Here we are at Pioneer Days, the Elk Grove Garden Club members who were left at the end of the day. And we are still smiling after helping folks make 89 scarecrows!
It was absolutely as much fun as it looks like!
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Door County in the Fall is a veritable feast (pun intended) of scarecrows and pumpkins. Here I am having dinner and discussing my blog with a friend. We only planted one zucchini this year. Still, I’ve got as much zucchini bread as my freezer and I can handle. Here’s a suggestion from Greg, a recipe from his grandmother. Ingredients Garlic salt and freshly ground pepper Method 2. In a large, deep skillet, heat the olive oil and butter on medium-high heat. Add the onion and parsley and cook until the onions begin to get soft around the edges (not browned). 3. Immediately add the zucchini cubes, and a decent pinch of garlic salt and pepper (more if it suits your taste). Gently stir to coat the zucchini. Stir the mix every few minutes until the zucchini gets slightly opalescent. It can take 15 to 20 minutes, depending on how tender the raw zucchini, and how small your cubes are. 4. Remove from skillet and serve with parmesan cheese. 5. Enjoy! The first time you make it you may want to try pieces as you cook. Why? Some people like their zucchini crunchy versus more on the softer side and you don’t want to over cook it. You can add more butter or olive oil if it suits your taste as well. A scarecrow doesn’t have to be a typical scarecrow. This one from Hoffman Estate’s 2009 Scarecrow festival would certainly scare off those crows too. That is why we still make scarecrows, right?
Yesterday was ‘OhWhata Wednesday’. If you didn’t stop by to visit the site, go back to yesterday. The American Beautyberry is gorgeous.
A new series! I’m calling it OhWhatA Wednesday. Every Wednesday I’ll be posting information about something that looks lovely in my zone 5 garden right now. Today, it’s the aptly named Beautyberry Bush. This is not the same plant as the Beautybush, so please don’t get them confused. We are looking at Callicarpa.
This is an easy care plant. Mine is about 8 years old, planted in well-drained soil, in full sun. I’ve read that it does well in partial shade as well. You can see that this one is thriving. Its about 4 feet tall. We prune it almost to the ground in late winter or early spring. We really don’t water it anymore, or give it any other care. It has been a happy healthy plant since day 1, with no bug or disease problems. Definitely one for the Work Less category. P.S. – If you are a photo lover, you’ll appreciate the newly updated Mum pictures in last week’s mum article. More Pioneer Days pictures tomorrow. For now, I just have to show you my new scarecrows! Tomorrow is also ‘OhWhatA Wednesday’, where you can see what plant I’ve picked as my top performer right now.
The kids, even scarecrow-less, were so cute that I had to devote a day to them.
And the promised scarecrow, kid-sized of course… Tune in for ‘OhWhatA Wednesday’ starting this week. I’ll be sharing info on what is blooming beautifully in my garden. If you’re zone 5 like me, check in to see what really works in a local gardener’s garden. More Pioneer Days pictures tomorrow. For today.. These scarecrow have a support system made from the metal tubing that your electrical wires go through. Mike called it thin-walled conduit. They were quite the project for us to build – and wow did they look good in our yard.
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The bright and stunningly beautiful berries will last into the winter. It looks like there are a lot of berries – that’s because there are. This bush has performed reliably year after year. Birds will eat the berries, but only later in the season when the buffet in my garden is picked over.
