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rumblebee.bsky.social
@rumblebee.bsky.social
95 followers 47 following 780 posts
Raised bed gardening, heirloom vegetables, cookbook collector, native plants, anything old-timey. Vegetable farmer's granddaughter. Kinda shy but love reading and seeing others' experiences. Zone 5b/53c Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains, Kettle Moraines.
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rumblebee.bsky.social
Found this guy ambling along a bag of compost. Many bags are winter stored behind lanky, seeded stems of Aruncus dioicus. In my head, I {sort of} sang the ditty Good Bug, Bad Bug, Live and Let Live Bug. Off he went into the leaves, untouched and unbothered. 🌱 #gardening #nativeplants #bugsky
Matte black, soft and puffy beetle with long segmented antennae on top of bagged compost. Same beetle climbing down from the bagged compost toward the shelter of some multi-colored fallen leaves.
November 8, 2025 at 12:06 AM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Bringing some coughing, wheezing, sneezing, mask wearing, eye watering hot pepper flakes to our fall and winter menus 🔥🥵🔥. 🌱 #gardening #spices
Sitting on gray speckled countertop is an old Pampered Chef hand chopper, pint glass Ball jar filled 1/3 with dried, homegrown mixed hot peppers, and a face mask. Fumes were potent, unlike ANY store bought flakes. I will use with caution!
October 26, 2025 at 9:52 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Quick and easy garlic planting courtesy of hubby. Nice and neat. Lotta thought went into this square. Zoom in for the homework 😁. 🌱 #gardening #fallplanting #garlic
Light colored vinyl tile with (4) holes, spaced 6" apart in all directions. Wood T-handle dibber inserted in one of the cutouts to show ample size for dibber to make planting holes that easily line up creating straight rows. Zooming in, pencil marks show husband's thought process re cutout placement, diameter, alignment.
October 26, 2025 at 3:16 AM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Garlic cloves soaking in a fish emulsion and water bath, for the next 24 hours, prior to planting.

Hot peppers dehydrating for the next 8+ hours. Windows cracked and overhead fan spinning.

My nose only wishes it was clogged today. 🌱 #gardening #garlic #fallplanting #spices
Opaque plastic pitcher filled with brown fish emulsion and water liquid fertilizer mix and unpeeled garlic cloves soaking in it. Also showing two dehydrator trays with screens on top arranged with various small green and yellow hot peppers ready to be inserted in the dehydrator. All itemsare on a small butcher block kitchen island.
October 24, 2025 at 7:25 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
A promise is a promise. #nativeplants #bugsky
👏 for season end clearances. (36) nice sized potted Asclepias tuberosa (and (5) Nepeta Walker's Low) under the shadow of a shade tree waiting to be planted. Prioritizing a substantial increase in butterfly weed numbers with the goal that our property is a welcoming and safe oasis for these winged warriors.
October 11, 2025 at 7:36 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Last of the tomatoes canned. Managed to get 42 qts of sauce. Bread n Butters, dills, pickle relish, hot pepper relish, Cowboy Candy, various jams, whole peppers. Might do more mixed fruits as syrup/sauce for smoothies, pancakes. Now to clear a spot to store ... lovely problem to have! #gardening 🌱
Plastic canning jar containers stacked under a countertop overhang. 5 towers of 4 containers. Each container holds 6 jars. All but 4 jar 'spots' have been filled. These are quart containers but you may notice they are being used to store both quart and pint jars. This is on purpose. One size container holds both size jars. Pint containers cannot store quarts. Double the use for the money.
October 11, 2025 at 3:42 AM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Picked the rest of my hot peppers. Combined the jalapeno, serrano, and santa fe peppers I grew with sweet peppers I didn't. Canned some Cowboy Candy that won't knock me off my saddle. 👀 how purty! Purists goes crazy for the 🍑 kickin' jalapeno only version. Me ... I'm a wuss. 🌱 #gardening #cooking
Sitting on counter, 4 pint jars of colorful red, yellow, orange, green hot and sweet peppers canned in sweet-sour syrup. It's called Cowboy Candy and used as a condiment, on crackers with cream cheese, sandwiches, hotdogs, sausages ... anywhere. Also showing 1 quart jar of remaining syrupy liquid that will be refrigerated and used as a marinade, as a dressing, over rice, anything needing a little kick. It tastes sweet and sour with some heat but not overpowering.
October 8, 2025 at 11:00 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Phew. Seed garlic is not a cheap proposition but the heads are nice size. Lotta prep work to make sure these cloves deliver at the.end of 8 months. Anyone else growing?🌱 #gardening
Showing 4 Chesnok Red and 1 Music large white garlic heads. Order total indicates 5 heads weigh 1.5 lbs.
October 6, 2025 at 3:01 AM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Patient, thirsty, curious Therapods.
4 sandhil cranes watching husband top off birdbath with fresh cold water. Three are off to the side and are looking around. One is very close to husband, watching my amused and in awe husband. Husband is pouring water into the birdbath from a pitcher held higher up so it makes trickling noises. Another sandhill crane turns to look. In foreground is in progress native plant bed. Long hillside planted berm is streetside. Several trees dot the area.
October 6, 2025 at 1:36 AM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Guess the new native plant bed needed some tweaking. #nativeplants #gardening
Four sandhill cranes, (two are red masked adults) in the yard. One adult is staring at me, neck upright. One youngster has neck stretching down toward the mulch. Two are behind them in a grassy area. Potted butterfly weed waiting to be planted. Mulch and plant material is strewn on the sidewalk from beaks being forced into mulch and soil. Both sandhill cranes are busy digging. Another behind them is pushing its beak into the soft soil next to the sidewalk. The fourth, neck raised, is looking off to the side. All four sandhill cranes, backs turned, are walking away from the native plant bed. Mulch and plant pieces have been scattered on top of the sidewalk.
October 1, 2025 at 10:55 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
A precious rarity. Safe travels. I, and my ramped up milkweed population, will be waiting. Bring your friends!
Newly emerged monarch butterfly clingimg to torn chrysallis which is hangimg from a house timber. With wings pumped and dry, monarch butterfly flew to nearby leafy tree branch to rest before its journey begins. Blue sky, sunny and warm.
September 30, 2025 at 6:13 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
*UPDATE* Welcome to the world! Help yourself to the buffet. Look closer for the tiny monarch cat on the bud just above, slightly to the right, of the new arrival. 🌱 #nativeplants #gardening #bugsky
Newly emerged Monarch butterfly clinging to its torn chrysalis with thin black legs. Orange and black wings are folded not yet ready to take flight. Body is black with white dots and one long antenna is visible. Just a few hours old, Monarch butterfly resting, perhaps feeding, on Butterfly Milkweed. Wings are spread and as orange as the flowers. Sharing the plant, on the bud just above, is a tiny Monarch cat. The bed contains other native plants, some still flowering while others are going to seed.
September 7, 2025 at 7:36 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
👀 what hubs found hanging from our garage doors eave! So happy we replaced our front beds with native plants. We provided, they came. Ever so thankful one of them allowed us to witness, up close, this next stage. 🤏 to see. #nativeplants #bugsky 🌱 #gardening
I believe this is a monarch butterfly encased in its chrysallis hanging under a garage door eave. Pinch to get a closer view of the actual small butterfly with orange wings, black veining, black borders with white dots. Clear blue sky and green leafy trees in distance.
September 6, 2025 at 5:16 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Ok, this is going into my garden again next year. Heirloom German Pink. But, I will plant for canning. Totally beats the Roma I planted. If you preserve, spare a spot for it. 🌱 #gardening
Today's harvest from 2 plants of heirloom German Pink tomato sitting on table. Harvest weighed just shy of 6lbs12oz with many more on the vine almost ready. Tomato is light to darker pink with red undertones. Plate is holding a halved tomato with a smaller piece cut from one half. Salt bowl and knife were used to prep for taste test. Taste is mild, sweet, but not that real tomato-y flavor and slurpiness you get with others. This tomato will be used for canning. Production is incredible, has thin skin, few seeds, and is meaty.
August 22, 2025 at 6:40 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
One of life's simple joys. #gardening 🌱
A small plate holding two pieces of lightly toasted white bread, slathered in mayo. One piece is blanketed with a large, round slice of juicy, brown-red Black Krim heirloom tomato, and a sprinkling of sea salt. The second slice of mayo'd toast is to the side ready to cover the tomato and make a sandwich. An unparalleled classic. The plate next to the sandwich holds the remainder of the large tomato.
August 21, 2025 at 2:15 AM
rumblebee.bsky.social
The gods took pity on us and we are grateful. #nativeplants #gardening 🌱
Tape measure inside empty gray herb planter holding water indicating 1.25" of rain received last night and early this morn. Corner of hillside showing medium sized maple underplanted with natives. Cupplant and goldenrod have brown lower leaves due to rainfall deficit. Ironweed has purple flowers and goldenrod has some yellow flowers. Cupplant has new green growth but no evidence of flowers. Native grasses interspersed. Background behind and left of hill is shady wooded area.
August 17, 2025 at 4:42 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
I thought I saw the beginnings of some tomato hornworm damage. Turns out, I was right. 🌱 #gardening
Hanging by a thread on a tomato plant, the remains of a shriveled up tomato hornworm are covered in tiny white Braconid wasp larvae.
August 15, 2025 at 6:07 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Know what this gardener's fav reality show is? The Doppler. Has the same teasers, lies and disappointments. Lately, I've waited for Rainfall to make more than the briefest appearance. Watched as it marched toward our dot on the screen. Then ... Rainfall vanished. We've been ghosted. 🌱 #gardening
August 13, 2025 at 9:21 AM
rumblebee.bsky.social
My mouth is watering. Decided to give hot water bath dills another shot. Tried a simple, old timey recipe that used these granules vs lime and kept spears sliced thick (I halved) to keep as much crunch as possible. My 🌭 is waiting. #gardening 🌱 #canning #harvest
Pickles are still coming in and quite lovely. Canned 5 qts of dills in hot water bath. Online vintage recipe was modified to use jarred Mrs Wages Xtra Crunch vs lime and today's safe processing guidelines. I halved them vs whole or spears. Collected 8 more pickles today. Might just have another 2 qts with the left over brine. They won't be Claussen but I am hopeful they have that elusive crunch!
August 12, 2025 at 4:52 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Been mulling what to plant in late summer/fall. Landed on seed 🧄. Ordered 1# Chesnok Red and 1/4# Music. Ships mid to late Sep. Plant in Oct. Harvest in Jun. I love 🧄 but never grown 🧄. I have big plans for this 🧄. My kids and my mother have big plans for this 🧄. Should be interesting. #gardening 🌱
August 12, 2025 at 2:01 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
So, more of the same, but kinda not. 8 more pints of blueberrries canned. Same French Blueberry Jam recipe ingredients. Except, when I used the immersion blender, I left some smaller blueberry chunks. Hence, the name on the lid to indicate 'preserves'. A little bit juicier, too. Both still awesome!
Canned 8 more pints of French blueberry jam. 1 is in the frig. It's indicated as preserves on the canning lid because I left bits of blueberries remain rather than have the immersion blender make everything smoother. It's a rich deep purple, a bit juicier but not runny. Has a good mouth feel with no annoying bits to chew.
August 10, 2025 at 8:25 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Time to make the sauce. #gardening 🌱 #canning #harvest
Old Victorio No. 200/210 manual strainer bought ages ago at Lehman's. Has served me well and will again this year.
August 10, 2025 at 7:59 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Today's haul hurriedly picked before the (not) thunderstorm.
About 10# of Opalka and Roma paste tomatoes. 20 total Picklebush, Spacemaster 80 and Homemade pickles. Just picked about 8 yesterday. All 3 are very prolific. German Pink, Arkansas Traveler, Moneymaker, and Black Sea Man tomatoes for fresh eatin". Lots of green tomatoes on these and other heirlooms.
August 10, 2025 at 7:49 PM
rumblebee.bsky.social
The milkweed has a couple monarch stages living on different floors. Found a lone stranger sharing the space and discovered it's a milkweed tussock cat. Across town, the swallowtail cat is living it up on the dill. I am one happy landlord! #nativeplants #gardening 🌱
I think it's bottoms up, not sure. Fat, black, white and yellow monarch cat chewing away on Asclepias tuberosa leaf. Note the chewed leaf just below. Look closely. One very small, fuzzy, tufted haired orange and black milkweed tussock moth cat. Hiding under the Asclepias tuberosa leaf is a smaller monarch cat. Not as long or fat but equally colorful. A vibrant swallowtail cat, neon green, with black and yellow markings, is balancing and chewing on long, thin dill leaves at the same time.
August 4, 2025 at 12:17 AM
rumblebee.bsky.social
Never canned a fruit anything. Behold my French Blueberry Jam! Turned out better than expected but was prepared to accept less. Made one change. Leave skins in or go for totally smooth? Opted to keep for some texture but used the immersion blender. Tastes very gourmet and mouth feel is on point!
Canned 7 pints of deep, dark, clear purple French Blueberry Jam, no pectin. Kept the skins in but used the immersion blender after all the juice was removed and returned to the pot to boil up to temp. Added skins just before finishing. Taste and texture are very gourmet, not gloppy, chewy, bitter. Perfect spreadability.
August 2, 2025 at 5:05 PM