Just Because.......Picture Heavy

Strawberries……..yum!!!!

These were picked, cleaned, sliced, canned and put in the freezer for future use.  Over the next several weeks I’ll have more.  Then it will be time to make maybe syrup, sauce, and cake….etc….

To Be Cleaned and Chopped

Strawberry Jam Canned

Flash Freeze

Strawberries cleaned, hulled, cut, placed in food saver bags, and then the freezer.

 

My tomato plants are starting to show their fruit; this is just one of my plants.  This plant has 5 tomatoes in just a little space.  I’ll be looking forward to a hefty harvest this season.

This year, I decided to plant corn in a few pots/buckets; only about 12 seeds, instead of planting a nice large row in the garden bed.  For the last 3 years I’ve planted corn in the garden bed and something has happened to it.  The first year, we had straight line winds (I still think it was a small tornado) tear through our entire garden.  The second year, strangers helped themselves to my garden and just destroyed the corn and a few other vegetables.  The third year, the weather was just too hot and burned the corn. 

The green pepper plants are looking real healthy this year, and have blossoms already visible.  Here’s a picture of one.

 

This year, I also decided to just throw carrot seeds in and throughout my lettuce and spinach.  This gives me the ability to utilize the space I had dedicated to carrots for something else, like rutabaga.   

Carrot seeds were thrown in with the lettuce and spinach.

Bulldog Man and I installed a rain barrel soaker system to the straw bales which runs independently with a timer.  We decided to do this instead of having the timer run off the house water.  

*****

On Mother’s Day, Bulldog Man and I took a little field trip up to Arcadia, Oklahoma.  We drove up the old and new Route 66, and stopped in this well known landmark known as POPS.  This place is not just a landmark; it’s a soda ranch, restaurant, gas station, and convenience store. The building has glass walls, glass doors, steel beams and shelves made of glass on the inside, with all kinds of soda in the old fashioned glass bottles. Without exaggeration, this place has hundreds of varieties and flavors of soda.  Of course Bulldog Man and I couldn’t help ourselves; we picked up a cardboard six pack carrier, and filled it with several different types of sodas.  I tried the black berry soda called “Hot Lips” while canning, it wasn’t bad at all. 

The Outside of POPS from Route 66

Bottle Formation Outside

As You Walk Up All You See Is Windows of Continuous Rows of Sodas

 

Had To Try This Since I Love Black Berries

The Round Barn Just Down From POPS

While in Arcadia, we stopped by the lake to check it out for a possible place to fish.  It was quite windy on the lake when we stopped to check it out, and the water was full of red clay.  We made a mental note not do go here for fishing.  It’s a lake with a small park wrapped around, the park may be a nice place to stop with a picnic lunch.  The park itself and the lake didn’t tickle my fancy for camping or fishing.  Please note, this is just my personal opinion, not that of Arcadia Lake or the Park.