Wednesday, June 5, 2019

Let Them Grow - June Edition


My peas finally flowered - they are almost 3 feet tall now.  I took this picture a few days ago and this morning I saw a few pea pods actually growing - it looks like the pea experiment worked.  Peas are hubby's absolute favorite - eaten raw - so next year I might grow even more.



All of the cucumber plants are flowering as well, I should have cucumbers by the end of June/mid July.  

 I switched out the Spring flowers for ones which hopefully will last through our hotter summer weather.


 I bought this Grecian style urn 2 years ago.  It is very large (2 feet high and 1.5 feet wide) and I decided I needed to part with it.  I originally bought it on our Facebook bidding site for $15 and I managed to sell it for $30.
 I also bought some of my favorite things on the bidding site this week.  Someone had listed a large box of "stuff" with very bad pictures.  I had spotted two pieces of Mexican Talavera pottery in the box and was hoping no one else had. The box ended up being mine.  I kept all that is in the picture and drove straight to the thrift store with the rest.  I can always use those glass plant watering balls, I used to have a few but they had broken over the years.  This pottery would likely have been around $15 even in Mexico but here I managed to pay a whopping $1 for the lot.  My Mexican pottery collection is growing - eventually I may have to pare it down.  Fortunately if listed properly it sells well and for good money.

Mom went to the eye Dr today for a checkup on her eye that has been operated on.   It is healing nicely.  She has been told approximately 6-8 weeks for the other eye which likely means 3-4 months...but all we can do is be patient.  She did tell me a side effect of cataract surgery is now she can see that she has way more wrinkles than she originally thought lol.

I paid $4611 in property taxes today - that is both our house and the condo my Mom lives in.  It sure does hurt to see that large amount of money exit the bank account but since we save year round for it we were prepared.  Our home insurance went up $200 this year, also paid this week ($1403) and the tax on the house went up $300 over last year.  The condo only went up $20 from last year.  I had guessed on large increases thankfully but it must be much tougher for those on fixed incomes to absorb such large increases.  At least all the "big" bills are now paid until October when the car insurance is due.  

I needed one stick of celery for my potato salad today and then again declined to purchase it as it was listed at $7.99 a pound!  I've done some research.  Apparently due to US tariffs, the current celery juicing craze and a wet spring which has led to poor growing conditions the cost of celery has been increased due to limited supply.  Needless to say I might break down and buy some for stuffing at Thanksgiving in October  but none until the price gets back to decent levels.  Instead I put a whole bunch of chopped radishes and the potato salad turned out just fine.  

I can easily see us growing more and more food over the years to help counteract these ridiculous price increases.  I hate being at the mercy of others so hopefully what I planted this year will be plentiful.

Another week on the books...that's what is shaking around here.  Cheers!

25 comments:

  1. Wow that seem like a lot of property taxes, not sure how Canada does there's
    So glad all went well with your mom eye operation. I didn't know facebook had bidding site. And those piece are so pretty.
    Coffee is on

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    1. Our property tax pays for sewer/water/garbage. It's a pretty standard amount here, everything is costly in Canada. The facebook bidding site is a local group hosted by facebook. I love it, totally addicted to selling/buying on it

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  2. When you decide to buy celery, cut it off at the bottom, around three or four inches. Sit on dirt, slightly in the dirt and grow more. Or, put it in a saucer with a bit of water to start it. Look on the internet for suggestions.

    Yes, cataract surgery made me see more wrinkles.

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    1. I've seen that trick with the celery, definitely doing it the next bunch I buy

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  3. As always, a pleasure to read your posts. This one is full of growing and using your planned savings for ... and plants growing, how well your Mom is doing. A lovely visit.
    Joy

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    1. Thanks Joy! I am not a green thumb but like to experiment with what grows here (almost anything lol)

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  4. Your containers are looking lovely!
    Well done on bagging that job lot. I love that cheery Mexican pottery - I always gravitate towards stuff like that, too although the pieces that turn up here are usually Moroccan or Italian (closer to home!) xxx

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    1. I do love Moroccan and Italian pottery as well, we just never see much of it. I have found a few turkish plates as can spot those a mile away - really any colourful potter I immediately fall in love with

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  5. Funny about your mom being able to see her wrinkles after her cataract surgery. I have to admit that without my glasses my wrinkles don't show up and the house definitely looks cleaner. lol We don't have flowers on our veggies yet, but hopefully soon. We are finally getting some much needed rain, so hopefully that will jump start them. Beautiful pottery score. Love all those colors!!!

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    1. I never realize how many wrinkles I have until I try a selfie. Yet another good reason to refrain from them!

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    2. That's funny - I told Mom with or without the surgery she has a magical way of not seeing how dirty her house is lol. Glad she has a lady who cleans her house every 2 weeks now

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  6. What’s a Grecian urn? Oh about 2 bucks an hour. Sorry. It all looks beautiful. I also love raw peas but only tolerate cooked ones.

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    1. Ha ha ha! Hubby's the same way but loves raw peas so imodium it is lol

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  7. All the plants look lush and so much further along than anything we've here. It's been hot and dry, hoping for a bit of rain this weekend but not holding my breath.

    Glad your mom's surgery went well. I will eventually have the same (the optometrist found the start of a cataract on my left eye), so am interesting in hearing how things went.

    I pay my taxes and insurance monthly. That way I don't have to think about how much they really cost. Suffice to say they are high!

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    1. Hot and dry here too - but we did get a small amount of rain last week. We just water our plants alot! Ever since we paid our first mortgage off we have saved and paid out insurance and taxes in full. Zero service fees that way. Yes, I love Canada but we do get taxed to death, thankfully it is a wonderful country to live in and we do actually get a lot for our taxes.

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  8. Your plants are so beautiful. I spent a small fortune on plants recently but nothing seems to be doing well - or not yet at least. And crikey those are big bills - you really DO have to save monthly for them don't you. Glad your mom is healing nicely though!

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    1. We do have high taxes but that includes sewer/water/garbage as well. I'm very glad we didn't move - a larger house means larger bills!

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  9. The peas look lovely. We enjoyed ours last summer. Be careful not to let the soil get dry or the vines will wither.

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    1. We usually water twice a day so no chance of them drying out - but - they did get so heavy they fell over yesterday off the trellis. A few vines were damage but I wired the rest up. They only need another week or two until we can harvest them. Next year I will get a taller trellis

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  10. I love your garden pictures and growing food in general. A few years ago I grew peas and this year I'm growing broad beans. They're so simple - plant them, let them grow and soon enough, you'll have heaps of broad beans to eat raw or cooked in food. X

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    1. I am not a bean lover or would grow them - but my friend has them in her garden so I will likely try some of hers when they are ready. I think I had to many overboiled as a kid

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  11. When celery is expensive, I just use some celery salt for flavoring! You are doing better at gardening/growing than I am -- although I do have a bumper crop of weeds. I found the same watering globes on clearance at Family Dollar. They were .72 cents and then half off that. They are pretty and somewhat helpful in small containers. What a great haul!

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    1. I actually have celery seed as it is an ingredient in my favorite potato salad and that did help to give some celery taste to it. I bought that a while ago when it wasn't stupidly expensive. I've seen those watering globes at our dollar stores (which never ever have sales) but was glad to get these in that box. Sometimes you have to be willing to haul off others junk to get to the good stuff!

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  12. Hi! Wow - my sister would cry if she saw your peas!! She has a green thumb but they are still getting frost at night in PEI! She is so downcast right now as they have been growing from seeds in their glassed-in porch. She tried putting out some lettuce seeds but nothing came up. Produce is very expensive there - she might take some comfort in hearing about your celery prices tho! :) Have you thought of a celery co-op with your neighbours? Split the cost and divide up the celery?!

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    1. Lol, might do that celery coop with my Mom, was also thinking the next time I actually buy it I am going to plant the end as apparently they regrow and usually I just need a little of it. The peas only need another couple days - we taste tested them as they are sugar snap peas so shell is edible and they are very very good. Now to keep hubby away from it so they can get to maturity

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