Recreation Area Visits Around Saylorville Reservoir

I got the opportunity to do a little bit of leisure driving with Hubby on Friday.We ended up grabbing a couple of sandwiches from Quiznos and headed out to one of the recreation areas located around Saylorville Reservoir here in central Iowa, just north of Des Moines.

We pulled up to a shelter house to take our picnic plans to the next level... as we pulled up, getting ready to park, we saw a Whitetail doe with triplets tagging along behind. 

Hubby and I were in awe! 

Living in a timber we hadn't seen triplets traipsing around, or at least we didn't correlate they were womb mates. Today's event was evident, no mistaking they shared the same family tie.

The little family is straight back almost to the rear treeline.

The third fawn lagged further behind as the family moved from left to right disappearing once again into thick cover

The other side of the treeline takes you into someone's backyard. Housing developments have sprung up on the perimeters of the recreation areas - tucked among the trees. A great place to  find quiet solitude, even with a busy world humming all around.

On our day out we found shade and a slight breeze around noon , just before the day heated into the upper 80's.

Stop back soon! I will be sharing a couple of other parks we stopped to explore close to the lake and a few accesses to slip into the water...

Vardaman Sweet Potato Vines

Last November, I put in an order with my truck driving brother.

He had some good luck getting loads out of Mississippi bringing back  Sweet Potatoes to the Midwest for our holiday celebrations back in 2010.

I thought maybe he might be able to do the same again for the 2011 Season ...I was extremely pleased when I found out he would get that chance.
 The fare was very tasty!

We tried a recipe by Paula Deen called
"Sweet Potato Bake".

Our daughter, Tamara, was the Chef and she used her top of the line culinary hobby skills to  please all of our palates on Thanksgiving.

The day before Thanksgiving last year my kitchen was transformed into an assembly line. One dish after another found their ingredients mixed and ready to bake Thursday morning, or baked ready to enjoy after the main course.

I have to add another recipe that was was new to us, but definitely one that I made over and over for Hubby and myself...it happens to belong to a blogging friend of mine, out of Mississippi. I thought,"Well goodness! How blessed am I to get sweet potatoes out of Mississippi and then to get the recipe from a Southern Lady Deer Huntress out of Vicksburg, Mississippi?!?" Did you click the link?? Did you find out who I'm talking about??? Please click all three and you will see who shared their recipe with me!


  Southern Lady's Sweet Potato Pie Recipe

3 large sweet potatoes cooked, drained, and mashed up. Will make approximately 2-1/2 to 3 cups.
 Add the following ingredients to potatoes while they are still hot.

1 stick margarine or butter 
2 cups sugar
1 cup milk 3 eggs (beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
Place in uncooked pie shells. Will make 3 thin pies or 2 large ones. Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes.

For a crisp pie shell, bake for the first 10 minutes at 425 degrees and then turn back to 350 degrees for remaining 40 minutes

The Start of Something Big

This year I am growing a few of my own Vardaman sweet potatoes  - vines started from the sprouts of one of the potatoes you see up at the top. Planting a couple of the potatoes to get shoots, eventually taking the shoots off,I placed them in water to root.  Choosing a couple of them, they were stuck in a BIG pot of soil-less mix.

The experiment now is to see how many pounds I might get 110 days from planting. 

                                                                           The only problem so far is an animal keeps digging the plants out looking for grubs and some little chewing insects riddling a few of the leaves. 

Since the weather has been extremely hot, I  have needed to check on keeping the mix hydrated.

I am pleased with vine development, but I always get impatient and find myself scratching at the ground line to see if anything is growing, other than foliage. 

Talking to myself ,I work at reminding me of the benefits of Patience!

Should my venture produce at least three large sweet potatoes, I will have the ingredients from Mississippi again for a delight from the south-enough to use the recipe of my blogging friend the Southern Lady Deer Huntress...