Greenhouse Time

The opening of the local farmers' markets is one of my favorite times of the year.  This past
Saturday, our favorite orchard, Hollabaugh's, near Biglerville, PA, had it's grand opening.  Of course there weren't any fresh offerings from the orchard at this time of the year but there were some local lettuces, rhubarb and asparagus.  They were also featuring a local farm that raises grass-fed, no antibiotic beef by giving away free sliders with a selection of yummy toppings.

Zip is making a bee line for the grill.
 

The beef was really delicious.  We ended up buying two pounds plus some of their lovely asparagus.  No pictures of either.  The asparagus got eaten and he beef is in the freezer for a special occasion.

Even though the offerings from the orchards haven't come into season yet, Hollabaugh,s is still worth a visit if you're in the area.  They have a nice produce section, a bakery area, had dipped ice cream, pickles and relishes in jars, a coffee bar (Zip's favorite) and a lot more.


On Memorial Day Brad and Kami came to do yard work and have lunch.  Brad made smoked pork loin on the grill.  Kami and I prepared the rest of the food which included deviled eggs and panko crusted corn fritters plus watermelon and honeydew and other salad makings.

We didn't have a recipe for the corn fritters, just an idea that we wanted crispy, savory ones.  We really got it right o the first try.  They were delicious!


We used the smoked pork to make tacos with lots of tomato and cilantro.

 We had a great holiday.  Lots of eating and even a nice amount of yard work got done.

On Tuesday we went to Lurgan greenhouse to get plants to fill our hanging baskets for the porch and tomato and herb plants for the garden and herb planter.  Unfortunately it was the hottest day of the week.  I thought Zip and I were going to have a heat stroke.  He had to sit down and rest because he was feeling faint.  I blundered on with sweat running off me in buckets.  It must have been 100+ degrees in the greenhouses, not to mention the high humidity.

Needless to say in my hurry to get out of there I forgot a lot of stuff I wanted to get.  I thought we had three arches between the support posts on our porch so I only got enough to do three hanging baskets.  Guess what!  I need four!

So today it is cooler so we returned to the greenhouse.  I wanted to take pictures but forgot until we were leaving. This is the parting shot.

Got what I needed to finish the last hanging basket, cocoa mulch for some flower beds, and a few pepper plants. 

I put a dark red geranium in the center of the basket, very dark purple petunias and the ornamental sweet potato vines around the edge.  They should look really nice when everything starts to grow over the edges.  I have to laugh.  Both geraniums and petunias are stinky.  I sure didn't plant my baskets for fragrance!

Was going to post my recipe for corn chowder, but I think I'll save that for the next post.

Will close with a kitty picture.  Penny and Izzy sleeping on wicker.  Summer dreams.

 Thanks for stopping by!