From Seed to Jar

Big Life Changes

2012-01-26T18:57:00.000-06:00

As you may or may not know, my personal life has gone through some major changes lately. I took a little break from blogging to deal with these issues. You may have noticed that my profile changed. That is because my fiance and I split up. I won't go into the reasons, but since I blog about all parts of my life, it needs to be shared here. I am sad, but also filled with positive hope for the future. I appreciate everyone's love and support, and I look forward to sharing my life, gardening and otherwise, with all you.

Hmmm....he's got my number.

2011-12-22T16:41:00.000-06:00

I was cleaning out my son's backpack last night, since we are now on winter break (yay!). I found a little book, entitled 'Winter Holidays'. "How cute," I thought, as I flipped through the pages. But when I turned to this page, I started cracking up.

The adult in this photo is clearly me, though I think I show a little more imagination in hair and clothing style than my son has represented here. Obviously this is a representation of Christmas morning. If you can't interpret his speech bubble for me...it says, "You know I have to clean this up..." LMAO. (For you non-texters out there, that means LAUGHING MY ASS OFF)

I showed this to DH, and he started cracking up too. At least I can laugh at myself. After some reflection, maybe I should relax a little during the gift opening. Maybe me perching next to them with a garbage sack while they are opening presents is creeping them out. My son doesn't seem creeped out though...he seems to have accepted it as a matter of course. Anyways, maybe I will wait till they are DONE opening presents to collect all the paper. Maybe.

I Can Blog From My Phone!

2011-12-17T22:45:00.002-06:00

I just figured out how to use the Blogger app to post from my phone. I am just testing it for now...but I can see having a lot of fun with this. Smartphones are soo cool!

Wordless Wednesday: We Dressed up for the Snacks!

2011-10-18T22:50:00.000-05:00

Pumpkin Tipping & Apple Chucking!

2011-10-14T22:40:00.001-05:00

Last weekend we had a fun visit to our favorite pumpkin farm. My son, in particular, kept very busy during our time there. For instance, while I was talking, he managed to tip EVERY SINGLE PUMPKIN in an entire yard, over on its side. I'm sure the pumpkin farm people LOVED him later when they had to stand them all up again.

My son is a funny kid. I'm sure Nick was wondering what my son had in mind with this project. Nick is just following along, watching.

We didn't end up getting our pumpkins here, we waited for another day to get those. We love this place, but they charge by the pound for the pumpkins, and that adds up really fast.

There is a fee to get in, but there is definitely plenty to do to get your money's worth. This year, my son and my stepson tried out the apple chucker.

Yes, besides eating apples, you can also catapult them hundreds of feet towards targets!

I don't know if we actually hit ANY targets, but it was a lot of fun.

Wordless Wednesday: Super Dose of Cute!

2011-10-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

Cute and Corny!

2011-10-10T22:24:00.000-05:00

This weekend I was so fortunate to have my friend Melissa from C'est la Vie come to visit. Her kids are younger than mine, and she has an energetic 2-year old, and an ADORABLE 4-month old. Henry reminds me of a cabbage patch doll I loved as a child...if I find a picture I'll post it.

Melissa and I took all the kids to the fantastic pumpkin farm we visit every year. The corn pool is always a big hit. Melissa just shakes her head, and mutters things about crazy Iowans, and 'only in Iowa', but she knows the kids love it! I don't know if little Henry knew what to think of lying on all that corn.

Little Nick knew how he felt about the corn...FUN!

Maybe too much fun for the big kids! There were some tired teenagers that night. In the background of this picture you can see my son taking a flying leap into the sea of yellow.

We all had to take turns passing Henry around...he is just so cute, we all want to hold him!

Melissa and I have been friends so long, it is really fun to see our kids growing up together. We are both making memories that will last lifelong.

Plus, my guy and I got to spend some time relaxing together, while we watched the kids 'swim'. Too bad there is no waiter with a fancy drink for me.

The weather was fantastic, it was in the mid to high 80s all weekend. Unbelievable hot pumpkin farm temperatures. It made for a really fun weekend for all. We took so many pics, stay tuned for future posts to see the rest.

Who I Am...

2011-10-02T00:46:00.000-05:00

WARNING: This blog post may contain real or implied swearing, strong opinions, and a low tolerance for drama.

There has been a lot of discussion on twitter lately, about who gets to claim certain titles. Are you a 'real' garden writer? Do you have a 'real' garden blog? Even...are you a 'real' gardener?

I've tried to stay out of it, because I like people on both 'sides' of this debate. People are starting to get real nasty about it. I even know people who are staying off of twitter, because they are tired of listening to the arguing and dealing with the drama. It got me thinking, which label would I have...and would I care?

I know certain things. I am a 'real' gardener. I have gardened until my hands cracked and bled, til my face was black with dirt, from morning until the last bit of daylight faded from the sky and I had to go in. I have fantasized in the winter about gardening...poured over seed catalogs and imagined the smell of vegetables in the garden. I have gone for weeks with dirt permanently under my fingernails because I refuse to wear gloves, because part of being a 'real' gardener to me is feeling the dirt on my hands. I have planted seeds, hauled mulch, dug holes, weeded, and weeded some more. I have worked 40+ hours a week, commuted 2 hours a day, cared for my children, and STILL went out to garden for a few hours before I ran out of light. I know that maybe my garden will never be 'good enough' for a magazine, but it is still MY garden, and I put everything there with my two hands.

I may never write a book about gardening. I may never write magazine articles about gardening. I may never, ever go to a garden blogging conference and speak about how to keep weeds out of your garden, or how to get the biggest blooms with the best compost. But am I a 'real' gardener? You bet your ass I am.

I am also, and more importantly, a mother. I am a teacher. I am a cook, a foodie in my own right, and a canner. Someday, I hope to be a master gardener, perhaps even a master canner, but if not, it's not going to stop me from doing those things. I am someone's love, a friend of many, a daughter, an animal lover, and an old soul.

I write on my blog because I want to express myself. Sometimes, I share things about my garden, but other times, I want to write about what I had for breakfast that morning. If putting up pictures of my kids' birthday party keeps me from getting garden blogger of the year, then I guess I'll have to live with that.

I am not intending this to be a 'garden' only blog. It is my blog. It is a reflection of my thoughts, interests, and projects; an online journal of sorts. My gardening is set in the context of my life, not in isolation from it. If someone sends me a garden tool to try, or seeds to grow, then I will thank them and try the product out. I might blog about it if they ask me to, because I like sharing new things with other people like me, and it seems a fair exchange for the courtesy they are extending to me.

Personally, the blogs I like the best are not the ones that look so 'professional'. The only time I really look at those blogs is when I need to look up about a certain plant, or a certain process. The blogs that I visit on a regular basis are the ones where you get a sense of the author as an individual. I really don't care whether they can tell me 15 different reasons this particular variety of zinnia is better than the old ones or the other ones. If the author comes off as a pretentious snob, or an overbearing egotistical jerk, then I'm not impressed. I am certainly not impressed with sterile websites designed by some person who has never gardened or canned a day in their life.

I don't see why there isn't room for all the different kinds of gardening/plant blogs out there. People should feel comfortable writing about their gardening experiences, without getting criticized for not being knowledgable enough, or edgy enough, or not using the right kind of camera for their pictures. We all have different styles. Everyone has something to share, and as some people need to remember, we all have plenty to learn.

I am going to continue gardening, and I am going to keep writing about it on my blog from time to time. It makes me happy...and that is ALL that matters to me.

Thank you to my followers...you guys are awesome. Thanks for being there when I need to let something out. That is what friends are for.

A Very Belated Seed Grow Post

2011-09-26T23:20:00.000-05:00

This summer seems like it has flown by. Now it is officially fall, and I have not been adjusting very well. I am off in the summer, and going back to work in late August is often a difficult transition. This year it was particularly difficult, and I had trouble getting anything other than the bare necessities done. So, in a first for me, my SeedGrow post is late. However, better late than never, I still want to share.

The week after I did my August SeedGrow post, I decided I didn't like how spindly my Summer Splash marigolds had gotten. So I took my trimmers and lopped off the top third of the plant. Rather severe, but I wanted it to branch out, and I knew this plant was tough enough to take it, as long as I watered it well.

The only blooms left were the ones below the tops of the plants. I hated cutting flowers off, but there was no other way to get the plant to become more bushy.

I took this picture at the beginning of September, and you can see, they recovered nicely. They still didn't branch as much as I liked. I think if I grew these again, I would pinch more severely AS it was growing, to keep the foliage growing out, and delay the blooms a bit.

My Italian Cameo basil has been very slow, but is coming along. I certainly have more than enough to cook with, and plenty left over for drying or pesto. I have noticed that Cameo, while much shorter than other basils I have grown, has a very, very compact cluster of leaves.

The basil is still short here, but the pot is really filling up. You will see in my October post that the basil has stuffed the opening to the terra cotta pot. It was having some issues sharing with the sweet potato vine. I keep having to viciously trim back the black leaves to keep it from overshadowing the basil.

Here, you can see that I harvested some of my Italian Cameo basil, along with the some rosemary and oregano. Just a few snips got me more basil than I needed for my recipe. I think I was making herbed zucchini cheese bread that night. I got the recipe from the Hobby Farms website. It was very good, but it was too much to eat all by myself. Next time I will make a smaller loaf.

It is going on towards October now, but both my basil and my marigolds are still growing strong. I am looking forward to seeing them, all the way up to frost. I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the free seeds.

Wordless Wednesday - I'm Ready For My Close-up Now

2011-08-10T15:19:00.001-05:00

Everything's Coming Up Marigolds

2011-08-03T00:08:00.000-05:00

It seems like every time a seedgrow post is due, I am very, very busy. This month is no different. Again, I am up late typing away to get it done. I did get my pictures taken earlier in the week, because I knew I wouldn't be able to today. You can see from the pictures that my Summer Splash marigolds have really taken off, especially in the bloom department. However, I wish they were bushier. I should have pinched off the tops when they were smaller, but now it is too late. I guess I could do it now, but I would have to destroy a lot of my blooms to do it. If I grew these again I would keep them more compact.

They have really cute little flowers, but I think I actually prefer when marigolds have the fatter, more round blooms. They do have a nice quantity of blooms. I don't know if the amount of water they get impacts them much...I try to water everyday, but sometimes it doesn't get done.

The bees seem to like them, for sure. I am not good with bee names...does anybody know what kind of bee this is? Also, why do some of the blooms have red streaks inside, and some don't?

The Italian Cameo basil looks very healthy, it is just growing really, really slowly. I hoped I would have basil by now. The plants are still so small I couldn't take very many leaves. I think maybe this sweet potato vine is shading them out a little. I tried to remedy that by pinching off some of the leaves and stems on that one side of the sweet potato vine. That might keep the basil in more sun.

I really like the color and shape of the leaves on this basil. It is a very attractive herb.

I tried to get you a picture of what my lettuce looks like now, but blogger refused to load it for some reason. However, this is no great loss. The extreme heat we've had for the last few weeks has cooked what was left of my Garden Babies lettuce to death. It is horrible looking. Luckily, I managed to eat most of it before it was roasted in the oven-like temperatures. This is a picture of what the lettuces looked like when I started harvesting them. They look perfect, but the heat had just started and they were already starting to get a little bit bitter.

I tried to wait and harvest them when they were the size I saw in the pictures we were provided, but I think I would pick them earlier next time. They still tasted great drizzle with dressing and served with some halved cherry tomatoes from my garden. I had them one of the days we had no electricity, after that big storm.

I am going to wait a few weeks and start another batch of garden babies lettuce for fall. I am hoping the cooling temperatures will provide more of the sweet, tender taste I am looking for. For now, the ground will rest.

I am hoping a month from now, I will be making basil into yummy things. I am definitely going to try out some more fertilizer types, I didn't get to do that this month, too much traveling. Until then, tell me how your plants are growing. Again... I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the free seeds.

Lilies That Grow in My Garden

2011-07-29T13:43:00.001-05:00

If you read my blog regularly, you might recall me saying that my three favorite perennial flowers are hardy hibiscus, lilies, and iris, in that order. The lilies are one of my favorites for good reason. This one is my favorite of all of them.

These lilies are ones that I purchased from the lady that grows hybrid lilies that she pollinates herself. I have many other lilies in my yard, but they were left by the previous owner, and they are pretty, but they are the kind of daylilies you can go to a nursery and buy.

I love these lilies though because they are one of a kind...this one reminds me of yogurt and jam.

I think these are lilies that I got for free when I purchased some of the fancier lilies, but they are also very pretty.

Some of these I have had for a few years, and I think they are seeding and making babies that are crosses of each other. I suppose one day I might try crossing my own lilies, but at this point, I'm content to let the bees and wasps take care of that for me.

You can tell I have gone through a really peach/yellow/orange phase in the last few years. I think next time I buy, I will look for white or a lemony yellow.

This one and the next are my newest ones. This is only their 2nd year in my garden and they make 30-40 blooms on one clump. I go through several weeks with blooms, even though they only last one day. The only thing I don't like about lilies is having to go through and clean up all the yucky old blooms to keep them looking tidy. You also have to watch out for the pollen...if you get it on your clothes, it is there forever.

This clump of lilies reminds me of a braeburn apple. They are so gorgeous.

Lilies are the gift that keeps on giving...the clump will keep growing and should be divided every 2 to 3 years to keeps it blooming well. I will leave these for one more year before I divide them. Then I will have lilies to put somewhere else or give to a friend!

Do you grow special lilies in your yard? I'd love to know if you hybridize your own lilies.

Wordless Wednesday - Pink and Pretty

2011-07-27T23:03:00.000-05:00

Apple Picking...for Free!

2011-07-25T08:25:00.000-05:00

Last week I had the opportunity to go and pick free organic apples. DH has a work friend with an apple tree in his backyard. He is single and lives alone; not much of a canner. When he heard DH raving about how wonderful a cook and canner I am (I'm embellishing for the sake of the story), he offered up his apples, since they are just getting in the way of the lawn mower at his place.

I went to Menards and purchased a fruit picker (which was ridiculously expensive: $25.00!!!) However, it will pay for itself this year in the money I save buying apples at the orchard this fall. DH's friend warned us that it was a really tall tree, so we threw some baskets and the ladder in the back of the van and headed over.

DH told me on the way over, "I'm just going along to watch; I found you the apples, so I'm going to sit back and relax." Yet who do we see picking the apples in the pictures? He is...because he LOVES me...

He is even seen here to be utilizing the stepladder and the apple picker at the same time.

As you can see, I got quite a few apples. I'm not sure how this translates into apple measurements...but I think it is at least a bushel. Now I have to figure out what to do with them all. I was a little surprised that there were apples ready so early in the year. I did some checking, and I am fairly certain they are called 'Lodi' apples.

From what I read about them, Lodi apples are often considered the first apple of the season, ready in mid July. They are an improvement on their parent variety, called Yellow Transparent. I would consider most of the Lodi apples to be green though. I wonder if many people confuse them with the yellow transparents. They are very soft, and very tart. They have an extremely sharp taste, that comes through even with the cooking. It seems as if they are used almost exclusively for applesauce due to how quickly they cook down. I am wondering however, if this will make it hard to use them for other things. They are definitely not good fresh eating apples.

I know after all the help I got from DH getting these apples, he's curious to see what I do with them. I'm going to make applesauce with them for sure, and experiment with some other recipes. They do not store well at all, only a week or two by most accounts, so I need to use them FAST. If you know of any uses for Lodi apples, please comment. I am also in need of recipes, keeping in mind that these apples cook to mush very quickly. Thanks for the comments!

Boys & Bugs (& Brothers...)

2011-07-23T21:52:00.000-05:00

Yesterday my brother and his family came up to Iowa to visit us. His two little boys are a little younger than my son, and I am absolutely delighted when I get to see them. They wanted to see something cool in Iowa, so of course I took them to one of our favorite places, Reiman Gardens. The boys loved the butterflies especially...they got as close as possible to check out the wings.

Since they are all boys, they seem to get along well, and they have similar interests. I like this shot of them looking awed by the beauty of the butterflies.

We have had some almost record heat this week, and what is a hot day without....ICE CREAM.

Some of us wear it more than others...lol.

The boys got to work out some of their energy on the chimes...they all took a turn making some music.

We got to spend a whole day together, which only happens a few times a year. I really want my son to know his extended family and be close to them, so he has a support system as he grows up. On the other side, I want my nephews to know me as they grow up as well.

After we left the gardens, they came over to my house and I got to cook them dinner. We got to talk a long time, and then they headed home. It really was a wonderful day.

Great Garlic!

2011-07-21T23:40:00.000-05:00

This is my 2nd year growing garlic, and this year, I didn't have to MOVE the garlic midyear. As you may or may not remember, I moved in late February of 2010. In mid October of 2009, when I was planting the garlic, I did not realize I was going to be moving in a few months. I did get the chance to move it later on, but I seriously disrupted the growth cycle. Still, it was okay. But this year, they stayed where I put them, October till now.

I knew it was time to harvest the garlic because the tops started to yellow a lot, like this picture above. Last year, I waited until the leaves were a lot more yellow, and I had a hard time finding all the garlic. Waiting so long, the tops had deteriorated a lot more and I couldn't tell where the bulbs were under the ground. About a month ago, I removed the seed and stem part of the garlic plant, called the scape. There are basically two kinds of garlic, hardneck and softneck, and hardneck is the type that makes a scape. All my garlic is hardneck this year...I would like to grow some softneck garlic though too, because that is the kind that you can braid and hang up in your kitchen. Hardneck garlic doesn't store as long as softneck garlic, they say, but mine did just fine last year. You can see a post showing the garlic scapes here. Cutting off the scapes makes the bulbs grow much bigger because they don't have to put so much energy into making their seed head.

I've found that the best way to get the garlic out is to use a large tined fork. I step down on the fork a few inches back from where I think the clove is, and lift it up, to loosen the ground up. If you have cultivated your soil well in the fall, when you planted the garlic, it shouldn't be too hard to loosen it up now. Then, since you didn't wait too long to harvest your garlic (smile), you can reach down and gently pull the garlic bulb loose from the dirt.

Elephant Garlic!

I tried some elephant garlic this year. Elephant garlic is not a true garlic, but actually is a kind of wild leek. But I grow it with the garlic, since it allows itself to be treated as such. These bulbs turned out to be huge! The flavor is nice, and a tad bit milder than the real garlic.

This is a variety called Georgian Fire. Seed Savers says this one is a true 'white hot' garlic, with a pleasant heat. I can't wait to try it out. I also grew Siberian Garlic and Chesnok Red this year. Siberian is a good all purpose garlic, while chesnok is good for baking and roasting. I tried to cover all my bases.

For the time being, I put all the garlic into my barn (aka my enclosed front porch). I will leave it there for a few weeks to cure, to dry out so it will store better for as long as possible. I'm sure a lot of it will go into marinara and salsas that I will be canning later in the summer.

I'd love to hear about your garlic experiences...especially other varieties that people grow. I need to learn how to properly roast garlic without burning the heck out of it. If you like the smell of garlic, come on on over and sit on my porch...it's smelling pretty good out there about now.

Wordless Wednesday: Aahhhhh!!!! Donuts!

2011-07-20T00:05:00.000-05:00

A MiniVacation to Illinois

2011-07-18T23:59:00.001-05:00

My friend Melissa from C'est la Vie recently had a baby...darling little Henry. Melissa, (who I call Missy, I'm probably the only one in the world that still calls her that) and I have been friends for going on 14 years now. We have been friends through college, boyfriends, marriage, long-distance moves, divorces, and children. We work pretty hard to keep our friendship going, even with our busy lives. That means almost every summer, my son and I head out to the Chicago suburbs to visit. This time though, I got some baby crack! Not like the crack on his backside. I mean the drug that an adorable baby is to most women. My son was pretty entranced by Henry too...he spent a lot of time holding, feeding, and loving on the baby. He even said he would love to be a babysitter, except for the poopy diaper part.

Henry is only 5 weeks old, which means he can't hold on to many things yet, and he kicks randomly, but doesn't have a lot of coordinated movements yet. I couldn't resist giving him this little teddy bear while he was lying on his boppy pillow. I thought maybe I saw him smile a little bit and give it a few kicks like he was enjoying himself. (Probably my imagination).

My son hasn't been this little in quite a while, so I really enjoyed getting some serious baby lovin' in. He fell asleep in the crook of my arm a few times...I could get used to this.

When I wasn't snorting baby smell, we got to spend a lot of time visiting. We spent one whole day eating and shopping. Here we were having a little 'snack' at Houlihans.

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If you see my friend Missy's blog...you will know she also has an outgoing 2-year old son named Nick. My son also spent a lot of time chasing and running around with Nick. I'll leave you with this video of them having an awesome time in the dressing rooms at a store at the outlet mall. I was trying a shirt on, and Missy took this video. Obviously, there wasn't anyone else in the dressing rooms, or we wouldn't have let them run in and out like that. It would have been quite shocking to anyone who would have been in there. But it did keep the kids busy for a few minutes.

I have so many pictures I'll have to show some more in another post. In the meantime, where have you gone this summer? Don't you love getting to visit old friends?

Bloom Day...A Few Days Late

2011-07-17T22:47:00.001-05:00

Tropical Hibiscus

A Pansy - Hanging on through the heat

Bee Balm


Heirloom Runner Bean - Painted Lady

Hybrid Lily

Nasturtium - Vanilla Berry

Coreopsis

Speedwell

Salmon Geranium

Puzzles and Pigs

2011-07-10T23:45:00.000-05:00

We had company on Saturday, one of my dearest friends, as close as family. She brought some gifts for the grandbabies, since she couldn't make it to the birthday party on Wednesday. One present she brought was this great guinea pig puzzle.

As you know...I have kind of a 'thing' for guinea pigs. So I thought this puzzle was ADORABLE. You may not know that I LOVE puzzles. So much that once I start one, I can hardly do anything else until it it done. I kept having to tear myself away from this one to make pizzas for the kids. Food? What, you kids don't need to eat, do you?

This puzzle was kind of hard for a small one, because almost all the pieces looked like white or hair. Besides doing the puzzle, we watched a cheesy but okay VanDiesel movie, ate some buffalo chicken dip, and did a garden tour. My friend is a master gardener, so I like to pick her brain a little bit and show her some of the projects I've been working on.

As you can see, we still got the puzzle done. I think I might get a frame and save this one...he's pretty cute, don't you think?

More Entertaining Faces...Courtesy of the Birthday Boy

2011-07-08T01:03:00.000-05:00

Evidently my son has been taking lessons from his younger nephews, you can see their interesting faces here. When I looked at the pictures I took during the birthday party the other day, I found quite a few pics of him that made me giggle. These are not natural faces, trust me, this kid is posing for these pictures.

Granted, he was really excited about getting this panda pillow pet. He has been asking for one for several months. He is a funny kid. He also asked for a compass, a slide whistle...(I'm like WTF Batman!), I had to look up what a slide whistle WAS. I recognized the sound, but I had never actually seen one in real life.

He got this Playmobil set from his Pop Pop. He was thrilled. If you have never heard of Playmobils, here is the link to their site. I played with these things when I was a little girl, and I saved a bunch of them that he plays with now. I don't think I ever had a set this big and cool when I was young though. It is a school, and the little people have ALL these accessories. They are like the little people that come with legos, but a little bigger and more complex.

I was really surprised how much he liked the pillow pet. He has carried it around with him most of the time since the party yesterday. I sprang for the 'real' pillow pet, not the knockoff. It is super soft. I guess it is rather soothing.

In all, he was in a spectacular mood for most of the day. He had a good attitude during the party and interacted well with everybody there. Sometimes he can be rather moody, so I can never predict what flavor I am going to get with him. I think you can tell by the way he is sharing a story with his new friend, we had a really good day.

Another Year...Another Birthday Party

2011-07-07T01:03:00.001-05:00

It is hard to believe that another whole year has gone by. My little boy just turned eight, and my stepdaughter is turning 13, so it was time for the big family birthday party we throw at our house. Since neither child expressed much interest in any certain theme, I went for a red, white, and blue '4th of July' theme. I love 4th of July stuff, I keep adding to my decor every year a little at a time.

Here is our spread. Unfortunately, I ate much more than I should have, so Gardenmom will be spending some extra time on the treadmill tomorrow.

My 'firecracker bursts' are actually gladiator allium stems, sprayed with red, white, and blue spray paint. I am really psyched with how they turned out. I think if I take care of them, they will last quite a while.

Of course, no family gathering is complete without the menfolk throwing it down. My guy still always wins.

However, my stepson is getting so grown up, he is starting to give DH a little more trouble. This picture kind of caught me by surprise...how 'manlike' my stepson is looking. Don't be fooled, he still has a man/child brain.

I did not make this ice cream cake, but I was doing my best 'the price is right' model showcase pose. I have so many picture of the birthday party, I will have to save some for another day. In all, it was a great success, if you want any leftover buffalo chicken dip, come on over.

Being Silly With My Family

2011-07-04T23:59:00.001-05:00

My nephews eating their lunch and making silly faces

Myself, my nephew, and DH in the background (more silly faces)


My brother and my nephew (even MORE silly faces)

Things Are Growing Along Nicely

2011-07-02T22:55:00.000-05:00

It's been a fun but hectic week. As we speak, it is 1030 at night, and I am typing this post with artificial nails on, which while they make my nails look pretty, they severely hinder my typing speed and ability. I knew we were going to be out of town, so I took my pictures earlier in the week. The hotel website said they had WiFi, so I said, "Oh...I can type that up when we are in the hotel." However, the WiFi that they let you have for free is painfully slow. I thought I would get the post done last night, but it took forever just to get the pictures loaded up.

Anyways, on to my lovely seedlings... The Garden Babies lettuce is doing very well now. At first, things started so slow I wondered if I had messed up the seeds somehow. Things got growing though, and I transplanted a few to get them spread out a little more. Now they seem to be growing just like the pictures I've seen. I have a few that seem like they are getting close to the right size to be harvested.

This one is growing really funny from the center. I have no idea what happened to it. They are in containers by my steps, where no bunnies would have gotten to them. But this one looks like something took a chomp out of it.

The Summer Splash Marigolds also started out slow, but then came on strong. I transplanted a few of these to space them out better as well. I now have about 2 in each container...I hope that isn't too close together.

These flowers make for some spectacular close-up pictures. I have blooms on several of the plants, and most of them are 6-8 inches tall. This is the first one to bloom though. I kind of thought from the pictures I got from Renees Garden that these flowers were going to be more yellow. I didn't realize it would have so much orange. Is this how other people's blooms look?

The Italian Cameo Basil is probably the smallest of all the seedlings...but it was the last of the 3 I planted. However, it is still growing faster than the basil seedlings I planted in the coir. None of the stuff I planted in coir this year did very well. I am disappointed in the results of that seed starting material. I think next year I will go back to the potting mix I used before, even though it was messier. The basil seedlings here already have 4-6 leaves and are growing fast. I am glad to know that I will be able to use THIS basil in cooking sometime soon.

This time in a month, I am sure I will be eating basil and lettuce, and enjoying more lovely blooms. I might experiment with different kinds of fertilizer and see how that turns out. Until then, tell me how your plants are growing. Again... I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the free seeds.

Wordless Wednesday: Sweet Guinea Pigs

2011-06-29T19:48:00.000-05:00

Please Pass the Peas

2011-06-28T23:59:00.000-05:00

I needed to tackle the job of picking some of my peas this week. I've been getting a few here and there, but a lot of peapods have plumped up recently and I wanted to get them picked before the holiday. The warm weather has helped the vines to really take off. This pic shows the vines have outgrown the fence and are reaching up into the sky. I left quite a few pods to fatten up for a later picking.

This shows how many peas I picked in about 45 minutes. This is not a small basket.

I planted 2 varieties of shelling peas, along with a snowpea variety. The top picture is "Frosty". The pods are slightly smaller, the vines are shorter, the peas are a good size, but boy are these peas SWEET. I popped one in my mouth and it was fantastic!

The "Wando" variety is quite a bit bigger. The pods are huge, the peas are huge, the vines got over 2 feet taller than the "Frosty" vines. They are still delicious, just not as sweet as the "Frosty" peas.

Last year, I lost a lot of vine growth to rabbits snipping off pieces of the top before I got my garden fenced in. This year, they were safe and sound inside the fence. I also grew them on a much better trellis system than before. You can see I got a really large bowl of peas out of this one picking. I also spent about 2 hours shelling peas in order to get them frozen while they were very fresh. With peas, freshness matters. The peas happen to be sitting on my copy of "Super Natural Every Day" by Heidi Swanson, which I would recommend.

I rolled all my peas in inoculant this year and presprouted them in trays of water before planting them to reduce seed rot. I can see a big difference in the amount of peas I got this season. In our house, fresh peas are like late spring/early summer's candy, and we eat almost as many as we pick. There are a lot worse things you could eat, that's for sure.

Do you grow peas in your garden? Do any make it to the freezer or do you eat them all fresh? I'd love to hear about it...

First Harvests

2011-06-27T00:19:00.001-05:00

Today I cut my first broccoli heads. They are pretty big, but I guess I should have got them a few days ago, because they started blooming. There are only a few blooms though, I think they will be okay. I have suddenly got a craving for broccoli cheese soup...we might have that for dinner this week. There are several more broccoli plants out in the garden for later days.

Amazingly, I got 2 banana peppers already. I don't think there will be any more for quite a while, but it's fun to have some so early. I love the smell of them.

Besides tackling a bunch of weeding in the garden, I decided it was time to cut the scapes off of my garlic. If you don't remove the scapes, the garlic bulbs will not get as big as they could. I got lots of garlic last year, but I waited too late, and the foliage died back too much. I had trouble finding them. This year I will check and get them sooner.

I cut them all off, and I will put them in the fridge. They will keep a long time in the crisper in your fridge. If you like garlic, you will like scapes. I am going to look for more recipes for using them this year...I will be sure to share them here when I find them. As I cut them, I kept getting whiffs of yummy garlic smell.

They grow in a natural curl for some reason, but they are stiff. They are permanently bent is this position that they grow. The big ones in the basket that are straight are from the elephant garlic. Since they are not really an actual garlic, it makes sense that their scapes don't do the same thing.

Do you grow garlic in your garden? What do you use the scapes for? If you grow broccoli, what do you do with that? I'd love to hear about it.

A Wedding (Not Ours)

2011-06-26T11:46:00.001-05:00

I didn't have the opportunity to post yesterday because we were gone without computer access for most of the day. DH was in a wedding, and I got to tag along. I didn't mind so much, because I got to dress up nice, which I don't get to do very much, and usually there is some good free food and dancing. DH is the last guy in the long line of groomsmen here.

However, I found out being WITH someone in a wedding can be very BORING. This is the face I make when I have to sit for hours waiting... No, I just thought this pic was funny. I did have to wait a lot. I got to take the firebird and go shopping for a while, that helped. I came back in time to sit and wait some more for the ceremony to start. (Side note: DH laughed really hard when he saw this picture, he said my son makes this face all the time. I guess he's right. Hmmmmm...)

This is me smiling because the waiting is over. Now we can party. I am happy about this.

And...I get DH back, cause his groomsmanly (I made that word up) duties are finished. All the waiting made me tired, and I was exhausted when we got home. Weddings can be fun, but I am glad that today is a sunny, pretty day, and I can get outside and garden.

Dreaming of Hostas to Come

2011-06-24T22:44:00.000-05:00

This is a nice shot of my shade garden. This is the only shade bed in my entire yard. The edges of it could even be called part shade...which is why I put the yellowish hostas in the edges. Lately, I have been thinking about expanding this area. I know this isn't what DH wants to hear, but I think this will be the area that gets moved out for next year. If you look in the picture, you can see a space between that tree and the bed, where there is currently grass. I think that is the perfect width for a path. I have been working on a path through my front flower beds. I am thinking now that the path in the front will come around the house, meander through the shade garden and connect to the cement patio in the back.

So, I will need to create a new bed that goes around the tree somehow. Something like a long oval or crescent shape that bends to compliment the shape of the current shade bed. When the new bed is complete under the tree, the space that is left between the two beds will be the path. A new flower bed means I can go buy a bunch more new hostas. What else do you think I should put in it? What varieties of hosta would you recommend? I am fond of larger ones, and especially the really, really blue ones. Maybe I could do a bed of all blue hosta varieties...what do you think?

Midnight Madness!

2011-06-23T21:22:00.001-05:00

Today I went to the Midnight Madness sale at a local greenhouse. I had never attended this sale, but I knew it was a big deal when they said they would be closing the whole day to prepare for it, and only open 3 hours in the evening. I got there 15 minutes early, and already the parking lot was full and people were overflowing onto the street. I knew I had to be there though, because they advertised 50% off most of their perennials. So, moving forward in my quest for total yard domination...I made some purchases.

I have been on the lookout for a good climbing rose, to grow over the new arbor DH is going to build me out of recycled/repurposed white window covers I got for free at a garage sale. It is a John Cabot rose, which doesn't mean a whole lot to me yet, but I think I've heard of that one, and it is hardy...enough said.

I used to have a lot of astilbes before the move, but only one made it, for some reason. I got this berry-colored beauty to help remedy that situation.

I have started collecting heucharas. This is citronella, I believe.

Another goodie...a cherry rudbeckia....hard to beat in simple beauty.

I have plans for expanding the shade garden a little next year, so I added this hosta, "Whirlwind" to my collection.

I like clematises...but usually their big price tags keep me from getting any more. This is 'Earnest Markham', and it has a pretty scarlet color.

This is a HUGE asparagus fern I got for only 7 bucks. I bet I can bring this one inside over the winter and keep it alive too...

I got this one for a song...it is a salvia. It is called 'black and blue'.

I believe this is my 3rd variety of coneflower, I saw it at the fair a few years ago. It is 'Green Envy', I believe.

Finally, this is a sad, forlorn, poppy. It was only 99 cents, and I know it will come back fine next year, as long as I can keep it alive for now.

I got all this for under 80 dollars! This is a LOT of plants. Now I have some digging to do. Do you hit up any late in the planting season sales? What deals have to got this year?

Color Change Poppies?

2011-06-20T22:39:00.000-05:00

Okay, so I planted this really cool poppy plant in my yard...I got it at a greenhouse. I love the orange/reddish blooms with yellow centers. I've never had poppies before, but I definitely like them and will grow more in the future. However, just recently, it started making yellow flowers too!

I'm not sure what to make of this, except maybe that what I thought was one poppy plant, is really two or more poppy plants growing really close together. I guess I'm not complaining, because I like both colors...Can anybody that grows poppies chime in here on their thoughts?

My! You're a Furry Bird...

2011-06-19T21:57:00.001-05:00

It's funny that it's Father's Day, but it's my Mother's Day present that caused so much commotion today. My son got me this cute window bird feeder for Mother's Day, and so far we've had a visit from an occasional cardinal. Not many of the birds have noticed it yet. However, somebody else must have noticed it, because this morning, I found him in it!

Actually I saw the branches waving around and wondered what was going on since it wasn't windy out. Then I saw Mr. Squirrel poised to leap. My first thought was that when he landed on it, the suction cups would give and he would hit the ground from 8 feet up.

He made it and the bird feeder did NOT fall off. Those must be really strong suction cups. He did an upside down acrobatic flip and squeezed himself completely inside the feeder, with just the tail sticking out a little, like a flag. When I rapped loudly on the glass with my knuckles, he flew out in a hurry...twitching his tail and making angry squirrel noises that I could not hear, but nonetheless knew he was making. He sniffed furiously for a few minutes, and couldn't seem to figure out why he couldn't smell what the danger was.

After a bit, he came back to eat again, and we couldn't scare him off the feeder by knocking on the glass anymore. He ate for quite a while, and then left. Surprisingly, he did not eat all the feed. I went out this afternoon and trimmed the close branch that he used to leap onto the feeder. I'm sure that won't deter him for long. I took a short video of him enjoying his Father's Day snack. My somewhat hearing-impaired stepson was watching TV while I took this video, so please try to ignore the volume the commercials are playing at...

Some people really dislike squirrels and the damage they do, or the food they steal from feeders. I don't mind them so much, he was very entertaining to us. Do you have any funny visitors to your garden?

Lilies to Lust After

2011-06-18T22:30:00.001-05:00

It is the end of a long day...we did a lot of fun things, including going to a parade, checking out the rose festival in state center, and doing a little shopping. We made our own pizzas and chilled out with a movie this evening. But I am tired, and I have no pictures of any of those things. Instead I have pictures of fantastic lilies. They are one of a kind hybrid lilies from the annual lily sale I go to almost every year.

I took these pictures with my cell phone, so they are not as clear as they could be...but they aren't too bad.

Lilies are in my top 3 favorite perennial plants...especially this kind. I love the ruffles and sparkles.

When I go to the lily sale this summer, I will do a more detailed post. But for now, I leave you with these pics of some lovely, luscious, lustworthy lilies.

A Visit to a Friend's Garden

2011-06-17T23:33:00.000-05:00

As I said before, I had a lot of time to kill in Des Moines the last couple days while my son was at camp. Besides walking with my dog, I also took some time to relax and visit my friend's garden

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I absolutely love her garden. She has a knack for decorating that I aspire to as I grow as a gardener. Her yard is very shady though, while my yard is mostly sun. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my sun yard. It is one of the major factors I looked for when we bought our house, the lack of trees. She has tons of shade and as a result, she has MANY hostas. Everything in her yard flows from one area to the next. I hope someday I will have enough plants so that I can accomplish that as well.

These pictures are of her front yard. Her yard is certified as a wildlife habitat, which I think is cool. That is how natural it is. She is the queen of groundcovers...I don't know if I could count all the different kind she uses.

This is her side yard...the pictures don't even do it justice. When you walk around her house, you feel like you are entering this little magical garden world. She has arbors, and screens, and fences, so even though it is a smaller yard, it feels like there is so much to look at and all these little rooms.

Her side yard is one of the few places she gets some direct sun. I guess that is why she hung a tomato plant here. I personally like her way to hang a tomato up a lot better than those upside down things. That is torturing the tomato plant, if you ask me.

She finds all kind of cool 'garden junk' when she goes to garage sales and in stuff that people leave on the curb. I am envious of her cool screen doors. I'm always on the look out though.

This is a new project of hers, a checkerboard with moss. I really like the different colors and textures of the moss she found. I think there will be a family wedding here eventually, so she is getting things ready for that.

Her garden always makes me feel so peaceful. When I was there, I took my book and stretched out in her hammock to read for a bit. Sometimes I feel more rested in her yard, then in mine. Probably because I don't feel the urge to pull weeds in her yard. Do you know someone whose garden you'd love to have? Or a restful spot you like to hang out? Tell me about it.

Getting Fit With a Good Friend

2011-06-16T22:52:00.000-05:00

Today, Dave and I took a walk on a popular bike trail in Des Moines. Who is Dave, you might ask? My fiance, my son, my friend? No...Dave is my dog. Some people find his name hilarious. I wish I could take credit for it, but it is the name he came with when we adopted him from the shelter. I like it, but it really throws people when I am talking about him. They think I am talking about a person.

I took a few pictures of the scenery as we took a very, very long walk today. Dave is getting older, but he is such a happy guy, so he hung in there. I love this bridge...I have a thing for bridges I guess. The river was very high, because we have had a lot of rain lately.

The trail is beautiful. It winds along the river, under trees, past people's backyards and extremely close to a train track for a while.

The trail even goes 'under' the train track at one point. This is one of the lowest points of the trail, and all the times I've been through here recently, this bend has been filled with mud from the river coming up over the edge.

Dave is such a sweetie...it makes me happy just to look at this picture. He can't live with me right now cause DH is very allergic, so he lives with my son's dad...but I still get to see him quite a bit.

I never had a dog before Dave, and I don't know if I will ever be able to have another in the future. Not just because DH is allergic, but because Dave is such a good dog, I'm spoiled for life. I am just enjoying the times we have together now...he is one of my favorite walking buddies.

Who do you exercise with these days? Is there a 'Dave' in your life?

Bloom Day! June 2011

2011-06-15T21:59:00.002-05:00

Japanese (I think) Iris

Catmint & Rue

Cilantro

Poppies

Pansies

Dragon Begonia

Huge, oddly-shaped coreopsis, on the verge of blooming

Speedwell Veronica

Zinnia Zowie, Yellow Flame

Penstemon

Cool Season Veggies

2011-06-14T23:57:00.001-05:00

It was a cool and rainy day for June (again), so I took advantage of this to go pick some peas without sweating like crazy. I planted these peas on these trellises this year, and they are doing well, except I kind of figured by now the peas would be done, so I could use these trellises for my cucumbers. Our cool spring kind of delayed everything, so my peas are just getting going now. I have to hope that the weather doesn't slam into the high 90s, (which wouldn't be untypical of Iowa) and end the cool season veggies lives abruptly.

Every year I try to save more seeds. I am saving some seeds from a few Easter Egg radish plants that I left behind. I really think the flowers are quite delicate and beautiful. I've never saved seeds from radishes before, so I'll have to look that one up...but so far so good.

Here is a close-up of the pea blossoms. I just love the blueish-green tinge the leaves have. I grew Wando, Sugar Snap, and I think Frosty this year. I am very impressed with the vines on the Wando peas. They are taller than all the others and have more pods and blooms.

Here is part of my broccoli crop. I am so excited to have broccoli see it through from seed to finish this year. If I leave a broccoli in the garden, can I save seeds from that too? Like I said, I am new to saving some of these seeds. Broccoli is another one I need to look up. The silver on the leaves is fantastic.

If you pull the leaves to the side and look down in, you see the little broccoli heads. How do I know when they are ready to be picked? I don't want them all to bloom...but when is the magic moment when I know they are as big as they are going to get?

Here are a few of the sugar snaps I picked today. There are still quite a few pods on the vine, fattening up, but I left those for now. These will make a tasty addition to my lunch tomorrow. Do you grow cool season crops in your garden? I would love to hear from you...

Moo Shu Turkey!

2011-06-13T22:28:00.000-05:00

I finally sat down and planned menus for the week. I have been saying I am going to do this for a long time, and now that it is summertime, I don't have any excuse. I love cooking, but I am not so good at whipping things up on the fly. I do better when I have a plan ahead of time, so I can go to the grocery store and get all the ingredients, or think about what my son would like to eat, or what are we doing that night...and so on. Tonight was the first night of planned menus, and since my son was off with his dad, I decided to make something I like. (He's not so fond of mushrooms).

Moo Shu Turkey

Prep 10 minutes

Cook 15 minutes

Makes 4 main dish servings

1 Tbsp plus 1 tsp olive oil

1 pkg. (10 oz) sliced mushrooms

4 green onions, sliced, green and white portions separated

1 tsp grated peeled fresh ginger

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

2-3 cloves garlic, chopped up small or crushed in press

1 bag (16 oz) shredded cabbage mix for coleslaw

1/2 cup water

2 cups shredded leftover cooked turkey

3 Tbsp. soy sauce

3 Tbsp hoisin sauce plus additional for serving

8 flour tortillas (8 in. each), warmed

1. In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp oil on medium-high heat until hot. Add mushrooms and cook 6 to 7 minutes or until tender and lightly browned. Transfer mushrooms to plate, set aside.

2. In the same skillet, heat the rest of the oil and stir in the white portion of the onions, ginger, crushed red pepper, and garlic. Add the coleslaw mix and cook 2 minutes or so until the cabbage begins to soften, stirring constantly. Add water and cook 1-2 minutes until the water evaporates and the cabbage is tender-crisp, stirring frequently.

Stir in turkey, soy sauce, 3 tbsp hoisin sauce, and mushrooms, cook 3 minutes or until turkey is hot, stirring constantly.

3. At this point, you can spread additional hoisin sauce on tortillas before you fill with the turkey mixture. Then top with the green portions of the green onions. Roll up and serve!

These are super delicious and a great way to use up leftover shredded turkey I had in the freezer. I still have even more turkey, so I will be making more turkey recipes in the next few weeks. 2 tortillas are about 510 calories and 12 grams of fat.

Since I was the only one eating, that means I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow! Do you have any good turkey recipes to share?

Getting My Cukes In

2011-06-12T21:44:00.001-05:00

It is really late for me to be getting my cucumbers planted...but better late than never, I guess. We had such a cool spring that I am just now getting around to it. Cucumbers were the last 'group' of veggies I had to plant though. It is raining again, but I got out real quick before it started and got my seeds in the ground.

This year I am growing four types of cucumbers. The first one I grew last year and the vines got HUGE. It produced okay, but I think if I pick more, it will do better. I got the Japanese climbing cucumbers seeds from Seed Savers Exchange. It should be ready for picking in about 56-65 days. This is my standard slicing and eating cucumber.

The next one is Emerald Envy. It is from Cook's Garden and I got it on sale at my favorite greenhouse, Holub's. Emerald Envy gets to be a really deep, pretty green and almost never gets bitter. It is ready to harvest in about 56 days, which means I will have pickles in less than 2 months!

The next two are from Renee's Garden. I am very excited about these. The first, Endeavor, is specifically for pickling. It is early bearing, ready to harvest in about 53 days. Endeavor has the little knobby bumps all over it that is characteristic of pickles. This cucumber is supposed to be great for kosher dills, bread and butter slices, relish (YUM), traditional sweet pickles. Endeavor is resistant to mosaic virus and powdery mildew.

This one is making my mouth water thinking about it. It is Persian Baby Cucumbers 'Green Fingers' from Renee's Garden. These are cute, little baby cucumbers that are smooth, crispy, and have a thin skin. They are ready to pick when they are 3 to 5 inches long, after about 60 days. The vines are resistant to powdery mildew, which is important to me.

Besides dealing with cucumber seeds, I also hung up my new basket I scored on sale the other day. It is called Clerodendrum Thomsoniae Red, or the common name is Red Bleeding Heart. It caught my eye hanging in the greenhouse immediately. The leaves are so rich and healthy looking.

I was also attracted to the blooms. The tag says it blooms in fall and winter, obviously it is summer here, so I'm not sure why it is blooming now. It is hardy to Zones 9-11, so it will definitely be living indoors here in the winter. It must be VERY tender. It likes light shade, so I am going to try it out in my front porch.

The mature height is supposed to be 16 feet! Obviously, some of that growth is going to have to be horizontal, since it is in a basket. You can see in the first picture how the vines are reaching out...it looks very vigorous. I am hoping that the vines will grow along the ceiling in my porch. I am going to have to try hard to water it. I tend to not be very good with baskets, but this year, I have been trying very hard with my outdoor baskets, so I will add this one onto my watering regimen.

I can't wait to see how everything turns out in the months to come. What new things are you growing this year? Do you grow your own cucumbers in your home garden?

Thoughts for the Day- Unwatched Zucchinis and Children

2011-06-11T22:29:00.001-05:00

This picture is of my son holding a zucchini that I took my eyes off of for a minute, and it grew into the size of a baseball bat. Of course this is last year, my zucchini is not even close yet this year. Looking at this picture now, I have realized that the same thing happened to my son. He looks so big now compared to this pic. I guess I must have taken my eyes off of him for a second or two. Sniff...

I guess I'll have to be more careful to keep my eyes on him...to make sure I don't miss a thing.

Our Visit to Reiman Gardens...Hope Somebody Brought the Really Big Bug Spray- Part 2

2011-06-10T23:31:00.000-05:00

Like I said before, I always take like 5 million pictures when we go to Reiman Gardens. So, there were way too many pictures for one post. I think I usually take too many pictures for three or four posts! I usually fill the memory card in my camera. Usually I would have a ton of butterfly pictures, but I took my little point and shoot, instead of dh's professional camera. My camera is good, but can't take the perfect, still, detailed pictures of the butterflies. They move too fast.

I love these pergolas. Flowerwise, this is one of my favorite areas. This little stream/fountain thing goes down the middle, and pergolas go down each side. Raised beds...at least a dozen, also go down each side, neatly lined up.

My son is thankfully getting over his prat fall stage, but he couldn't resist 'pretending' to fall into the water here. I wanted to fall in, it was so hot...but settled for splashing some water on my legs and shoulders to cool off a bit. I love the spiral trellises in these pots.

In the last post, I referred to one praying mantis sculpture as the 'small' one. This is the 'big' one. It may be hard to tell from the surrounding area, but this piece is probably about 20 feet tall.

The sign for this one says it is an 'assassin bug'. I don't think I would have known this one without the sign. It's seriously creepy at 8 feet long.

We were getting too hot for the silly pictures at this point. I suppose I could have pretended the damselfly was going to carry one of us away or something...

The dragonfly would have required more creativity...considering it is in the middle of the pond.

My son could have rode the grasshopper like a pony...but there was a sign telling us not to 'touch'.

We finally ran indoors for the air conditioning...but it was actually worse in this room, steamy even. After we looked at the 'beetle', we ran out into the hall to enjoy the AC.

One other interesting thing we saw was the Iowa's tallest corn contest. They actually have a LIVE webcam link, so if you have absolutely nothing else to do...you can watch corn grow! To see the webcam view, click here. I just checked it out, and even though it is nighttime, they have a light...so you can see how tall the corn is, any time of day.

On that exciting note, I think I'll turn in. I know we will be back to visit the gardens this summer at least a few times. Have you ever been to Reiman gardens? Do you have anything like this near where you live?

Our Visit to Reiman Gardens...Hope Somebody Brought the Really Big Bug Spray- Part 1

2011-06-09T21:07:00.000-05:00

Today, while I am sitting inside watching it pour, I am thinking about what a hot and sunny day it was yesterday. A storm front moved through...and it is 30 degrees cooler today than yesterday. I am not too sad about this though, we really needed the rain. My garden looked parched...the ground was cracked...the plants all looked puckered. You could feel the relief in the air when the rain came down...the smell and the feel of the moisture was fantastic.

But yesterday was a different story. It was 95 degrees and blazing sunlight. Of course that is the day we picked to go to Reiman Gardens in Ames, Iowa. We love Reiman Gardens...we almost always have a membership and we go several times a year. Every year they have a different theme, and this year the theme is 'INSECTS'. Not just any insects, GIANT INSECTS. For those of you that don't know...my son absolutely loves bugs of all kinds. He was very excited to see the gardens this year. The first sculpture we saw was a praying mantis, eating a sculpture bug, no less! This is one of the smaller pieces of art, and by smaller, I mean only 10 feet tall or so. (only!)

Next we found this giant ladybug. The bugs aren't all together, they are staggered throughout the gardens, some hidden back into the foliage, some out in the middle of meadows. This lady bug could eat some serious aphids!

When we saw the giant mosquito...we started getting kind of silly. First my son posed like he was bracing for the world's biggest mosquito bite.

And then it was my turn. This picture cracks me up...I'm like, "Say what?!!!" to the mosquito.

Then I got REALLY silly...I couldn't help myself. When I was pretending to be trapped in the giant spider's web, my son was rolling his eyes. For an almost 8-year-old, he has already got the eye-roll thing down pretty good.

My son wanted to hug the daddy longlegs. He considers them 'good' spiders. I am not sure about that title, but I suppose I am not TOO afraid of daddy longlegs. After some reflection...I don't know if I would need the giant bug spray after all. Most of the insects we ran into are beneficial insects. However, I need some supersize bug spray or a flyswatter to smack that mosquito!

Reiman Gardens has an extensive collection of roses. While touring those, we spotted the giant ant. I can tell from my son's expression that he doesn't want that ant visiting our picnic lunch!

We saw even more, but there were just too many cool pictures for one post. Check back next time for more giant insects and maybe even some cool plants!

Wordless Wednesday - Irises I Wait All Year To See

2011-06-08T19:41:00.000-05:00

The Summer Garden Emerges

2011-06-07T17:55:00.000-05:00

Today was the first official day of my summer vacation. I got started late, due to sleeping in a little, but I am behind on some things in the veggie garden...so I had to get out there and get stuff done while my son was at his grandma's house. Unfortunately, the high today was supposed to be almost 96 degrees plus humidity. There was no helping that though, so I coated myself in sunblock and stepped out into the sauna.

It's been a while since I did an update on my veggie garden. Things are going much better this year, due to the fact that I'm not doing any garden monopolizing pumpkins this year. This is the first section of my garden I worked on this year...I have broccoli that should be ready soon, chard, peas on trellises, onions, a few cabbages, and you can see the rhubarb off to the side there. There is also kohlrabi and there were radishes hiding behind the broccoli.

This is a pulled back view of the same end of the garden. That monster thing you see in the middle is one of my horseradish plants, sunk in a pot in the ground. They love the sun and get huge. You can also see that my son has been out in the garden with his tonka trucks. He loves all the dirt piles I make. From this view you can see trellises I've set up for beans, and my egyptian walking onions.

Besides more of my son's tonka toys, this picture shows the biggest tomato I have so far...one of only two tomatoes I have so far. It is on the white beauty tomato plant.

Here is the asparagus forest. Yes, I do have a folding chair out in my garden. When it is not blistering hot, I find it very soothing to go out there and sit and look at everything growing. Of course in another month, there might not be room for my chair, but I am enjoying it for the time being. I can't wait for my asparagus to be ready. I am only on year two with mine...so I will be able to take a little bit next year, but not really a lot until the year after that.

This is a view in the same direction, but even further out. This is a good shot of my newly mulched tomato plants. I don't have the cages and trellises set up yet though. Mulching the plants with straw was one of the things I got done today. I mulched them with grass clippings last year, but the grass clippings decomposed when the tomatoes were big, but then I couldn't get under them by then. It is supposed to rain a lot later this week, I figure that will be a good time to put the tomato supports in. The ground is much too dry and hard right now. I tried to put a few in today, and I was having a hard time. It will be much easier after a good rain.

This shot is from the same spot I was standing in the last picture, except I turned to the right. These are some of my onion beds...with neat little paths around them. You can also see my garlic standing tall along the fence line in the back. Today I planted marigolds and alyssum around the garden to help draw in more beneficial insects. I also used my shuffle hoe and cleared the weeds from the pathways.

This is a close up of one of my bean trellises. I love these things. I bought them for like six bucks at Menards. The poles are already attached to each other with little flexpin things. It folds up and spreads out in a snap. Very convenient to store, and I don't have to do all the tying. They don't blow over, either. I think this trellis is planted with black-eyed peas.

I spun around and faced the other direction, and this is the potato end of the garden. Today, I took a hoe and filled in the trenches around the potato plants, and mounded the dirt around them a little. I will wait a few more weeks, and mound the dirt up higher one more time.

On this side, facing back towards the garage, you can see my pepper plants about halfway back. There are also leeks, some doing well, and some doing pathetic. Lol. My radishes are ready to start pulling here, mixed in with a long line of carrots. You can see the garlic in this shot as well, and more bean and melon trellises. I planted the melons under the trellises close to the tree. I figure if they go all crazy they can just use the tree as a trellis and climb up it. I'm okay with that.

Going farther in the same direction, back towards the garage, this is where my corn is going to be. A few baby corn plants have sprouted. I imagine the rest will catch up after the good rain we get this week. You can also see my lettuce, bok choi, tomatillas, and spinach in the cage in the back of this shot.

So far, I am really pleased at how everything is set up this year. It is much more organized than last year, and I think it will be easier to keep ahead of the weeds. If that's possible. I'm still trying to decide where to put my cucumbers...that is the next thing on my list, but I will work on that later. How are things going in your summer veggie garden?

Why I Spent 30 Dollars on Candy (& I Don't Like Tootsie Rolls)

2011-06-07T00:08:00.000-05:00

I almost forgot to post this...I had it all written out...but I am not in the habit of posting daily...but I remembered before I went to bed.

The firebird

This weekend we got to be in a parade for Story City's Scandinavian Days. We took both cars, the old police car and the firebird. The firebird is his pride and joy...I have to admit, it's a pretty cool car.

DH getting things ready

My guy and my stepson took a while to get things ready to go...getting all the electronic stuff ready. We are part of a nationwide police car club. Of course, he is ALWAYS late, so we arrived at the last minute. Then they are hurrying so the parade doesn't start without them.

I ended up buying almost 30 dollars worth of candy. If I let my guy do it, he'd buy 2 bags of tootsie rolls and call it good. I hate plain chewy candies. I know some people like them, but they are just not my cup of tea. I want the good stuff, real chocolate, suckers, peanut butter...etc. That is why I end up spending a lot of money of 4 gigantic bags of sweets...and the kids and I have something good to throw. You might wonder why I care, since I am not eating much of it. Well, kids remember who throws the good candy. My friend Nicole says she still remembers which fire department threw the best stuff in parades when she was growing up. I guess I like to give it that extra little bit. Also, when your kid brings home a bag of candy they got when they went to a parade...they don't end up eating a lot of it. Who does? Usually the mom...and she deserves the good stuff.

My stepson helping out

Anyways, I thought I had a post from last year when we did this, but I guess not. My stepson has grown so much since this time last year. He is actually big enough and responsible enough to help put things together now. Unfortunately, his teenage attitude is growing along with his physical self. LOL.

The 'boyz'

He is a good kid, but having a teenager makes me understand why some animals eat their young!

Hot and Sweaty!

They like to make weird faces, but this is the best of the pictures I took. At least they all have their eyes open in this one. We had a great day...after the parade we went to a car show, did some shopping, ate some grilled food, went to the outlet mall, and had pizza at this restaurant called 'Pickles'. We got home late and we were all tired, dirty, but happy.

It is one of those things we do that I know the kids will always remember, especially since we seem to be doing it every year. What kind of traditions are you making?

My Summer Blogging Challenge...(and what I did today)

2011-06-05T19:33:00.002-05:00

I love posting on my blog...but sometimes during the school year, I get sooooo busy. I really would like to spend more time on it, so I decided to challenge myself. I am going to try to do a blog post every single day of my summer vacation...school end to school begin. I told a few of my friends about my idea and they raised their eyebrows at me. I know they were thinking, "You? No way..." Granted, it is a big task, even for some more seasoned or professional bloggers than I am. But to be sure, it won't always be a long post with several pictures. Some days it may be one picture. Or maybe text with no pictures at all, telling about my day. Some days it might be about gardening...some days about cooking...and some days it might be about my kids. Some days it might even be about the silly mundane thing I did that day. Like today.


My Purple Plastic Purse

Today, I switched purses. Now guys, I can hear you groaning and checking out already, but bear with me, this is kind of funny and I'll make it quick. This is my old purse, which I love, but someone referred to it as a 'suitcase' the other day. I was a little offended, but when I saw a 'new to me' green purse at a consignment store this weekend, I took it as a sign. I do get tired of hauling this big purple thing around when I'm shopping or doing fun things in the summer. The only reason I need such a big purse is that I spend the majority of my days almost an hour from my house. And I'm a little girl scout, I like to be prepared.

My new (earth tones) green purse for summer

But now that the school year is over, and I will be spending most of my time at home, or out doing things with the family, I decided to ditch some of the extra baggage...sort of.


All the stuff that was left over after I put the essentials in my new purse

After I painfully decided what things were essential and would fit in the little green purse, this is what is left over. Ladies, note the Haut Totes zipper pouch with my cosmetics and such. Yes, I discovered I had two entire bottles of Ibuprofen in my purse.

Pens and pencils that were in my purple purse

I'm a little embarrassed to show you how many pens and pencils I found in the purple bag. This is after I took out 4 or 5 of my favorites to put in the green bag. Can you tell I'm afraid of being without a writing utensil?

Haut Totes bag to hold all the extra stuff I'm afraid to leave at home but that won't fit in my new purse

I couldn't quite bring myself to leave all the extra stuff at home. What if I'm at the butterfly gardens and I decide I need a yellow highlighter? What if I'm at Walmart at 2 AM one night in July and the florescent lights give me a headache? (I guess I could just buy some if I was at Walmart). But you get my point...I was afraid of needing some of this. So I put it in my Haut Totes bag, and it will come with me in my little blue van all summer. But I can leave it in the car, and not drag it with me. I feel this was a nice compromise. My right shoulder will thank me later.

I hope you will join me on my blogging journey this summer. I expect somewhere I will miss a day, but I am striving for as close to 100% as possible. I would love it if you were there with me...reading and commenting. Thanks!

SeedGrow....Back, Back, Back Again!

2011-06-01T22:52:00.001-05:00

Great news to all that were a fan of the seedgrow posts last year! They are back, and I get to review not one, but three different kinds of seeds. Renees Garden has been kind enough to provide the seeds free to me to grow and review.

The first seed I am trying out is Container Lettuce Garden Babies Butterhead. For ease of my fingers, I will call it Garden Babies, or Garden Babies Lettuce for short. I planted two long planter boxes with the Garden Babies seeds. Some have germinated and are on the way to becoming cute little lettuce butterballs. You can see mine above. Yes, I know my soil is a little dry. It is going to rain tonight, so I didn't want to use the hose water if nature will take care of it for me in a few hours. Evidently my compost has a few weed seeds in it...a post to come on that later. But they are small and easily pulled out.

This picture was provided by Renee's Garden to show what the lettuce can look like when it is mature. I think they are so compact and adorable! The packet says "These cute, perfectly formed little butterhead rosettes have softly folded leaves, a lovely buttery texture and out-standing sweet taste" The packet also says it is slow to bolt and heat tolerant. I am getting hungry just thinking about eating these tasty little lettuces.

Pay no attention to my little weeds...I wait until they are just a little bigger so I can grab them out easily.

The next seed I am reviewing is called Large-Leaf Container Basil Italian Cameo. I think I will call it Cameo Basil for short. I just sowed the seeds in here, so there is nothing to see yet. They will be sharing the pot with a sweet potato vine. I am collecting basils this year, so I am curious to see how this one stacks up.

This is the Renees Garden picture of the Cameo Basil. The packet states that Cameo was created by crossing Genovese basil with a dwarf basil. That is why it looked familiar! The pot I am putting it in is right on my back patio...so it will be easy to go out and snip some when I am cooking. The green leaves will look great with the purple sweet potato vine.

Lastly, I am growing and reviewing Butterfly Flowers Summer Splash Marigolds. I will probably call them Summer Splash. I love marigolds, they are just so cheerful and easy to grow. They also do so much to attract beneficial insects and keep pests down naturally. The packet states that this particular marigold blooms longer than any they've ever seen, and you don't have to remove the spent blossoms. I might remove them anyways, just to keep the plants looking tidy. I planted the seeds in my wagon planter on the back patio. I seem to be having some trouble with getting these to germinate. The seeds probably dried out, I have been busy and we had some hot winds the other day. However, these plants need room to spread out, so I think I can transplant some around and end up with plenty of flowers.

This is the provided picture of the Summer Splash Marigolds. Whoo-whee! If this is how big they get, I better spread mine out more. I can't wait to see how they look all together in my planter.

I am so excited to be doing this again, and I can't wait to see how everything grows this season. I will be back in future posts to talk about all the fun things I will be doing with these plants as they grow. Hope you see you here. Again... I'm growing with the SeedGROW project. Thanks to Renee's Garden for the free seeds.

I Can Already Taste the Salsa: Potting Up the Tomatoes

2011-05-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

It actually wasn't raining this weekend! I took advantage of the nice, dry, but windy weather to pot up my tomato seedlings. My potting table is one that belonged to my guy's grandmother. I believe it was made by his grandfather. I thoroughly enjoyed taking my little tomato seed 'pucks' that I tried out this year and dropping them into the bigger containers. It was very easy and convenient. You can see in my picture that I had a LOT of tomato seedlings in this tray. The tray came with 12 rows of 6 little soil pucks. I planted them all in tomatoes and they did great. Whenever I buy something from a greenhouse and it comes in one of those little 3 or 4-inch pots, I save them. They make great containers for moving the seedlings up and giving them more room for their roots to spread out.

As I potted them up, I put them into rows on the patio, and my stepdaughter gave them a drink. This was their first day outside in real sunlight. It was very breezy, so they got sunlight and movement. The breeze stimulates the seedlings to grow more sturdy and stocky, and then they will be better acclimated to conditions outside. When I pot the seedlings up, I also bury them just a little deeper then they were before. When I plant them out in the garden, I will again plant them where the lowest part of the stem is below the soil. Roots will grow out from that part of the stem and make the plant stronger.

This is the final class picture. 69 tomato plants! 12 different varieties. The fun part now is carrying these things in and out of my basement for the next few weeks. It makes me want a greenhouse, NOW. But sigh, for now, I will get extra cardio going up and down the stairs. These seeds are actually ALL heirlooms this year too. I will have future posts talking about what varieties I chose to grow and why. Until then...are you growing tomatoes from seed this year?

Wordless Weightloss Wednesday!

2011-04-27T11:15:00.000-05:00

I'm Blinky...1...

2...

3rd times a charm!

22 lbs down!

Things I Screwed Up Last Year

2011-04-26T19:37:00.000-05:00

Okay, I'll admit...I am far from a perfect gardener. I do a lot...but I don't have a lot of real life help...I sometimes screw things up. So now this spring, I'm having to fix my mistakes. Here's some of the things I'm trying to get right.

1. My strawberry bed:

This is partially my fault and partially the fault of the person who gardened here before me. I had a bed full of strawberries when I moved in...it was WAY full. But grass grew up in the bed and choked out half of the strawberries. Yes, I should have weeded it more. But there was no way I could have mulched it, because the strawberries were too thick. Maybe they needed to be divided anyway...that is what I"m telling myself. And I am wondering if these people put ANYTHING at all down under this bed to keep the grass out. So, I cultivated the soil and pulled out as many roots as I could. Short of emptying the whole bed, I don't know what else to do. I replanted some new strawberries into the bed, and I"m going to buy straw this week and mulch around the plants to keep the grass at bay. This is the first raised bed I've ever worked with...and I am finding the grass problem frustrating. How do other people deal with this?

2. Asparagus Patch

You can see the bricked off area over on the right...with grass in it, and some tools laying half on top of it...that is my asparagus patch. This one is ALL my fault. Last year I dug trenches, planted my asparagus crowns, covered it with compost, and promptly forgot about it. I had SO MUCH grass grow up in that bed too. I am totally fighting grass at every turn in this yard. That is part of the problem with a new till garden. Until about this time last year, most of this yard was solid, lush green grass. Evidently it objected to me attempting to remove it. So, I had to try to get rid of the grass here too.

This is what I did for now. I know, it's not pretty. But I think it will choke out the grass. Underneath, I laid down a thick layer of wet newspaper, only leaving holes for the asparagus crowns. Then I put the landscaping fabric down over it and used those big staples to pin it into place. I didn't have any straw at the time, but now I do, so I will be putting some cheerful bright-colored straw down to cover up the ugly black fabric. I'm hoping with a little spot weeding around the openings, this will take care of it.

3. Blueberry bushes

My poor, poor blueberry bushes. I planted them last year, and thought I was helping them by adding stuff to the soil because they love acid. However, chemistry was my weakest science. I added LIME to the soil. Somehow, I must have misread something online, I thought lime would help the soil. DUH DUH DUH...I have basically been torturing them almost to death for the whole last year. I read just lately that lime is a base. Oops. Well, that would explain why they didn't do ANYTHING at all. So, this year, I mixed up some stuff specifically for blueberry bushes and poured it on. I also incorporated the blueberries into my sun bed, and mulched them with everything else. I'll show pictures of that in a future post. They already seem to be perking up.

So those were my 3 major screw ups in last year's garden. Like I said, I am a self taught/internet taught gardener for the most part, so sometimes I learn things the hard way. I took these pictures a few weeks ago, and since then, spring has really been getting going here in Iowa. It is easy to be positive and clean up old messes when everything is growing and blooming. I just hope I can learn from this, and do things better in the future.

Please, please, please tell me you've screwed things in your garden too. I want to hear about it...LOL.

My Little Piece of Nostalgia

2011-04-03T22:44:00.001-05:00

The deputy and I went to the Iowa Machine Shed restaurant recently to celebrate his birthday. He totally LOVES this restaurant. They are truly a farmstyle restaurant. But don't think fresh and local...think overalls and gravy and ham. Think butter, rolls, fried, and gingham. If that's your thing, then great for you. But if you're trying to lose weight...then it is kind of scary place. I used to love going there when I was younger and I didn't care about calories. They have a fantastic baked potato soup.

So anyways, my favorite part of going there is spending some time in their shop. They sell all kinds of cool cooking and decorating stuff, as well as LOTS of pretty smelling stuff. This time, they had these cool seed baskets up on a top shelf.

They were all slightly different. I made my, "ooooo", sound and went over to look. The deputy came over and said, "You know what these are? These are the things they used to have on the table. " I realized he was right. They used to keep these on the table to keep the water pitcher and various sugars and such in. I also realized I HAD to have one. We spent quite a while looking for one that had all the elements I wanted. First, it is red, white, and blue...which I have a lot of things in this color scheme.

Also, it had a chicken on it. I don't have chickens, but I really WANT chickens. I also have really wanted to change up my table decoration for a while. I had a tray there holding napkins and all that, but it's been there a while.

The basket also had the word 'seed' on it. It was a done deal. A piece of local history for only 10 dollars. You can see I have already made it at home on my dining room table.

They also had the corresponding 'silo' salt and pepper shakers. My son had never seen this type before. I had to explain to him about the 's' being for salt and the 'p' for pepper. In all, I was very pleased with my purchases. It's not too often I can decorate with something that fits into the seed/gardening/chickens decor category that the deputy also likes. A win/win situation.

My son just wanted me to take his picture since I had the camera out. I very rarely get a true smile out of him, so I had to include this picture. Isn't he turning into a good-looking young man? I think so, but I'm a little biased.

Spring.. oh Sweet Spring...

2011-03-17T00:34:00.000-05:00

I got the opportunity to get out in the garden for the first time today. It was FANTASTIC. It was probably 65 degrees and sunny. I walked around in the yard without a coat, and putted around for about 5-6 hours. My first task was to cut back a bunch of the dead foliage and make a pile in the fenced garden. When I was cutting back (mostly 2-4 inches), I found so many things growing underneath. There are still plenty of leaves around to protect the new growth, so I won't rake them out yet.

There were SO many things already growing in my herb bed. Above, the lemon balm is off to a good start. I have taken a new interest in herbs as medicines this winter, and I am excited for my herbs to grow so I can start using them to my advantage.

For some reason blogger will not turn this picture the correct direction, no matter what way I rotated it, this is the way it shows up. This is my catmint plant, with some fantastic growth under the leaves.

Unbelievably, there are things to eat already in the March garden. These are my spring green onions, in two nice bunches. I will probably go harvest some tomorrow to have with my cottage cheese for lunch.

This is even more unbelievable! I found this entire spinach plant in my lettuce bed. I have no idea why it is growing here...well, some idea, but don't know why it is germinated and grown, and in such lovely condition. I will go inspect this further tomorrow to see if I can pull off the outer leaves for eating.

Of course you can't have spring without its star...rhubarb! It is already poking up through the ground. I use rhubarb in a ton of jams and desserts. I can't wait to see it leafing out next month.

I also had a lot of plants growing that I don't eat. The lamb's ears baffle me. This thing doesn't even look like winter happened to it. A tiny bit of the outer edges was browned, but that was it. It felt lush, and thick, and healthy. Is it some kind of soft-leaved evergreen? I forgot that this is an herb...so I will have to do some research into how it is used.

I do not remember what this plant is called. (Hold on.) Okay, I looked it up. Veggies I know...flowers and such I have to look up sometimes. This is my silver mound artemisia. The name is no lie...this thing gets huge and pillowey. And it already has a great start.

And here is my black diamonds hellebore peeking out from the woodchips. Hellebores are another star of spring. I just planted this last fall, so I haven't got to see it bloom yet...but the pictures are great. Truly black plants are rare, I'm told, and this one is a knockout.

I got a lot done in the garden today, and it looks like tomorrow will be a great day outside too. It never ceases to amaze me what will grow so early, before you think you will find a thing. I will have more posts to show the projects I'm working on this year, but this one was all about sharing the beauty you can find even this early in the spring.

Happy to Be Starting Seeds

2011-03-07T22:23:00.000-06:00

I have kind of slacked on getting my seeds started this year. I've been busy trying to get back into shape, which as you know, can take a lot of time. However, I had some seeds that say, "start 10-12 weeks before the last frost". This weekend is 10 weeks until our last frost, the weekend of Mother's Day usually here in this portion of Iowa. It's not that I don't want to start the seeds, it is just one of those things that I always say, that doesn't have to be done today, I'll get to that tomorrow. But I realized, if I don't get to it, some of this stuff isn't going to be ready to go out. Once I got down to it, I really enjoyed working on it, and I'm so happy to have seeds on my seed starting rack.

This year, instead of the seed starting mix I usually buy in bags, I decided to try coir. A lot of my friends on twitter were talking about how much they liked it, and it is supposed to be somewhat more sustainable than peat. Coir is a natural fiber made from coconut husks. I have heard that a lot of energy is used to wash the coir before it gets to us, however. Anyways, the type I bought came in a brick form, wrapped in plastic. Coir expands when water is added...so the company supplied a plastic bag to put the brick in before adding water. I put it in the sink, so when the extra water flowed out, it wouldn't make a mess all over the place.

I really liked the texture of the coir...it was easy to work with. However, I couldn't just get it out and use it. I had to wait for the water to soak in and the for the coir to expand. Since I was starting 3 bricks of coir, this meant I had 3 bags sitting around soaking since the bag was not big enough to accommodate more than one brick. I think I would rather not waste all those plastic bags. Maybe I can find a coir product that doesn't involve so much plastic next time. It seemed like the coir was ready faster when I used really warm water and let the faucet pour right on the brick while I was filling up the bag. I have a big bowl I use for wetting down my seed starting mix, and I dumped the coir into that when it was ready.

I forgot how tiny celery seeds are! Urgghhh...that is what took the longest. Getting those seeds into the seed trays was hard.

This is my set up for seed starting in the new house. Yes, that is a towel on my kitchen floor. It is one of the only non-carpeted rooms in the house with good lighting. So I crouched next to this and put 2-3 seeds into each square.

At last, seeds starting on the rack. These shelves will be overflowing with seeds by late spring. This year I got smart and started labeling the seeds with the date planted, how many days til germination, and the variety name. As long as they stay dry, my little notes will help me remember what is what and how long it has been growing.

For the 1st round, I started: Early Dell Celery, Blue Mirror Delphiniums, Catmint, Primor French Baby Leeks, Early Green Broccoli, and Falltime Leeks. Coming up next will be hibiscus for tea and peppers.

I have a seed starting mat under some of the trays, and I put the greenhouse tops on after I took these photos. To keep them moist, I spritz them with a water bottle I keep on the seed starting rack. I try not to water with actual liquid until the seeds have germinated, to keep the seeds from washing away. My lights are lowered down to just above the trays, and now......I wait.

Wanna Do a Shot?

2011-03-03T22:11:00.000-06:00

I was really excited a few weeks ago when I read somewhere that Wendy's Junior Frosty was only 150 calories. I kind of was craving some chocolate ice cream, so this seemed like the perfect solution. I stopped by Wendy's on the way home one day, and examined all the calorie charts. Sure enough, it said 150 calories. I also got a chicken sandwich and I waited for them to make my food.

Imagine my surprise when they gave me this! I mean, I knew it wouldn't be huge, but I almost laughed out loud at how tiny it was. It looks bigger here, but trust me, this entire thing could lay in the palm of my hand. Still, chocolate is chocolate, so I took it home to consume in peace. The deputy (my fiance), did laugh out loud. "I know," I said. "I feel like I am doing a chocolate shot!"

To make myself feel more content, I got out one of my son's baby spoons. Then I took teeny tiny bites with the teeny tiny spoon. And I ate reaaaaallllllyyyy sloooowwww. In all, I was pleased with it. But I still felt like I should put a little Bailey's in it and slam it. Wanna do a shot with me? I'll buy everybody a round.

Our Winter Visit to the Botanical Center: Thinking of the Thaw

2011-02-28T13:11:00.001-06:00

February in Iowa is a month of conflicting feelings. One one hand, you are full of hope for spring, and growing things, and the warm weather to come. On the other hand, if you have to look at one more darn pile of flipping snow or one more pair of soggy snowpants, you're going to SCREAM. So, February is a good time to go to the Botanical Center and get some Vitamin D therapy. We don't go there a lot, usually once or twice a year, which is enough time that it is a little bit different.

My favorite part is the gardener's showcase room. The botanical center usually has a theme, and the plants are arranged in collections according to that theme. I found this fantastic orchid there, obviously in the 'yellow' section.

The pictures above and below are of the same row of plants, looking in two different directions. These are ALL different kinds of coleus. Each one of these is a different variety. I find it fascinating how many kinds there are. This collections belongs to a individual, and is one of the largest known collections.

When we were walking through the dome section, I found a gnome! I have seen these particular gnomes before, at Reiman Gardens in Ames, IA, last summer. I did a post about those gnomes after we visited. The botanical center must have brought their gnome back home to live out his days.

My son is old enough to participate in the scavenger hunt activities the botanical center does for kids. He walks around clutching the paper in his fists and demands that I help him find all the things. He really has a thing for turtles, and here he is trying his hardest to look through the cracks in the bridge to see the turtle that just swam under it.

This is another grouping of yellow plants. I don't remember what the theme was, besides the color, but there was a treasure chest. My son would have liked to help himself to some.

He settled for a 'rock on' and 'peace' pose for the camera. I don't know where he learned that. He just did it when I asked him to stand up for the picture.

It was so nice to spend a few hours inside a tropical world, and feel the humidity. I'm one of those people that doesn't really mind heat and humidity at all. I'd take that over cold and snow ANY day. I wish the botanical center was closer. I'd love to come over with a book and park myself on a bench on a regular basis. But since I can't do that, I just enjoyed it for the day, and used the time to dream about spring. What do you do to help you get through the winter?

Using the Harvest:: Roasting a Pumpkin

2011-02-24T22:02:00.002-06:00

You might remember I got a really cool meat cleaver for Christmas. Well, I got my first opportunity to see it in action yesterday. The deputy (my fiance) has been complaining about all the pumpkins sitting around in the living room. I guess he thinks they will rot or something, and leave a mark on the carpet. Pshaw....I said. (Really! Well, at least a sound that means that). I check them a lot, and I didn't think they would rot anytime soon. After all, they didn't ripen for a few months after I brought them inside in early November. The pumpkins I am referring to are called Musque De Provence, or Fairytale pumpkins.

Here are some links with pictures and descriptions:
Seed Savers Exchange (called muscade de provence here)
HighMowing Seeds

Evidently, they have a very long shelf life, which I can attest to...Mine were still mostly green when I brought them in. I was kind of worried about that, because most things, if it isn't ripe when you pick it, it isn't going to get much better. This pumpkin cures after you bring it in though. Over the months, through November, December, January, it slowly turned to a deep dusty orange.

Since the deputy was complaining, I decided to make one of these pumpkins into puree. I started by using a sharp chef's knife, and I cut out the stem. Then I used my cleaver and a mallet, and gently tapped my way through the middle. The cleaver actually went right through like butter.

I was really impressed by the beautiful deep orange color of the flesh. The size was impressive too. This pumpkin weighed in at 23 lbs.

My son helped by scooping out the seeds. He was adamant that he be allowed to do this.

The pumpkin halves were huge. I sprinkled each half with salt to help draw out the moisture. I turned them face down on a tray covered with parchment paper.

I let the pumpkins roast at 425 degrees for about an hour and a half. I bumped it down to 400 degrees at about an hour through, so the outside wouldn't burn. With a smaller pumpkin you can roast much less...as little as 45 minutes. I let it stay in until I could poke it with a knife and it went in like butter. Then I let it cool for a really long time...you wouldn't believe how hot the pumpkin is on the inside.

When it was finally cooled off enough to handle (barely), I peeled off the skin. All the flesh went into my food processor with a little bit of water to make it smooth. Then I put it into these freezer containers. My 23 lb pumpkin turned into 4 1/2 quarts of pumpkin puree. It all went into my deep freeze for the time being.

Now, I am ready to make pumpkin bread, muffins, pie, soup, or all of the above. I don't have to buy one of those cans of pumpkin from the store. What would you make with this pumpkin puree? And for that matter, what am I going to do with the 3 other 23 lb pumpkins sitting in my living room?!!

Snowshoeing: Getting Out and Moving in the Wintertime

2011-02-05T19:29:00.001-06:00

Usually I have the activity level of a hibernating bear in the winter. I can't garden, so what is there to live for? (just kidding). But I do hate the cold and the dark. I am still fervently wishing for spring to come, but I have been trying to get involved in a few things to get me outdoors and getting some vitamin D during the winter months. Last month, my friend Erin and I tried snowshoeing through the Polk County Parks and Rec dept. They had a class where they brought out the gear and let you try it. This was perfect for me, because I thought I would like it, but wanted to make sure before I dropped several hundred dollars in gear.

I discovered that I LOVE snowshoeing. It is the winter equivalent of hiking. I also discovered that I cannot type the word 'snowshoeing' without messing it up, unless I concentrate extremely hard. I usually type something like 'snoeshowing', and then I cuss to myself, and fix it. So after Christmas, I used some birthday money and bought 2 sets of snowshoes, one for me, and one for my son. We got tons of snow this week, so today we went out to Grimes Farm in Marshall County and tried them out. Above is a photo of a pretty stream, melting a little because it was close to freezing and sunny today. The tracks you can see in the picture are not ours, but probably deer.

My son was impressed by the winter landscape, and wanted to be much more adventurous than I thought safe for the first outing. I was not willing to hike down too close to the stream, for instance, though he wanted to. I got him a set of poles to go with his...I still need to get some poles for mine, but I was okay for today, because the terrain was pretty flat.

Grimes Farm has some nice trails, in addition to a bike trail that ends up there, that comes out of Marshalltown. It is a conservation center, so there are a lot of nice benches, birdhouses, and wildlife feeding stations. They have an actual conservation center building, that you can go into. I haven't ever been to this place when the building was open though, so I haven't seen the inside. This windmill is pretty cool.

They have allowed some parts of the area to be very prairie-like. I think that they took bits from surrounding farmland and preserved this section in a more natural wild state. It is obvious from all the tracks that we saw that they have quite a variety of wildlife here. In this picture, my son is plowing through a grass area. In some of the pictures you can see the high prairie grasses that will grow here in summer. I rode my bike through here once or twice this summer after I discovered it, and the grass grows higher than my head then.

I talked my son into taking a picture of me, for the record. These snowpants I'm wearing kind of make me feel like the Michelin Man, but they are warm and very easy to move in. My dad got me an Arkansas pullover, made of fleece, which is very big and very warm, and I can wear it without a coat on a sunny day like this one. I may look big and puffy in this picture, because of all my gear, but when I compared a close up of this picture to one taken in the same outfit when Erin and I went snowshoeing last month, I can see a big difference in my face. I have lost 9 lbs since New Year's, and I am feeling really good. It is a big deal for me to change my behaviors in the winter, because it is so hard for me to get out and do things.

Snowshoeing is fabulous exercise. Someone at my height and weight can burn up to 450 calories an hour doing it! I probably burned slightly less, since I was doing it with a little guy, but that still beats the pants off of the treadmill for the same amount of time. I have really been trying to eat less and move more. It's as simple as that. Eat less. Move more. That is the cure for a lot of things. I have been having trouble with my knees and snowshoeing is great for getting a high calorie burn with little to no impact on them. The soft snow absorbs it.

Pretty soon (I hope) it will be spring and I will be back to walking outdoors and gardening up a storm. But snowshoeing is one way I can still get out and enjoy the outdoors while getting a lot of healthy exercise.

How to Climb Your Brother

2011-01-23T01:13:00.000-06:00

How to Climb Your Brother in 6 Easy Steps:

Disclaimer: This may not work, or may result in injury if either participant is over the age of 18.

Thanks for your patience with the flash, this is from before Christmas when I was still figuring out how to work my new camera.

Step 1

(this is my favorite one, younger son looks like a cat about to pounce)

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

And now, the video, which shows all 6 steps in rapid sequence. Enjoy!

Seeds, Seeds, and more Seeds!

2011-01-18T17:52:00.000-06:00

I finally finished my seed inventory today. It's that time of year again...time to order seeds. I knew I had a lot already, so I wanted to make sure I knew what I had before I ordered duplicates. I didn't really realize I had this many though. Part of the problem was that I found a couple of seed sales at the end of last year and stocked up. The list is a mixture of many companies...many Seed Savers Exchange, some Botanical Interests, many Renee's Garden, and several Seeds of Change. I still do need to order a few, but nothing compared to last year. Just in case you care, this is what I have.

Seeds I Have Now

Flowers

-Orange Climbing Vine Pod *

-Blue Conflowers *

-Milkweed *

-Painted Lady Runner Bean

-Summer Splash Marigolds

-Lemon Queen Sunflowers

-Moonshadow Sunflowers

-Tarahumara Sunflowers

-Vanilla Ice Sunflowers (Little)

-Blue Mirror Delphiniums

-Purple Hyacinth Bean

-Polar Bear Zinnias

-Cactus Zinnia Burpee

-Double Click Cosmos

-Blackberry Lily *

-Cigar Flowers

-French Flounce Carnations

-Radiance Cosmos

-Garden Orchid Sweet Peas

-Perfume Delight Sweet Peas

-Nasturtium Spitfire (Little)

-Enfant deNice Carnations

-Chocolate Flower (Little)

-Antique Apple Green Bells of Ireland

Herbs

-Napoletano Basil

-Chervil

-Lime Basil

-Genovese Basil

-Red Rubin Basil

-Hyssop

-Moss Curled Parsley

-Mrs. Burns Basil

-Summer Savory

-Catmint

-Chives (Little)

-Golden Purlane

-Cumin

-Borage

-Dill

-Cilantro

Beans

- Asparagus Beans (Pole)

-Blackeyed Peas

-Royal Burgundy Bush Bean

-Frosty Pea

-Tom Thumb Pea

-Burpeeana Early Pea

-Stringless Bean Burpee

-Jade Bush Bean

-Blue Lake Bush Bean

-Contender Bush Bean

-Slenderette Bush Bean

-French Climbing Green Bean *

Veggies

-Artichokes

-Kohlrabi Crispy Colors Duo

-Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi

-Calabrese Broccoli

-Early Green Broccoli

-Luffa Gourd BI

-French Primor Baby Leeks

-Falltime Leek

-D’Avagnon Radish

-Easter Egg Radish

-French Breakfast Radish

-Cherry Belle Radish

-Chubby Checkers Corn

-Strawberry Popcorn

-Tricolor Pattypan Squash

-Crispy Winter Greens Lettuces

-Corn Salad Lettuce

-Peppergrass (Little)

-Cimmaron Lettuce

-Gala Mache Lettuce

-Red Sails Lettuce

-Royal Red Lettuce

-Reine Des Glaces Lettuce

-Forellenschuss Lettuce

-Grandpa Admire’s Lettuce *

-Early Palla Rossa Radicchio

-Space Hybrid Spinach

-Bloomsdale Spinach

-New Zealand Spinach

-Chioggia Beet (Little)

-Red and White Chard

-Five Color Silverbeet Chard (Little)

-Rhubarb Chard

-Long Green Eggplant

-Rosa Bianca Eggplant

-White Globe Turnip

-Mammoth Salsify

-Black Beauty Zucchini

-Trombetta Climbing Summer Squash

-Spaghetti Squash

-Musquee De Provence Pumpkins

-Crookneck Squash Pennsylvania Dutch

-Regular Orange Pumpkin

-White Pumpkin *

-Red Core Chantenay Carrot

-Tatsoi Mustard Greens

-Sweet White Spanish Onions

-Mini Purplette Bunching Onion

-Spanish Utah Onion

-Delicious Duo Scallions

-Early Dell Celery

-Emerald Envy Cucumber

-Lemon Cucumber (Little)

-West Indian Gherkin Cucumber (Little)

-Japenese Climbing Cucumber (Little)

-Early Flat Dutch Cabbage

-Lacinto Kale

-Silver Queen Okra

-Honeydew Melon *

Tomatoes

-Amana Orange

-Roma Paste Tomato

-Yellow Pear Tomato

-Marvel Striped Tomato

-Brandywine Tomato

-Heirloom Tomato Mix

-Nebraska Wedding Tomato (Little)

-Cream Sausage Tomato (Little)

-Copia Tomato (Little)

-Mortgage Lifter Tomato (Little)

-Early Cascade *

-La Roma *

-Purple Cherokee *

-Yellow Brandywine *

-Speckled Roman *

Peppers

-Spanish Padron (Little)

-Carnival Bell Pepper Mix

Whew! The ones with the asterisk are ones I saved myself from my garden last year. Little means I only have a few seeds of that variety. Do you save seeds? What are you ordering this year?

Christmas Presents...Anyone want dragon soup?

2011-01-01T22:51:00.000-06:00

Christmas is over and the new year begun, but we are still enjoying the last of our Christmas break. I am so thankful for the wonderful holiday that we had. My son in particular got one present he has been asking for for months. He was so excited to get his bakugan dragonoid colosses...at first he was completely astonished.

His face is beginning to morph into an expression of total joy, but in this shot he looks kind of silly.

This is what a dragonoid colossus looks like when it is all put together. Somehow my son knew just how to put this thing together, even without reading the directions (which were in another language anyways). It only took a couple of minutes, and he had it ready to show off.

I did really well too. Last Christmas, we didn't do presents for each other, only a few things for the kids, because we were putting all our money towards our new house. This year, we did grown-up gifts. I asked for mainly cooking things, since that is something I can play with in the winter time. My guy did really well, I was very happy to see my new cooking toys. This is my new pizza stone...I've heard great things about those.

Of course I got a pizza peel to go with it, so I can get the pizza stone out of the oven without burning the heck out of myself.

I've already used this, my new over-the-sink strainer. I scrubbed potatoes in it this morning before our New Year's Day dinner. It is really convenient to get to the colander up above the water when I am cleaning things...this will be a real help when canning.

I have wanted a cookbook stand forever...I also used this today, while whipping things up for dinner. I love the antiquey look it has.

This is a butter bell. It is a lovely little crock that keeps the butter soft inside, but submerged in water so it is protected from the air. I am going to put some fresh butter in it this week after I thaw some out.

Speaking of canning help, this giant stock pot will allow me to water bath can several quart jars at once. At this very moment, it is full of a turkey carcass and lots of yummy turkey stock.

Santa brought me a meat cleaver! At first Santa said he wouldn't bring me one, even though I really wanted one, because he didn't know if he trusted me with sharp knives. But he must have relented because here is my meat cleaver. I accidentally learned the power of this knife. I thought I was being careful taking it out of the packaging, but I grazed the tip of my thumb with the corner of the cleaver and peeled my thumb like a grape. I got a little scared, but I guess it taught me about treating this knife with respect.

I know it seems like we spend a lot of money on Christmas, but we really don't. We look for deals and we are very good sale shoppers, so we get a lot of bang for our buck. So now I have a soup pot and a dragonoid colossus....dragon soup anyone?

What neat toys did you get for Christmas?

Christmas Eve Part Deux

2010-12-30T00:06:00.000-06:00

On Christmas Eve we always head to MeMaw's (DH's mom) house for their celebration. DH snapped this picture of me pretty soon after we got there. I was staking out my seat on the couch. With minimal seats and many, many grandchildren, getting a place to sit on an actual couch is like musical chairs.

My son is making a triumphant roar of some kind as he opens this gift. He almost looks like he is going to kill it and eat it. In this side of the family, the opening of the presents is a chaotic affair. I am greatly distressed by this. When I was a child...we had a small family. It was my mom, my dad, my brother, and me. Each person got several presents and we took turns opening. As each person opened one of their gifts, the others waited patiently, watching to see the person's reaction, or to see what they received. It was very personal and very orderly. My guy's family is totally the opposite. Everyone rips at once. Wrapping paper is flying everywhere, everyone is talking, everyone opens all their gifts nonstop, with no pauses in between.

I guess to me, the giving of a gift is a personal thing. I take time to pick out a gift I think a person will truly enjoy. I like to see their face when they open it and hear what they say. Maybe I'm just being neurotic, who knows? All I know is that at MY house, I make everyone take turns. After my son opened the legos, we basically didn't see him for the rest of the night. All I saw was the back of his head, which was partially submerged in the box of legos.

We got one of the kids to take a picture of us...we feel it is important to get pictures of us together. So when we are older we remember what we looked like way back when.

After we got home, the stepkids had to go back to their mom's house. My son put on his new jammies and took the ceremonial leaving out of the cookies photo. This year we added a carrot for the reindeer. He finally kind of smiled, because I threatened him. I told him Santa didn't leave presents for boys that don't smile in their Christmas pictures. I know, I'm so bad.

We had a really nice Christmas this year, and I know we have so much to be thankful for. Next time, I'll show what happened on Christmas morning. Here's a hint: it involves me and sharp metal objects. Now, you can't miss that! Happy New Year to all!

Wordless Wednesday: Scared Santas!

2010-12-29T20:02:00.000-06:00

Oh No! Here She Comes!

I'll Give You Something To Be Scared Of!

Christmas Eve Part One (Or...Weird Faces My Kids Make While Opening Presents)

2010-12-26T23:39:00.000-06:00

I've been promising the kids they could go out and play in the snow, and the day before Christmas Eve, we got the major ingredient for that recipe. Thursday into Friday, we got somewhere between 8 and 10 inches of snow. I'm not sure how much exactly, I never saw the weather report that said the precise number. I just know it started snowing Thursday evening, and didn't stop until late, late Christmas Eve. So, the kids bundled up and headed out into the fluffy stuff. They were out there quite a while, sliding down the neighbor's driveway on tubes and sleds. When they came in, they were coated in snow. They even had snow crammed into their pockets. They had to peel everything off in the porch before they came in. I wasn't in the mood to waller (a word from my Missouri childhood, an adaptation of 'wallow') around in the snow myself, so this is the only picture I got of the snow adventures. My son seems to be going through a stage where he doesn't want to smile in pictures. I have given up harassing him to smile for the time being.

Since my stepkids had to go home to their Mom's house late on Christmas Eve, we opened their gifts on Friday afternoon. They are basically teenagers now, so we are mostly past the days of toys. My stepson is excited about his model firebird, and my stepdaughter is loving her fuzzy sweater boots. Note: We aren't watching horrible, inappropriate things on the tv...it has the parental settings turned on, and no matter what, every 4 hours if you don't change the channel, it brings up a screen where you have to punch in a password. Yeah, I'm that big meanie mom that doesn't let the teenagers watch R-rated movies without me approving first and putting in the password. I'm sure the 15-year old loves me on that one.

I swear, my son is really excited about his Bakugan case he got. And I think that is almost a smile. See, he's really happy!

Here's another really entertaining face. He opened a whole set of bakugans. I'm not sure why he looks like he's going to lick it.

It's like the old Life cereal commercials. Look, Mikey likes it! He really likes it!

Here, my son is showing off the stilts he got from his PopPop. Stilts! Are you kidding me? Here, let's give the ADHD kid stilts... My dad has a real sick sense of humor sometimes.

I don't even know what is going on with my stepkids' faces in this picture. She looks like she is playing air guitar with her new tennis shoes, and maybe he is envisioning my son on stilts, who knows?

So much went on the day of Christmas Eve that I had to break it up into two posts. Stay tuned for next time, when my son buries his head in legos for two hours and small children try to eat crayons as a Christmas snack. Merry Christmas!

I'll Wrestle You For a Cookie!

2010-12-23T10:31:00.000-06:00

Hmmm...after I looked at this picture, I kept thinking it looked familiar. Then I looked back and found this post. What is it about this time of year that brings on wrestling in the kitchen? Is it the boys being cooped up indoors? Is it my stepson being in wrestling at school? Or is it that there is only one peanut butter cookie left, and the winner gets it? I vote for number 3, just cause my cookies are so awesome... ;)

In spite of Dad kicking his rear end, my stepson seems to still be in a good mood. Possibly because I told them more cookies will be ready soon.

All the kids take their turns cutting out shapes to fill a tray. They each have their favorite cookie cutters. Some of the cookie cutters were passed down to me by my mother. We have some trains my son particularly loves.

We always get a laugh when someone can't guess one of the shapes, and calls it something bizarre. This year we had a rule. No junk cookies. The boys think it is funny to dump a pile of each kind of sprinkle on the same cookie. This looks really, really gross. And of course when it is time to eat the cookies, do they pick one of THOSE cookies?... NO. They pick the pretty ones. I put my foot down this year.

The kids are all getting so big. I remember doing this when my son was 2, my stepdaughter was 7, and my stepson was 10. They were a heck lot smaller then, but I think they ate just as many cookies.

Mommy has a happy smile here, but I was pretty cranky this day. I was tired of cleaning up all these messes by myself. I felt like the little red hen that grows the wheat, harvests the wheat, and when it's time to eat the bread, here comes everybody. I think the kids were tired of me snapping at them. After I cleaned the cookie mess up, I took a nap. Things were better after that.

And after the nap, I was happy to eat some of the results. Cookie artists we may not be, but they all taste good! A Christmas cookie will fix a lot of things!

Wordless Wednesday: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

2010-12-21T20:31:00.000-06:00

A Very Busy Christmastime!

2010-12-19T22:21:00.001-06:00

We have been very busy around our household lately. I don't get out of school for break until 2 days before Christmas, so I'm trying to cram a lot of Christmas preparations into my day-to-day schedule. I'm really going to try and post more, even if it is just a picture and some thoughts. I think I have this thing where I think I need 10 pictures, recipes, and the kitchen sink for it to be a proper blog post. I need to relax a little, I think. Anyways, my two best guys got together to put up our antique christmas tree light a week or so ago. It is the old-fashioned kind that you put every little bulb in by hand.

It sits on top of our antique sewing machine...always. You know how that is. My son gets offended if my guy does it without him, and the other way around as well. So, we have to wait until the planets align and they are both home at the same time.

This is just a little attempt at making my own holiday trays for the table. I love reindeer moss, I've decided. It is awesome. The color and texture is fascinating.

We've been doing a lot of baking, when I can fit it in. My son likes to help me...especially when it involves unwrapping little candies. We make the little hershey kiss cookies every year.

Forgive me while I get used to my new camera. It took me 2 weeks of taking pictures with it before I realized that the flash won't work unless you lift it up by hand first. LOL. I've never had a camera where you had to do that. They just automatically popped up the flash, or it had the flash built in. This one is a little nicer. It was a preChristmas treat to myself. It has more megapixels, and a much, much better digital zoom. However, it takes me a long time to learn a camera, so some of my first shots are a little strange. This one is my son taking a picture of me, because he really likes taking pictures. He is excited because I said he could use my old camera.

My guy and I had to go to his fancy-pants work Christmas party the other night. I decided to dress up a little bit...so I required that he wear his nice clothes and tie. We don't get many chances to dress up, so I was going to take advantage. We had someone snap a few pictures of us so we have proof that we do own nice clothes. Anyways, I am tired, and need to rest up, I have tons more to do this week. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Surprise Christmas Gift!

2010-12-03T20:27:00.000-06:00

I was not surprised when my fiance texted me the other day, to tell me I had a package (I have been doing a LOT of online shopping this holiday season). I was VERY surprised when my fiance texted me that it was a box with plants in it. WHAT? Plants? It is Dec 1st. In Iowa. As soon as I got home, I cracked open the box and there was this beautiful little pine inside. Phew...this little guy can take a little of Iowa winter sitting on the porch til I got home. What a wonderful surprise on an otherwise normal Wednesday. Thank you to Costa Farms for the thoughtful gift.

We've been very busy decorating around here. It is our first Christmas in our new home, and I am having a very good time getting everything ready. My pretty new plant will make a great living addition to the decor. Merry Christmas early!

Making Applesauce For a Year?

2010-11-17T14:31:00.000-06:00

I've been putting it off for quite a while, because I've been pretty busy, but last night I decided I better get to making applesauce, before all my apples go bad. I usually do a crockpot recipe, but I decided to do it on the stovetop this year, because I didn't have time for the crockpot to sit for hours, and I wanted to do a LOT all at once.

I left the skins on, because I knew I would be running the apples through the food mill later on. I used my handy-dandy apple slicer gadget to prepare the apples. The only part I discarded was the core, and any yucky spots I found.

I put a few inches of water into the pot and let it cook for about 20-30 minutes until they were soft and cooked through. I stirred them a lot to circulate the top and the bottom apples. The pot was full when I started, they cooked down quite a bit.

The apples looked like this when they were done. I used a couple of different kinds of apples, mostly red delicious, but some Arkansas black, and some honeycrisp. Using a variety of apples allows for better taste and less need to add a lot of sugar.

My food mill is not fancy...just one of the old Foley's food mills. It worked just fine though. Especially after I figured out that the food mill was exactly the same length as the diameter of the bowl. There are two hooks on the backside that you can't see, but it allows me to brace the mill on the bowl while I am cranking the apples into sauce. After all the apple was pushed through, I dumped out the skins and put more cooked apples into the mill.

It turned out to be a lovely consistency and I LOVE the rosy pink color that came from cooking the apples with the red skins on. I added a little sugar because I like a sweet applesauce, and some cinnamon.

I repeated this process several times until I had used up my apples. I ladled the sauce into jars, leaving about 1/2 inch headspace and capped them off. They went into a waterbath canner for 15 min for pints, and 20 min for the quarts. I ended up with 15 pints and 2 quarts of sauce. I'm not sure if this is enough applesauce for a year for us. My son and I are the ones who eat it, and one jar will last through several lunches...so who knows? It is definitely a good start.

Have you ever made your own applesauce?

Wordless Wednesday: Captions Please!

2010-11-09T19:28:00.001-06:00

Picture #1

Picture #2

Picture #3

I'll do one to get you started. Picture #1: How YOU doin?

Passing Through

2010-11-08T15:35:00.002-06:00

I have not been doing a very good job posting on my blog lately...mostly because October has been a VERY BUSY month for us. We had company 2 weekends of the month, and we were out of town one weekend. We had all the Halloween activities, plus our first really hard freeze last week. So I haven't had much time to spend on my blog. I am hoping November will be a little more low key, while I get the garden cleaned up and finish up some canning projects before the Christmas season starts and winter sets in.

During the Halloween weekend, my Dad came to visit. My son was very excited to see his 'Pop-Pop'. Dad got to participate in some things he's not usually here during. Usually we carve pumpkins a few weeks before Halloween, but because of being out of town, we did it 2 nights before. My son enjoys really getting his hands in there and getting the seeds out.

This picture is funny to me, because after you see the pumpkin carving picture, when you look at this one, it appears as if he is biting a huge chunk of pumpkin. This is actually the next morning, and he is eating a big sticky roll with orange icing.

Our jack-o-lanterns took one evening and part of one morning to carve because I like to do fancier designs. I enjoy pumpkin carving, and if anyone near me ever offered a class on 'advance' carving, I would take it in a second! I don't care so much for the scenic pictures, but I love a scary, detailed face.

After the pumpkins were carved, my son wanted to go to the nearby pond to feed the ducks. Evidently, there was a large group of geese on the way through, because I never have seen so many geese here at once. The swan was present, but it took us a while to find the ducks.

We don't throw bread to the ducks very often, I know it isn't very good for them, but we don't do it but a couple times a year. The ducks took a while to find because I don't think they get along very well with the bossy overbearing geese. I always wonder how wild creatures stay this white.

For that matter, I wonder how my Dad's shoes stay so white! We had to play dodge the goose poop while we fed the birds and enjoyed the sunny day.

We always save our seeds to roast. Ben loves to mix them up, and this year we boiled them in salt water first, to really get that salty taste on the inside as well as the outside. He had to go to bed before they were done though, because our trick or treat is on actual Halloween, and it was a school night.

I love Halloween decorationing, and I am slowly adding to my collection of things to put out in the yard. Some people have way more than me, but I can only afford so much at once, and dh won't help me with Halloween decorating. So I am limited to what I can do without geting up on the roof. I guess we do have one of those hook and pole things for Christmas lights. Maybe next year I can get some of those orange icicle lights to go around the gutters of the porch.

Sigh, it is time to move onto thinking of Christmas now. Whether you like it or not, the stores force you into considering Christmas as early as the week of Halloween (when many stores are shoving the Halloween merchandise to one side already to start setting Christmas merchandise out). Even if you declare it is obscene and disgusting, you are still thinking about it. I suppose the only way you could avoid it is if you don't go into any place that sells anything from October 20th until Thanksgiving. Maybe longer than that. But then you'd be thinking about avoiding it, and they've still got you. I've taken my decorations down, but I won't put Christmas ones up until after Thanksgiving. I refuse to participate until after my appointed time. So...Happy Halloween, Happy Thanksgiving, and NOT (merry christmas early).

Wordless Wednesday: Trick or Treat...Doggy Style!

2010-11-03T21:07:00.000-05:00

More from the Pumpkin Farm

2010-10-26T13:03:00.000-05:00

This is a picture of me and the kids at the pumpkin farm a couple of weeks ago. What a glorious day! The temperature that day was close to 90 as I remember. Today the temperature is 47 degrees and rainy and VERY windy. So, I love looking at these pictures of us and our shorts and tank tops.

You might have seen in one of my previous posts that we spent a lot of time in the corn pool. We also did a lot of apple picking! The kids absolutely love picking apples and I do a lot of canning and baking afterward with our bounty. Here, my friend Melissa's son enjoys an apple on the way back to the car. He is just old enough (and has enough chomping teeth) to eat an entire apple by himself. However, he realized quickly if he dropped one, we would take it away and give him a new one. He probably thought it was a pretty fun game, seeing how many times we would replace the apple. We figured out his game after the 3rd or 4th one though, and he gave up and finished eating.

The kids enjoyed helping Nick climb some apple trees. The jonathan apples were really picked through on the lower branches, and we had to work hard to get apples out of the top. I pick golden delicious for apple pie filling, jonathan for applesauce, and honeycrisp for fresh eating. I also got some Arkansas Black this last weekend when we went to Eureka Springs. You can see I had to stretch up in the background, even with one of those apple picker things.

I love doing things like this with the kids. I know they will remember it for the rest of their lives. It has been a tradition in our family for going on 4 years now.

I am hoping someday when they are all grown and have their own kids, they will take them apple picking and talk about how nice it was to go altogether when they were young.

Apple picking also appeals to my love of getting our food fresh and local. When we take apples we picked and make food to eat later in the year, it shows the kids that not everything they eat has to be off a store shelf. Not everything has to be pumped full of preservatives so it can last forever in a grocery store.

I also love to get the kids outdoors doing things. We have been a little lazy this year with exercising outside, but once we are out doing something, I am so happy we made the effort. Every kid should have the opportunity to climb a tree and pick an apple. If I had a couple acres, I would grow my own. Maybe someday....

I know my friend Melissa agrees that our kids should be outside and moving around. Of course this is not usually a problem with 2 year olds!

Nick figured out that these holes were for sticking your head into, then posing for the picture. We had to remove him a few times from trying to stick his head into other people's pictures!

My son didn't want to, but because I asked him to, he reluctantly agreed to sit with Nick so he could ride on the train. The rest of us were too big to sit easily in the the little car. As you can see, my son is less than thrilled about doing this. I can't believe how big he looks sitting next to Nick.

What fall traditions do you have in our family? I'd love to hear about them...

Bloom Day - October!

2010-10-15T22:01:00.000-05:00

I am just thrilled to see all the things that are blooming on this October Bloom Day! A year ago, I had almost nothing to photograph because we had a freak cold snap in October. We got 3 inches of snow close to this date last year. So, I am very glad to have high 70s and high 80s for temps this year. Because we have only had minimal frost, almost everything is still hanging on in my garden. Of course the annuals are looking very tired, but most of the perennials are still alive. This is one of my new coneflowers...I don't remember the name exactly...it is something about sunset I think. (I looked it up...Big Sky series, Sunset).

My pineapple sage is a rockstar as usual. I bet the hummingbirds love this, but it is around the corner of my garage, so I can't see it from the house.

My dwarf iris, banbury ruffles always blooms twice a year. It got moved to the front yard this spring, so it is doing a much better job blooming this second time. The first time it bloomed it was still in my laundry room. I love iris so much, so it is such a treat to get a bearded iris in the fall.

This is one of the lovely mounding nasturtiums, which I think I like slightly more than the climbing/trailing version. The mound is so delightfully round and uniform. This one is from the jewel mix...and the foliage is so perky and happy.

One of my potted mums from Dahls. I love this burgundy color. I am going to try planting it in my yard after it is done blooming this fall.

One of my favorite annuals for containers are geraniums. This one has been so happy to sit on my front steps all summer in mostly shade. It actually did much better than the ones that were getting much sun. The poor fellow sitting next to him didn't fare as well, unfortunately.

To add some fall color, I put some kale and some perennial asters in around this bed. I have bulbs coming to plant this fall in the middle, under the spider web. So in the spring will be bulbs, in the summer will be zinnias, and the fall will be mums, kale, and asters.

The graveyard keeps growing and growing. I need to get a nighttime shot. I also need a fog machine.

Buttercream nasturtium. Gorgeous big flowers that stick out from the foliage. No hiding underneath.

Deep red amaranthus, heavy with seeds/grains. I want to try harvesting it when it dries out a little more.

Unfortunately by the next bloom day, most of my flowers will be in the same shape as this guy. What's blooming in your garden right now?

Wordless Wednesday...A Run Through the Tunnel

2010-10-13T21:41:00.000-05:00