I did a garden walk-through over the weekend.  The lasagna bed we threw together in the Fall is coming along nicely, I continue to be impressed by this technique.  The only destruction that was apparent was to my lovely rosemary plant which appeared dead.  After pulling back the straw mulch I saw a critter had made a nest right in the root system.  Sigh, I filled in the hole and cut the branches back hard, but only one out of seven or so was alive so I think it's fate may be sealed.

The asparagus bed was cleared out, and I threw down some compost, amendments, and the first batch of wood & bunny pellets courtesy of Bun-Bun.  It was a tough call......so many beds to feed, so little poop.  :) Alliums are sprouting up all over the place, and the one lone rosemary cutting that survived the winter (indoors) went out in the cold frame.

This area here stretching from the trees back to the fence was destined to become a wildflower patch LAST year, and it just didn't happen.  Lack of time and money is a valid excuse, but one we can not afford to make again this year.  Hoping all the seeds I ordered are still viable.  Now we just need a truck load or two of loam and lots of luck to pull it off.

***

Seedling update:

(Why did I not sow more peas here, these greens will be adequate for garnishing, but that is about it.)

***

We finished the bathroom re-do this weekend, so next weekend, and likely the couple following it, will be dedicated to garden projects:  A potting bench in the shed, and a full-size cold frame/bed out in the garden. And now to the finished bathroom:

The chandelier:

Limestone tile and a true representation of the wall color:

No-sew curtain project:

Voila!  My flash didn't go off when I took this last night so it all looks quite dark, 

but you get the general  idea.

***

(P.S. - Still no kale sprouting on my seedling shelf.  What a poor excuse for a gardener I am huh?)

HAPPY GARDENING!

Meet "Bun-Bun"

Here is my new garden friend:

This is Bun-Bun, my daughter's birthday present.  It is a mighty cute creature, and I am looking forward to letting it fertilize my garden.  The problem is that my dogs are interested in eating Bun-Bun.  Very interested.  I am hoping this small fuzzy critter will eventually stop looking so exciting to the canine members of the family.  They keep their noses to the cage, and the photo is always blurry thanks to their licking, bumping, and pawing.  Luckily Bun-Bun just thinks they are silly.

***

In garden news the tomato/eggplant/pepper seedlings are growing, and herbs and greens have been sown.  Everyday I say I am sowing kale.  It has not happened yet.  KALE, KALE, KALE!  Must sow some kale.

Blog-cation Over

The seeds have officially been started, yay!  Only the nightshades so far.  Herbs, spinach, and pea greens are next on my list.  I made little flags of sorts to label the soil blocks this time.  Last year's plan written out on paper did not work out so well, the problem I see with this set up is my dog requiring emergency surgery because she ingested toothpicks.  I think I am going to order little aluminum tags to attach to the stems once the seedlings become plants and are being put outside for acclimation to the elements.

Unfortunately that is all I have for garden news.  The rest of this post is about our household projects, the stuff that has been keeping us busy this winter.  You have been warned!  ;)

We finished my daughter's room while I was on blog-cation.  She is happy with it but I am beyond irritated on how messy it continues to be, even after my lovely husband built shelves for one of the closets, and I organized all the toys in bins for the new shelves.  Sigh, here are some 'after' photos while it was still neat and tidy.  If I showed you what it looks like now you might cry.

The whole family has been down and out with a nasty flu virus.  This struck at an inopportune time (not there is ever a good time)- but this struck after we had removed the sink, toilet, and flooring from our downstairs bathroom.  Thankfully I laid new tile and made a curtain to tie in the new red paint before falling ill, and my husband repaired leaky plumbing and shored up the wall behind the sink.  Otherwise things have come to a grinding halt, and it really stinks to be without that bathroom for weeks on end.  Here is our progress so far:

Hubby is about to rip up that blue tile.  The splash of red on the wall is the future color.

I went for honed limestone on the new floor.  Quite a change from the old blue aye?!

A small chandelier is on it's way, I am going to wire it on the wall above the mirror and swag it up to the ceiling if I decide I like it in the space.  See, I have a bit of a lighting problem.  The problem is that I really only like fixtures from Pottery Barn in my home.  Any time I settle for something out of a big box store I ultimately replace it over and over until I just splurge on what I REALLY want.  Which is PB.  I also have the same problem with duvet covers, but I digress.

Also from PB is this adorable bird hook, I purchased the large single bird to replace the towel bar.

And lastly, here is the fabric & ribbon used on the curtain.  (My apologies for the poor lighting.)  I wanted something that would lighten the room and make the red less formal.  I found some hand towels in the nice silver-blue color seen in the fabric, so hopefully it will all pull together nicely when the room is done.

(P.S.- Happy March!)

Blog-cation

Hi all, just wanted to say that I have taken a bit of a blog hiatus (reading AND writing).  We have been busy tackling unfinished household projects, and I have done things like file the taxes, paint my fingernails,   and try a few new bread recipes.  Fun stuff!

Spring and the gardening mania that comes along with it will be here before we know it, so I am enjoying a blog-cation while we are still buried in the white stuff.  Hope you all are having a great February, and I look forward to seeing what you have been up to real soon.

(P.S.- Somebody requested a jam recipe a little while ago, and I accidentally deleted the e-mail....send me a reminder request, because after all, you know who you are and I for the life of me can not remember.)

A New Kind of Candy

I have been wrestling with a wicked head cold all week long.  Thankfully I am feeling 100% from the neck down, but from the neck up I am miserable and pathetic, you all know that look....watery eyes, chapped nose and upper lip, and the nasally voice that no one can understand.  Nothing like a good cold to put the brakes on one's indoor seed sowing and canning intentions.  I would scatter seeds and dusty soil-less mix with every sneeze.  Gathering supplies out in the cold shed is not so appealing.  Trying to make a final decision on what tomato varieties to sow is not so appealing.  Juggling hot jars and boiling liquids is not so appealing.  Hmph.

This lack of gardening happenings is however, a good opportunity to do something else I have been meaning to do, which is to show you all a fun gift I received over Christmas:

Those are not candy coated confections, but instead are clay and compost coated seeds.  My sister thoughtfully chose the 'Herbal Tea Selection', and I just think this garden candy is fabulous!

Lemon Balm, Stinging Nettle, Borage, and Chamomile bon bons.  These garden truffles have even been dusted with things like coffee, pepper, and cinnamon- the creators organic method of trying to keep pests  from enjoying your garden confections.

Love it!

Hammering out the details.....

Has anyone else out there had some heirloom tomato varieties go awry?

I have two varieties I grew out last year, one received in an on-line trade ("Pink Brandywine"), the other purchased from a small professional heirloom seed saver ("Amazon Chocolate"), that should have been potato leafed, but were not.  I know various genetic traits can be expressed in unstable varieties, and also, mis-labeling on seed the packet and on my end can certainly occur.  The problem is that this leaves me wondering what I actually grew.  And asking questions, like will the seeds I saved produce the same strain or will something new be expressed?  Will the original seed packet produce the same crop as the first?

None of these worries are large, but when a gardener is only growing 2 slicing tomato varieties, that gardener does not have room for experimentation.  (At least I don't!)  So, I am just wondering as I get set up to start seeds today, and am finalizing the varieties to be sown, does anyone else have this problem often, or is it a rare occurrence?

And if you experience this, is it only with 'saved seed', or do commercial heirloom seeds sometimes become unstable genetically as well?

Bread Trials

If only you all could smell my house right now.  This bread baking is not good for the diet.  My stomach is rumbling, and my mouth is watering over the aroma of baking bread.  I was inspired to get off my heiny and bake a loaf after reading the latest bread post by Thomas over at A Growing Tradition on his whole wheat baguettes.  They look a-m-a-z-i-n-g.

I bought the Tassajara Bread Book book quite some time ago, with the intention of baking from scratch more often.  But I just hadn't gotten around to actually trying a recipe.  My yeast in the freezer is at least 2 years old, and my supply of flours is nothing to brag about, but no matter, I started off with a simple white whole wheat loaf.  (http://www.amazon.com/Tassajara-Bread-Book-Edward-Brown/dp/157062089X)

After careful mixing, kneading, rising, punching, rising, more kneading, and lastly, more rising, the dough was plopped into my favorite pan ever (an Emile Henry dutch oven) and put in the oven.

(Before being set in a cozy place to rise.)

(Before going in the oven.)

After 30 minutes I checked on the loaf and much to my surprise it had risen up to the lid as it baked, luckily it didn't stick-  what a waste of a morning that would have been!  So I hindered the full rising of this bread by putting it the dutch oven (who's purpose is to lend a nice, crunchy crust), and the recipe isn't intended to be an artisan loaf in the first place, so I think that was just a poor decision on my part overall.

(See all those 'dots' on the loaf?  They are the impression of underside of the lid.  Whoopsy!)

Ahh, the joyous lessons of bread baking, lets just hope she tastes half as good as she smells!!

Peachy-Keen

I finally dug the in-season-frozen peaches out of the freezer today and put them to good use.  The stars aligned and I had clean jars, all necessary ingredients, time, and motivation at hand.  Back when it was peach season I was in no mood to can.  Now in the cold months of winter I get exited about boiling water and simmering down jams and relishes for 40 minutes over the stove.   Very excited.  Today I made "Sun Relish" (peaches and peppers) and "Peach Lavender Jam", both from this cookbook:

Amazon.com: The Complete Book of Year-Round Small-Batch Preserving: Over 300 Delicious Recipes (9781552094891): Ellie Topp, Margaret Howard: Books

Still have blueberries and strawberries waiting in the freezer, but that will have to wait for another day.

Sun Relish reducing:

The finished product ready for a taste test.  The book suggests serving with things like 

cheddar or cream cheese.  I am also thinking it would compliment some Mahi Mahi burgers.

The empty jam pot.  The steeping lavender smelled amazing, 

and the resulting jam is both unusual and delicious.  I am dying to try it on a warm biscuit or pop-over.

Yummy.

Sun Relish- Makes 4 cups; recipe courtesy of The Complete Book of Small Batch Preserving.

6 peaches (peeled, pitted and chopped)

6 sweet yellow, and 1 hot yellow pepper (seeded & chopped)

1 lemon, halved

1/2 C white wine vinegar

2 1/2 C granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp pickling salt

Place peaches,  peppers, lemon and vinegar in saucepan.  Bring to a boil over med-high heat, reduce heat and boil gently, uncovered for 30 minutes, or until softened.  Remove and discard lemon, addsugar and salt; return to a boil.  Cook, uncovered, for about 20 minutes until mixture thickens stirring frequently.  (Note: I had to reduce for much longer, probably because I started with frozen peaches.)

Ladle into jars leaving 1/2 inch head space; process 10 minutes for half-pint, or 15 minutes for pint jars.

HAPPY CANNING!

New Garden Goodies

I ordered some supplies from Lee Valley, and I can't wait to put them to use!  First, I ordered a bulb sprayer/duster.  This I plan on using with my kaolin clay as a non-harmful pesticide on the apple trees and cole crops.  From what I understand the clay basically tricks the pests into not liking their chosen crop, the layer of clay on the leaves or fruit fools them a bit.  I also ordered some three and four-arm cane connectors for constructing cages to hold bird netting over the strawberries, blueberries, etc....

(Yes, my coffee table is clean though it looks filthy.  The finish is just beyond 'used and abused'.)

 (photos taken from Lee Valley on-line catalog)

The kids have taken to the rubber cane connectors within minutes of the package being opened, turns out they double as building blocks on the off season.  :)

New Beginings

I had started working on a photographic walk through of last year's garden days ago, but I just lost motivation half-way through.

Yesterday evening I couldn't help but peruse the web for cooking/canning/gardening books that I had yet to discover I could not live without.  I of course found a few.  Christmas cash is always a good excuse to update my library!  I ordered a couple of things and one book is on reserve for pick-up at the book store.  I was taken aback by all the new books on preserving and cooking with fresh garden ingredients, I guess the publishers are finally catching up with the times.  Here is what I decided on:

Amazon.com: Saving the Seasons: How to Can, Freeze, or Dry Almost Anything (9780836195125): Mary Clemens Meyer, Susanna Meyer: Books

Amazon.com: Canning for a New Generation: Bold, Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry (9781584798644): Liana Krissoff, Rinne Allen: Books

Amazon.com: Fast, Fresh & Green (9780811865661): Susie Middleton: Books

Amazon.com: A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table (9781616877323): Molly Wizenberg: Books

The first book linked is from the Simply In Season and More with Less people, and I can not express how excited I am to see it since I love that series of books.     The recipes in the Fast, Fresh, and Green seem to be just what I am after....simple recipes using ingredients I have out in the garden at any given moment.  I am sure many of these new recipes will be posted here over the next gardening season.

And lastly, I went to bed and dreamed of chard and mixed greens last night.  Rows of bright, beautiful Rainbow Chard.  Tossing together bowls of mixed greens and simple vinaigrettes.....yummm.  My garden fantasies have officially begun!