Not long ago after completing a 6' x 6' x 1' raised bed garden I pondered what to plant there. Long story short, I decided on peanuts. Rather than buy "seed "peanuts at the feed & seed store I opted for a 1 pound sack on raw in the shell nuts from the grocery. I've had a pretty good success rate using dried beans & peas so I figured "Why not?" Well why not indeed? A little over 60% of the area planted now is sporting wee peanut plants. I shelled another handful of nuts and shoved them into the dirt this morning and gave them a good drink of water.
Even if I don't get any peanuts this year from the nut patch at least the legumes will add nitrogen to the soil there and the plants will add compost when they die down come Winter.
My grocery store has Mason jars 50% off. I'm not sure how long the sale will be for but a fetched up a dozen each quart & pint jars this morning. Tomorrow when I make my groceries I'll most likely get more as I really hope to put up some pickles and salsa if not this year then next and half price is hard to beat. They were out of 12 ounce and 1/2 pint jars so I may get a rain check on those. When the jars come in if I decide I don't want them I'm under no contract to buy!
Anyway my maters are coming along quite nicely. I've already tossed a few Roma and cherry tomatoes into my grocery hole. Lord! It's hard to beat a home grown tomato. Guy Clarke sums it up nicely in his song "Home Grown Tomatoes". I've had a couple jalapenos from my bucket gardens as well... Whoo! Them babies don't play nice at all going in nor coming out! My jalapenos think they're habaneros!
Well, if I don't manage to put up any tomatoes, pickles nor salsa this year I can always use the Mason jars for iced tea, lemonade or even cold beer.
My recipe for a gallon of Sun tea:
7 bags of black tea
5 bags of green tea
almost a gallon of water
Let the tea & water sit in full Sun all day then squeeze as much as possible out of the bags and toss them into the compost bin.
While the tea is still good & warm squeeze in a 7 second count of honey... not 6, not 8 but exactly 7 then shake it up.
Add the juice of 1 lemon. A Meyer is best and a little sweeter but any fresh lemon (not the plastic squirt thing nor the bottle). If you can't find a Meyer lemon, a regular lemon plus just a kiss of tangerine juice will come close. (Again, a fresh fruit) I don't know if they sell tangerine juice in bottles but if they do, don't use it!
Shake or stir to mix and chill it all down.
Add ice & a slice and you're good to go. I have gotten all fancy and muddled a couple of fresh mint leaves with my ice just to add variety but that's up to you.
Enjoy and stay cool!
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