatures try to take over the Earth. Will the alien “Bamboo Creatures” win? Stay tune for the exciting conclusion next month. Although I dig out and snip off most of the bamboo sprouts every other day, there deep roots continue to produce more and more alien creatures.

Although my garden is fenced in, I noticed that some of the plants were still being eaten, especially the Strawberry plants and Lettuce and Corn. To help protect the plants, I made a few screened boxes. After using the boxes on the Strawberries which only produce fruit in June, I moved the boxes over the other tender plants (corn, carrots, and lettuce) to protect them. So far they are doing fine.

Yesterday, my wife tried a new recipe for “Zucchini Casserole” with ground hamburg and served it for dinner. It was truly delicious and outstanding. After some pleading, she shared with me her secret recipe which I have described below. However, like Mr. Phelps says from “Mission Impossible” you must destroy the secret in 30 seconds to prevent a world wide zucchini epidemic.

Zucchini & Meat Casserole (Secret Recipe)

Ingredients:
1 zucchini (1/4” slices), 2-3 eggs, bread crumbs, 1 pkg mozzarella cheese (shredded), 1 lb. Hamburg (see meatball cooking instructions below), marinara sauce (make your own).

Directions:
Meatballs (crumbled after cooking) - mix together 1 lb. Hamburg, 1 egg, 5 slices Italian Bread, (wet with water and shredded), Romano cheese, garlic, salt and pepper. Make meatballs and broil. After, cool and crumble.

Casserole - Dip zucchini slices in egg batter, bread crumbs and place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle with olive oil and bake at 425 until tops crusty. Then layer zucchini slices in casserole dish with other ingredients in following order: 1. sauce, 2. zucchini, 3. ground meat. 4. grated cheese. 5. Mozzarella cheese. 6, sauce. Repeat layering to fill dish. Bake at 350 for one hour.

Remember: “Don’t Tell Bernie”. - Recipe Will Self Destruct In 30 Seconds

Garden “Signs”

Signs can be interpreted as either ones that you paint or clues that indicate something. When planting a garden you need both. The painted signs are used to identify plants and the other signs will signal when its time to plant the seed, or thin the seedlings, or transfer the seedlings, or water, or protect from frost. A successful gardener has to constantly be vigilant for “SIGNS”. You can see some photos of my “Signs” at the link below …..
http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/GardenProgress62309?authkey=Gv1sRgCPyltYz3pariHQ

This year I started some plants from seed. In early May, I had my grandchildren help me with putting the seeds in Peat Pots and trays. I then put the trays in a cold frame that protected the plants from cold weather outside while the seeds germinated to seedlings.

The cold frame had a wood skeleton which was covered with clear plastic. On warm days I would open the cold frame for air circulation and at night close it to protect the plants from possible “signs” of frost.

During the next month the seeds germinated to seedlings and grew to 6 inches tall. This was a “sign” which indicated they needed to be transferred to larger individual pots and then eventually planted in the garden.

Later, I painted some “signs” to help identify the plant sections mostly for garden neighbors and visitors that would stop by to chat. I put the painted signs on wood dowels at different places in the garden.

I watered the plants frequently so that the soil never dried out while the plants were in the cold frame. I used water that I collected from a roof and rain barrel system that I built. After putting the plants in the garden, I watered as needed with a watering can. Most plants only need a cup of water a week to survive. However, I didn’t hand water much since it has rained most of the month of June.

Since I started the seeds late, I don’t expect a harvest until late July or August. Most plants produce fruits in 75 to 90 days. The development of flowers is a “sign” that pollination and fertilization will take place. After fertilization, the bottom of flowers will generally develop into the fruits.

As you patiently wait for “signs” of harvest time, you keep busy tending the plants, and watching for “signs” to weed, water, tie and support plants, and treat for pests and fungus. Harvest time lasts about a month and will produce about a bucket full of vegetables every other day in a small 20x30 foot garden. . Although I try to use most of the harvest, I give a lot away to family and friends.

Comments are always welcome. Send email to markryan82@comcast.net .

Strawberries

I planted some strawberry plants a few years ago and they have spread by runners to cover a larger area (3x8 feet). However, my harvest has been limited by the eating habits of local rabbits. Just when the berries were ripe enough I would find a bite out of the sides of most of them. You can see some info about protecting you plants from rabbits and other garden pests at the link ….. http://www.gardenguides.com/pests/tips/rabbits.asp

This year I decided to protect the plants by covering them with netting. However, my wife suggested using some cheese cloth she had. I took the cheese cloth and tried to cover most of the plants and it worked for a while but when wet with rain the cloth squished the plants.

My only other solution was to build some box frames with plastic or wire screening. I had a few pieces of chicken wire and plastic screen leftovers and made myself two boxes (1’H x 2’W x 3’L) to cover the strawberry bushes. After covering them, I got a pretty good first harvest and the berries were nice a sweet and plump. Even those that were still a little white or green, ripened to red in a few days in a bowl at the window sill. See the photos at the link below ……………. http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/Strawberries6509

Strawberries are easy to grow and produce some delicious fruits. There are several varieties that have been cultivated for the grocery shelf which are either June Bearing (one crop in June) or Ever Bearing (several crops throughout season). They are also categories by the flowers into 3 types; short day, long day and day neutral. The day neutral plants flower all the time and produce fruits all season. You can see more info about strawberries at the links below …… http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strawberry
or http://gardening.about.com/od/fruitsberriesnuts/a/Strawberries.htm


Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Send email to markryan82@comcast.net

A Camping - "Staycation"

Getting away on vacation has always been a way to relax and have a change of pace from one’s daily life. Whether it be a short trip to a friend’s house in the next town or across the country or around the world, looking at new surroundings and talking to new people rejuvenates the soul. However, with the economy in a recession people have less money to spend and are re-thinking the distance they travel and are vacationing closer to home. These closer to home vacations have been dubbed staycations.

With the price of gas now half what it cost last year, most vacationers are hopping in the family car and driving a few hours to their vacation destination rather than taking a more costly airplane trip. You can reduce the cost even more by taking a camping trip which can vary from sleeping in a tent to staying in a luxury motor home. You can either use your own trailer or rent one at the campground to try it out first.

When I retired in 2003, I bought a camper trailer and used it to travel around New England during the summer months. My wife and I would stay at various campgrounds for a week and then come home for a week before heading out again. This allowed us to vacation and also take care of things around the house. Our favorite places were Wells, Maine, Sandwich, MA and North Woodstock, NH. However, two years ago I traded in the old camper and got a bigger one which can sleep up to eight. We can now take the grandkids with us without being over crowded.

This year we found a campground in northern NH where we can leave the trailer for the entire summer season. The great thing about leaving the trailer at one campground for the summer is that you can come and go as you please. No making reservations, no packing and unpacking and no pulling the trailer back and forth. Our campground is called Crazy Horse and has all the amenities that we need and is close to area attractions that we might like to visit. You can rent a trailer campsite for about $40 per night, $250 per week or $1700 for the 5 month season (May 15 to Oct 15). Rental fees are much higher at campgrounds with more amenities or those near the ocean. You can visit the Crazy Horse web site and see what they offer at the link below …… http://www.ucampnh.com/crazyhorse/default.asp

Another great thing about a trailer camper is that you have a home away from home. You drive the trailer into the camp site, unhitch the trailer and now have the car to use for short trips nearby. You can sleep in your own bed, make your own meals and have most of the amenities you would have at home. In our trailer there is a queen size bed, a sofa couch with a pull out bed, a fold down dining table bed and two bunk beds. In addition, the trailer has a slide out where the side wall slides out making the trailer 4 feet wider which increases the living space to 12 feet x 30 feet. There is also a kitchen area with double sink, gas stove, microwave oven, refrigerator and central AC or Heat. There is a full bathroom with vanity, sink, toilet and shower-tub. There is a dining table, sofa couch and entertainment center with flat screen TV, DVD, radio. In addition, there are plenty of storage cabinets for clothes, games, toys, pots and pans, towels and toiletries.

Most campgrounds offer full hookups for the trailer which means you can connect to water, sewer, electricity, cable TV and WiFi. Although you have all these conveniences, your trailer is in a wooded setting with a pond or stream nearby where you can enjoy mother-nature right at your doorstep.

You can cook meals inside the trailer in a modern kitchen or outside over the rustic campfire or gas grill. We general will eat breakfast inside and other meals on a picnic table outside. At night, we sit around the campfire and toast marshmallows on sticks and tell stories. During the day we can swim at the camp pool or local pond. A large lake is nearby where we can go fishing or boating. The time seems to drift by slowly while you relax and watch the clouds drift by.

You can also visit nearby attractions like Franconia Notch, Echo Lake, the Flume or Cannon Mountain. There is also a shopping center nearby for buying groceries or other forgotten items. For longer stays, you can visit local shops or historical attractions or covered bridges in downtown Littleton, Bethlehem, Franconia, Sugar Hill, North Woodstock or Lincoln. For the more adventurous there is Kayaking, Biking, Hiking, Mountain Climbing or Fishing and Boating.

On a recent week we met my brother-in-law and his wife and spent the day sightseeing the local back roads. As we drove along the scenic routes, we saw majestic mountains in the distance and nearby rolling farm lands with cows and horses. We stopped at Cabot Creamery in Cabot, Vt.; we ate at Anthony’s Diner in St. Johnsbury, Vt., and had pastry at the Rainbow Café in Danville, Vt. On another day we visited the Old Grist Mill and Covered Bridge in Littleton, NH. and walked along the downtown streets and visited the local shops.

In the evening we went back to the campground and walked to the camp office. As we approached, Barbara and Joe, the camp owners, were sitting on the front porch talking to other campers and invited us to join them. Later, they had a “Make Your Own Sundae” activity at the Pavilion for all the campers. The ice cream party gave us the opportunity to meet some of the other campers and share some conversation and laughs.

This is certainly my kind of staycation. A quiet day at your own pace. Do what you want when you want. No long lines, now traffic, no airport delays. “Life Is Good”.

Time To Get The Vegetable Garden Ready

Normally I start planning my vegetable garden about March and then put the plants in the garden after Memorial Day. I try to decide what plants I should buy and which ones to grow from seed. I start looking in the department stores and garden centers at the plant displays and mentally making lists of what I need. However, I also keep seeds from last year’s plants too. To do this, I remove the seeds from the fresh vegetable, dry them out on newspaper, store them in paper envelopes and then label them with name and date and special comments.

In addition, I also buy some full size plants in six pack flats or individual quart size containers. Checking around at the different garden centers the prices have increased this year for the quart size plant containers with a full grown plant. The average price is about $3.49 per container but you do get a full grown healthy plant about one foot tall.

The price of a package of seeds varies from one store to another. I like Burpee Seeds sold at Walmart’s for $ 1.00 per pack. Marketbasket had packs for $0.69 and Christmas Tree Shop had packs for $1.99. I finally decided to buy 15 different seed packs from Walmart, some potting soil mix (with vermiculite), some (2x5) peat pots, some (4x9) planting trays, and some craft sticks to label each peat pot.

I invited my grandchildren over the house at the end of April to help me plant some of the seeds and let them each pick a variety to plants from the 15 choices. I gave them a Seed Info Chart that I had made from the information on the back of the seed packs. See chart at the link ......
http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/SeedInfo5409?authkey=Gv1sRgCNOghL__gKCMpQE#5332153768917807394

I then set out a card table in the basement and covered it with newspaper. I put the supplies nearby and explained to the children how to plant the seeds. The kids quickly chose their seeds, loaded the peat pots with soil mix, made the seed holes with a pencil, dropped in the seeds and covered them with soil. See photos at the link …….
http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/GardenBlogPics5409


We then carried the peat pots outside to a cold frame that I made with wood strapping and clear plastic. I told them that the clear plastic would allow the sunlight through most of the day to keep the seedlings warm. We then watered the peat pots and closed the top of the cold frame to keep the heat in overnight and protect the plants from any frost.

In Wilmington, MA where I live, you generally have to wait until after Memorial Day to be safe from cold nights and frost before you can take seedlings from the cold frame and plant them in the garden. The seeds take about two weeks to germinate to tiny seedlings with two little leaves. I told the grandchildren that I would water them each day and send them pictures by email to see how the plants develop over the next few weeks. However, they would have to help me plant them in the garden at the end of May.

I got the garden ready last week by tilling the soil with my gas powered Honda Mini Tiller. This is a great tool which has four circular blades with tines that dig into the soil and turn it over. The next step is to decide where to put each vegetable plant and how far to space them from each other. I generally make a chart of my garden area which is 10 x 20 feet and pencil in the approximate location of each plant with a designated number. Some of the plants can be placed along the garden fence about one foot apart and some of the others are placed two or three feet apart. See the chart at the link .....

http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/GardenPlotDesign5409#5332151825200309666

That’s it for now. I’ll let you know how the garden develops during the summer. If you have any suggestions, questions or comments, send email to markryan82@comcast.net.

Getting The Yard Ready (Spring Is Here !)

Spring is a beautiful time of year. The birds start singing, trees flower and the days are warmer. To help mother nature, we cleanup the yard, rake the leaves and twigs, till the garden and flower beds and rejuvenate the lawn. To help the flower beds requires cutting new edges and putting down fresh bark mulch. To help the lawn requires dethatching the dead grass and raking up the debris. Afterwards you fertilize with weed control and hope it rains enough to keep the grass healthy. Where I live in Wilmington, MA there are water restrictions with only hand held watering hoses before 9AM and after 5PM.

Before using the lawn tractor to dethatch the lawn, I took it out of the shed and put back the battery which I take out for winter storage. I then changed the oil, oil filter, gas filter and spark plug. This year, I also had to replace the spark plug wire clip that rusted and broke off. See photos at the link below……
http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/Lawnmower141609

I also changed the oil on two lawnmowers and a snow blower while I had the time. You can get rid of the old oil by returning it to a recycle center or wait for your town to have a recycling day. See the web link below to find places that are near you …… http://earth911.com/

Next, I hooked up the utility trailer to get some bark mulch at the garden center. After hooking it up with a trailer hitch, I noticed the tail lights didn’t work. Could it be just a new bulb or were there wiring problems. After replacing a bulb the lights still didn’t work. I then used a wire tester at different places to see if there was a break in the wiring. You can also use a multimeter. It turned out that the wire connector from the trailer to the car was defective. One of the connecting plugs rusted and broke off. I bought a 4-Wire replacement kit at Walmart but found the original trailer wiring had 5 wires going into a 4-wire plug. I looked up the wire diagram online and saw that the brown wire went to both the right and left running lights of the trailer. This is why 5 wires went into a 4-wire connector (1 yellow, 1 green, 1 white and 2 connected brown). See wire diagram at the link below …..
http://www.accessconnect.com/trailer_wiring_diagram.htm

You can also see photos of the trailer wire replacement at the link below ….
http://picasaweb.google.com/markryan312/TrailerLights42409

I’m glad that Spring only comes once a year !

Send comments to: markryan82@comcast.net

Libraries – The Last Treasure

Library of Alexandria (300BC)
One of the last places that provide free entertainment, services and materials to borrow is the local public library. This is certainly a treasure to take advantage of in today’s economy. Check it out – This is Library Week across America (April 12 -18, 2009).

Besides books, there are discount passes to area museums, speaker programs for all ages, film nights, how to seminars, and free internet access. You can borrow books, music CDs and movie DVDs. The research librarian will assist you with finding all kinds of information.

The online catalog allows you to locate materials available at the local library or at the area library consortium. Books and materials can be ordered from other libraries and shipped to the local library within days. When they arrive you will be notified by phone or email when to pick them up. I access my local library at the web link … http://www.wilmlibrary.org/ Here you can see what new programs are offered and find information from online catalogs. You can also subscribe to the library newsletter which is sent to you by email.

I visit the library at least once a week to pickup books that I have ordered or look for new ones. At the library you can browse the shelves to see what titles or authors may pique your interest. New books are displayed upfront dealing with a current public interest such as Heart Month, Black History Month, President’s Week or even Travelogues to other countries.

I recently picked up some books on piano music from the 1920’s. Another time I saw a book on signal flags used on ships and the how to recognize a ship from their silhouette. After reading an article in the local newspaper about pirates in Wilmington, I got some books about Captain Kid and his exploits along the New England coast which I shared with my grandson.

A few years ago I was doing genealogy research and trying to construct a family tree. I was able to get a few books at the library that provided information on available resources and online genealogy data bases only available at the library. In addition, I was able to attend a special Genealogy Night offered at the Andover Public Library. I have also borrowed audio books for my next door neighbor who is partially blind. Another time, I attended an evening lecture on gardening tips and how to deal with garden insects.

Next door to the Wilmington Public Library is a small house called The Bookstore Next Door. See the link …. http://friendsbookstorenextdoor.blogspot.com/
This bookstore is run by the Friends of the Library and has a large collection of used books, CDs, DVDs for adults and children. Paperbacks are fifty cents and hard cover books are two dollars. This is quite a bargain from the original cost. I usually browse the shelves every few weeks for new items. While I am there, local residents drop off their used books for others to buy. After a few minutes I have found a couple of suspense novels for me and also some children’s books for the grand kids.

If I am looking for special books not available at the library, I try Amazon.com at the link … http://www.amazon.com/ . At this web site you can look up books by title, author and genre with a synopsis or book review. You can select the book to purchase as new or used and have it shipped to your home for a shipping charge of about $3.00. The used books are like new and sometimes cost less than a dollar.

I find reading to be an active endeavor, instead of passive, like watching TV. When you read you have to formulate the words on the page into thoughts, ideas and pictures. You use your own experiences and imagination to construct the scene and the action.

Sometimes the books that you are reading become relevant to current events. I am now reading the book “The Edge of Battle”, By Dale Brown. See Ammazon.com for a review … http://www.amazon.com/Edge-Battle-Dale-Brown/dp/0060753080/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239072320&sr=8-1
The book is about smugglers of drugs and people on the Mexican Border. About immigration, border security and international terrorism. The book describes currents weapons used as well as the politics between local, state and national governments.

Recently I saw another book that piqued my interest while reading the Boston Globe book reviews. See the link … http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2009/03/31/pearl_returns_to_boston_with_dickens/
It is entitled “The Dante Club” By Matthew Pearl. The author lives in Cambridge and has written several Mystery Novels about the local area. The Dante Club is a murder mystery which takes place in Boston in 1865 and involves Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and Oliver Wendell Holmes. They discover the local pastor of the Old North Church murdered in an under ground church crypt. The Globe recently had an article about a local archeologist finding historical evidence in the crypt at the Old North Church. See the link … http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/04/06/resurrecting_a_storied_past/

I looked up some information about Libraries online and found that the three largest libraries are here in the US. The name of the libraries and the number of volumes they hold are: (Library Congress - 29,550,914), (Harvard University – 15,181,349) and the (Boston Public – 14,933,349).

In ancient times the largest library was the Royal Library of Alexandria in Alexandria, Egypt. This was built by King Ptolemy II about 300 BC. Carl Sagan in his TV Series “Cosmos” estimated that Alexandria had over a million volumes. The first books were papyrus scrolls. After the library burned during the rule of Julius Caesar, Marc Anthony supposedly gave to Cleopatra 200,000 scrolls taken from the Library of Pergamum for the Library in Alexandria, as a wedding gift. See the link …. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Library_of_Alexandria

To prevent future catastrophes from destroying great books, statues, buildings and works of art, a digital library has been established called the Perseus Digital Library. See the link …. http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/

I recently saw a movie on TV, The Time Machine (2002). The time machine inventor is hurtled 800,000 years into the future where earth has been destroyed along with all books and technology and people must start over again as hunter gatherers. The only thing that survives from the past is a Hologram of a Man that has the entire knowledge of mankind in his digital memory http://movies.yahoo.com/movie/1807432839/details

However, back in the year 2009 and I still have my tangible books that I can hold in my hand, which allow me to imagine the past, present and future from the comfort of my non-digital easy chair.

All comments appreciated. email to : markryan82@comcast.net