Ain't Nothing like the Real Thing!

I'm making my Maw Maw Rose's spaghetti today. I get called for this recipe a lot by siblings, cousins who have lost the recipe somewhere in the house, and friends who love it.

I love making it, the smell reminds me of family dinners at my grandmother's house, when my Mom and Aunts would have to holler for us 10 times to stop playing with our cousins and come eat. As we grew up, we didn't have to be called - we just gathered around and visited with each other while smelling the sweet aroma. I'm not sure which of those are my favorite memories. But I know that I'll cherish both with all my heart and I hope my family is as close as my Grandmother kept hers.

Maw Maw Rose's Italian Spaghetti

SAUCE:
1 12oz can tomato paste
1 14.5oz can tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 1/2 tomato paste cans water (18oz)
1/4 t oregano
1/2 t basil
1/4 C sugar
1 small pork roast or ribs

Brown pork in heavy pot. Add tomato paste and fry a little. Add tomatoes and rest of ingredients.

MEATBALLS:
1 lb ground meat (beef, pork, turkey....)
1 small onion finely chopped
bread crumbs soaked in a little milk
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray.

Combine ingredients in a large bowl with hands. Smoosh it REAL good! You'll have to eyeball the ingredients - I just know how from watching Maw Maw. But you make it the same way you make a meat loaf.

Make as many balls in whatever size you desire.

Put the balls on the lined pan and brown them in the oven. I estimate the time from 15-20 minutes, but you'll just need to stay close by and watch them. Browning them helps them not fall to pieces while cooking fully in the sauce.

After they are good and brown, get them out and drop the meatballs in the sauce gently. Cook on lowest setting for 4 or 5 hours siring gently occasionally.

Serves 7 people per 1lb of spaghetti noodles.



A few Carrie alterations:

In the Spring and Summer, I enjoy adding fresh chopped basil from my garden directly before serving.

Never use pre made parmesan cheese in this, buy the fresh block in the specialty cheese section and grate it yourself. Do this, because you love yourself.

I always double the recipe and freeze whatever sauce is left over for a quick lunch or dinner.

Serve with a nice salad and home made dressing and a big crusty loaf of bread.

I once made this with tomatoes fresh from my own garden. It was an all day event. It was a ton of work. I sweat, I cried, I laughed... but it was the best spaghetti sauce I've ever made. Just saying.

Planting Day!

Today was my first day to plant - it was difficult considering I was exhausted from having my my my my my boogie shoes on all night last night. Courtesy of two of my favorite gay guys Keith and Brian. It was a lovely night, where the beer flowed like wine, where old friends were cherished, where I got really slogged. Don't worry, Damon got more slogged than me because he wasn't drinking water in between drinks. No hangover for me, but Damon has been throwing up all day. Which is as it should be since Damon 'effing' McDaniels came out to play. I always say a little prayer that God makes him throw up all day when his alter ego comes out. One day I'll blog about Damon's warlock persona. Charlie Sheen has nothing on Damon 'effing' McDaniels. But that's another day.

I was too tired to take pictures today, so I'm blogging first while it's fresh in my mind and adding pictures later.

First I got my gloves and spade and mixed my castings with my potting soil. I used my mop bucket so I could get the mixture right. I did 1/3 castings and 2/3 potting soil.

Next, I set my plants where I wanted them. I'm making 'rows' as I go this year since I'm not completely certain how I want to do the set up this year. I want to grow a lot more things this time around and I'm trying to find the best way to utilize my space.

My cousin/brother in law Michael gave me some organic chicken manure pellets to try in my planting this year. It's his first year to try it as well so I'm doing as he is doing and only using it on half the vegetables I'm plating.

My first row is a single row that I did not use today.

My second row is a double row that I am using for my tomatoes. I used the chicken pellets on the tomato plants on the left side. Starting from the fence the first two plants are 'Gulf States' tomatoes. They are a local breed that my dad told me my grandfather used to love, so we are trying them. Second are 'Better Bush' and Third are 'Big Bush'. I staggered them, so I have room for one more bush breed tomato plant.

I put my 'Burpless Cucumbers' in the ground as well today. I put them in a new place this year. They are going to be found on the far right back corner of the garden. I feel I can utilize this sandy part of the plot for the cucumbers.

Since they are still babies I have them caged and wrapped in plastic. This is to protect them from the wind until better cages can be built. When they are bigger and stronger and the weather is a little more consistent I will remove the plastic, but not the cages.

Tonight since I'm a bit restless, I also used the nursery cups the tomato and cucumber plants came in and started my pumpkin seeds. I'm trying out the 'Big Max' breed. I don't have a lot of room for mounds in the yard, but I would like to try to make 5 or 6 prize pumpkins.

In addition I have my green beans, the "Tendergreen Improved (Bush)' breed, soaking in water over night as recommended. Stella and I will be planting those, as well as some basil into the garden tomorrow. I'm experimenting with planting some basil in with my bush tomatoes this year. I don't know how well it will do - but can't you just imagine the smell. It makes me smile just thinking of it! :)

Tomorrow will be a busy day as well. I have to start preparing the soil in my butterfly garden area. I'm still trying to track down some milk weed, if anyone knows where I can find some that information will be appreciated.

Keep watching for added pictures tomorrow!

Freedom 2011

Well, my Facebook page is deactivated. It felt good. It felt really good! You should try it!

If you need me, please call me or email me at damonmcdaniels@sbcglobal.net

Let me Grow Wild or I'll Blister in the Sun...

Sooooo maybe this post has nothing to do with the title... MAYBEEEE I just really love the Violent Femmes.... Maybe this song was playing in my head while I was watering them this morning and I thought it might be a catchy title for this blog post...

Or maybe not.

There's a reason I was singing it in my head while I was watering them, and it goes right along with this lesson.

It is very important if you buy your plants in 'baby' form to let them adjust to outdoor sunlight. They have probably been sitting in a greenhouse since they were just seeds. Prolonged direct outdoor sunlight can burn your baby plants.

Last year, I didn't give my baby plants a chance to adjust. I brought them home from the nursery and directly inserted them into my garden. This shocked them. I didn't see growth for weeks. I even considered digging them up and starting over again. They eventually did 'ok'. But they never grew to their potential nor produced the fruit they were capable of growing. I blamed it on my watering system at first - but after further research and questioning of my local growing friends - I found that I had shocked my poor babies to near death, and they never properly recovered.

The following pictures will show you the amount of growth I've seen over just a few days of gradual exposure to outdoor direct sunlight:

First day home:


Three days later:


As you can see, especially with the small cucumber plants, there is substantial growth for such a short period of time.

Each morning when I get up, I let Roxy and Abbey out and bring my plants out as well. I water them first thing in the morning. In the evening, when I'm closing down the house, I bring them in the house to 'rest'.

Watch for my early planting day soon. In the meantime, enjoy some Violent Femmes:

The 'Other' Compost

So I just had someone ask me about outdoor composting.


Not really, no one asked... I just like to feel significant.


Here's the outdoor compost for leaves, the left over oat straw that didn't decompose over the Fall and Winter season and probably any snakes that need a cool place to hid - so this area will be off limits to the girls. Though telling the girls something is off limits - I may as well tie some candy to it while I'm at it.

But here it is - that lattice won't stay there, it's just weighing it down since I just put the straw out and it's flying off. But the lattice is for my cucumbers.

Oh and why the garbage bags out there? Well, I'm doing a scientific experiment on whether the oat straw decomposes quicker in a hot, black garbage bag instead of out in the elements.

Not really.

I just didn't want that much straw touching my expensive privacy fence, so I packed some of the straw into those bags to keep it from decomposing the wood.

But the other reason sounds way cooler.

Squirmie Wormies

Here's the result! Back in April 2010 a friend of mine turned me on to Vermicomposting. You can see the start in my post titled "Vermicomposting" and "Who Says Worms are for Boys?" back in April 2010. This is 11 months into diligent hard work. Ok, not really, all I did was save my vegetable/vegetation and fruit scraps, freeze them, and weekly bury a handful in the bin for the worms to eat.

Maybe you don't know what you're looking at. Every particle in this bin is a substance called 'castings' that's nice for 'worm poop'. But I might would have called it 'garden gold'. I have been in the process of harvesting the worms out of this bin for about 3 weeks now and I'm so close to completion I can taste it. Once the worms have been harvested (that's a post for another day) I will take about 1/3 of the castings and mix it into the soil I use to plant my baby plants into my garden. The second 1/3 will be used to line the hole area of the planting. The final 1/3 will be used periodically as compost tea in the week to week month to month treatment of my spring/summer garden.

Now, don't be sad! I have another bin cooking for next year!


As you can see in this picture, as I harvest my worms from my 2010 bin, I am placing them into my new bin. Now, if you have done your homework - AND I'M SURE YOU HAVE - you'll know these little workers reproduce every 27 days. So I'm thinking I may have to split them into 2 bins this year.

Damon is going to shit.

He LOVES to tell people where I keep my worms - in my bathroom shower stall. Hell, I never use it (I mean, I do shower, just not in THAT stall) may as well use that space productively. But here's the pickle. These worms used to be in the kitchen. Damon, over a lovely dinner one night, told me that even though the definitely DO NOT smell, the thought of those worms slithering around in the kitchen made him not so hungry.

I agreed - cause that's marriage.

So now, with 2 bins and 1 shower stall. I'll be in a pinch...

Unless a friend volunteers....

Just a Taste...

When planting some strawberries (that didn't do jack poo but die...) and broccoli (which did well...) this past fall, I covered my garden completely in oat straw.

Two reasons:
a. To kill the weeds that were already growing and to keep new weeds from showing up.
b. To let the oat straw decompose and fertilize my soil.

To prepare for this season, I took a few days to rake back the straw. The result is what you see in the picture above.






I had my brother, Dan, till the garden up while my Dad spread the compost and fertilizer:









Same fertilizer and compost as usual. Thank you Mrs. Erika from Erika's Nursery in Orange, Texas.















The Result, a beautiful patch of potential!