Fermenting Revisted

I've set some more veggies to ferment:  Carrots, onions, cabbage and celery.

I enjoy dilly flavored items, with a little heat, so my go to fermenting method is this:

3 T. of sea salt (non-iodized)
1 Quart of warm water

Dissolve the salt by stirring it in the warm water. Set aside.

Prepare the veggies. As near as I can tell, there isn't any kind of vegetable you cannot ferment. There's a lot of discussion about self brining and added brining. I am no expert and I recommend you do as I did, read everything you can and make educated choices. I've yet to make anything by self brining because I don't feel confident. Even with cabbage, I top off the jar with brine.

Back to the veggies... I did both carrot sticks and rounds. No special reason, just for variety. I also did alternating slices of red and yellow onions. Again, no special reason. Celery sticks that grew from the end of a grocery store purchase that I planted in the garden is in one jar. My husband picked it today and mostly it's tiny stalks, but hopefully it will be tasty. There are three jars of cabbage, as well. Decide how you are going to cut the veggies (I don't think it matters for fermenting what way you choose, it's only your preference), then pack the jars.

To each jar:

1/4 t. Dill weed
1/4 t. Dill seed
1/4 t. Red Pepper flakes
1/2 t. Peppercorns
2-3   Garlic Cloves

Note: for the cabbage, I skipped the dill weed & seed. I put peppercorns in one, peppercorns and garlic in another and red pepper flakes, peppercorns and garlic in the last. It's my first go around with cabbage and I wanted a variety to see what I like best. I wonder if anyone has done a slaw? I like slaw on sandwiches and burgers occasionally and I wonder how fermented slaw would be? hmmm....

The key to fermenting is keeping the veggies under the brine. This is somewhat tricky and I've tried several methods and none of them worked ideally. You want to find a way to keep the veggies submerged, yet allow the gas to escape. I'm trying plastic mesh this go around, the sort used to do needlepoint (picture tissue box covers). I cut them into rough circles, using a wide mouth mason jar lid as a guide, cutting them slightly larger than the lid - maybe 1/4 inch bigger all the way around. Then squish it into the jar, pushing all the veggies down. I used small mouth quart jars and once the plastic gets down to the shoulders of the jar, it will stay put even when the brine is added. And it has holes, which should allow the gas to escape. I'll let you know how it works~

Once you have your veggies, seasoning and mesh circle in the jar, it's time to fill it with brine. You want to fill into the neck of the jar, to ensure the veggies will remain submerged. I keep mine under a towel looking at it a couple of times a day.

This is the first day and the bubbling is beginning. I've stuck my finger in each jar, poking the mesh to jiggle the bubbles loose.  Especially the cabbage, which has a lot of air trapped in the shredded layers.
Curious about other things we fermented?  My all time favorite was the salsa, made from tomatoes from the garden. I made a second batch with tomatoes from the store - AWFUL. Actually it was good the first day, but after that, the tomatoes turned to mush and I just couldn't eat it. The first batch was a thing of beauty, though. Salty, tangy, spicy, chunky and delicious. From the first day to the last, which was about three weeks, the veggies though they softened, never became mush.

Fermented ketchup - mixed reviews. Primarily because the spices. It didn't taste like a ketchup any one of us had ever had. It was a weird mix somewhere between a bloody mary and barbecue sauce.

Ginger Carrots - I enjoyed these, but not as much as the dilly carrots. If I make again, I'll add dill seasoning in addition to the ginger I think.

Pickles - we still have pickles from summer. The smaller cucumbers make the best pickles. They are still very delicious, even after all this time. This summer, I tried to use every cucumber and next year I will not. I'll be more selective because once they grow larger than about an inch or 1 1/2 inches in diameter, the centers just do not hold up. As in they dissolve away and are a tad slimy.

If you have questions, please feel free to ask. If you are also fermenting, please, please, share your adventures!

Science right in the kitchen

Who would've guessed, but there is science happening right in my kitchen.

These are the fermented foods from today: Another batch of sour pickles (yes, we totally love them), pico de gallo, garlic & dill carrots and ginger carrots.

If you look around the top of the carrot jars, you will see the bubbling action, which is the fermentation in process.  I'm using small glasses to hold them down. Though you can't see it, there is a small jar holding the pickles below the brine, too.

The pico de gallo is an experiment, I've been told it doesn't need to be under a brine. I'm cautiously optimistic. It smelled so freaking good that I had to make a second, small batch that I pretty much inhaled the moment it was mixed.

So, how is your list going? Did you make one? I started making one and then decided I needed a couple of days to ponder. Tomorrow is the day.

Tomorrow is also the day to try fermented ketchup. More science.

Also found on Pinterest:

Natural Abundance

This picture is today's harvested items. The last time I was in the garden to harvest was one week ago. Not an exaggeration. Last Thursday, I picked all the ripe veggies in the garden. Today I did the same. There are still more tomatoes and peppers out there - probably as many tomatoes as are pictured and even more peppers.

See the basket of grape tomatoes? All from one plant. And if you've been reading the blog, you know that I've already harvested a ton, which have been canned.

What's my point? All of these tomatoes and all the ones I've been picking since July are from just 4 tomato plants. Just four. One grape, one roma, two traditional. What's my point?

These plants illustrate the way life really is. Life is naturally abundant. If you disagree, I refer you back to the picture - remember 4 plants yielded all of this, in essence 4 seeds.

If life were not abundant, then a single seed would yield at most one fruit. As you can see, that isn't what happened.

Abundance is all around us, but when you are speeding through your day and your life, sometimes you miss it.  It's good to stop and take it all in.

Tomatillo Salsa

Let me just start by saying this:  Food Bloggers, my hat is off to you.

I wanted to post about this salsa, planned going into it that I would.  I started off well, but, as you will see, the wheels came off the bus.  Anyway, on to the salsa.

I love Mexican food.  When I was young, we lived in Southern California and several times we went to Mexico, where we had real Mexican food and that is where my love affair with Mexican began.  You know and I know that a lot of what is sold has been "Americanized", which is not to say bad.  But, when we went to Mexico and ate, the food did not all taste like taco seasoning.  Just saying.

This year, in the Mondrian garden, we grew one Tomatillo plant.  It's the first time I've grown one.  It's been interesting to see it progress.  Something in the garden really likes the tomatillos, so we only get about 1/2 the crop.  Oh well.  Yesterday,  I decided to try making a tomatillo salsa.  After perusing many a recipe, I decided to roast the veggies first.  It would seem that traditionally, the tomatillos are boiled in water, but knowing I really didn't have enough tomatillos to make the salsa two ways, the idea of roasted veggies won out.  Next time I'll try without roasting.

I started with these ingredients: tomatillos, jalapenos, and one onion.  Have you ever worked with tomatillos before?  Me neither.  The husk is papery and pulls away to reveal a stickiness on the tomatillo.  I rinsed that away, then quartered each one.  I placed the cut vegetables on a small cookie sheet.  For the jalapenos I just cut off the top and left them whole.  The onion, I peeled and cut into chucks of a similar size to the tomatillos.  All of these went on the cookie sheet with a small amount of vegetable oil which I used my hands to toss and coat.  Then a sprinkling of salt and a heavier sprinkling of pepper and into the hot oven.  I started out on a low broil, then high until the veggies were slightly charred.  At this point, I forgot to take a picture.  Arrgh.  This is also the point where I once again marveled at food bloggers.  How do they do it?


I let the veggies cool, then slipped them all inside the magic cup that came with the stick blender.  It's just the right width and just about as long as it takes to say bibbidy, bobbidy, boo, you have salsa.  It was a little thick, so I added the juice of one small lime.  It was at this point that I thought to myself...  Where's the garlic? Dang. I didn't remember to add it to the roasting pan and I really wanted it.  So, I peeled a clove and put it in the magic cup and blended again.  The cup, being clear, allows you to look at the whirring action as it's happening.  Fun!

In the end it's still pretty thick and I think I could add water to change the consistency, but it tasted so good that I didn't want to fool around with it.  The seven tomatillos ended up making a pint sized jar of salsa.  These are not big tomatillos - some were medium and most were small.  So, you get a lot of bang for your buck.

How did it taste?  Well, in a word fantastic.  Roasting the veggies adds a really great grilled flavor (even though they were oven roasted).  It also calms the jalapenos down.  I put three in here, which I thought was going to be hot, but it was just medium warm.  So this means you get great jalapeno flavor without setting your mouth on fire.  The lime juice was a needed hit of tart.

I say, try making your own salsa.  It's fun and can be made to your particular tastes.

btw ~ did you see my toes sneaking into one of the pictures? bad toes!  hee hee, ha ha, whew i am soooo funny.

Have a great day, people.

Harvest Bisque

It's that time of year again and this is the first Harvest Soup.  See this post for my "technique", which I really made up after seeing a similar picture on a facebook post.  I thought to myself, "Hey! I can do that!" and I did.  I've made it half a dozen times and every time it's a little bit different because of the veggies added and because I don't use a recipe.  But it's never bad.  I've been using chicken stock for the liquid now and I no longer fill it full of liquid, like the original post.  I put as many veggies into the pot as I can, then add liquid about 2/3 of the way.  The veggies begin to soften and condense immediately so there is more than enough liquid.

I don't know if you've had the Tomato Bisque at Brio, but my youngest loves that soup.  We also had a stellar one on vacation last year.  This Harvest Bisque is as close as I've come to either.  It's actually easy to do and everyone in my house raved about it.  LOVE when that happens.

What's the difference between Tomato Soup and Tomato Bisque you are asking...  Well as near as I can tell it's cream.  The cream gives the soup an orangey color and (no pun intended) a creamy texture.  You can add as much or as little as you like, I think.  Everybody has definite opinions on cream.  Very volatile topic. But, it's undeniable the benefit of adding it to soup.  I just choose to add enough to get the benefits, but not so much as to end up with a white soup.  I ended up using just less than a cup in a pot with 12 servings in it.   Will the soup stink if you skip it? Not a chance.

Here is the beauty of this soup, you get to make it the way you want.  Put in the veggies you like, skip ones you don't.  I recommend adding carrots because their sweetness balances the acidity in the tomatoes.  I do wait to add salt or pepper until after it's simmered a couple of hours and been blended (with the stick blender).  There is salt in the stock and you just can't know if it will need any more until it's had a chance to condense.  The only seasoning I put it are a couple of bay leaves until after it's blended.  Then you can take it any way you want by the herbs you put in.  It is also great to package by one or two cup measures in zip bags and freeze.  You can add these to spaghetti, chili or a clearer soup, like minestrone.

By the way, every time I reach into the cupboard and pull out one of the new dishes I'm tickled.  They are cute and fun and happy and make the food look better!  Nerdy I know.  Definitely, one of my most favorite things to come from the whole kitchen remodel.

If, like me, you are harvesting by the tonnage these days, give the soup a try.

Pickling, two ways!

It's been a pickling kind of weekend.  A serious amount of things harvested yesterday were cucumbers and tomatoes.  So today, with the help of my son and his girlfriend, we set out to do some pickling.


First up:  we pickled Spicy Grape Tomatoes, using this recipe as a jumping off place.  I used small jars. They are beautiful and I'm looking forward to testing them in about 10 days.


The other kind of pickling we did today is two more batches of fermented pickles.  The first crock is still working, so I purchased two glass jars for these batches.  One will be very spicy.  One will be mildly spicy.  I hope.  As I mentioned before, fermenting is a trial and error.  Also, you just never know how hot any pepper really is, unless you eat it, which makes it tough to get it into your brine!  The glass jars will mean I can watch the fermentation!  I'm excited, can you tell?  These cucumbers we quartered, so they will process quicker than the whole pickles in the crock.  I'll keep you updated, if you're interested.

Turns out I just couldn't pickle the amazing garlic we grew.  It is seriously delicious and I want to use the heads we have for meals and such.  In fact, I made my Mom's Famous 8 Makes it Great Salsa today and used some of these cloves.  Woot!

I really do love pickles.  I peruse the pickle section of my favorite grocery nearly every time I'm in there, looking for something new. Being able to make my own is pretty amazing!

Next up on the schedule are Zucchini Pickles. Gotta do something with the pounds and pounds of squash!

Big thanks to my most excellent helpers today.  They cut, hefted, measured, harvested and consoled - all in perfect measure.  ♥

Random thoughts from Harvest 2013

Wait til you see the pictures.  It's amazing what one little plant can do!

First:  I planted a bunch of Okra and not one plant grew.  Not one.  I just had to say it, first.  I'm bummed a little bit and wanted to get that out of the way.

Next, these two pics are what I harvested today.  WOW!  This is a lot of produce for one week.  I harvested a very similar amount last week.

I am totally overwhelmed by the summer squash.  What on earth can I do with it all?  I already shred and froze either 36 or 38 cups.  That's more than enough for the year I think.  I've made zucchini bread and yellow squash bread.  We've had stir fry, zucchini and yellow squash oven fries, and what is it called when you alternate rounds of zucchini and yellow squash and onions and cover the whole thing... well whatever that is called, I've done that, too. You get the idea... we've had a lot of zucchini.  I like zucchini. I really do, but this one little plant has produced a tremendous amount of zucchini.  And the Yellow squash!  Worse.

A friend at work suggested dicing and freezing, but I'm not a huge fan of mushy squash.  It's why I like it best in stir fry or oven baked.

Anyway, and much more importantly... isn't it an amazing testament to the wonder of this world that one little plant can produce so many delicious, healthy, beautiful items?! Each time I'm in the garden I'm blown away.

I've started my first crock of fermented pickles...  Here's a little peek. They've been in two weeks today. I left them whole, which takes longer for the middle to catch up with the outside. You will find a lot of people telling you a lot of things on the world wide web about how long to leave something. My advice, keep taste testing and decide what you like and what you don't.  Every single batch of fermented food depends on every factor, from temperature, to water hardness, to ingredients you included.  Just be patient. Kids all walk at different times and ages and we love them for it. Think about the pickles that way, too.

We grew garlic over winter and I harvested last week.  It's been sitting for a week to let the papery outer skin dry out.  Should make it easier to get the dirt off, too.  I've already tried one head and let me just say - so worth the long wait.  I used a head purchased from the grocery, divided into cloves and planted last fall.  I waited through spring, until the leaves started to die back and fell over, then I harvested.  This is another one of those items that everyone who has tried it has advice.  Just like the pickles, you will have to see what works for you.  This worked beautifully for me.  The garlic isn't bitter in the least, but does have a nice, strong garlic taste. I'll definitely be planting again this fall.  I'm going to try pickling this garlic. Just another way I'm a big nerd, I love pickled garlic.  mmm.... mmm...

And finally, here is the promised picture of the Dilly Beans.  Of course, I've sampled them.  I declare them really good!  Okay, confession, last week, cause I couldn't wait, I tried them and they were so-so.  Today I tried that open jar that's been hanging out in the fridge and they are FABULOUS!  Sour, garlicky, super great crunch!  If you haven't tried these before and like pickled things, Do it!  Go with your gut.  Add the things you like, leave out the things you don't! Just don't fool around with the pickling liquid too much, I'd hate for anyone to get sick!  The liquid is the preservative, so just adjust the flavorings, capisce?

A garden is a grand teacher. It teaches patience and careful watchfulness; it teaches industry and thrift; above all it teaches entire trust. Gertrude Jekyll

Dilly Beans...

This morning I decided to harvest and all I can say is WOW. I harvested tomatoes (grape, heirloom, roma), zucchini (just 1 today, thank goodness), cucumbers, garlic, and green beans.

A lot of green beans.  At the reunion, my best step daughter (I may only have one, but she's a winner) told me she'd made pickled green beans and that they turned out so great I had to try.  Well, lo and behold, this morning I harvest six pints of green beans so we set about making Dilly Beans.

I used a basic brine of equal parts water and vinegar 5 C each and 1/2 C salt.  This I brought to a boil.  Into each jar I put two cloves of garlic, one dill head and three sprigs of dill, 10 pepper corns.  Into 3 jars we also added a hot pepper (jalapeno in one, thai in another and a random hot pepper we can't remember in the third).

Several places suggest waiting 14 days to 6 or 8 weeks.  Boo.  I want one now!  How can I know if they are good enough to want to do more.  Huh?

I'd have pictures, but the battery in my phone is completely out and when I tried both back ups they are also empty.  Dang.

So, no picture today.

I really, seriously doubt I'll wait even 14 days to try.  I did resist today, which is really an accomplishment.

BTW ~ still caffeine free.  Also an accomplishment :)

Better Days!

Rose of Sharon

Today is better.  Yesterday, after the dreaded blues post, I had lunch with friends, who are all in the same boat.  We laughed, we cried, we hugged and I'm better for it.

Here are some pics from the yard this morning before the storm blew in...  In the midst of all the turmoil of the last couple of days, the serenity of home is very welcome!

Berries!

Interestingly, I looked at my blog today and thought what happened to that post...  Ooops.  Obviously got distracted and forgot to finish it.  

Now it's Sunday night and I've been ticked all day.  Not raging or anything, just a low level pissy that I really cannot support.  I'm trying hard not to beat up on myself, as I know that it's important to take the time you need to feel as you feel, but it's such a drag to be in the middle of the grief stages.  I'm trapped somewhere between depressed and angry and I'm not enjoying.

At any rate, we took the kid apartment shopping yesterday and it was all around good.  He is excited and it's fun to see him weighing the pros and cons of dishes and silverware.  

Dooryard Garden

On a side note I found a light I might like for the stove area.  I'm currently muddling it over as I cannot commit.

Daisy, enjoying the rain

And now, I believe it's time for all cranky momma's to be in bed and that's where I'm headed... PDQ

Pond - you can see the rain on the surface!

Sights from around the gardens

Just some random snaps from around the gardens...  

These are the kitchen herbs right outside the kitchen door.  My husband came up with the configuration, which keeps the chickens at bay.











These are the flower pots that those rotten chickens tried to eat within the first 20 minutes.  Hence the chicken wire tent.  I like it, though.  Has a weirdly artsy feel to it.  And the blooms are safe from the cluckers.






These little frogs hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil.  My mom collected frogs and I have a few scattered here and there just to keep her memory close.  ♥






Volunteer cilantro from last year's kitchen pots is sprouting.  Lucky for me, too, because I made pico de gallo yesterday and didn't have any fresh cilantro in the fridge.  Dried just isn't the same and the new batch in the pot lost quite a bit to the frost we had this past week and I'm reluctant to use any that's left, just yet, because I don't want to stunt it.  When low and behold, right at my feet are these little toadstools (which were a Mother's Day gift a couple of years ago) surrounded by volunteer cilantro.  Don't you just love the wonder of it all?!

Today is Sunday, which has a special magic all it's own.  We have a rare day all to ourselves, my best guy and I.  We plan to change some oil and clip the overgrown magnolia, and take a stand against the weeds in the flower beds.  Pretty romantic, I know, but it's perfect for me.

I hope the magic of this Sunday brings you something perfect, too.

Unveiling of the Garden

My favorite husband and I have been reworking our garden.  There are loads and loads of pictures (after) but no before.  So you'll just have to trust me that it looks 1000% better.

My husband spent hours and hours building, leveling, and securing the raised bed boxes.  They define the space for what's planted and add a level of artistry, too.

We mulched the whole thing with the help of one very strong son!

In the garden are: Tomatoes, parsnips, radishes, okra, green beans, blackberries, brussel sprouts. garlic, two kinds of cucumbers, 6 kinds of peppers (3 hot, 3 sweet), yellow squash, zucchini, celery, herbs and a tomatillo.






This lean to is for all the vine-y things to grow on.  Cucumbers, zucchini, squash. I found a similar idea on Pinterest and my husband created these.  I'll let you know how they work.

Garlic

This is garlic, next to the watering can.  Have you ever grown it?  We used a head from the grocery, broke it into cloves and planted last year.  We'll see what we have come the fall.

Celery

This is the same celery I started in water in my kitchen after cutting the root end of a bunch of celery purchased at the grocery.  Seriously.  It is actually much taller in person, but I mulched it pretty heavily.

Pretty, pretty boxes.

I'm thrilled with this garden.  It's just another example of the Wonder of God's Creation.  From one tiny seed will come a plant that gives over and over something delicious.  Abundance truly is all around us just waiting for us to see it.  There is plenty for all and come August, stop on over and I'll share with you.

Here's the best part:  It is all planted, mulched, watered, and fertilized.  I am worn out!  Worn out.  My thighs are reassuring me that they've worked hard and are pretty insistent that they be allowed to go to bed.  So this post is finished.

Happy Saturday one and all.

New Layout

 

This is the winner.  I had no idea Blogger had so much to offer.  It pays to look around some.  Hope you like it.

It's Saturday and I'm enjoying the drizzly morning.  We are working on the garden today.  The vegetable garden that is.  We are doing a complete overhaul.  I mentioned to my favorite husband that if we could make some simple 2x4 box frames and fill them in with the extra dirt from the garage extension (have I ever mentioned that before?) they'd be little raised beds and we could make a pathway from the free mulch to help keep the weeds at bay.  I said do you think that would be too much?

To which he said not at all.  He then proceeded to use two computer programs to design the new garden space.   It's color coded.  Squares and rectangles with a white walkway.   It's beautiful.  Like a Mondrian.

Just before this I was out shoveling dirt into some of the finished boxes and he says "I might have taken it too far.  Like usual, you said could we make simple and I..." he trailed off a little sheepishly.  "Built the Taj Mahal" I said.  Which it's true in the best possible way.  I have these simple ideas and he creates masterpieces.  I totally love that guy!

Anyway, I came in because my arms were hurting from the shoveling, but I think I've recovered enough to shovel a little more.  I just can't even tell you how much I like playing in the dirt.  :)

Happy Saturday to you.

Bowling Ball Art...

I love stuff in the garden. Probably have mentioned that before. Here is the most recent bowling ball creation! Gift for a good friend. Love it!

Harvest Soup

Inspired by a family member, I decided to try putting a days harvest into a pot and turning it into soup. Lots of tomatoes this year, so I filled the pot with them - skins, cores, seeds and all. I added peppers (including one very hot one), garlic and sage all from the garden. From the pantry I added two carrots, two stalks of celery, onion, peppercorns. I let it simmer for a couple of hours, removed the tomato skins and sage twig then blended it right in the pot with the stick blender.

I've never had a stick blender before and I am blown away. Easy and Amazing results! It blended all this wonderful whole foods into the tastiest tomato base. The first time I made it, I turned it into Spicy Tomato Soup, which I served with grilled cheese for a trip down memory lane. I simply added milk to the base after I let it reduce after blending. I like to call it Spicy Tomato Bisque because it sounds fancy, but it doesn't involve seafood, so therefore not truly a bisque.

I've made it a second time, this time I did not remove the tomato skins, and it blended just as well. I also cleared out the veggie drawer, adding mushrooms, zucchini and a small handful of spinach. It blended beautifully, tasted even better than the first and became Chicken Taco Soup.

We have another batch of tomatoes ready for picking and it's destined to become a concentrated base that I'm going to freeze in small zipper freezer bags. By allowing the blended soup to simmer and reduce, I'll end up with soup starter in a bag.

It's so easy, healthy and delicious! I just had to share. I hope it inspires you the way I was inspired!

Another garden project

Have you noticed my obsession with garden art? I don't really know why, and I'm not sure that it matters, but I love unexpected stuff in the garden. This little project, completed much the same way as the bowling ball, now hangs in a walnut tree. Things hanging in trees = ♥. To the baseball covered in stones, I added an eye screw and some jack chain.

Have you ever seen a more beat up, well loved baseball? Me, either! I decided to try gluing to it and it worked out fairly well. There are a couple of pretty large gashes that were tricky to cover, but with enough glue all things are possible ;)

You can still see the baseball through the gaps and while I could have added another layer to hide that, I prefer it this way. The color of the baseball is a perfect backdrop to the creamy white stones and being able to see the stitching gives it humor and that makes it even better!

With graduation surrounding me, I've uncovered some wonderful quotes, which can be applied to your life at any time whatsoever...

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary... Stay hungry. Stay foolish.” – Steve Jobs

Fun in the garden!

Seriously... Pinterest.

I discovered a photo of a bowling ball covered with pennies set out in a garden on Pinterest this week. In love. I was totally in love. Off to the thrift store I went and found this green ball. Because it was green, I thought of these flat marbles that have been in my studio for years (yes, years.) They are a milky green color and I mixed them with some clear ones. I used E6000 glue to adhere them. After some trial and error I found that if I put some glue on the ball and some on the marbles and let them sit for about 3 minutes, it improved the 'stick' and I had less slippage. Keep in mind though there will be slippage as you are trying to glue stuff to a round surface. It's fairly labor intensive. I glued on about half, let those dry before attempting the other half. I periodically checked on the marbles adjusting as necessary any that slipped out of place.

Funny story about this is that I thought I might be on the cutting edge as far as gluing these flat stones to a bowling ball, but no... After I began the process, while waiting for glue to dry, I started looking on the web. Lots of people sticking lots of things to bowling balls. On my list to try: pennies, marbles, buttons, sea glass.

Anyway, I love garden ornaments. I have all kinds of things in and around the plants and flowers, hanging from trees. This is the finished project in it's new home under a blue hosta. My goodness doesn't that look good! Wait, that looks like it needs another or 5 or 17 more. Now to find those bowling balls... ♥♥♥

Summer garden

Well, I've thoroughly enjoyed this summer. Now we are beginning to think about fall and school and blogs...

When we first moved into this house, I had a very large garden for a couple of years. But as the boys got older, more involved in activities, I preferred to be at those activities, rather than tend a garden. The biggest time culprit in a large garden is the harvest. Trying to preserve the bounty is a job that cannot wait for games or concerts or camp outs and at the time, I made a different choice. Within a year, my husband poured concrete on the unused garden space. Harsh, not really, we have boys, active, fun loving boys and this new concrete surface was suitable for basketball, four square, lacrosse, tennis, badminton, you name it. It's been a perfect spot for the boys and their friends to grow.

This year both hubby and I had the itch to go bigger than our raised beds will allow. Since the old space wasn't possible, we began anew. As anyone who's tried to turn grass into garden, this was quite a challenge. But we did, fairly successfully. We made trellis tee pees out of curly willow. I saw similar tee pees on a PBS Victory Garden tour, made with a straight branches. But, I had curly willows that needed a good trimming and I love being able to repurpose. We made 3 and they are architectural, functional and beautiful. The most amazing thing is that some of the branches, which we cut with regular tree trimmer thingies, actually started to grow. They must have rooted in the ground and now are covered with new growth.

We started seeds indoors this year, but somehow in the transfer to outside, the pots were mixed up and I ended up with cucumbers on every trellis and no zucchini anywhere. We bought some unique seeds this year, including a Lemon Cucumber, which is named so for the color and shape of it rather than the taste. I don't think I'll plant 'english' cucumbers again as they were disappointing. We've had such an abundance of cucumber that all our neighbors are in supply too.

I am currently fermenting pickles in a crock. Fingers crossed for delicious sour pickles!

My goodness it's...

Been a while. Spring and all the chores that come along with it are so enticing that I just don't seem to be drawn to this blog very much. Hmmm...

I just realized that I don't feel bad about that either. Isn't that interesting. Good and interesting. I used to feel guilty about things done and not done, but I've been spending some quality time with myself to release the negative-ness of guilt. It isn't beneficial to anyone and is quite detrimental to me. I guess I've been fairly successful at it. I like that.

We celebrated our 23rd anniversary. It's quite something and thank God I still love my hubby. Yes, he's annoying and he's a man, but more importantly he's my favorite person in the world.

We've begun a big project, adding onto our garage, which is taking quite a bit of time. It's coming along nicely though.

We've added a new garden to go along with our raised beds. The garden is enormous and I've only managed to fill it part way, but it's all good. We knew the size was too big for this year, but for next it will be awesome!

Our chickens scratched off or ate our tomato seedlings, so we had to make a trip to the nursery to buy replacements. Darn Chickens!

We inherited lots of strawberry plants, which we were able to move one rainy day in early May and they did not miss a beat and now we are enjoying fresh strawberries. My handy husband built a raccoon and chicken proof top that keeps the berries safe. What is also nice is it will keep them contained.

Oh and I've finally joined the ranks of the smart phoners. I love it! It's the most fun and best thing I've purchased in quite some time. Besides the apps, gadgets and whatnot, it makes it easier and more effective to keep in touch. I'm usually the last to join in on the new technology because while I might enjoy it, I don't always value it at the price set by the store/industry. But this phone is worth every penny.

I've managed to fit in a couple of really great sewing projects, which I'll be posting shortly. Gotta take some pictures first.

So it's been a while... but that's okay. It's an exciting time of life. I genuinely love May.

This rose is from a climbing bush. It's starting to bloom now and will continue to bloom through most of the summer. One of my favorites.

Happy Monday!

I am happy. It's going to be an excellent day!

I'm going to get some stuff done that I've been wanting to for a while and enjoy the tremendous weather at the same time.

This rose is a climbing rose that I bought on a whim. It didn't bloom the first year and I wasn't totally sure what it would look like. When it started to bloom this year, I was stunned. It produces the most amazingly, shockingly pink blooms. The color doesn't seem real, but I assure the picture is accurate. It's started to send shoots up, which we are going to train it to grow on a wire, up the side of the garage, and so while thoroughly enjoying the show this year, I am eagerly anticipating next year.

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." Buddha

I hope your Monday is happy and all that you want it to be.