Summer in a Nutshell!

Published on September 2, 2014 by In The Vintage Kitchen10 Comments

Hello, hello dear readers and happy September! Can you believe that Autumn is already nosing its way around the landscape? Ms. Jeannie hopes you all had a wonderful summer and that you are now as excited about the change of seasons as she is.

It has been quite busy around the Ology house these past two months. The summer garden proved to be one of the most bountiful producers of fruits and vegetables Ms. Jeannie has seen in years…

Clockwise from top left: cosmos flowers, okra, heirloom tomatoes, scuppernongs,zinnias, hot pepper trio, cantaloupe melons, pumpkin, beets.

…and kept her quite busy in the kitchen trying new recipes, making sauces, freezing and canning, cutting and chopping. In the next few days she will begin planting of the fall garden which will yield another batch of beets and pumpkins, brussels sprouts and beans by the end of October (fingers crossed!).

The book club of course kept her very busy, busy, BUSY, and introduced her to several new favorite authors including these three…

The poetry of Robert W. Service (1874-1958) — Poet Robert W. Service (1874-1958)

The children's stories of Miyoko Matsutani (born 1926) — Children’s book author Miyoko Matsutani (born 1926)

The nature writing of William J. Long (1866-1952) — Naturalist William J. Long (1866-1952)

And reminded her that censorship was alive in just as many home libraries as public libraries during the 1950’s and 1960’s…

More news from the book club included the hiring of its first volunteer… as you can see he worked just as hard all summer as Ms. Jeannie…

Boyo took his book responsibilities very seriously:)

And when he wasn’t busy in the “stacks,” he spent the rest of his time content to dream of Robinson Crusoe worthy adventures…

If nothing else at least he’s well-read:)

When Ms. Jeannie wasn’t busy in the book club, she spent some time outdoors marveling at dreamy summer sunsets…

and at little creatures who camouflaged themselves into big surroundings…

and big birds who fought for an entire week over a little tree limb real estate…

There was a very quick trip to Arizona…

and friends that came to visit and left footprints behind…

But in the midst of all these moments came the biggest and one of the best highlights of the season… a new addition to Ms. Jeannie’s family…one that she has been wanting and waiting and hoping for for close to two years now…

A new pup! Named Indie for her independent spirit, she came to Ms. Jeannie via the same hobo highway as Boyo. One day she just showed up in the yard, all wiggly and excited, heart in hand, ready to move-in. After calling all over everywhere to vets and animal shelters, sheriff offices and police departments, newspapers and humane societies for an entire month, even taking her to be scanned for a micro-chip, Indie said… No way, Ms. Jeannie – you’ll never solve this mystery. I’ve come for you. I’m here to stay and that is that.

And so she was. Here to stay. That is that.

And this, dear readers, was Ms. Jeannie’s summer in one very brief, very busy and very beautiful nutshell. What were some of your best moments of the summer?

Saturday in the Kitchen: Chive Pesto

Published on June 14, 2014January 14, 2018 by In The Vintage Kitchen4 Comments

Ms. Jeannie’s chive plant reseeded itself from last year (good little plant!) and this summer has decided to go at growing with passion. When the stalks reached 2 feet, it was time for a hair cut.

Not wanting to waste any bit of these little delicates Ms. Jeannie searched high and low for a recipe that would incorporate cupfuls of chives instead of just bits of sprinkles here and there. And surprisingly, it was harder to find than you might think – until she stumbled upon the Garden for A House blog and Kevin’s unique spin on classic pesto. Instead of traditional basil as the main green, he used chives! Perfect!

Ms. Jeannie got to work grinding nuts…

next came the garlic, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, and four big cups of freshly chopped chives…

She whirled all that together in her little food chopper until it formed a nice consistency – chunky but spreadable. And voila! Dinner was on its way to being done. You could use this pesto lots of different ways – Kevin recommended fish, toasty baguette slices or pasta.

Ms. Jeannie went the pasta route…

and tossed it all together in the vintage bowl that she has for sale in her etsy shop. This bowl gets lots of attention but no one has claimed it for a treasure yet. Ms. Jeannie thought it might help if she incorporated some “action” shots and indeed those little yellow flowers do look pretty against all that bright green!

After tossing, she let the pasta/pesto mixture sit for about 20 minutes to cool down to room temperature and let the pasta soak up the sauce. Needless to say this was all in all an effortless dinner – with just under 15 minutes from prep to finish. And Ms. Jeannie accomplished two feats in one – substantially cutting back the onion patch and making dinner. Oh the ease of the summer lifestyle.

Chive Pesto

(makes about 1.5 cups)

4 cups freshly chopped chives

2 oz. nuts (Ms. Jeannie used peanuts. Kevin used sliced almonds. But really you can use any kind you want)

1 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup olive oil

Chop your nuts first in a food processor or blender and then add the rest of the ingredients and mix until combined. You may need to add more olive oil for a looser pesto, depending on the type of consistency you like or how you plan to serve it. And you may want to add salt or pepper at the end – although Ms. Jeannie added neither – the cheese made it savory enough and the garlic added quite a bit of spicy flavor.

A great BIG thank you to fellow blogger Kevin for his ingenious recipe and for helping Ms. Jeannie not waste one little bit of her summer garden harvest. Stop by and read Kevin’s blog here.

And if that serving bowl caught your eye, you can find it here in Ms. Jeannie’s shop!

The next herb to tackle is the oregano. If anybody has any great recipes for oregano enmasse please comment below! In the meantime, happy garden cooking!

Lady Nature and the Summer Magic

Published on June 11, 2014June 12, 2014 by In The Vintage Kitchen4 Comments

Dear readers! This morning Ms. Jeannie went grocery shopping in her backyard for the very first time! In just two months, with the help of her greenhouse and a certain sensational lady, Ms. Jeannie’s garden project went from this…

to this…

Isn’t lady nature just marvelous?! With time being so scarce for Ms. Jeannie these past few months, lady nature truly proved to be the greatest of friends. “Don’t worry about your garden Ms. Jeannie – I’ll take care of it!”

And take care, she did! Boy that lady – there’s no stopping her abilities!

Today, the garden was offering a sale on cucumbers…

Ms. Jeannie picked six today, and as you can see there are what seems like a million in all stages still growing growing, growing. Ms. Jeannie could actually hear the cucumber plant say thank you as she plucked the ripe ones. Baby cucumbers moved right into the empty spots. Productive little creatures:)

The cantaloupe melons are in a race with the cucumbers. Who can outgrow their metal frames first?

Everyone is hedging their bets in the garden. The beets are betting on the melons.

The okra is betting on the cucumbers.

And the peas…

well, they are just betting on themselves and their ability to outwit the mammoth sunflowers. They’ve already outgrown their trellis and moved on to the sunflower stalks – so really at this point – the sky is the limit for them! Take that, cucumber melon competition!

Do you remember Ms. Jeannie’s grand plan for her re-purposed gift from the ground? A home for zinnias, ha! Four weeks into that growing project … they looked like gawky teenagers in ill-fitting clothing…

They immediately were sent to summer camp in the herb garden where they could spread out and be as wild and wooly as they wanted…

This suits them just fine!

Speaking of herbs, Ms. Jeannie just recently gave her chives a major haircut for a simple new recipe, which solved two problems at once – what to make for dinner and how to keep these fast growing onions from taking over! She’ll share that culinary feat in her next post – so stay tuned.

In the meantime, Boyo sends his best from the porch…

As you can see he is working just as hard as the ladies:)

Seedlings and Snakes: Let the Season Begin!

Published on April 13, 2014 by In The Vintage KitchenLeave a comment

It was exactly two weeks ago today that Ms. Jeannie got going on her spring garden with the official planting of the seeds. And now here we are just 14 days later with sprouts that look like dancers…

The cucumbers and the snow peas are winning the race towards bloom day…

And the okra is not far behind…

Even the lone zinnia in the rescued and re-purposed pitcher has come to surface. Not doubt happy to have such an exotic home!

It is always fun to watch how each kind of seed unfurls…

The dill is dainty…

…while wax beans look downright pre-historic…

And then there was the sighting of an actual pre-historic…

“Just a baby,” said Mr. Jeannie Ology. This “baby” indeed, was three feet long, which was plenty long for the likes of Ms. Jeannie. Hopefully this little one will be gracious enough to stay out of the greenhouse!

Hornet House Tour: The Inside Architecture of A Nest Revealed!

Published on December 28, 2013 by In The Vintage Kitchen6 Comments

Oh dear readers – the nest! If you have been following along on Ms. Jeannie’s blog since the summer, you will remember the bevy of construction activity that occurred from May through November just under the eaves on the second floor of her house.

Here’s what we were all looking at half way through the project in early August…

And here is what we were looking at this morning, taken 5 months after the above picture…

The baldfaced hornet nest now 8 months old.

As you can see it just about doubled in size and changed shape quite a bit from the circular ring wrap style to a much more solid outer wall. If you use the pinholes in the eaves and the gutter as guides you’ll see precisely how much bigger the nest actually became.

The occupants…

…bald-faced hornets, left the nest about a month and a half ago. In that interim, a few high wind days started making part of the nest fray at the edges. Those two situations, combined with the fear that the whole thing might start to disintegrate, propelled Ms. Jeannie to take the nest down today. Which means today was the day for a hornet house tour!

Somehow, a hole formed at the tip of the nest possibly either from damage by the wind or a bird. This is what the tip looked like in Autumn…

And here is what it looked like this morning…

Ms. Jeannie thought at first that perhaps a bird might have made a home inside. In her mind the inside of this nest was roomy and cavernous and since it has been really cold so far this winter – this seemed like a cozy little dwelling for a feathered friend.

Before the official removal process began. Mr. Jeannie tapped on the side of the nest just in case. No birds came out – so he began to carefully separate the nest from the house. As it turns out a flat paint scraper is the perfect tool for such a task…

The nest is like a fibrous newspaper material but so thin it is was like slicing butter.

The whole nest came down in less than a minute.

It left a little bit of a muddy imprint which will easily come off with a brush and some water. It’s amazing how the whole thing clung on there with so little binder.

And now for a look at the inside…

It looks like a honeycomb! The white parts are cobwebby bundles of babies that never made it.

The whole entire nest is made up of these thin ribbons of paper-like material that go every which way. So much for Ms. Jeannie’s idea of a hollow interior!

Between some of the layers there are more cobwebby waffle cone colonies…

and others are hard and waxy and smooth to the touch…

And look, dear readers, some of the lady bugs from November did decide to move in!

They are probably not too happy about the relocation process, but this is a great example of nature helping nature. One creature’s abandoned housing project is another’s apartment building.

So now we know, after all these month’s just exactly what those hornets were working on. Overall, the nest weighs about one pound and measures 16″ inches (length) x 9″ inches (width) x 8″ inches (depth) and smells very faintly like spring dirt.

It is so very fragile that Ms. Jeannie is afraid to handle it much. She is completely amazed by the fact that this hung out of doors, exposed to all the elements for seven long months while hundreds of flyers went in and out and around it. It survived wind, hail, heavy rain, hot Georgia sun, humidity and freezing temperatures, not to mention, birth, death and new tenants.

What a good little nest:) Nature is such a marvel. Ms. Jeannie can hardly wait to see what is in store for this new year!

The Colors of a Southern Autumn

Published on October 23, 2013October 23, 2013 by In The Vintage Kitchen4 Comments

Fall colors are just starting to seep into the autumn landscape here in the South. Usually, in Ms. Jeannie’s area, peak fall foliage time hits in early November, a couple of weeks before the Thanksgiving holiday, so we are just at the very start of the season now. But today was a blustery day, with leaves flying all over the yard and Ms. Jeannie couldn’t help but admire all the pretty colors turning from green to gold to rust that had just started occurring these past few days.

Primarily from mid Georgia to south Georgia the state is made up of pine trees, which of course are green all year round, so in order to get a fill of fall foliage, one must look to the decorative trees. Here are a few samplings of some traditional (non-pine!) Southern trees on their colorful journey from summer to fall…

The Scuppernong Grape Vine — The Scuppernong Grapevine

When the afternoon sun hits the grapevine it is like a giant light has been turned on inside the vines. So bright that it almost hurts your eyes to look at!

And Ms. Jeannie’s most favorite…

The Magnolia tree is really the grand spectacle of fall foliage in the South. All these leaves come from the same tree and were picked on the same day, so as you can see it is a colorful character in Fall. Ms. Jeannie thinks it is Mother Nature’s equivalent to the argyle sweater, with all of its blocks of repeating solids! The color range is spectacular. In the picture – the center leaf is a metallic silver, but can also count copper, lime, canary yellow, russet, pumpkin, neon green, chocolate brown, amber , hazel, emerald and cinnamon among its many shades. Fascinating that all that could be on tree at the same time. Add some pretty smelling, dinner plate size magnolia flowers to the mix and the tree is absolutely perfect!

Many Southerners use the leaves as garlands for their front porches and mantle pieces. Holiday time in the South really is a beautiful experience.

Magnolia garland for the mantle. Photo via pinterest.

Magnolia garland for the front door. Photo courtesy of RSHcatalog.com

An unexpected surprise occurred when Ms. Jeannie took a first time road trip to the North Georgia mountains, in early November, several years ago. About an hour away, near Blue Ridge, Georgia, the trees offer up a completely different view of the season…

There, the foliage rivals the best of any Vermont town. Red, green, orange, yellow, brown – one tree after another just gets prettier and prettier. And because it is up in the mountains – the air is crispy, the roads windy and the fruit stands plentiful. Whenever Mr. Jeannie and Ms. Jeannie get a little nostalgic for their New England Autumns of past, they make a trek up to the mountains. Close your eyes for a second and then open – and tah-dah you could very seemingly be in Vermont! To give you an idea of the dazzling array of color – here are a few pictures courtesy of pinterest – that were taken in the North Georgia mountains…

Ms. Jeannie is making a trip up to the mountains in the next couple of weeks, so that she can go apple picking. It’s officially time for apple pie season! So stayed tuned for more fall foliage pictures to come!

In the meantime, are leaves changing in your neck of the woods yet? If so, what color palette is Mother Nature painting with in your yard?

Bathe, Chop, Simmer: The Art of Italian Cooking, 1948

Published on September 23, 2013January 14, 2018 by In The Vintage Kitchen3 Comments

All summer long, the garden tomatoes have ripened one or two a day – making an easy pluck, enough for a sandwich or a salad or an ingredient for dinner. Now as the end of the season comes to a close, the bushes have reached their relaxed state of exhaustion. They are leggy, bald in some spots from clipping and pruning and dry in others from months beneath the hot Georgia sun.

For all that they lack in fine appearance, a curious event has been occurring over the past week or so. Suddenly, it seems, the last little stragglers have joined together for one last hearty attempt to grow, ripen and red in abundance.

Over the weekend, Ms. Jeannie pulled 18 ripe tomatoes from her vines, with about 15 more “in the hopper” so to say that will be ready in the next couple of days. My goodness! Their efforts seem valiant! Armed with her big basket full of beauties and under the spell of a cool rainy Saturday, it seemed to Ms. Jeannie like the perfect time to make a new recipe from an old cookbook. The recipe is Salsa Semplice Di Pomodoro #1, otherwise known as Plain Tomato Sauce #1 from the Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Lo Pinto, circa 1948.

book1 — The Art of Italian Cooking by Maria Lo Pinto, 1948

The cookbook is great. Hardcover, spotted, penciled, appreciated – every time she opens the cover, Ms. Jeannie feels like she is communicating with a dozen different women before her. Their notes, their stains, maybe some sweat and tears all marked there on the pages. The author, Maria, bound all these recipes together because her friends kept asking how she did that, and this and that and this, again and again. Just like the cookbook endeavor of the women of St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church, the recipes contained in the Art of Italian Cooking have been passed down in Maria’s family for generations. Tried and true Italian, at it’s best!

This is a really simple recipe with just 7 ingredients, which include basil, another overzealous grower in Ms. Jeannie’s garden! The recipe called for canned tomatoes, so Ms. Jeannie actually added a little bit of extra work to the whole affair by using fresh, but really that just meant a little bit of extra time preparing the tomatoes in a hot water bath. So you could make this recipe either way depending on the amount of time you have.

The hot water bath is easy – you just boil a big soup pot full of water and once it starts bubbling drop your tomatoes in the water and let them bob about for 4-5 minutes. You’ll see the skins start to wrinkle and burst. When that happens, they are ready to come out.

While the tomatoes are bobbing about you can chop the onions and garlic. When the the wrinkles appear, lift each tomato from the bath (Ms. Jeannie likes to use a slotted spoon so that the excess water drains) you can put the tomatoes in a strainer to let them cool off a bit. Once cool enough to touch, you just peel the loose skin from the tomato, cut off any blemishes or spots and then set the tomatoes aside in a bowl.

Next, warm the olive oil in a saute pan, add the onions and garlic, saute for 5 minutes and then add a sprig of basil and the tomatoes and sort of mash the tomatoes up with a wooden spoon in the pan.

Simmer the whole pot on low for 45 minutes, stirring often. Next add the sugar and salt and pepper. Simmer for another 15 minutes and then it is ready!

This batch makes about 3 cups of sauce (maybe a little more or a little less depending on the size of your tomatoes). According to the recipe it is enough for 1 lb. of pasta. The consistency is thick with big chunks of tomato and onion, which works well with either a small pasta (shell, bow-tie, ziti) or the traditional spaghetti or fettuccine.

At the last minute, Ms. Jeannie decided to add two tablespoons of tomato paste and a cup of water, so that she would have enough sauce for an Eggplant Parmesan recipe she is going to try in October. After simmering for another 15 minutes, those two additions increased the yield to 4 cups of sauce.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can tweak it however you like – add olives or mushrooms, oregano or a dash of red wine. In the introduction of the book, Maria encourages any and all experimenting – as she states – all these recipes are simple foundations of Italian cuisine – you can build up from them according to your palette.

Right now, it is still too warm for a heavy baked Italian dish, so Ms. Jeannie is freezing her batch. It is always seems fun to pull out little reminders of the summer garden when you are well into another season.

The next harvest challenge that needs to be tackled is the basil. Ms. Jeannie has plans to dry some and make a batch of pesto but there will still be lots to use before it starts going to seed, so if you have any suggestions please comment below!

In the meantime, here’s the tomato sauce recipe in full…

Salsa Semplice Di Pomodoro #1 (Plain Tomato Sauce #1)

1 large canned tomatoes (or 15-20 small to medium garden tomatoes)

4 tbs. olive oil

2 sliced onions

1/2 tsp. sugar

1 clove garlic

1 sprig basil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Fry sliced onion and garlic about 5 minutes in oil. Add basil. Strain tomatoes through sieve; add and simmer 45 minutes or until tomatoes are cooked to a thick sauce. Stir frequently; add sugar, salt and pepper, stir thoroughly. Simmer 15 minutes.

This sauce may be used on any type of macaroni or boiled rice. Sufficient for 1 pound. Also used with pizza recipe.

Mangia, dear readers! If you are unfamiliar with that expression, it means eat, in Italian!

Summer’s Cast of Characters

Published on September 16, 2013September 17, 2013 by In The Vintage Kitchen10 Comments

This past weekend ushered in the first cool weather of the approaching Fall season. The temperatures brought 75 degree days and 55 degree nights, which means that Autumn is definitely on its way. How exciting! Ms. Jeannie just loves this time of year between September and Christmas.

In an effort, not to rush the season, nor lose sight of any end of summer magic, Ms. Jeannie has been compiling a little nature journal for you, of all the creatures she’s encountered in these past few weeks. They have all made her summer so memorable!

The goldfinches have been hard at work collecting seeds from the coneflowers in the garden…

It’s precarious business – getting all the seeds while still keeping your balance!

Boy-O is still looking for just the right nanny job. This is still his favorite way to spend the day…

Tomorrow morning he goes in for a little “procedure” so he doesn’t populate the world with his own little nursery full of kittens. As cute as those little legacies would have been, Ms. Jeannie explained to him that all of tomorrow’s events were really for the best. He seemed pretty thoughtful about the whole thing during the conversation…

And then went right back to napping. “Piece of cake, Ms. Jeannie,” he meowed as he closed his eyes.

The little fig that Boy-O was looking after, unfortunately has not faired so well. It got caught up in a dramatic bird rescue (see hummer story below), which cost it it’s two little leaves. So we are back again, watering and waiting!

A hummingbird got caught in a spider web inside Ms. Jeannie’s screened in porch last week. Luckily, with the help of a step ladder and an umbrella he was freed before he really started to panic. This incident really caught Ms. Jeannie off-guard – imagine how fragile a creature these hummers really are, and how strong spider webs are. This was just a regular web – nothing gigantic about it. And webs are everywhere in nature. Could they really be such a peril to light little birds?

After some research, Ms. Jeannie learned that hummingbirds actually use cobwebs as a binder when making their nests, so eventually this little bird would most likely have worked himself free. But Ms. Jeannie was thankful anyway for Mr. Jeannie’s quick abilities in rescuing this little flyer…

Billy Bob and Betty Boop have moved onto greener pastures. Apparently, Ms. Jeannie’s neighborhood didn’t really take too well to all of Billy Bob’s antics. He was constantly getting his head stuck in the fence, head butting just about everything, and climbing all over the feed bucket at dinner time. Ms. Jeannie thought these were supposed to be the fun things about having goats – their comical personalities and theatrical displays – but Ms. Jeannie’s neighbor was looking for less dramatics.

The day before they left for their new home, Ms. Jeannie filled them full of Saltine crackers – their most favorite snack.

Billy Bob most appreciated it!

Due to all of our rain this summer, giant mushrooms are growing out of the trees down by the creek, which really has turned it into a magical forest. Ms. Jeannie is half expecting to see little gnomes or fairies pop out from behind those umbrellas!

They really are quite pretty when you look at them up close!

Right on schedule and just in time for fall, a new zig-zag spider, also has built a web in a bush along the driveway.

She’s about as big as an egg from leg to leg. Hopefully those hummers will stay clear of her area!

The resident red-tailed hawks have been on the hunt a lot lately.

One of them landed in the yard just as Ms. Jeannie was pulling in the driveway. Oh how she wished she had her camera with her on that day! The hawk was about 2′ tall and just stood in the yard for a few minutes watching Ms. Jeannie watch him. It was a marvelous moment.

A blue tailed lizard, also known as a skink, emerges every evening now from its home underneath the porch steps and hangs out on the brick window ledge for a few hours.

If you’ve never seen of these guys before – they are really colorful. Their tails are a bright, bright blue and their bodies are black with yellow stripes. Interesting enough – if under attack from a predator, they can voluntarily pop-off their own tails, which will still wiggle about and deter whatever it was that was chasing them so that they can get away and hide. Eventually their tales will grow back – although their new tails will no longer be blue but instead match the color of their body. The ones with blue tails are the babies of the bunch.

These little guys have been jumping around the garden for weeks now. They are also the dinnertime band when Mr. & Mrs. Jeannie eat outside on the patio. In this picture, they are rehearsing in Ms. Jeannie’s wax bean garden. It’s good to know Ms. Jeannie’s twig supports are coming in handy for other activities too!

The scuppernong grapes are just starting to ripen on the vines. A few more days of warm sunshine and Ms. Jeannie will be inundated!

Which is exciting, because it turned out to be a dud year for the figs. With all the rain and humidity, 90% of the figs just molded in all the moisture. Most of them wound up looking like this…

Which of course was a little disappointing because Mr. Jeannie really hoped to perfect his fig barbeque sauce this year. But Ms. Jeannie’s holding out hope – there is a second batch of figs which, now that our sunshine to rainfall ratio has balanced out, might just turn out a good batch of figs yet. Here’s the ones that are still growing…

Of course, the construction site hasn’t been affected by the weather whatsoever. Those bald-faced hornets keep going and going and going. Now their nest has taken on the look of a pig snout when viewed from below and a horn of plenty (no pun intended!) when viewed from the side. Maybe they are getting into the Thanksgiving mood:)

As you can tell in this picture below – they have completely sandwiched themselves against the gutter now. It will be interesting to see in which direction they go next!

And last, but not least, a little concrete flower greeted Ms. Jeannie this morning when she went she out to water. This was a marvelous surprise, especially because Ms. Jeannie did not plant any impatiens this year – only last year. And yet, here this little beauty is – growing out of a crack in the concrete right under the garden hose. Imagine such a feat! This little seed must have overwintered and waited all summer to grow, grow, grow. She is like a little last gift of summer before the Autumn settles in.

Ms. Jeannie can hardly wait to see what the next season has in store in the nature department!

Goat Update: The Adventures of Nymph and Nyle

Published on June 24, 2013 by In The Vintage Kitchen3 Comments

The other day Ms. Jeannie came home to this scene…

That’s Nyle, as you’ll recall from a previous post, the neighbor’s goat. The flora and fauna feast he’s enjoying are Ms. Jeannie’s scrub bushes in her side yard.

On first glance she thought “Oh look how handsome that goat is!” A second later she realized that seeing Nyle standing there in her yard chewing on her bushes, meant that he had jumped the fence and decided on a visit.

Ms. Jeannie called her neighbor to let him know that Nyle had a bit of wanderlust and was traveling southbound via the sideyard shrubbery.

While she waited for her neighbor, Ms. Jeannie went out to visit with Nyle, who of course, was perfectly pleased to share stories of his adventure…

After recounting the experience, hoof by hoof, Nyle decided that the ice cream topper on this festive occasion would be a good old fashioned game of hide and seek.

"Here I go , Ms. Jeannie. I'll hide and you find me," said Nyle. — “Here I go , Ms. Jeannie. I’ll hide and you find me,” said Nyle.

Nymph looked on from her side of the fence (the right side!) like she was watching a movie unfold.

The chickens were equally captivated by Nyle's antics. — “These leaves are just as tasty as popcorn. “

Even the chickens were captivated…

Just as Nyle was debating such proportions, Ms. Jeannie’s neighbor came to collect him.

There's no hiding from the hand that feeds you. — There’s no hiding from the hand that feeds you.

Back over the fence went Nyle.

“That’s one special character,” said Ms. Jeannie to her neighbor.

“Yeah that Billy Bob, he’s just about as friendly as goats get.”

And that’s the moment when Ms. Jeannie learned that her Nymph and Nyle are actually named Billy Bob and Betty Boop. She also learned that they go bananas for Saltine crackers, that before the end of the year Nymph (aka Betty Boop) will be a mom and (thankfully), that these two are bound for breeding and not table food. So we can all rest assured on that point. Ms. Jeannie can hardly wait to see the little tiny baby goats these two produce!

Thanks for the fun afternoon Billy Bob Nyle!

Announcing the Butterflies: One, Two and Three

Published on June 17, 2013June 17, 2013 by In The Vintage Kitchen11 Comments

They’ve arrived, they’ve arrived!

The butterflies, dear readers, are born! Here’s their first photo shoot. Each butterfly emerged on a different day so Ms. Jeannie named them appropriately.

Meet Wednesday – the first butterfly…

Brand-new!

Wednesday was the one, if you recall, who chose to cocoon underneath the flower petals of the gerber daisy. A most pretty spot.

Here she was stepping out of the cocoon. Ms. Jeannie just missed her actual emergence by sheer minutes. She had just checked on all three of the cocoons (status quo) and had gone around the corner to cut some herbs for dinner. Five minutes later – here was Wednesday fanning out her new wings.

It was a slow-going little journey up the stalk of the flower while she figured out her legs and the tricky business of holding on. But by the time Ms. Jeannie took this aerial view, Wednesday was an expert!

Because Ms. Jeannie had missed the actual moment of Wednesday unzipping the cocoon doors, she was determined to at least catch Wednesday’s first moment of flight on camera. She didn’t how long this would take. So she waited. And she waited.

Ms. Jeannie’s cat, Satchem (incidentally named after a butterfly, herself) even waited with her for awhile.

oh the anticipation... — oh the anticipation…

This gave Ms. Jeannie some time to explain to Satchem that there would indeed be no butterfly dinners in her future. She seemed to understand. Eventually though, she lost interest in the butterflies altogether and fell asleep underneath the tulip tree.

Meanwhile, Wednesday just stayed in her same spot, fanning those wings and taking in her new surroundings.

After 25 minutes of waiting, Ms. Jeannie got side-tracked and went on to other projects – but she came back to check every few minutes. Going into the second hour, Ms. Jeannie came out to check and there was Wednesday on her petal and then in a flash of a second, there she wasn’t.

She flew off into the garden so fast it was all Ms. Jeannie could do to frantically photograph her flying through the air. Unfortunately this is the best photo she got…

You can just make out the fuzzy swatches of orange as Wednesday flapped her wings. So long pretty girl!

The next butterfly to emerge was Thursday…

Like Wednesday, Thursday also chose the afternoon hours to emerge – although this little butterfly decided to come out just as the storm clouds started to rumble. The wind picked up considerably, and Ms. Jeannie feared that Thursday would get blown away before he had any sort of chance to get his bearings.

With some his legs, not attached - it looked perilous for a moment... — You can see him sort of half-hanging there – it looked perilous for a moment…

But Thursday knew what he was doing. He was being blown about quite a bit – but he para-sailed through the high winds like a champ. Apparently, those stickly little legs are a lot stronger than they look!

Then the rains came – torrential downpours so heavy Ms. Jeannie considered clipping the stalk he was on and bringing it onto the screened porch just to give him a chance to get his act together.

But again, Thursday, adapted. Although this time, he crawled back down to his cocoon and hung onto both the casing and the stalk for extra support.

The rain came down for hours and Thursday hung on. The moment the sun came out, he fanned his wings out a few times and went in search of sunnier skies. Again – Ms. Jeannie managed to grab her camera in time for the first flight – but Thursday was fast – so this is the best she could do…

Only a slight improvement was Wednesday's photograph! — Only a slight improvement was Wednesday’s photograph!

The next day it was back to full hot Georgia sunshine and Friday decided that this was his day to join his pals. Friday was the one who chose to cocoon behind the wooden spinach sign – in what Ms. Jeannie thought was the most disguised location of the group.

Ms. Jeannie was most curious about this ones color pattern since he had a different color cocoon than the others. But he turned out just the same! — Ms. Jeannie was most curious about this one’s color pattern since he had a different color cocoon than the others. But he turned out just the same!

If Friday picked a shy spot to nest, he certainly wasn’t shy about coming out. He immediately started climbing up the wood spike…

So long cocoon, Friday's on a mission! — So long cocoon, Friday’s on a mission!

…and climbed…

All the way to the top of the sign, he climbed. And then do you know what he did?

He climbed over the other side and gave Ms. Jeannie the most beautiful display…

So handsome and so perfectly balanced, he almost looked fake. Like someone had positioned him there on purpose!

And then, just like the others he was there one minute and off exploring the world the next. This time, Ms. Jeannie was sort of ready – but boy is it hard to capture these little fellas when they are flying!

Definietly the best of the flight pictures - but no photo awards for Ms. Jeannie on this front:) — Definitely, the best of the flight pictures – but no photo awards for Ms. Jeannie on this front:)

So there it is – the tale of the three black swallowtails. Most likely, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will stay close to the garden enjoying a bevy of summer flowers before finding their own loves and making more swallowtail babies. Ms. Jeannie hasn’t seen them since their birthdays – but she feels like they could be close by. Of course, if she sees any fluttering about the garden, she will photo them for you to see too. Hopefully by that time, she’ll have improved upon those flight photos!

Watching these little guys grow was a completely amazing experience for Ms. Jeannie, packed to the brim with hope and wonder. If you missed the previous posts, read about the beginnings of the butterflies (as caterpillars) here and (cocoons) here.