Happy Halloween

 

Happy Halloween

from

Turkey Creek Garden

and

 Growing Branches

 

 

I know what you're thinking.....

"Couldn't she buy a nice Halloween decoration, something more up to date?"

 

Well there is a story behind this old, laughing pumpkin wreath.  When James and I were married 33 years ago, we were given a holiday shower and, you guessed it, we received this pumpkin.  Ever since, he makes his annual appearance some time during the week of Halloween. His "Ha...Ha...Ha...Ha"  means it's time to make Frito pies, fill a big bowl with candy, turn the porch lights on, and wait for trick-or-treaters.

 

Hope your day is filled with fun traditions,

Shelli

'Tis the night — the night
Of the grave's delight,
And the warlocks are at their play;
Ye think that without
The wild winds shout,
But no, it is they — it is they.
~Arthur Cleveland Coxe

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!
~Scottish Saying

Just like a ghost, you've been a-hauntin' my dreams,
So I'll propose on Halloween.
Love is kinda crazy with a spooky little girl like you.
~Classics IV

Devotionals

Some mornings I wake up in a fog.
 It's usually a fog of my own making;
so much to do,
nothing to do,
worries,
frets,
ect.

My mom's friend, Pam, calls this being in a "low swirl".

  But a good devotional and quite time can clear the fog for me. 

 

My sister, Jamie, highly recommends devotionals from the following website:

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 http://proverbs31.org

 

She has shared them with us often and they are really good.

 

Check it out!

 

Love ya'll, Shelli

Spiritual meditation is the pathway to Divinity. It is a mystic ladder which reaches from earth to heaven, from error to Truth, from pain to peace. ~James Allen

It's Time!!

It's time to put your tulip bulbs into the refrigerator.  Tulips need six to eight weeks of cold temperatures to bloom in the Spring and since we can't guarantee that here in the South, we have to refrigerate our bulbs.

The best time to plant your tulips is late December or early January, so you may not have time to order bulbs from a catalog.  You should be able to find them at Wal Mart, Fred's, Lowes, or your local garden centers now. Then put them into the lower vegetable basket of your fridge.

These are from Lowes...

Tulips like well drained soil in an area with full or part sun.  I always till in some Black Cow fertilizer, but you can add a general fertilizer instead.  Even though the tulip package may say to plant the bulbs six inches deep, it is recommended that we don't plant as deeply here in the South.  Five inches should do it.

If you don't have a place in your yard that's suitable for tulips, you can plant them in a pot.  Just be sure that the pot has really good drainage.

After planting your tulips, you can over plant them with violets, pansies, or pinks.


P. Allen Smith's tulips.....

My tulips...I just need to plant a few hundred more to catch up with P. Allen!

 

Love ya'll, Shelli

Tortilla Soup

A few posts ago, I was talking about our "go to" recipes when it begins to get cool this time of year.  The first was pumpkin bread and here's the second:

 

Tortilla Soup

 

Ingredients:

 

4 Tbsp. butter

1/2 c. oil

1 onion, chopped

6 celery stalks, chopped

4 carrots, chopped

1 pound chicken breasts, diced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 tsp. cumin

2 tsp. chili powder

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. lemon pepper

1/2 c. flour

1 14 oz. diced tomatoes

42 oz. chicken broth

tortilla chips 

 

toppings:

 

grated cheese 

sour cream

green onions

cilantro

avocado 

 

Directions:

 

1. Melt butter in large soup pot.  Add oil.

2. Add chopped vegetables and chicken.  Saute'.

3. Add spices and flour. Stir.

4. Add tomatoes and chicken broth.  Simmer one hour.

5. Spoon over crumbled tortilla chips and garnish with toppings.

CCA

Christian Community Action is the food bank in Lincoln Parish.  It was founded in 1988 by area churches. It is staffed by 41 volunteers. Last year, CCA helped 2,300 families by supplying 93,000 pounds of food and10,000 clothing items, as well as $17,000 in utility bills. They also help with medical prescription costs, and supply box fans and school supplies. 

       


  Last night CCA held their fall fundraiser, "Soup for the Soul". The community really turned out to show their support with ticket sales, canned good donations, and silent auction bids. 

 

  

 

It was a heart-warming evening of community unity - a community that truly cares for those in need!!

 

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue, but with actions and in truth.

1 John 3: 17-18

 

Love ya'll, Shelli 

 

Pine Straw Season

October may be hunting season to some, white perch season to others, Halloween season for many; but it's pine straw season for us.  We only have two acres , but we have a bunch of pine trees and this is the time of year when they start dropping needles.

The first year we lived here we decided that we should wait until all the pine straw had fallen before we did the BIG RAKE. Made perfect sense.  Well by the time March rolled around the ground was knee deep in straw.  We raked the back half of the yard by hand and hired someone to finish the front. It was a colossal job!!

Now we know that we must do a mini rake in October.  This gives us enough straw to put in all the beds around the house.   Then we do another rake in January.  With this one we fill the island beds out in the yard.  And finally we do a spring rake that adds new straw to the vegetable garden and and fills our pine straw "stockpile" for the year.

We no longer rake by hand.  James bought a raker that attaches to the mower in keeping with his mantra, "right tools for the job". It has made straw season much more pleasant!

According to Master Gardener, you do not need to remove old pine straw before adding new.   As the old pine straw breaks down, it acidifies the soil and most landscape plants like a slightly acidic soil. This year I am sprinkling Preen on the old straw to keep down weeds, before adding the new layer of straw.  I'll let you know how well it works.

Happy Straw Season,
Shelli

Women of the Day

I recently went home to celebrate Magda McCormick Day.  Magda was the high school guidance counselor at a local school and the mother of one of my high school friends. She was also my mother's Sunday School teacher for many years.  For me, Magda was the friendly face that took me under her wing at my husband's family reunions. 

 My husband's mom's mom was a McCormick, so once a year at Labor Day we go to the legendary McCormick reunion - and let me say that there are a lot of McCormicks!!! Even though I knew many McCormicks, especially the ones my age, I was overwhelmed by the parent, grandparents, aunts and uncles at the reunion.  At the first few reunions as a newly wed, I must have look overwhelmed because Magda always ran to my rescue giving me someone to talk to and helping me make the intricate family connections involved in any reunion.

Anyway, October 12 was designated "Magda McCormick Day".  A standing room only reception was held in the First Baptist Church.   Magda's family and friends were all there to support her and she looked beautiful.  Her influence on all the people she knew was evident in the love and support of everyone attending.

But I didn't entitle this post "Magda McCormick Day" because there were other women there who I'd like to also recognize.  I'm thinking of the women who organized Magda's day. 

Not long ago, my mom and her friends were talking about how much everyone loved Magda and that it's a shame we often don't take the time to let people know how much they mean to us.  From this was born the idea for honoring Magda. I just have to say that women are great!!  They wear so many hats - wives, mothers, friends, homemakers, employees and employers, caregivers - and yet still they take time to recognize others. (In keeping with the theme of this blog, I should say that they have many branches in their trees.) So hats off to the planners of "Magda McCormick Day"!!

                

          

Now I can't write about anything that happens in my little hometown without mentioning the heartbeat of that town, Carolyn Gandy.  Mrs. Gandy was my eighth grade English teacher.  She retired several years ago from a wonderful teaching career where she didn't just teach, she loved, nurtured, and bolstered!!!!  She was the pulse of Many Junior High School, just as she is the pulse of Many.  Not an event takes place that Mrs. Gandy isn't there with her camera to capture it all, and while she is snapping your picture she is asking about your children, your husband, your vacation, and everything in between.  A person can't remember every detail of other people's lives and  be so connected with them without selfless love and concern for everyone around her.  She is .....well, she is just amazing and our little town is a better place for having her as a citizen.  One day I'll be driving home for "Carolyn Gandy Day".

Co-planner and photographer of "Magda McCormick Day", Carolyn Gandy.
 (All the photographs in this post are by Mrs. Gandy)

So here's to all the wonderful women in our little town and the examples they set for us!!!! May we all grow strong branches of support for each other.

Love ya'll, Shelli

And I Thought I Knew What I Was Doing!!

Well,  we've had another Master Gardeners class and it was really driven home to many of us that we just thought we knew what we were doing all the years that we have been gardening!

Our speaker was Allen Owings, Professor (Ornamentsls), Hammond Research Station, LSU AgCenter.  His topic was Ornamental Horticulture.  Here are some of my notes:

1.  If you want to build a new bed beneath a tree, don't use dirt! You could smother the roots of the tree. Use pine bark or pine straw.  Then plant directly into the existing soil.

2. After digging a hole for a new shrub, don't leave the sides of the hole with the slick, flat sides created by the shovel. New roots have a difficult time growing through this compacted soil.  Instead, rough up the sides of the hole with your three pronged garden tool.

3.  When planting shrubs or trees, only fill the hole with the soil that came out of the hole!  (I always bought "tree and shrub soil" with fertilizer to add to the hole!  Dr. Owings said that the soil that came from the hole is best suited for drainage in the hole.)

4. Dark colored roses have fewer insect problems than light colored roses.

5.  In Louisiana, plants will grow 25% - 33% larger than the plant tag states, so plan ahead.

6. Azaleas like fertilizer, but dogwoods don't SO be careful if you have azaleas in a bed with dogwoods.

7. If your plants are looking too yellow (including vegetables) add Epsom salts at a rate of 1 Tbsp. per gallon of water.  Use this on roses twice a year; Spring and Fall.

8. Insecticidal soap and Spinosad are good for insect control.

9. Use mulch!!!  3 - 4" around shrubs and 2" around roses and bedding plants.

10. Add Preen, Amaze, or Demension to your beds in March, early summer, and mid-September to control weeds.

11. We are having some disease problems with our dogwoods here in Louisiana.  If you lose yours a good tree to replace it with is the silverbell; white flowers in spring, likes shade, yellow fall color.

Cool-season Louisiana Super Plants (as tested and recommended by LSU Ag):

Amazon Dianthus
Camelot Foxglove
Diamonds of Blue Delphinium
Redbor Kale
Sorbet Viola
Swan Columbine

Happy gardening, Shelli

Speaking of Pumpkins...

At this time of year, we Wiggins girls start baking pumpkin bread.  It's just what you do when the weather turns cool; bake pumpkin bread and make a big pot of tortilla soup.

Pumpkin Bread

 

Ingredients:

 

3 1/2 c. flour

2 tsp. soda

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. cinnamon

4 eggs, beaten

3 cups sugar

2 c. canned pumpkin

1 c. vegetable oil

1 tsp. vanilla

 

Directions:

 

1. Sift together flour, soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

2. In another bowl, blend together eggs, sugar, pumpkin, oil, and vanilla.

3. Combine dry and wet ingredients.

4. Pour into three 4x8 greased loaf pans.

5. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Love ya'll. Shelli

Pumpkins

James brought home some pumpkins this week from over in the delta.

 They got me to thinking about this beautiful time of year: cold fronts passing through.... trees swaying in north winds and slowly revealing their fall colors....front doors being adorned with harvest décor....football....pickup trucks parked along side highways waiting for hunters in the woods....fall festivals....chili....Halloween....fall gardening...

 

But for some reason this year, I was struck with the memory of the fall before my daughter left for her two year service in the Peace Corps and the pumpkins we made together before she left. She was going to Africa and so we combined Peace Corps and Halloween by painting African tribal faces on the pumpkins and used fall foliage as their head dresses.

 

 

 

This is Katherine right after she cut off her long hair in preparation for living in a village with no running water.

 



I remember how fearful I was of her being so far away for so long.  But it was a wonderful experience and everything turned out so well. Sometimes we fear things that were blessings all along.

 

 This year's pumpkins bring a smile of gratefulness to my soul.

 

 

Love ya'll, Shelli

The Tie That Binds

Our Dad's side of the family got together last weekend for our annual reunion.

 

My Dad (right) with his brother and two sisters.

 My cousin, John, and his wife Debbie are so gracious to host each year at their beautiful home out in the country.   Our cousins, Susie and Joanna added some Pinterest flair to the event with Christmas ornaments adorned with the family photo from last year's reunion.  The ornaments were hanging on a Christmas tree they had set up just for that purpose. 

 

Susie also put together a great display of old family photos from previous reunions and we got a big kick out of the girls' pictures from the "big hair" years.
 

 

Debbie always amazes us with the delicious food she effortlessly puts together and before digging in, John read a summary of all the family events from this year.  Some were sad and brought us grief; others were happy and brought us joy.  Three of us had retired from the teaching profession and my Dad's sister, Ruth, had celebrated her 90th birthday. (Let me just say that she is the most energetic, spry, beautiful ninety year old you can imagine!)

 

After lunch we sat around visiting about everything under the sun.  We discussed children, grandchildren, jobs, weddings, and more.  PBS was a big topic as we all shared the programs we love. Our Lake Charles people regaled us with stories about dogs and neighbors.  

 

Then it was time for family pictures, but this year someone else got their picture taken....

 

 

Tina, the lama.

 

 Rejoice with your family in the beautiful land of life! ~Albert Einstein

 

You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. ~Desmond Tutu

The happiest moments of my life have been the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family. ~Thomas Jefferson

Love ya'll, Shelli

 

A Lot of Bang For Your Buck

It is Fall gardening time. No more sweating to death in the garden; cool breezes and mild temperatures make this a great time to dig in the dirt.  I pulled up everything from the summer garden back at the end of August.  Some veggies would have kept on producing, but we were leaving on vacation and when it gets that hot and miserable outside, I'd rather pull everything up and take a break.

It is also a great time to send a soil sample off to the state AgCenter and find out what you need to add to your soil before next Spring. It is recommended that your should test your soil every three years.  My pH is always a little high and this year was no different, so I had to add sulfur. They also recommended some potash.

  

I tilled in the nutrients, repositioned the drip tape, then planted spinach, kale, collard greens, cabbage, and lettuces.  They will need fertilizing three weeks after planting and again two weeks later.  Our teacher, Dr. Katheryn Fontenot of the LSU AgCenter, said she likes calcium nitrate at a rate of 1 tsp. per plant.

Anyway, between pulling up summer plants and waiting for your fall plants to mature, the garden can look a little barren.  But there have been two plants that have really done yeoman's duty for me this year; wave petunias and narrow-leaf zinnia.

First, the pots of wave petunias I planted in March. I started with one hanging basket per pot.  Then at the end of June when they began to get leggy and ugly, I cut them way back with a pair of scissors and fertilized them heavily.  They popped out again and kept on going.  I repeated the process at the end of August.  This picture was taken this yesterday.

 

So that's eight months from an initial investment of $30.....equals $3.33 per month for both pots together.  That's a lot of bang for your buck! 

Second, is the mounding narrow-leaf zinnia.  They are an annual and come in white, yellow, orange, and pink. they bloom all summer and get 12 - 15 inches tall and wide.  They are drought tolerant and disease and insect resistant.  A gardener friend of mine calls plants like this "bullet proof".  But the reason I like them is they give me pretty fall color without having to plant something new or waste money on mums. (I like chrysanthemums, but their blooms just don't last very long for the money invested.)



March - November... a lot of bang for the buck!!



Other Fall Veggie Info:
 
Okra can be cut off to knee length in late August and it will bush out and keep producing pods until frost. Of course that's if you want to keep cutting okra everyday like it requires!

There is a new lettuce variety called "Drunken Redheaded Woman".

 Soft neck varieties of garlic do better in Louisiana than hard neck varieties.

Happy Fall gardening,
Shelli

Hot Husband!!

As you know from a previous post, James and I have been on vacation.  We rented a car that had heated seats. Now that is way fancier than any of the automobiles we have at Turkey Creek Garden, let me assure you.  We probably wouldn't have noticed the heated seat feature except that the temperature on the warmest day of our vacation was in the 50's and the mornings were in the low 30's.  Needless to say, the warm seats were a big hit!

On one of the geyser viewing mornings when it was really cold and we had a long way to drive, I ordered a big cup of hot chocolate to go and jumped in the car.

"Mmmm," I said, " Hot chocolate....Hot seats..... Hot geysers!"

 

"Hot husband," added James.

 

www.pinterest.com

 

 

 

It was my favorite comment of the whole trip!

For you see, each day I love you more
Today more than yesterday and less than tomorrow.
~Rosemonde Gerard

Love ya'll, Shelli

 

Tomato Pie

Several people have been asking for the tomato pie recipe.  Now this is the combination of several recipes I have tried in the past and this is how we like them best, so I'm just going to write it down like I do it. Here goes....

Ingredients:

1 Pillsbury ready made pie shell (you know...they come two to a long red box)
mustard (brown, French,Di'jon, yellow....whatever you like)
 homegrown tomatoes (I don't know how many you'll need because I don't know how big your tomatoes are! I use 3 if they are large.) *My mom take the skins (peels) off her tomatoes; I only do if we're having company.
Vadalia onion, chopped
bacon, cooked (I'm ashamed to tell you how much I use so use as much as you feel comfortable with)
basil, chopped (I use about 6 large leaves from the garden, but I'm sure you could use dried)
2 cups yellow and white cheese, grated (some reserved)
1/3 - 1/2 cup mayo  (I don't know how you feel about mayo!)
olive oil or butter
salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Slice tomatoes, sprinkle with salt (to draw out some of the liquid) and pepper, then set aside to drain.
2. Caramelize onions in olive oil or butter (or both...this way it will be healthy and taste good too)
2. Spray pie pan with Pam and lay in the pie crust.
3. Spread mustard over bottom of crust. (I can't tell you how much to use because I don't know how much you like mustard...1 Tbsp.?.....2Tbsp.?)
4. Mix mayo, onions, and most of cheese.
5. Now make your first layer. Cover the bottom of the pie shell with tomatoes. Add some cheese mixture, bacon, and basil.
6. Repeat so you have two more layers.
7. Top with reserved cheese.

Bake at 400* until done. I don't really know how long this takes, maybe 30 - 45 min.
Let sit before slicing.

I hope this works out well for you!  As you can see, I am not a recipe writer!

A special "shout out" to the Sunday School girls!!! Expecially Sharon who was brave enough to try this recipe without written directions!!! I love ya'll and enjoy submitting to your knowledge and wisdom on Sunday mornings!

Love ya'll, Shelli

Yellowstone

 

James and I just returned from a trip to Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons! It was wonderful and we are very thankful that we were able to enjoy such a great trip.

I took this picture the day we arrived. The airport runway is right beside the mountains.

 

We flew into Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Jackson Hole is the valley at the base of the Grand Teton Mountain Range. This range is the youngest of the Rocky Mountains. The Tetons are formed by faulting action where the mountain side of the fault is pushed upward and the valley side of the fault sinks.  This faulting action began only 6 - 9 million years ago.

 

 

 

 

When John D. Rockefeller, Jr. visited Jackson Hole, he decided that this area should be added to Yellowstone National Park. He began buying property that he later turned over to the National Park Service. Today the two parks are connected by the John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Memorial Parkway.

 

After two nights in the Tetons, we headed up to Yellowstone.

 

 

 Yellowstone National Park was established by Congress and signed into law on March 1, 1872 by Ulysses S. Grant.  It is the largest super volcano on our continent.  Half the world's geothermal features are in Yellowstone. 

 

 In 1805 when they entered the region, Lewis and Clark were told about Yellowstone, but it was south of their route and so they decided to skip it. Bless their hearts! In 1807, John Carter, a member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, passed through the area. He described "a place of fire and brimstone", but his comments were dismissed as delirium and myth. Later pioneers called it "the place where Hell opens up".

 

 

 

 

 

Each year at the end of our Earth Science studies, I showed my students an ABC News program entitled "Last Days on Earth" in which scientists predicted the seven most likely ways life as we know it on our planet could come to an end.  (This video played right into the mind set of middle schoolers!  They love to be "freaked out" just a little so the video became a legend in its own right and was much anticipated as a great ending to the Earth Science year.) The eruption of the super volcano, Yellowstone Caldera, was one of the most probable scenarios.

 

Vixen Geyser, Norris Geyser Basin

Blue Mud Pot, Norris Geyser Basin

 

 

Besides its geothermal activity, Yellowstone is also known for its beautiful scenery.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grand Canyon of Yellowstone

 

We also enjoyed the varied wildlife, much of it right outside your car window!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm going to have to help you with this one...trumpeter swans.

 

 

 

Our favorite accommodations were at the Old Faithful Inn. It is right beside Old Faithful geyser and was built in 1904. It is the largest log structure in the world and is an example of "rustic resort" architecture. It is built out of lodgepole pines and rhyolite stone found in the park.

 

 

 

Loved the fire screen!!





 



 

 

On the last morning, as we headed out from Mammoth Hot Springs to drive back down to Jackson Hole, we were treated to one last gift from this beautiful part of the country -

 

SNOW!!!!!

 

 

 

 

It was such a great trip!!!

 

 

 

 

“Memories are the stars that brighten our dreams.”
― Sharon Repp

 

 

 

Love ya'll, Shelli