I needed to get the soil turned over first so made that yesterday's project. Bryan of course wanted to "help" so we enlisted the assistance of Tonka and gang. Ethan said he'd help by taking a nap.
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gardening. Show all posts
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Getting Ready for Spring
For the last few years I've started a veggie garden using a method I found in Organic Gardening magazine. Our start of growing season here in the Charlotte area is around February 15th so I'm already behind schedule, but the date always creeps up quickly and I end up planting in March every year.
I needed to get the soil turned over first so made that yesterday's project. Bryan of course wanted to "help" so we enlisted the assistance of Tonka and gang. Ethan said he'd help by taking a nap.
I needed to get the soil turned over first so made that yesterday's project. Bryan of course wanted to "help" so we enlisted the assistance of Tonka and gang. Ethan said he'd help by taking a nap.
Wednesday, July 13, 2011
Zucchini Abundance Solved!
There are a few solutions to not wasting the overabundant zucchini you may gather from a few plants in your backyard (see previous post). I have 4 zucchini plants and there are more than enough zucchinis to go around from just these few. The zucchini are the big-leaved plants in the foreground in this pic. 
Here were my solutions:
Here were my solutions:1) Snuck over to my neighbor Olivia's house and left a few zucchinis the size of baseball bats on her welcome mat (evil chuckle).
2) Steam them and puree for Bryan's babyfood dinners for the next 5 months (joking, but only half). He should have enough zucchini puree frozen in the freezer to last for some time.
3) Made zucchini bread which was a hit with husband, although I'm still looking for a better recipe.
4) Made zucchini pasta sauce which can be frozen for future use. The key thing with this trick is that it's tasty and also uses 2 lbs of zucchini for a single batch which is enough for Paul and I to have dinner with it and then leftovers for lunch tomorrow (so not a huge batch that feeds an army). So you figure: double or triple it and you use up 4 or 6 lbs of zucchini and have some good sauce frozen for those nights you don't want to "cook." Recipe is as follows:
2 lbs. of zucchini thinly sliced (use a mandoline or food processor if you have one - goes a lot faster)
1/2 cup of chopped onion
3 cloves of garlic with skin removed
2 tsp. of herb de Provence (I don't have this but it consists of many herbs. I used the ones I had but didn't have all of them on hand (missing savory). I used a combo of these herbs: rosemary, basil (heavy on this one), marjoram, fennel seeds, oregano, and thyme to add up to about 2 tsp.)
olive oil
1/2 tsp. salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup vegetable broth
Saute the veggies and herbs and seasoning for about 3 minutes in a few Tbsp. of olive oil. Use a LARGE wok or saucepan or you will get zucchini everywhere. Add the vegetable broth and simmer for 7 minutes. Blend/puree in blender/Vitamix with a few more Tbs. of oil to make a sauce of desired consistency. Serve over pasta and enjoy! Now just a warning: the appearance isn't fabulous- husband thought it looked gross, but he loved the taste. I had to agree that the green slop didn't look so appetizing.
Friday, July 8, 2011
Happy Summer!
Spring/summer has been a whirlwind this year with me doing field work in May (my mom came out to come with me on my trips and babysit Bryan in the hotel room - lots of adventures there) and gardening galore, keeping Bryan occupied and such. It's amazing how busy I am and how little I feel I have accomplished to show for it. And here we are, already at the 4th of July! Hope you all had a good one. We went to our neighbors' for a BBQ lunch.. Bryan loved watching the 'big girls' while he was eating.
We also went to a co-worker's BBQ party this weekend and Bryan chilled out in the Ergobaby carrier most of the afternoon - he was being a little shy.
What do you do when you have more zucchini than you can give away?
You play with your food, of course!
Simple, inexpensive entertainment for everyone!
I must remind myself to post this great zucchini pasta sauce recipe that I found. The zucchini bread recipe I have isn't so good.. on the prowl for a new one so send it along if you have one.
We also went to a co-worker's BBQ party this weekend and Bryan chilled out in the Ergobaby carrier most of the afternoon - he was being a little shy.
What do you do when you have more zucchini than you can give away?
You play with your food, of course!
Simple, inexpensive entertainment for everyone!
I must remind myself to post this great zucchini pasta sauce recipe that I found. The zucchini bread recipe I have isn't so good.. on the prowl for a new one so send it along if you have one.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Green, yellow and white all over
What's green, yellow and white all over? Our laundry! The project for yesterday afternoon was washing all the baby clothes, blankets, bed linens and cloth diapers so that they can be put away and ready for use. It was pretty cute seeing all those newborn Onesies folded up! Ahh simple pleasures.
We finally got rain in South Carolina, too, which has been the big news around here. People practically dancing in the streets with joy. I think it's been something like 35 days without rain and that is something to contend with when all the plant life around here is used to at least one thunderstorm per week. We'd all given up on our lawns and I think Lawn Patrol has too, thank goodness. My rain barrel/soaker hose system amazingly kept our veggie garden alive through the blistering heat and "drought" although we didn't get much of a crop this year. We got a total of 2 cantaloupes, 4 cabbages, 1 bell pepper and 4 tomatoes and a bushel of jalepenos (odd that they did well)... and we are talking edibles, not number of plants here.
We finally got rain in South Carolina, too, which has been the big news around here. People practically dancing in the streets with joy. I think it's been something like 35 days without rain and that is something to contend with when all the plant life around here is used to at least one thunderstorm per week. We'd all given up on our lawns and I think Lawn Patrol has too, thank goodness. My rain barrel/soaker hose system amazingly kept our veggie garden alive through the blistering heat and "drought" although we didn't get much of a crop this year. We got a total of 2 cantaloupes, 4 cabbages, 1 bell pepper and 4 tomatoes and a bushel of jalepenos (odd that they did well)... and we are talking edibles, not number of plants here.
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Nesting
Our fledgelings have left the nest, but before the whole family flew the coop, I managed to snag a blurry picture of Mom and Dad hanging out on a nearby branch to catch a breather between feedings. On this particular day I was working from home at the kitchen table and had the chance to notice the comings and goings of these hard-working parents as they made their way back and forth to the nest with worms, caterpillars and miscellaneous flying bugs. After each feeding, they would fly back to this same branch outside the kitchen window and preen, side by side. The next day, the whole family was gone. I'm glad I had a chance to watch the these tireless little wonders!
The tree was still not completely debarked because the outdoor temps soared again, so it had to remain outside. But after the neighboring birds got used to it being on the deck, some adventurous ones came by to make sure it was sturdy enough.
It's been turtle-nesting season, I'm thinking, because they are on the move just lately. Sadly, many get run over on the roads because they are trying to get to wherever they are trying to get to on the other side of the road, and they are not quite fast enough. Plus, they just ball up in their shell when a car comes their way. I have had to pull over and hitchhike a few to the other side.
This guy was cruising the perimeter of our veggie garden and was making a hasty retreat when I came by. Luckily, even at his fast pace, I was able to tap on the window to get Paul, he got his shoes on, found the camera and came out to grab a picture before the turtle could make the large 10 foot journey to the underbrush.
Even I am nesting. It kicked in and my gosh the projects that can be accomplished when focused! Curtains for both family room windows are nearly done after a few weekends of hard work (I've had the fabric for about a year), and wow are they orange! I love the color but they are orangier hanging than they were flat, so I'm working on ways to blend the colors in with the rest of the room and I think painting the walls will be key, along with some accessories.
With all the bird activity, I decided to start one of my back-burner projects and make Clementine her very own indoor tree perch. Not being a very confident bird with her footing, I'm not sure how she'll take to something so jungle-gym like, but we'll see. I thought it would be nice to keep her big old cage in the office and have the tree out in the family room for her to sit on while we are home. It takes less space and it would give her a different place to be so it's not the same old, same old. I used one of the fallen branches in our yard and bought screws and bolts to construct this tree of perches. I had to strip the bark and will give it a douse of bleach water to kill all bacteria, fungi and bugs.
The tree was still not completely debarked because the outdoor temps soared again, so it had to remain outside. But after the neighboring birds got used to it being on the deck, some adventurous ones came by to make sure it was sturdy enough.It's been turtle-nesting season, I'm thinking, because they are on the move just lately. Sadly, many get run over on the roads because they are trying to get to wherever they are trying to get to on the other side of the road, and they are not quite fast enough. Plus, they just ball up in their shell when a car comes their way. I have had to pull over and hitchhike a few to the other side. This guy was cruising the perimeter of our veggie garden and was making a hasty retreat when I came by. Luckily, even at his fast pace, I was able to tap on the window to get Paul, he got his shoes on, found the camera and came out to grab a picture before the turtle could make the large 10 foot journey to the underbrush.
Even I am nesting. It kicked in and my gosh the projects that can be accomplished when focused! Curtains for both family room windows are nearly done after a few weekends of hard work (I've had the fabric for about a year), and wow are they orange! I love the color but they are orangier hanging than they were flat, so I'm working on ways to blend the colors in with the rest of the room and I think painting the walls will be key, along with some accessories.Thursday, July 1, 2010
Progress in the Garden
This spring was my first experience using my compost that took 2 years to mature. I have since realized that mowing/chopping my autumn leaves before putting them into my compost speeds things up tremendously. See, last fall I started a new pile before my old pile was finished. I didn't want to add new leaves to a nearly mature compost pile and so much to the chagrin of my neighbors, I had two monstrosities going simultaneously. With this new pile I have turned religiously every weekend and have the smaller leaves and it is already nearly at the stage that the 2007 pile was in by 2010. This spring I used my mature compost to spread around all my planted trees and shrubs which all needed a boost, and I used the rest to start my vegetable garden. Fun thing: I ended up with lots of surprise seedlings around my front yard bushes. I didn't pull them right away like I would other weeds because I was suspicious (and was right) that they were tomato plants! So looking carefully in the photo below, around a boxwood are 3 or 4 tomato plants.
I also ended up with a mystery squash or melon plant growing from my compost in the veggie garden. I still haven't figured out what kind of veggie or fruit it is, but I'm patiently waiting to find out. Another fun thing about my compost is that the results were quite amazing when my neighbor asked why the two cabbages on the far right are twice as big as the others. they were all the same size when I planted them, but the only difference was the two cabbage plants were growing in my compost and the rest were growing in the store-bought compost. I didn't have enough homemade compost to fill up the whole garden so only about 1/3 of it is filled with my compost. I might have converted my neighbor who was till that moment my biggest critic for the unsightly compost piles. She started asking me the particulars of compost-making.
The big project for the spring was this vegetable garden and the fun addition of a rain barrel. I bought one that is the most unobtrusive that I could find and hooked a soaker hose to it and a special rain barrel timer (that can run without any pressure). 
This setup, along with a rainy spring, has kept my garden watered self-sufficiently until the last few weeks when I needed some more aggressive watering due to the heat wave we had. The garden has gained a few neighborhood fans who come and admire the rain barrel operation. So I have to keep it well tended and weeded so as not to disappoint the fans.
I also ended up with a mystery squash or melon plant growing from my compost in the veggie garden. I still haven't figured out what kind of veggie or fruit it is, but I'm patiently waiting to find out. Another fun thing about my compost is that the results were quite amazing when my neighbor asked why the two cabbages on the far right are twice as big as the others. they were all the same size when I planted them, but the only difference was the two cabbage plants were growing in my compost and the rest were growing in the store-bought compost. I didn't have enough homemade compost to fill up the whole garden so only about 1/3 of it is filled with my compost. I might have converted my neighbor who was till that moment my biggest critic for the unsightly compost piles. She started asking me the particulars of compost-making. The big project for the spring was this vegetable garden and the fun addition of a rain barrel. I bought one that is the most unobtrusive that I could find and hooked a soaker hose to it and a special rain barrel timer (that can run without any pressure). This setup, along with a rainy spring, has kept my garden watered self-sufficiently until the last few weeks when I needed some more aggressive watering due to the heat wave we had. The garden has gained a few neighborhood fans who come and admire the rain barrel operation. So I have to keep it well tended and weeded so as not to disappoint the fans.Another great thing is that the rain barrel can't easily be seen from the front of the house. 
Saturday, June 12, 2010
I'm Back!!
Hi Everyone,
I don't know where the last three months of life have gone! Just a few short weeks after I last posted on the blog, Paul and I found out I am....
We kept it rather quiet for the first trimester. In the meantime, I celebrated my 35th birthday and Paul made me my favorite cake served on Bella and Edward plates! I have been reading him the Twilight Saga books - my favorite tied with Pride and Prejudice. He had to know what I was obsessing about so I insisted he listen every night while I read a chapter or two. He's gotten out of a few nights here and there. We are now almost at the end of the last book are all in anticipation of the release of Eclipse - the movie of the third book. Notice how Paul served me my slice of cake on Bella's face so I had Edward staring at me while I ate.
During the months of February and March, most of the weekends were spent collecting rocks from vacant lots to build this dry-stone wall garden bed for our veggie garden.
Almost all of April and May I was traveling back to back each week on various field projects for work. I told work I could finish up the spring field season but would be out of commission for the rest of my pregnancy after that. Thank goodness! Because my feet are starting to swell along with my belly and field work was getting awkward towards the end. May 20th we left for San Francisco to visit my sister and her boyfriend in Mariposa.
Then we drove down to So. Cal with Heather to visit with the rest of the family and attend our cousin Kaitlyn's wedding.
We did some adventure hiking using a guidebook that we had to consult at every turn...
That led us to pools that we had to swim across to get to the next waterfall. We left our clothes stashed in the bushes and had our swimsuits on underneath. Good thing we planned ahead and brought waterproof bags for our camera and guidebook..
We did some less adventurous hikes to some very scenic beaches..
and of course made an effort to see the sunset every day!
It's dinner time, so I will go for now. Bye till next time!
I don't know where the last three months of life have gone! Just a few short weeks after I last posted on the blog, Paul and I found out I am....
We kept it rather quiet for the first trimester. In the meantime, I celebrated my 35th birthday and Paul made me my favorite cake served on Bella and Edward plates! I have been reading him the Twilight Saga books - my favorite tied with Pride and Prejudice. He had to know what I was obsessing about so I insisted he listen every night while I read a chapter or two. He's gotten out of a few nights here and there. We are now almost at the end of the last book are all in anticipation of the release of Eclipse - the movie of the third book. Notice how Paul served me my slice of cake on Bella's face so I had Edward staring at me while I ate.During the months of February and March, most of the weekends were spent collecting rocks from vacant lots to build this dry-stone wall garden bed for our veggie garden.Almost all of April and May I was traveling back to back each week on various field projects for work. I told work I could finish up the spring field season but would be out of commission for the rest of my pregnancy after that. Thank goodness! Because my feet are starting to swell along with my belly and field work was getting awkward towards the end. May 20th we left for San Francisco to visit my sister and her boyfriend in Mariposa.Then we drove down to So. Cal with Heather to visit with the rest of the family and attend our cousin Kaitlyn's wedding.
On the 24th Paul and I headed to Maui for our 5-year-later belated honeymoon! We had such a great time. We rented a beachfront condo for the 6 days. What a view!
We did plenty of snorkeling. That's Paul by the way.
We did some adventure hiking using a guidebook that we had to consult at every turn...That led us to pools that we had to swim across to get to the next waterfall. We left our clothes stashed in the bushes and had our swimsuits on underneath. Good thing we planned ahead and brought waterproof bags for our camera and guidebook..We did some less adventurous hikes to some very scenic beaches..and of course made an effort to see the sunset every day!It's dinner time, so I will go for now. Bye till next time!Friday, February 12, 2010
Fun in Feb.
Well, it's been another month and we've had snow twice already! We got about an inch or so of snow about 2 weeks ago and there are still small chunks of it melting in shady spots that haven't seen much sun. It's been very cold for here! Then today without much warning, we've just started getting more.
A few days ago we were celebrating Paul's 3... th birthday and wow that's quite something when I think back to when we met and he was a lad at 29.
Dad made us this fantastic bird house for Christmas, so we got it put up last weekend (finally). We were waiting for a non-rainy, non-snowing weekend, and it finally came!
A cute thing about Paul and his toolbelt is that he is relatively new to toolbelt use and so he will put it on with all good intentions, but forget to put things back in the pockets. So the screwdriver, hammer, tape measure, etc. will most likely be spread all over the floor and his toolbelt will be empty by the end of the day.
Ta-da! Isn't Dad talented? I think this is the cutest bird house that ever existed.
Here is an apron I made out of a vintage pillowcase and handkerchiefs. I am starting to make gift baskets with different themes, but the eco-kitchen basket is growing to be my favorite just because of the aprons.
Hope you are all doing well! Have a good rest of February and stay warm!
A few days ago we were celebrating Paul's 3... th birthday and wow that's quite something when I think back to when we met and he was a lad at 29.
Dad made us this fantastic bird house for Christmas, so we got it put up last weekend (finally). We were waiting for a non-rainy, non-snowing weekend, and it finally came!
A cute thing about Paul and his toolbelt is that he is relatively new to toolbelt use and so he will put it on with all good intentions, but forget to put things back in the pockets. So the screwdriver, hammer, tape measure, etc. will most likely be spread all over the floor and his toolbelt will be empty by the end of the day.
Ta-da! Isn't Dad talented? I think this is the cutest bird house that ever existed.Here is an apron I made out of a vintage pillowcase and handkerchiefs. I am starting to make gift baskets with different themes, but the eco-kitchen basket is growing to be my favorite just because of the aprons.Hope you are all doing well! Have a good rest of February and stay warm!Sunday, September 27, 2009
Fall Is In the Air
We have been doing loads of projects and having fun around the house the last few weekends starting with a long Labor Day weekend. The weather has been cooler and so it has been more fun to be outside than it was in August. Even the critters seem to be enjoying it!
My plants have been thriving too...
The "Trifids" have been catching lots of bugs in their pitcher-like mouths and have been multiplying like rabbits.
The two redwood trees I got in the late spring have each grown about a foot (behind the bear)! 
Tracy's birthday was last weekend...
and we've done a bike ride or two...
Yep, it's still humid.... see hair.
... but that didn't stop Paul! 
He poured his own sweat into making some shelves for the Star Wars room, even learning to use 3 new power tools: the router...
Table saw and lastly a bisquit-joiner (not shown).
He covered the garage and himself from head to toe in sawdust in the process.
... and then collapsed.
Maybe next week I'll show what projects I was working on. For now, it's dinner time. Goodnight!
My plants have been thriving too...
The "Trifids" have been catching lots of bugs in their pitcher-like mouths and have been multiplying like rabbits.
The two redwood trees I got in the late spring have each grown about a foot (behind the bear)!Tracy's birthday was last weekend...
and we've done a bike ride or two...
Yep, it's still humid.... see hair.
... but that didn't stop Paul! He poured his own sweat into making some shelves for the Star Wars room, even learning to use 3 new power tools: the router...Table saw and lastly a bisquit-joiner (not shown).
He covered the garage and himself from head to toe in sawdust in the process. ... and then collapsed. Maybe next week I'll show what projects I was working on. For now, it's dinner time. Goodnight!
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