makielb

My father’s birthday

If my father was still alive he’d be 104 today. What a great person. He taught me how to enjoy watching and then they play baseball, taking me to my first baseball game at Briggs Stadium, which was later called Tiger Stadium around 70 years ago. He taught me how to throw, catch and kickContinue reading “My father’s birthday”

Our walk yesterday

Somehow we managed to get out for a nice walk before the storms came yesterday. We always check on the garden before going. That’s when we found a nice insect on the green bean supports. This is a freshly emerged dog-day cicada. These nice insects are annual, unlike many other cicadas. Now it was timeContinue reading “Our walk yesterday”

Tomato sauce

Now that we’ve had our first major picking of tomatoes it’s time to make and can tomato sauce. What we make is a thickened sauce with only tomatoes. That way when we go to use them we can alter the sauce as necessary. So, how many quarts did we get from 23 pounds of romaContinue reading “Tomato sauce”

The garden: part-3

Yesterday we did some canning. Susan made zucchini pickles and I canned pickled jalapeños. This is the result of day-1 canning, plus our first eggplant of the season. SLicing tomatoes and Roma tomatoes waiting for processing into sauce. But the green beans and most of the cherry tomatoes are for eating later. By the way,Continue reading “The garden: part-3”

How does the garden grow?

I think that we’ll be picking romas today. So, I see making tomato sauce in our future. Jalapeños have been making a lot of peppers. Yesterday I make pickled jalapeños, so it looks like we’ll have jalapeños this winter that are from the garden. Some of the figs, not yet ripe. It amazes me thatContinue reading “How does the garden grow?”

How does the garden grow?

Somehow being away for ten days has resulted in a garden bounty. Lots of tomatoes (cherry and slicing tomatoes), jalapeños, the first green beans and several very large zucchini. But even better is the huge number of roma tomatoes that will be picked later today. Also I now have over two dozen figs ripening. MakingContinue reading “How does the garden grow?”

Moth night in Paradise

Last night we spend over two hours with people who came to see moths. Susan, with some help from me did a presentation until the first moths and other insects started appearing. Amazingly, there were almost no mosquitoes. There were close to 40 people who attended the event. This included Stacie the first there andContinue reading “Moth night in Paradise”

Blueberry Festival!

This weekend is Blueberry Festival in Paradise, Michigan. Tonight as our contribution to the Friends of Whitefish Point, we’re doing a moth night at Saw Mill Creek Park in Paradise. It runs from 9-11:30 pm. If your’e in the area feel free to stop by, say hi and see some moths, as well as otherContinue reading “Blueberry Festival!”

Blueberry season

One of the joys of having property at Whitefish Point, Michigan is being able to walk out the door and pick blueberries. The down side is battling mosquitoes. However, male mosquitoes are pollinators, it’s only the females that are vampires. Blueberries at the back deck. With a bit of effort it’s possible to pick aContinue reading “Blueberry season”

It’s insect season at Whitefish Point

This is the time of year when insects start to dominate what we are seeing at Whitefish Point. That said, warbler migration is also in full swing – and what do warblers eat? Insects! Since we live on a sand dune antlion dens/burrows/pits are quite common. Young antlions are underground at eh center of thisContinue reading “It’s insect season at Whitefish Point”