Gardening and Truffle Making Aha!

So in this Father's Day weekend, I am making progress on my to-do list. A bit anyway. M and I were supposed to make truffles together, but after the birthday party she attended yesterday at the aquatics center, she passed out in her room for several hours. So it was up to me, which considering I was using a double boiler, may have been for the best. It seems like a
fairly simple process, but as I am in the middle currently, can't be sure yet. Using a double boiler you melt:
9 oz chocolate chips
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream

And then you refrigerate until firm, roll into little balls and coat with cocoa powder. I did taste test the refrigerated product last night and it tasted fantastic!

My husband wished for me to help with the transplantation of several plants yesterday. I have no clue at all about plants really, I'm good with something like a cactus. But as we eventually want to have a farm (!) it's time for me to learn. We transplanted two grape vines, 6 tomato plants, 4 cucumber plants, and 3 or 4 peppers. And a nectarine tree. He had already tilled the area and staked it out, so it was really just a matter of transplanting and then fencing the area off. He showed me how to do it, and we alternated breaking up the soil, digging, and transplanting. I criticized the sharpness of the shovel when I encountered roots, asking when he last sharpened it. Ah, the archaeologist in me always wants gardening tools sharpened to the finest precision! After transplanting the goods, we built a make-shift fence to keep the dogs out. He then sprinkled chili powder and cayenne pepper around the edges to help deter pests. I expected to hate it but actually enjoyed it, despite the work with a sunburn creeping about my shoulders (thanks to the aforementioned birthday party.)

So far this year we have growing: grapes, heirloom tomatoes, another variety of tomatoes, cucumbers, scotch bonnet peppers, chili peppers, onions, rosemary, lavender, basil, some other kind of peppers, a nectarine tree, oregano and I think that's it for the time being. We had some wheatgrass going but it died, as did my garlic.

I'm hoping to add lettuce to the bunch, although we will probably grow it indoors as it can be sensitive to heat/sunlight, both of which are prevalent to Georgia. And S is supposed to start work on a chicken coop soon so we can have our own chickens! I want to totally free-range them but with the pit bulls who are free-range in our neighborhood it's not really possible. So we will hopefully have a design where they have more ability to roam within the coop area. And also maybe we'll be able to allow them to roam while monitoring. I love fresh free-range eggs, I can't wait!

So I'm sitting and working whilst the family sleeps, drinking my coffee with raw whole milk in it (yum, yum, doesn't even need sugar.) I'll get into the health benefits of THAT another day.