This is definitely a ball busting year due to the scope of the drought and heat. I found out if my area stays on pace for current rainfall it will be the driest period from 6/1 to 8/31 in the history of record keeping. Thats over 100 years folks. Also found out we will likely break the number of days above 90 degrees in the history of record keeping for that time period as well. Agin thats over 100 years folks. Why couldn't it just be one? Cripes. The majority of TX finally got out of the extreme category while SE WI has been upgraded to extreme. Complaining...its how we bond. At least some us.

My SW are only now beginning to flower, later than most of my other cowpeas... and they have been developing short runners. But then, my other yardlongs are also way behind where they should be this year. In comparison, the Chinese bush yardlong I grew last year (from Newgardener) was already bearing by this time. Of course, the weather this year could be causing the poor performance, so the comparison may not be a fair one. Provided I get seed from the SW this year, I will grow them side-by-side next year. Two of my cowpeas, though ("MN 13" and "Green Dixie") have set large numbers of pods. They seem to be not only early, but cool-weather tolerant. As I've said before, you can learn good things from a bad year! ;-) "Green Dixie" is a particularly large-seeded variety, so for it to be loaded with pods this early is very encouraging. Oh, and since this is your thread, Mauirose, a Moringa update. In spite of the cooler weather, my plants are now 2 feet tall, and I just picked the first harvest of leaves yesterday. The wife made a white soup with it, along with coconut milk, bamboo shoots, ginger, and chicken.

Thanks for the drawing--it has calmed my fears after reading other posts by you about your dream kitchen. I can imagine working in here. Has anyone mentioned the need for wood storage indoors? Although the woodpile is the main wood storage, there needs to be a direct route from woodpile to a plunk spot for the wood indoors. We have a wood stove in living room, in part to burn up wood from our yard. We use an old large copper cauldron for our wood holder--it's huge and I retire it to the garage in summer so that I can recover some space in the room. Also, the area below a stove needs to fit code. Talk to your building inspectors before making a plan. Otherwise you may end up with a deep lip of brick or tile that intrudes in places you didn't anticipate and you may need a railing on one side if it's adjacent to a walk space. Also, the area in vicinity of a wood stove needs to be sweepable, even if it's outside the code-mandated nonburnable floor. Wood debris is unavoidable. You may want to look at images of second homes, lake places, etc. for your practical inspirations. These places have to deal with such issues and they often have a 'country' feel (ignore the kitschy ones). As for the island/table, I urge a movable large cart. You can remove it and put in a table at times if you need to and you can pull it to your work area for a secondary surface or put it out for buffet serving. For most days, you already have a table very near on porch that will be more useful for enjoying that cup of coffee and a book or newspaper and you can decorate that space as gleefully as you like. I've thought a lot about the table in your inspiration picture and all it says to me is 'I'm not ready to go to work.' That's not a message I want in my kitchen. I need an inviting blank work surface that I can mess up with my cooking activity, then clean off and leave ready for next time. I hate it when I have debris in my work space from the last project or stuff plunked there that is off-topic for my current mania. I'm putting a nook/resource center into the corner of my kitchen but I won't share photos yet, except this early one. We'll have a full floor to near-ceiling 6 foot wide bookcase, perhaps small antique drop leaf table and chairs, and some funky lighting. No wood stove, but hope it will have ambiance and kooky inviting feel. But it will NOT intrude in my work, it will NOT prevent dinner being served in dining room, and it will allow some softening pieces to cut the modern feel of the rest of the room. It also gives me a non-stool work space if needed (handicap access concept). This antiques and books and art nook is out of the line of fire of the kitchen activities as yours is, but I don't foresee spending much time in it. Better places elsewhere in house for lounging and recreation. Here is a link that might be useful: roughed in table nook ambiance corner

BBQ sauce experience is a rare commodity and very expensive. I suggest you fill the entire barrel with a 20% bleach to water solution mixed with some DAWN soap to cut the grease. Let it soak for 48 hours. Rinse 3 times to remove the soap residue. Be careful where you empty the bleach/water/soap so it doesn't enter the sewer, streams, or ocean. I have an unplanted gravel area called the "epizudiks" into which I pour unpleasant solutions.