The Garden

Here is a picture of our garden. We only have tomatoes, peppers and squash but there should be plenty of each. This year we are trying a drip irrigation system This allows us to water a few minutes every day and with a timer we can automate the process. The timer I have leaks so I will need a new one to do the automation bit. I will do it before we go away for more than a day. The garden uses 1 gallon per hour drippers and applies the water directly to the roots of the plant, thus saving water but getting what we need on the plants. They will only run for 5-10 minutes each day. We will also use the same system to water some flowers. In close proximity to the garden we have Canna  Lilies and roses, 2 of the roses are pictured below.

Smoking meat

For a while I have been wanting to get a smoker to make Bar-B-Que and I finally did it. This one is an electric smoker and it works quite well. We have used it 3 times to smoke a brisket, some spare ribs, and a pork loin. All three were good but it takes some getting used to when you try to figure out how long and how hot. Most meat is smoked at about 225-250 degrees. So far we have used Mesquite and Hickory wood chips to produce the smoke and various combinations of spices for a rub to season the meat. As you can see it also makes a good cup warmer. You can't see the smoke here but there was some. The pork loin is inside and I failed to get a photo of that to include. I will next time.

This gives you an idea of the size. There are two racks inside for the meat and a water pan on the bottom. There is also a chip pan to put the wood chips in. All in all it is a very useful device and we like it.

We also got a couple of chairs to go on the patio and we used it for breakfast the very next Saturday. The chairs are quite comfortable and seem to be more durable than the ones we used to have.