Dust Bath

Recirculating Bather

2011-12-28T22:30:00.002-06:00

This is something every dog owner and definitely every Tibetan Terrier owner should have. It is the MOST amazing thing I have ever used. And bonus! I made it myself!

So what is it?!?!

It's a recirculating bather. Basically a pump that circulates the bath water and sprays it over your dog. Why is it so amazing? Well, I used much less water bathing Tibby with the recirc. bather. She came out super, super soft and extremely clean. Like she has NEVER been this clean EVER.

Here it is in the tub all ready to use. So wanna make your own?

You will need:

One 1/4 hp utility pump

A short (6 foot or so) leader hose or connector hose

One spray nozzle

You can see I duct taped the spray nozzle, so it will stay open all the time. I also put a rubber mat on the tub bottom, so the pump wouldn't make SO much noise.

Then simply fill your tub with warm water. Add some shampoo to the water. Add dog. :) Turn on pump. Spray dog. It's very relaxing. Tibby leaned into the spray.

Then drain tub. Rinse dog with clean water. I have a spray head on my shower, so I used that.

Then re-fill tub. Put conditioner on dog. Turn recirc. pump on and DEEP condition. Then turn pump off. Drain tub and rinse dog with clean water.

Tibby liked it and I thought it was amazing!

These are the before pictures. Tibby doesn't LOOK that dirty, but she was SO dirty. And getting matty too :( I think the detangler I was using was too greasy. Her fur just felt nasty.

Post recirc. bather bath. She is SOOOO silky and soft. I can't stop touching her fur. It's like the softest thing I have ever felt. The pictures aren't the greatest. We started her bath at 8pm and it was almost midnight before I was done with the whole blow dry, brush, dematt thing.

Pictures today. She is sparkling white and golden. My Mom has been recently saying that Tibby was losing her color, but I think it was just the nasty detangler I was using - too greasy and yucky. And I was using gobs of detangler, because I couldn't get her clean in the bath. Vicious cycle.

These are the products I used. I was waiting for them last night and snatched them out of the UPS man's hands - that's how excited I was to get them! LOL! Last night I used the Clean Start and the Spectrum 10 conditioner and Ice on Ice for the detangler, but I hardly needed any detangler - amazing how clean fur brushes SO much easier. Also a wonderful pin brush. I can't wait to try the White on White and Gold on Gold shampoo! Tibby will look so amazing!

Winter Turkeys

2011-12-08T17:08:00.000-06:00

When I was walking with Tibby today, we saw a huge flock of turkeys.

There were at least 25, but they were a little shy.

Plums

2011-09-05T12:42:00.000-05:00

Picked the plums off of ONE of my trees. Lots and lots of plums. All three trees are plum trees. Who knew?!? They are just different varieties. So no apricots. Or cherries.

The Pond With A Few Friends

2011-08-15T00:44:00.000-05:00

The fish had babies again this year. If you look very closely you can see some tiny, tiny black smudges. They don't have any coloring on their bodies, just on their eyes and the end of their tails. Most of them are still black, but s few are already growing and turning orange/white. This is the cleanest my pond has ever been. I think I might be getting the hang of ponding.

We have frogs!!! Finally! I have been waiting SO LONG for some frogs to find my pond.

There were 4 of them. I took a lot of pictures.

Garden Update

2011-07-05T13:46:00.000-05:00

The garden is growing. Rain + Heat = Green!

Tibby (on the chair) and Catty check out the fish.

Fruit Question

2011-07-02T11:53:00.000-05:00

I've thought that this was a cherry tree for the last 3 years. Am I wrong?

It grows like a cherry tree, has leaves like a cherry tree and bark like a cherry tree, but these are some BIG cherries!

This is the first year that it has had any fruit.

My finger for size comparison.

Next tree. This is a plum tree. It has had plums before, so I KNOW that is is a plum tree.

One of the 3 currant trees that I planted last year. They are growing HUGE!

Finally apples on the apple trees. Well, on one of the trees. The other 2 still don't have any fruit on them.

And that beautiful apricot tree with all the blooms? Zero fruit. Last year I had a few apricots even with all the fruit drop after the late freeze. BUT I remembered to prune last year. Next year.....

Pond and A Few Blooms

2011-06-20T18:30:00.000-05:00

My water lilies that over wintered in the pond. They are blooming a lot earlier this year.

So this is what the pond looks like now. I am NEVER moving it again!

Foxglove. One of my favorite flowers.

Delphinium.

Garden 2011 - Spring

2011-05-27T14:45:00.000-05:00

A lot has changed in the backyard since last year. I planted grass, for one thing. This is the first time I have ever planted grass in my entire life. I have killed a lot of grass over the years, but NEVER planted it. Turns out it is kind of difficult to grow. Well, if you have a puppy that insists on running across it and trying to dig it up :)

The pond. The white trellis fell over a couple days ago. Well, actually it was picked up and twisted around by the wind. It was a strong wind, because that is not a light trellis.

The water lilies over wintered with the fish in the pond. They seem to be fine. I replanted them and there are many leaves already floating on the water. Soon water lilies! I also added some water lettuce, water hyacinth and parrot feather. I also added 40 Japanese trapdoor snails. There is a toad that lives in the rocks around the pond. So lots of wildlife in/around the pond. I wonder what happened to all the salamanders and frogs I added to the pond last fall?

Only 6 garden beds. I took out 7 beds. I wanted to cut back, because it seems like - yes I can grow a ton of food in my backyard - but why am I doing it? A lot of stuff went to waste last year, because I didn't have enough time to care for everything. I want to have a garden that is productive and looks good too.

View from the porch of the grass.

I'm really happy with the changes that I made. It's pretty and now I have more time to enjoy it, instead of only having time to take care of it.

Can't remember what the garden looked like last year? Neither could I :)

Click on the links below if you want to see the yard last year.

Garden Sept 2010

July 2010

June Garden Update 2010

May 2010 - easiest on this post to see the difference between this year and last year

Apricot

2011-05-21T10:42:00.000-05:00

The apricot tree is in bloom! I think I might get some fruit this year, if the weather stays warm. Last year it was warm too early and then we had a late frost that dropped all the tiny apricots. Being the lazy gardener that I am, I didn't manage to prune any of my fruit trees. I got the cherry tree half done, but didn't even touch the other ones. There are a lot of crossed branches, so hopefully I can do a little green summer pruning after the fruit (fingers crossed for fruit)!!!

Some More Birds

2011-05-14T23:24:00.002-05:00

I took these pictures this morning.

There are a lot of birds in the garden this year. Even more than last year.

Mourning Dove

2011-04-19T22:16:00.000-05:00

This mourning dove visited the pond yesterday.

Signs Of Spring?

2011-03-11T13:21:00.000-06:00

The cardinal that nests in my neighborhood is back.

I took these pictures from inside my house through the sliding glass door.

He and his mate (who is very shy) have been nesting here for years. I've lived here for more than 6 years - they come back every year.

There are also blue jays in the neighborhood, but they stay on the other side of the street.

There were 2 woodpeckers in my front yard yesterday and a HUGE fat squirrel.

Soaking Mushrooms

2011-02-24T19:40:00.000-06:00

Lobster Bisque

2011-01-08T18:56:00.002-06:00

This Lobster Bisque is made with 'Lobster-flavored seafood'.

Lobster Bisque

8 oz pkg Lobster Classic

2 Tbs. butter

1 med onion - chopped

1/2 lb. mushrooms - sliced

2 Tbs. flour

3 cups milk

1 tsp. lemon peel

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1/2 cup half and half

1/4 cup sherry

1 Tbs. chopped celery

In saucepan melt butter, and saute onions and mushrooms. Add flour and stir until smooth. Slowly add milk and cook until slightly thickened. Stir in remaining ingredients, heat gently, but do not boil. Season with salt, pepper and a dash of nutmeg. Makes 4 servings.

Pup-sicles

2010-12-02T17:02:00.000-06:00

This is a dog (or cat) treat recipe. Although you could eat it - I guess.

Pup-sicles

Ice cube tray or silicon candy tray

canned salmon

yogurt (I used Greek style)

anything your dog likes to eat - I've used frozen vegetables and kibble.

Press salmon into the bottom of each compartment. Layer yogurt on top and freeze until solid. Remove from tray and put in a zip-loc bag. Keep frozen.

When I want to keep Tibby busy I give her one of these. They don't last as long as a frozen Kong, but they are pre-made, so I don't have to remember to stuff and freeze her Kong.

Tibby likes them!

Mini Pita Biscuits

2010-11-22T12:53:00.001-06:00

I like the idea of biscuits.

The easy to roll out, perfectly round, individual portions - in other words the Perfect Biscuit. However, I have never discovered this holy grail. Most recipes leave you with a messy counter, crumbs of flour and butter and are hard to mix together. If a recipe says anything about 'pea sized' bits of cut in butter, I know I won't have fun making that recipe (even though I will probably suffer through making it).

Yesterday, I was planning on making pizza, so I started to make some dough. I only had 2 hours to make it from yeast poof to eat, so I decided to make my favorite pita bread recipe for the crust. Then I thought, "Why can't I make this dough into biscuits?"

And Behold! The Mini Pita Biscuit was made!

This dough is really nice and easy to handle. It is dream dough! The pita biscuits are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside AND they still taste great the 2nd day.

Mini Pita Biscuits

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp instant (also called: fast acting or bread machine) yeast

2 tsp baking powder (secret ingredient!)

2 tsp sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 cup water

2 Tbs veg. oil

Combine all the ingredients to form a shaggy dough. Kneed dough for 5 mins. in an electric mixer or 10 mins by hand, until it's smooth. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl and let rest in a warm place for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 500F degrees.

Turn the dough out onto your work surface - kneed gently a couple times- Roll out to about 1/4 inch thick (the thick the dough the higher they will rise in the oven). Cut into circles with a biscuit cutter or squares with a pizza cutter.

Place biscuits on lightly greased cookie sheets and bake for 5 mins until golden brown.

Remove from oven and enjoy!

Say What? - Recipe Translation

2010-11-13T14:59:00.000-06:00

I was helping my Mom look for a flatbread recipe online. We wanted an authentic recipe, so we tried searching in Swedish. Here are some of the funny translations courtesy of Google Translations:

"flatbread has always been important in our family and is among the tastiest I know. Works great for a dip in the pot! "

"Lubricate it with a little margarine"

"Bake one cookie at a time over medium heat for 3-4 minutes. Turn the mid-term."

"1 1 / 2 tablespoons cumin supported "

"remove the bite-sized substances which may rise under a cloth for 30 minutes."

" A very good advice! If you're new to share rate of 10 times. If you make a dough of 10 liters degspad should be used baker and have at least one helper who bakes bread. "

"Cottage Cheese Clamp"

" Upload thin loaves and place on the arugula and meat."

Watch Tibby Live!

2010-11-01T20:30:00.004-05:00

Tibby has her orientation/interview day at doggie daycare tomorrow.

You can watch her play with other dogs all day long!

I will be there around 7am to drop her off and around 3pm to pick her up, so you might see me too!

Here is the address for the web cam:

Woof dah!

I'm really nervous she will get rejected, but she loves other dogs, so I think she will have fun playing all day long.

It's too bad the daycare is so far away. It will have to be an only once every couple months and for overnight boarding when I go on vacation treat for Tibby. If anyone wants to open a Woof dah! type doggie daycare near me I will be their FIRST customer.

Creepy Moon

2010-10-31T15:39:00.002-05:00

Woooooooo creepy mooooooon........

Just wanted to share a few creepy moon pictures!

Gardening Danger

2010-10-31T15:19:00.002-05:00

I spent yesterday evening in the ER and then with an opthamologist.

I have a corneal abrasion on my right eye.

Gardening is dangerous! At least for me.

This is the third time I've hurt my right eye while gardening.

Yesterday, I was cleaning out the garden and cutting everything down and the sharp cut end of a grape vine whipped into my eye. It pulled out my contact and cut my cornea from the bottom to the top. It hurt so bad! I thought it would start feeling better, but after three hours I couldn't stand the pain. I couldn't open my right eye at all and my eyes wouldn't stop watering.

In the ER they gave me some anesthetic drops and WoW! I could open my eye! Then they used some fluorescent orange dye and a blue lamp to see the abrasion.

It would have been very interesting, if it had been someone else's eye!

Then they sent me to an opthamologist and he examined my eye again and put a "band-aid" contact on my eye and gave me some antibiotic drops.

With the contact on, protecting it from the air, my eye felt 100% better.

I guess I will be wearing protective glasses from now on when I'm gardening.

It's a dangerous hobby.

The Garden That Was - Summer's End 2010

2010-10-25T12:33:00.008-05:00

Above is a pic of a salad I made using Zavory peppers from my garden. They are my favorite pepper. They have the flavor of a habenero, without the heat. They are yummy! Usually they don't make it into the house before I eat them.

The following pics were taken Sept. 7th 2010.
The garden doesn't look anything like this right now.
First of all, the flower beds are gone and in their place I have a huge swath of black mud.
Yay for rain, not.
Second of all, most of the garden was hit with frost a couple days ago, so everything is wilted over and dead.

2010's tomato walls were bigger than ever.
However, next year I will plant fewer plants.
I promise.

Flower beds and Catty and Tibby.

More of the garden.

Next year, I will be taking out the bed with the blue chicken in it.

I think I might move the arch.

Once the morning glory started to grow on it, I couldn't see my pond from the house.

Flower beds. All gone. Goodbye flower beds.

Closer view of the tomato walls.

Back view of the tomato walls.

Middle of the garden. Tomato walls.

It's a jungle!

Side view.

Tibby in the jungle.

Chinese 5 color pepper.

Amphibian Attack

2010-10-25T00:10:00.005-05:00

A friend collected some salamanders, frogs and toads from a window well at her house.

We brought them to my garden and put them near the pond.

There were a lot of them!

"What is that?!"

"Can I eat it?"

Wonderful camouflage.

Tibby's Graduation

2010-10-22T14:04:00.004-05:00

Tibby graduated from beginning obedience training last night.

I was so excited and nervous. She did really well. I was really proud of her!

We didn't win any ribbons, but I thought she was the best puppy in her class.

Tibby saying "Hi!" to Pearl's mom.

And then "Hi!" to Pearl. She was pretty distracting to the other dogs!
Tibby loves everyone!

Ready? Heel-sit position.

Go! Heel, heel, heel.

Sit.

She loves to work. Even though she doesn't always listen to me.

Distance sit-stay.

Stay.

Down-stay. This was the hardest one for Tibby. She loves to pop up from her down to a sit, because she's figured out that I have to give her another treat to get her to lie back down.

We are going to have to work on that one.

She is too smart!

My Mom and Tibby!

Tibby Tilling and Garden Moving - again

2010-10-21T18:02:00.005-05:00

So, the garden is on the move again.

I'm moving my flowers out of the raised beds and putting them into 2 beds on either side of the garden.

The raised beds just didn't work with flowers. It was too hard to see the flowers and the path upkeep was daunting. It's hard enough to keep up the veggie garden paths. Now that I have a fab electric lawn mower I'm not afraid to mow. In fact, I've really enjoyed mowing my front lawn this year.

So maybe, maybe, lawn is not the total evil of gardening.

Hey, I obviously can change my mind.

I keep thinking my neighbors are saying, "Huh, it must be Fall, she's ripping up her yard again. Huh, it must be Spring, she's ripping up her yard again." Well, I don't care. People move around their living room furniture. The garden is my BIG living room.

Tibby helped with the tilling.

I can't blame her. I was digging holes, why shouldn't she dig a few.

The dirt was so soft and fluffy too.

Dig, dig,dig.

Ha!

"Ok too tired. I'll just take a little nap right here in this handy hole."

Some of the beds are removed.

I had to do everything in stages. Move a bed. Plant some perennials. Move another bed. Ect.

Fluffy black dirt.

These are parts of my yard I've never really taken pics of, because I was so embarrassed of them. Hopefully they will look better next year.

Back to work.

"What's a dirt mustache?"

I'm Baaaaack

2010-10-21T17:46:00.002-05:00

Hey everybody!

I'm back!

New computer and tons of pics and stories to show you.

Just as a side note - I did not buy a Dell, because they tried to bait and switch. They offered me one computer for a great price, then canceled my order and said I could order a different (not as nice) computer for twice the price.

Ha!

I bought an HP instead and got some really nice free upgrades.

The moral of this story for Dell is: Don't mess with a Blogger. Remember the Cupcake Nazi?

Waiting for Dell

2010-09-17T21:05:00.002-05:00

Well, my laptop finally gave up and refused to turn on, so I had to break down and buy a new one. Dell says it will be done "building" my new laptop on Oct. 20th.

That is a really long time!

I have sooooo many posts to write and tons and tons of pictures.

Hopefully, with the new computer it won't take 3 hours to write one post.

Seriously. It was S-L-O-W.

Welcome to the Family - Tibby!

2010-08-25T23:03:00.002-05:00

Last Monday I added a puppy to my animal family.

This is Tibbet the Tibetan Terrier. I call her Tibby.

She is the sweetest dog I have ever met.

She loves to play, but is also calm and laid back.

Nothing phases her - we've jumped off docks, swung in a swing, slid down slides, walked near whistling trains, had cars honk at us, ect.

In a week she has learned how to - sit (100% on this command), lie down and fetch.

However, we are still working on potty training.

I'm keeping a log of when she's gone and when she should be ready to go again, so I don't have to guess when/if she's about to pee on the carpet.

She is doing much, much better.

After all, it's only been a week.

And she is a baby.

She will be 4 months old on the 28th. She weighs 12 pounds right now. Last Monday she weighed 11 pounds.

If she keeps gaining a pound every week..........she will be a big dog!

I have to say, in a week we have come a long way. This is the post I wrote last Wed. Notice the hint of desperation.

I have never had a puppy before. I've always adopted older dogs.

Puppies are exhausting.

I'm really tired.

I have spent hours and hours outside with her, only to come inside and have her poop on the floor!

She hates going in her crate for bedtime. It's the only time she barks, but she barks and barks and barks when she is in her crate.If I go into a different room where she can't see me (I have pet gates between the kitchen and living room and the kitchen and hallway/bedrooms) she whines and yips.The good things: She is very, very sweet. She wraps her paws around my arm when I pick her up. She learned how to sit, walk on a leash and climb stairs in 2 days. She doesn't pull on the leash. She isn't scared of anything. I took her swimming yesterday and she jumped off of the dock into the water all by herself.I'm happy that she loves me - I just wish she didn't love me quite so much!Unfortunately, I can't take her everywhere with me!I just keep telling myself - she's missing all her siblings and this is only day 3 of a 20 year relationship.

Well, things are much better now. If things keep getting better and better every week........life will be perfect!

Where Did August Go?!?!

2010-08-21T01:08:00.002-05:00

Wow!

I can't believe August is almost over and I haven't posted a single thing!

There are so many posts that I want to write - Pie Day, Stingers baseball, county fair, Amaze'n Farmyard, new puppy.

Did you miss that last one?

NEW PUPPY!!!

As soon as I can I'll post pics of the new family member.

Promise.

Birds, Bees and Blooms

2010-07-31T12:01:00.004-05:00

Yesterday, I stalked a hummingbird in the garden.

I tried and tried to get a good picture of him (or her?), but he was so fast.

He also didn't like it when I got too close to him, so I had to sneakily zoom in from a distance.

I'm not sure if it is the same pair, or their children, but a pair of hummingbirds nest in the lilac bush on the edge of my yard. They have been raising their tiny little babies in the same spot for at least 5 years.

This was the best pic I took of him.

Here is his pretty green back.

He really likes every painted lady (flower).

He is so tiny!

Some water lilies in my pond.

Summer sunflower.

Doesn't that just look like pure Summer?

Garden Update: July 2010

2010-07-31T01:11:00.000-05:00

At this time of year, there are so many things ready in the garden at the same time.

The peas are almost done. I will pick the final harvest today and pull out the vines.

The onions are almost ready to be pulled and cured for winter storage.

The cucumbers and tomatoes are literally hanging on the vines.

I pick a big bowlful every other day.

The peppers are just starting to ripen and turn colors - red, purple, orange and yellow.

The summer squash is also producing a bunch of nice fat squashes every day.

I didn't take a pic of them, but the eggplant is really, really producing well this year.

Yum! Lots of eggplant = lots of tasty winter meals with roasted eggplant.

The carrots, kale, lettuce and broccoli are also producing huge daily handfuls.

Kiwi and Tansy are happy about lots of fresh bunny munchies!

They are especially loving the big bunches of fresh basil I pick for them every morning.

They also like to eat flowers: pansy, rose petals, phlox and hollyhocks leaves (I like the flowers too much to share with them!).

Looking at the garden from my deck, facing south-east.

Looking at the garden, facing south-west.

In the foreground of this picture, you can see my attempt at a second crop of peas.

They produced about 1/2 a cup, but only grew 1 foot high.

The spring planting grew 3 1/2 feet high and produced about 6 cups.

6 cups is not enough peas! I always want more peas!

Unfortunately, they take up vertical space in the garden and I have trouble finding more room for them to grow where they won't be shaded by other vertical growers.

Facing west.

I let some volunteer radishes grow and go to seed in the path.

They are supposed to keep squash vine borers and other pests away.

It worked last year, but it does make the path very messy looking.

Tomatoes on the left and green beans on the right.

Everyone else seems to be picking their green beans, but mine are not ready yet.

Boo! I love green beans!

Tomatoes.

There was a wilt of some kind that attacked my tomatoes, but I sprayed them and mulched them with grass clippings and they seem to be doing better.

Cucumbers on the trellis.

I love picking a cucumber hanging eight feet up in the air.

So funny!

In this pic we have from left to right - tomatillo, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, painted lady beans, green beans, basil and more tomatoes. There is also some kale, but you can't see it from this angle.

Can I just say I'm glad that I made all my paths 3 feet wide?

All that fussy work this Spring, setting out the beds, was worth it.

Chinese 5 color peppers.

They are starting to change color!

Looking east.

Can you see Catty? She is underneath the arch on the left side.

In this pic - peas, onions, strawberries, kale, eggplant, broccoli, tomatoes, summer squash, sunflowers, green beans and radishes gone to seed.

That's all folks!

I hope you enjoyed the update.

If you have an update on your garden, please leave a link in the comment section, so I can check it out. :)

Bunny Boys Bonded

2010-07-28T07:14:00.000-05:00

This is how I found the boys snuggling in the morning.

They are bonded!

For a while I was wondering why I had ever thought about getting Tansy a buddy, but now when I see Tansy and Kiwi together I know it was a good idea.
They are double trouble, but their sweet little faces are worth it!

Bonding Tansy and Kiwi - First Steps

2010-07-25T18:50:00.003-05:00

Ok I couldn't wait any longer.

So far this is what has happened:
I set up a space for them in one of my spare bed rooms. Tansy had never been allowed into this room, so it is neutral. 2 of everything - litter box, water, pile of fresh veggies, hay, phone book, stuffed toy, diggy towels, cardboard boxes.

Then I put both buns in a cardboard box with a cover. I shook them up, went outside, went inside, went into the garage, jogged in place, ect.
Then I dumped (gently) them both into the new room.
They sniffed each other. Hopped around a bit. Then they fought. Lost some fur. I didn't stop them. Then they hopped around. Then they fought. Tansy hid in a box. Kiwi hid on the other side of the room. Then they fought. Lost some more fur. Then they went to different sides of the room and lay down. They took a 2 hour break where they didn't do anything.
Kiwi got up and ate some hay and used the litter box.
Tansy hid in a box.
Kiwi ate.
Tansy ate.
Kiwi came over to sniff Tansy. Tansy thumped at Kiwi. Kiwi went away.
Kiwi came back - Tansy thumped. Repeat 50 times.
Kiwi chased Tansy - Tansy hid in a box and thumped.
Kiwi ate. Tansy ate.
Kiwi chased Tansy. Tansy thumped and hid in a box.
Then they chased/thumped/ate and are still doing that combination.

I checked them over once for injuries, but other than that I haven't touched them. So far it seems to be going pretty well.

This is a photo time line of their interactions.

Summer Squash Pickles

2010-07-23T23:59:00.006-05:00

I made these last year and they were very popular at parties during the winter.

Last year's recipe was very spicy, but I forgot to write down the recipe.

This recipe is pretty good, but not quite like last year's recipe.

Thankfully I have a lot of summer squash growing, so I will be able to continue experimenting.

I always grow the same variety of summer squash: Butterstick. It stays sweet and tender even when the squash get large.

I used chiles from my Chinese 5 Color pepper plant. The chiles are supposed to change color as they mature. So far they are mostly purple with one or two yellow ones.

Summer Squash Pickles
2 lbs yellow summer squash - cut into 2" sticks

1 cup sliced onions - 2 small

2 cups sugar

2 Tbs salt

1 tsp dry mustard

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp dry ginger

1 tsp celery seed

2 cups water

1 cup vinegar

optional: small hot chiles

Combine squash and onions, set aside. Combine remaining ingredients in a large sauce pot and bring to a boil. Add squash and onions; boil for 10 min. Poke each chile with a knife, before adding one chile to each jar. Pack hot vegetables and liquid into hot jars; leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Process for 10 mins in a boiling water canner.

Makes 5 pints.

Cut up summer squash.

I added a few slices of green chile to the brine.

Purple chile. Sadly they turned yellowish after the jars were processed.
I really wanted the purple/yellow contrast.
This is Minnesota after all - home of the Vikings!

Bringing back up to a boil.

Ready for the lid and canner.

All done. You can see the color of the processed chile in the bottom left corner jar.

Yum! Summer squash pickles!

Introducing: Kiwi

2010-07-22T10:25:00.008-05:00

A new bunny was added to the family on Tuesday.

It's a funny story.

On Sunday I was talking to one of my friends, that used to work at the local animal shelter, about a bunny I had noticed advertised on Petfinder. She said it was probably already gone, but offered to check on Monday for me. I said, "That's Ok I would call them myself on Monday".

So Monday: I was very busy at work, but I finally found a minute to call them - at 2pm. The people at the shelter said he was still available and I could come and look at him at 4pm when I got off of work. So I went to the shelter at 4pm and they said, "Oops! Sorry he was adopted just after you called."

So I went home all bummed out that I didn't even get to see the rabbit.

I called my friend and told her about the whole adventure. She says, "Oh yeah, I called around 2:40pm and it was adopted."

She and I made plans to hang out the next day, Tuesday, and she said she had a present for me.

I thought it was a fire pit, because she had hinted before that she was going to buy one for me.

Finally, Tuesday we go out for lunch and she still doesn't say anything about what the present is.

I'm still talking about the rabbit and how surprised I was that it would get adopted in only 2 hours.

My friend is very quiet and acting kind of weird.

Her sister, who is with us too, finally says, "Just tell her already!"

I think you can guess the rest of the story!

She adopted Kiwi for me!

I was totally surprised.

He is a big boy. He weighs about 7lbs and is about twice the size of Tansy (my other bunny).

He was neutered on July 13th, so I plan on waiting a few more weeks, to let his hormones calm down, before I attempt to bond Tansy and Kiwi together.

He was found in some one's backyard and the shelter thought he was 2 years old, but I think he is a little younger.

The shelter was only feeding him pellets and he is overweight, so now he is on a hay and fresh veggie diet.

He is doing very well with his litter box training.

He had no trouble figuring out where to pee, but he pooed outside of the box twice.

I just put all the poos into the litter box and now he knows where to go.

So far we haven't had any more accidents.

Now a few pics of Tansy.

As you can see he is the king of this castle, so bonding/introducing Kiwi might be a little difficult.

Isn't he cute?!?

Catty and Tansy planning their next vacation.

Best friends!

Catty weighs about 7 pounds, but looks much smaller than Kiwi.

Tansy weighs about 4 pounds.

I can't wait for them to all be bonded and friends!

Garlic Harvest 2010

2010-07-20T23:06:00.003-05:00

Here are some pictures of the garlic I harvested last week.

These are from the USDA test cloves that I was sent.

I cut the tops off and they are drying in front of a fan. Last year I made the mistake of leaving the tops on so I could 'braid' the garlic.

Garlic lasts for longer if it doesn't have the tops still attached.

These pics do not include the garlic I grew from cloves that I saved from previous harvests or the elephant garlic.
I have a lot of garlic!
This year I promised to plant less garlic, but it didn't work out that way!

Why July Is Depressing

2010-07-17T14:38:00.002-05:00

I find July very depressing.

Why?

Well, the growing season is almost over. The only thing a gardener has to look forward to at this time of the year is the maintenance work of weeding and harvesting and the inevitable death of their garden.

There isn't any fun planning or planting. Even January is less depressing, because there is Spring to look forward to and the frantic picking of seeds/plants and indoor starting of seedlings.

July is also a big let down, because when you see some of your January garden daydreams in the unforgiving July sunshine, they don't look as wonderful and amazing as you imagined.

Don't even get me started on the mosquitoes!

quack grass!

*sigh*

Maybe you have a longer growing season, but for me, living in Minnesota, July is a depressing month.

How to: Build A Tomato Wall

2010-07-07T11:09:00.004-05:00

How to build a Tomato Wall:

2 x 3/4" 10' EMT conduit

2 x 3/4" conduit connectors

zip ties

2 T-stakes

twine

plastic netting

Cut one 10' EMT conduit in half. These 2 halves make your 5' legs.

Bend 2nd 10' EMT conduit with a pipe bender. The top will be 3' long and each leg will be 3.5 ' long.

Pound your T-stakes into the ground.

Using the 3/4" connectors attach the 5' legs to the 3.5' legs. You now have a 8.5' tall trellis.

Use the zip ties to attach the trellis to the T-stakes.

Use the twine to attach the plastic netting to the trellis.

Done!

Now weave your tomatoes into the plastic netting. As they grow, continue to weave them in and out of the netting.

Zip ties, twine and plastic netting attached to trellis and T-stake.

3/4" connector.

Completed tomato walls.

I buy my plastic netting here - American Nettings
Full grown tomato walls can be seen here - Tomato Walls and Me

Can Jam June: Cherry Spice Jelly

2010-07-05T22:34:00.005-05:00

I'm too late for the Can Jam round-up, but I wanted to share my creation for the Can Jam challenge. It was inspired by my recent trip to the Spice Market in Seattle.

Cherry Spice Jelly

64 oz cherry juice

4 Tbs "Market Spice" loose tea

tea bag

1 pkg no sugar needed pectin

1 cup sugar

In a large saucepan bring cherry juice and tea to a boil. Remove tea bag, add pectin and return to a boil. Add sugar and return to a hard boil that can not be stirred down. Pour into prepared jars and process for 10 mins. in a boiling water bath canner.

What do you do when you have a 5 gallon bucket of frozen cherries?

Pit them.....

...................... and make jam!

In the pic above you can see a couple of my souvenirs from our trip to Washington. I like to buy milk in glass bottles while I'm on vacation and then bring the glass bottle home as a souvenir. They come in handy, holding homemade juices, broths and iced tea.

You can also see the tea I bought at the Public Market in Seattle at the Spice Market. It has cinnamon oil in it, which adds a sweet, but not sugary flavor to the jelly.

Putting the tea in a tea bag.

Cherry juice and tea bag.

Finished jelly.

It is very tart, but has a sweet cinnamon aftertaste. It tastes like the perfect essence of cherries.

Pike's Market: Savor Seattle Tour Part 1

2010-06-29T19:05:00.016-05:00

Start of the Pike's Place Savor Seattle Tour
We met at a Starbuck's outside the market and the tour guide passed out ear pieces.
The ear pieces were really nice, because you could hear everything the guide was saying without being right next to him. If you fell back to look at something, you didn't miss any of the tour. The only strange part: I went to the bathroom and could still hear the tour. Little bit creepy. :P

After a frozen treat at Starbuck's we had donuts here.

Then we went to the Spice Market. This is such a great store! We had samples of Spice Market tea, which has cinnamon oil in it. I hate cinnamon teas like the Good Earth tea, but this was yummy! Sweet, but not sugary.

Lots of spices and teas.

Then we had 3 samples of smoked salmon.

Lots of tourists.

Piggy bank. People put in money and the money goes to pay for food and medical care for the (homeless) people that live in the market.

Fruit!

The next stop was Frank's for some grapes and cherry samples.

See part 2 for how delicious these morels were.

We didn't really stop at this both and there wasn't any sample, but the guide told us a little about the chile garlands. I don't know what he said, because I was still distracted by all the gorgeous fruit and vegetables!

They sure are pretty!

Another store. I just snapped pics of everything.

Next stop was the Pike Place Chowder. Soooooo good. I didn't get a pic of the actually chowder, because my hands were full with the 2 cute little cups of chowder that we ate as samples. The best chowder EVER!!

Post alley.

Why is it called Post Alley?

Because there is a post.

People hitched their horses to posts in this alley instead of paying for a stable. Probably a good place to hang out if you were a horse thief.

The Sanitary Public Market.

Sanitary because hoofed animals weren't allowed inside.

Lots of flowers!

Next stop: Chukar's Cherries.

We got to go behind the counter for our sample of chocolate covered cherries and cherry salsa! Which I found super exciting.

See how excited I am!

See we were behind the counter!

Dad thought it was neat too!

Next: Beecher's Handmade Cheese.

Cheese makers making cheese.

Wouldn't it be fun to dive into those cheese curds?!?

Mac and cheese made with Beecher's Cheese.

So yummy, but may I suggest a little bit of thyme added to the recipe?

Cheese and crackers.

Mom trying a sample.

I thought this was impressive. Hula hoops, harmonica and guitar.

The buskers pay for a spot and time to play in the market. Not everyone gets a spot they have a kind of board that decides who gets in.

Next stop: Piroshky Piroshky.

Salmon and veggie.

They were OK, but I thought the pastry was a little soggy. I wouldn't wait in the GIANT line to buy one.

That was an especially nice thing about this tour, we didn't have to wait in line for our samples.

Different view - moving down through the market.

Those piroshkys (piroshkies?).

The 'first' Starbucks.

The original logo. Hmmmmmm.

Last stop: Etta's.

Crab cake with tomatillo salsa.

The salsa was good, good, good - the crab cake was OK.

The END.

This was a FUN tour! I was sad when it was over and wished it would have lasted a little longer. We saw, ate, learned and heard so much that, without this tour, we never would have known about.

Highly reccomended!

*sigh* I LoVe tours.

Pike's Market: Savor Seattle Tour Part 2

2010-06-27T18:39:00.001-05:00

Pike's Market - Savor Seattle Tour cont.

Amazing selection of pastas. We bought a few and sampled some chocolate linguine. Hmmm? Very different.
Mom and me by a flower stall.

Flowers!

I wanted to buy them all!

Yum!

Look at the size of these shrimp!

We stopped for a break at the Crumpet Shop and had many, many cups of tea, a crumpet with butter and honey and plenty of people watching.

Mural at the Crumpet Shop.

Mom buying some fruits and vegetables from Frank's Market.

We bought some smoked fish here.

Mom and me resting and drinking some more Market Spice tea with our new Market Spice bags.

Mom and Dad.

After all that food what could be better than a nice piece of gum?

Preferably not ABC gum!

Mom and Dad.

Dad and me.

Chickens! Yay!

This shop had all kinds of eggs - duck, quail, goose and chickens.

These are a few of the delicious things we bought (and ate!).

This butter was so, so good. We bought 2 tubs (in 6 days) and ate every bit.

Black velvet plums. So sweet!

A little collage.

Challenge: Can you make a meal from the above ingredients?

Sea beans. These were awesome. Just don't microwave them. They have sea salt ('cause they're from the sea) and the salt sparks in the micro.

Rainer cherries. Really amazing eaten on the beach.

Kumquats. My new favorite food. You want to kill yourself while you're eating them, because they are sour, but then they are sweet and ahhhhh delish and you want to eat another one. And another one and another one.....

Mangoes.

Mom making dinner. Yum!

Morels in sage butter. So, so good. Like vegetarian bacon fat. Crispy, chewy and salty.

Dad and me enjoying our sage butter morels.

Market Spice 'um spices? Tea and nice little tea bags and yeah spices too.

Bread, cheese and tomatoes.

Ah, dinner view!

Garden Closeups

2010-06-16T11:25:00.006-05:00

These are pictures I took before I left on vacation.

The lettuce is eaten, the birds are already out of the nest and the flowers have dropped their petals. That's the nice thing about photography - it holds a moment forever.

pansy

robins
They are now eating my strawberries.

iris

columbine

Catty

bee

columbine

Washington Adventure Begins

2010-06-15T23:59:00.002-05:00

I went to a wedding in Washington state with my parents. We rented a house on Whidbey Island.
Goodbye Minnesota!

I was so tired. Our flight left at 6:20am and we got up at 4am to get ready, catch the shuttle from the hotel and get to the airport early. I think tired was the theme to the vacation - I'm not good with time changes, even small ones like 2 hours. You should have seen what the time change did to me when we went to New Zealand. Really messed up.

First view of the island.

It was a rainy day. We had 2 sunny days and 5 rainy days.

We took a ferry.

When we arrived on the island it was sunny! For a while.

We drove around a bit, because we were too early and couldn't check into our house. There was someone cleaning it.

View of Penn Cove.

Our house for the week. This was when the tide was out. When the tide came in it was almost up to the grass.

This heron fished every evening near the house. There were also seals that would show up in the evening and one night there was something large that surfaced not too far from the beach. It was attached to a buoy. The buoy bounced around for a while, then went farther and farther from shore and finally disappeared.

View from the deck. I took a lot of pictures from the deck. The sky changed so much, it amazed me. The sky doesn't change that much here, or rather I can't see very much of it - too many houses in the way.

Sun set on the first night. It never looked this way again.

New Obsession : Geocaching!

2010-06-15T20:52:00.006-05:00

So my new obsession is geocaching.

I tried it out while I was on vacation and I loved it!

If you don't know what geocaching is check out http://www.geocaching.com/.

Basically, you have a GPS with coordinates and you follow the coordinates to ground zero (GZ) where you search for a cache. The cache can look like anything from less than 1" x1" (found 2 of those so far) to really, really big. It just has to be waterproof. When you find a cache there is a log inside that you sign and if you feel like it you can trade swag (little prizes).

We saw so many beautiful things on vacation that, without geocaching, we never would have seen.

It was the best vacation ever!

So I came back home and I had to show all my friends how much fun it is.
Last week-end we hit a few caches. Everyone loved it, but only one person is as obsessed as I am. My garden buddy Alexa! Or Leche - the name she likes to sign in cache log books.
She is really awesome, scary good at finding caches. Sometimes I wanted to give up, but she would give me a lecture on not giving up and then proceed to find the cache.
So cute!

Alexa and another friend. Their first find!

The whole gang and an ammo can.

Me with a geocoin I found in Washington. I dropped it into this cache for someone else to pick up and move along.

See that navy blue person between the two fallen trees?

That would be me with my hood up.

I was afraid, for good reason, of army worms falling into my hair.

I found that cache.........30 feet away and up at the top of the hill. LOL!

Some pictures I took while we were hunting in a state park on Sunday.

We never found the final cache of the multi we were searching for. The cords put us in the middle of the lake. I think I entered them wrong. Sure hope so! We will be back to find it.

Alexa taking a rest from searching.

This was the 2nd stage of the cache. Can't see the cache? Well it's there! Sneaky, sneaky.

Still Here

2010-06-15T07:54:00.002-05:00

Hey all!

No I haven't dropped off the edge of the earth.

I went on vacation for a couple of weeks and when I got home my computer was acting strange, soooooooooo there will be new posts very soon.

I have so many things to show you!

Garden Update: June

2010-06-14T21:49:00.006-05:00

Pink Poppy and Purple Allium

2010-05-31T15:47:00.002-05:00

Just a few flowers from my garden.

I was afraid that the poppy would bloom while I was on vacation, but it burst a few blooms out yesterday. Just for me of course ;)

The allium in the bed close to my house are still blooming. They are a shorter variety, but the flowers are massive.

I bought a new camera!

Loving the macro and zoom.

My favorite poppy. Every year my Mom tries to convince me to divide it, but this poppy doesn't like to be moved or disturbed, so she fails to convince me every year.

Actually, I love to move things around in my garden, but this is the one thing that's stayed in the same place. I'm too afraid to move it, because I love it so much.

Rhubarb Stepping Stone - How To

2010-05-26T00:11:00.003-05:00

Are you a can jammer with leftover rhubarb leaves?

Don't throw them away!

Make a stepping stone!

First dig a shallow hole.

Mix up some concrete.
Remember to wear a mask, eye protection and gloves. Really. It's not fun to get cement in your eyes or lungs.

Place your leaves on top of the cement.

Put a plastic bag on top of the rhubarb leaves and then cover it with a layer of damp sand.

Your stepping stone should be hard in a few hours or overnight - depending on the type of cement you decide to use. I use mortar mix, because it gives the stepping stones a finer detail. There aren't any stones in the mortar mix.

Once your stepping stone is dry let it cure for a few days. Spray it with water every day. Then you can paint it. I use Patio Paints and then seal with an exterior varnish.

This is one I made last summer. For this one I put the leaf down first and then poured the cement on top of it.

Cabbit

2010-05-25T01:03:00.002-05:00

These are pictures from before Tansy's neuter, so I'm hoping that their relationship will be even better now.

"What are you doing?"

"sniff, sniff"
"Go away."

"Ahhhh, so comfortable."

"Hey! That was my spot!"

"Not any more. Now it's my spot."

"So rude...grumble...stupid rabbit...."

"I can't believe you! You are so rude!"

"O I'm sorry. I didn't know you khats were so sensitive."

"Humph. Rabbit."

Tansy!

Garden Update 5-22-10

2010-05-24T23:59:00.000-05:00

The allium and white iris are putting on quite a show.

I wish I had been able to get a picture today before the 45 mile an hour wind blew in!

I'm starting on my patio. I was able to pour one set of stepping stones, before it started to rain.

My new trellis. I put it together myself with my new cordless drill. I love my drill!

This is a light pink poppy. It's HUGE this year!

Vegetable garden.

I hate that stupid shed! It shows up in every picture. No one wants it - I've tried to give it away for free even, but it's too much work to take it apart and move it out of my fenced in yard.

Can Jam May - Rhubarb

2010-05-21T06:00:00.001-05:00

Update 5-25-10 -Pictures! Yay! Posts are so much better with pictures!

Also, if you have extra rhubarb leaves I made a rhubarb stepping stone post here.

You may notice that there aren't any pictures in this post. That's because I am an idiot and I dropped and broke my camera. Argh! I had the worst week for canning. First of all I broke my camera, then I was about to start canning and I'd borrowed my Dad's camera, but then the whole town lost power for 4 hours. Then my Dad went on vacation and took his camera with him. I also had to get Tansy neutered - yes that's right my sweet little girl turned out to be a BOY! Let's just say Tansy is not pleased with me right now - the snip snip wasn't so much fun. I also had a really busy exhausting week at work. There were also a million things I had to plant in the garden. Plants don't exactly wait very well to get planted. Soooooooo a long difficult week.

This month for the Can Jam we had the choice of either rhubarb or asparagus. I HATE(d) both!

My hate for the green spears stems from my childhood. When you grow up in a family that grows asparagus for sale, you eat a lot of asparagus, and in my case develop a hatred of it. This is also why I am not a huge fan of red raspberries. I imagine the same thing happens to children of candy makers. *just kidding!*

So rhubarb. Well, my Mom never cooked with rhubarb when I was growing up, because she hated it. She hated all the sugar that people add to it. However, I turned her into a rhubarb lover with my Savory Rhubarb Soup recipe. I thought about making a rhubarb-cherry jam, but after experiencing the citric acid power of rhubarb in the soup recipe, I decided to try a savory recipe. My Mom was rooting for a chutney recipe, but I have lots of Pear Chutney in my pantry. I decided on a salsa recipe and so Rhubarb Salsa was born, er canned.

Spicy Rhubarb Salsa

3 cups chopped tomatoes

2 cups chopped rhubarb

1 cup chopped tomatillos

1 cup chopped yellow onion

1/2 cup chopped chile peppers (I used a combination of habenero, yellow spicy and anaheim)

1 Tbs garlic paste

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 Tbs cilantro

2 Tbs cumin

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vinegar

1/2 cup lime juice ( I used key limes)

Combine all ingredients in a large sauce pot. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 10 mins. Ladle hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Adjust 2 piece caps. Process 15 mins. in a boiling water bath canner.

This is HOT!!!

It has a sweet and smokey flavor too.

It's yummy. I think it would make a good barbecue sauce.

Filled jars before canning.

Onions.

Peppers.

I thought the tomatillo husks looked like flowers.

Chopped peppers.

Rhubarb and tomatillo.

Tomato.

Cooking.

Canning.

Done!

Rhubarb salsa!

Rhubarb Soup

2010-05-19T21:40:00.001-05:00

*Sorry about the photo quality. I dropped my camera, broke it and had to borrow my dad's Kodak.*

Rhubarb Soup
Nope you didn't misread that! It's soup with rhubarb AND it's delicious. Really. I had 4 servings and everyone else had seconds - :P

This is my adaption of the Spring Pottage Recipe from this article in the Grit magazine : Sweet and Savory Recipes for Rhubarb. This is a great article with lots of interesting facts about rhubarb.

~
Rhubarb is a leafy green vegetable like celery or swiss chard, but in 1947 the U.S. Customs Court passed a ruling that rhubarb should be classified as a fruit and forever after rhubarb was eaten with pounds of sugar.

This recipe uses the tartness of rhubarb instead of covering it up with sugar.

It adds a touch of citric acid without the danger of curdling the cream.

Just remember, the ancient Chinese used rhubarb as a purgative. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Rhubarb Soup

2 Tbs olive oil

1 cup chopped yellow onion

2 cups potatoes - cut into 1 inch pieces

1 cup carrots - cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 cups celery - cut into 1 inch pieces

2 cups diced rhubarb - soaked in salt water before using

2 tsp roasted garlic paste

2 Tbs honey

4 cups hot vegetable stock (*cheater's recipe below)

2 bay leaves

1 tsp sweet marjoram

salt and pepper

1 cup heavy cream

Saute onion in olive oil until golden. Add vegetable broth, potatoes, carrots, garlic paste, honey and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender. Add celery and rhubarb, simmer for 2-3 mins. Add marjoram, salt and pepper. Remove and discard bay leaves bay leaves. Remove soup from heat and gently stir in cream. Serve.

Cheater's Vegetable Stock

1 pkg Knorr Vegetable Soup

1/2 cup white wine

2 Tbs golden miso

2 tsp soy sauce

4 cups water

Fresh rhubarb from my garden. Since moving into my house, this is the first time in 5 years that I have harvested any rhubarb. Or eaten any rhubarb.

Chopping rhubarb

Soaking rhubarb in salt water

Sauteing onion

Simmering soup

Almost ready!

Adding cream.

Yum!

This is sooooo tasty!

My Mom hates rhubarb and she even had seconds!

This is the best rhubarb recipe ever and it can make a rhubarb hater a rhubarb lover.

Ah Rats!

2010-05-19T00:23:00.003-05:00

I dropped my camera yesterday and broke it!

Waahh! Boo hoo!

I NEED my camera.

I had to go over to my parent's house and borrow their camera to take pics of a recipe I was making. I was really, really attached to my camera. It was a Olympus SP-350.

I thought it did a nice job.

Waahh!

Building a Covered Bed

2010-05-12T14:40:00.003-05:00

I found some 5 foot lengths of black pipe at the local Menard's store.

They are called black flexible water pipes.

I like them ,because they are precut and I can put them in my car without looking like an idiot driving through town with PVC pipes sticking out of my back window.

Although, I still buy the PVC pipes sometimes - seems like I can't avoid looking like an idiot - at least occasionally.

OK continuing with the tutorial!

I also used a few branches, cut into 8 inch lengths, to hold the pipe in the soil, but I think I may end up using some kind of bracket instead, because the hoops tend to fall over when it rains and the soil gets soft.

Stick, soil, pipe.

Cover with row cloth.

Planting Tomatoes

2010-05-12T11:41:00.010-05:00

Before the plant sale I took out the plants that I wanted to keep.

The week after the plant sale was beautiful - sunny, 75F - perfect spring/summer.

So, silly me I planted all my plants.

Two days after I planted everything, we had freezing temps. For. The. Whole. Next. Week.

I covered everything, but the peppers aren't looking so great.

These pictures will probably be the peppers memorial service. Remember those beautiful peppers? Oh, yes they were just starting to live, so sad....taken in the prime of life.

This is how I plant my indeterminate tomatoes.

Dig a nice deep trench and amend with kelp (fertilizer) and crushed crab shells (calcium).
Put the tomato to bed in the trench and pull the soil covers up to its leafy chin.

Water deeply.

This is how close I plant my tomatoes.

Remember I grow my tomatoes up not out - so it works.

These are the covered beds I made - I'll show you how in my next post.

In these beds I planted the peppers -poor frosted peppers :(

In this bed the cabbage and broccoli are nestled. On the far right of the covered bed I have Golden shallots.

The bed in front of that has peas and onions.

More tomatoes.

More tomatoes!

The dearly departed peppers.

Really I am sad about this!

Broccoli and cabbage.

The Plant Sale Results

2010-05-11T17:28:00.006-05:00

We had a plant sale on May 1st.

It was a success!

We opened at 8 am and sold out of 90% of the started plants by 10:30am.

I even sold some of my garden art.

The 2 most popular garden art items were the wooden plant markers and the painted rocks (which of course, I forgot to take a picture of).

We didn't sell very many raspberry or strawberry starts, but we sold lots and lots of perennials.

Some of these pictures I snapped before we started the sale. Then we were very busy and I forgot to take pictures, but I took a few after the big rush.

Cement Mushrooms

Bird baths and painted garden totes

Lots and lots of glass flowers and a few tea cup luminaries.

The $10 glass flowers sold out first, but a few of the more expensive ones sold too.

I priced them according to how much I wanted to keep them. I priced the ones I liked best higher.

I painted this tea cup myself.

It had a really ugly picture on it, so I painted it with Kilz premium, painted on my design and then sealed it.

I sold that bird house on the left. Amazing what some spray sealer and a PVC end cap can do!

These were the description sheets.

They told a little bit about the started plants we were selling.

All the little yellow strips say "SOLD OUT".

I took these pics near the end of the sale, when we had sold out of almost everything.

Some of the plants.

We had 2 full tables in the garage, with started plants, at the beginning of the sale.

Perennials $2.50 and started plants $1.00

Perennial table

Black and red raspberries

I sold a few jars of my canning. We also had bread and fresh eggs.

The crystal cup luminaries on the right we very popular. I sold a bunch of those. They were 2 for $1.75.

Plant markers $.50 each. I sold a bunch of the wooden ones. They had carrots, basil, thyme, lettuce, ect. written on them.

It was a great sale.

The weather could have been better, it was VERY windy and cold.

We are already planning for next year.

My New Bridge

2010-05-04T12:17:00.003-05:00

I finally installed the bridge over the pond last week.

I have been working on the bridge for the last month, varnishing it and sanding it.

It was a closeout kit that I bought and put together.

I also finally have the rocks the way I want them and the waterfall.

The fish went back into the pond last week too.

Last Fall there were the big original 8 and close to 100 of their babies.

Now there are 7 big ones and about 25 of various sizes.

I have been feeding them every other day.

Last year I fed them about 5 times the whole summer, because I thought they wouldn't reproduce as much if they didn't have extra food i.e. they would eat their young. Yuck.

But they had over 100 babies!

So, this year I will just feed them and see what happens. There is also a frog in the pond, but I could find him when I had my camera.

Of course, now that I am DONE with the pond it's started to leak.

Argh!

Anyone know an easy way to find a hole in a pond liner?

The water level drops down to about 5 inches below the edge, so I have some idea of where the leak is, but there is a lot of rock to move to find the hole.

Catty likes the bridge.

The Ladies Free Ranging Good Time

2010-04-28T08:00:00.000-05:00

If you like pictures of chickens, then you are in for a treat!

Lot 'o chick pics!

This is what I usually see when I go to visit the girls - 2 chunky white girls (cwg) free ranging.

Really, really free ranging.

Chicks on the prairie!

Then the next thing I see - Zela! (pronounced SAY-la)

She always comes running when she sees me.

She follows me around until I sit down and then she jumps into my lap for a cuddle.

She'll stay in my lap until I leave, if I get up she waits until I sit down again and then she jumps back up to get a hug.

Zela is such a photo hog!

Can she help it if she is so beautiful?!?

There's busy (bossy) Butter!

More of the flock - Zela, some CWGs, Lavender (on the right), Butter (way in the back), Zoe, Hawky and some red girls too.

It's funny, but I can pick out Zela, Butter and Lavender's voices from the rest of the flock, even in the dark.

Really Zela? Every picture?

Hello!

I love the CWGs face whiskers.

Hey! One of these things is not like the other...........

Lavender!

A CWG and Butter.

Gossip 'round the watercooler.

This Lady is a real snuggler, but I can't remember her name!

She's sweet, but jealous. When I'm holding Zela and not petting her, she will pull feathers out of Zela's tail until I pay attention to her!

Butter says, "See 'ya again soon and bring raisins next time."

Fruit Blossoms

2010-04-27T08:00:00.000-05:00

The fruit trees are in bloom and covered with blossoms!

So far there are just apricot and plum blossoms, but the cherry is almost blooming and the apple trees will be right behind her.

I don't know why, but I think of the trees as girls.

I suppose, because they have fluffy blossoms and make fruit.

Pine trees and oaks, maples, ect. are boy trees......in my opinion.

Above apricot blossoms.

Below plum blossoms.

Last year I had 1 apricot and 4 plums.

I hope there will be more fruit this year.

Blue Hyacinths

2010-04-26T08:00:00.000-05:00

I love these blue hyacinths!

I planted them 2 years ago and thought they might not come back this year.

People kept telling me that hyacinths would only come back one year and then disappear, so it was a waste of time to plant them.

Ha!

I plan on planting more this year. They are the brightest blue color and the scent is amazing. I can smell it from 5 feet away. Gorgeous!

And of course, Tansy with the hyacinths.

And Catty too!

Relax.

Garden Update 4-20-2010

2010-04-25T13:30:00.002-05:00

I thought I had posted these pics a long time ago.

Guess not! Am I a bad blogger or what?

You can see that the tulips are starting and lots of the perennials have started to fill in.

The garlic that I had to transplant, when I moved the beds, is doing great.

It's getting bigger and greener every day.

I probably stunted it, by moving it, a little bit, but there is always next year and I couldn't wait to move my beds!

Tulips and Tansy

2010-04-25T12:34:00.002-05:00

Just a few pictures of tulips in my garden and Tansy.

Like most rabbits, Tansy loves the taste of tulip leaves.

The Green House Plant Sale

2010-04-24T11:38:00.003-05:00

The
Green House
Plant Sale

May 1st
8am - 2pm

1108 5th St SW
Willmar, Mn

From started plants to
garden art
Something for everyone
Rainbow colored tomatoes
Peppers
Herbs
Raspberry starts
Strawberry starts
Perennials and annuals

We will be selling over 18 varieties of heirloom tomatoes including: Green Grape, Pantanto Romanesco,Riesentraube, Sungold Select II, Black Cherry, Violet Jasper or Tzi Bi U, Tigerella, Isis Candy Cherry and Snowberry.
More than 9 varieties of hot and sweet peppers including: Ancho, Pasilla Bajio and Chinese 5 Color.
9 different varieties of Minnesota hardy raspberries.

I will be selling my garden art - glass flowers, mushrooms, glass bird baths and more!

We will have fresh free range eggs from the happy Ladies.

Fresh baked bread. A selection of jams and jellies including: White tomato jelly, Carrot jam, Red Currant jelly, Garlic-onion jam and Blueberry-Mint jam.

Plus - White Chocolate Macaroons!

Arrive early for the best selection.

I hope you can come!

Can Jam April - Herbs: Blueberry-Mint Jam

2010-04-23T10:28:00.003-05:00

When the April CanJam was announced as herbs, I wasn't very excited.

Herbs?

I want to start using things from my garden for the CanJams, but chives are the only herb growing out there right now. Sure I have a tsp. of a few other herbs that are starting to sprout up, but I didn't want to chop off their little baby heads.

I just did garlic-onion jam last CanJam, so I also didn't want to use the chives.

I still have a freezer full of blueberries from our berry picking vacation, so I knew that I wanted to use blueberries, but what herb goes with blueberries?

At first, I thought about Lavender. This Lavender? No the herb lavender!

I've heard of Blueberry-lavender jam, but my Mom suggested mint (Thanks Mom!).

Mint?

Really?

That's so weird - it just might work!
I just happened to have homemade mint extract in my freezer too. I made it last summer from the huge mint plant (bush) in my backyard. Sorry there aren't any pics of the mint extract process, I made it before I started taking pictures of everything.

So here it is:

Blueberry-Mint Jam

4 cups blueberries

2 cups mint extract (directions below)

1 Tbs bottled lemon juice

1 tsp butter

4 cups sugar

1 pkg no sugar needed pectin

Bring blueberries, mint extract, lemon juice and butter to a rolling boil. Boil for 10 mins and then add sugar. Return to a boil. Boil for 10 mins. Add pectin and return to a boil. Boil at a rolling boil for 1 min. Transfer to prepared jars and process in a boiling water bath canner for 10 mins.

To make mint extract: Take fresh mint leaves, remove the stems and measure the mint leaves. Put mint leaves in a bowl. Add boiling water to the bowl - if you have 2 cups mint leaves add one cup boiling water, if you have 1 cup mint leaves add 1/2 cup boiling water - you get the idea. Let mint leaves steep until cool or overnight in the fridge. Strain mint leaves from liquid and pour mint extract into ice cube trays. Freeze mint extract or skip the freezing and use in the recipe above.

Blueberries and mint extract

Boil!

Spoony likes the taste - yum!

With sugar and pectin.

In the jar.

Glossy

Spoony! Did you eat it all?!?

Nope. He saved a few jars.

Jars fresh from the canner.

I found a few mint sprigs in the garden and sacrificed them for this picture.

Poor plant babies.

So.................what does it taste like?!?

Yummy!

Fresh, clean, very blueberry-ish with a nice minty aftertaste, but not overpoweringly mint. In fact, if you didn't know there was mint in this jam I don't think you could pick out the flavor. It has an intriguing flavor, but like the Carrot Jam, no one would ever think blueberry-mint jam.

Oh, also this jam took me exactly 1 hour to make from start to cans sealing on the counter.

My Egg-celent Seed Planter

2010-04-23T10:18:00.003-05:00

I planted some Lincoln shell peas. The seeds are from last year, so I put in some extra seeds. If they all sprout - Yay! If half sprout - Yay! Either way I will get some peas - Yay!

I covered the peas with some straw to hold in the moisture.
Moisture = good germination = more peas!
The straw was free! From the brush site. It's amazing what people will throw away.

This is my egg-celent seed planter. It's the egg holder that came with my refrigerator.
I put a few seeds in each opening, removed the seed spacer and lightly covered the seeds with soil. Hopefully, this way the seeds will be spaced and I won't have to thin the seedlings. I always promise to thin them, but then I forget about it until it's too late.

Rabbit Vs. Plants - Duh!

2010-04-18T23:02:00.002-05:00

Tansy recently expanded her horizons.

This morning, I let her out of her house and into the x-pen, before I took a shower.

15 minutes later I returned to find my baby had turned into a teenager!

She figured out that she could jump up onto her house and get to the potted rosemary and grape vine. Half of the grape was gone and most of the rosemary was pruned to twigs.

*sigh*

They grow up so quickly. Soon she'll want the keys to the car and a later curfew or at least keys to her x-pen and late night banana snacks.

3 Penny Acre

2010-04-13T12:52:00.002-05:00

I saw to a great band on Saturday.

3 Penny Acre

The are doing a Hwy 71 tour and I just happen to live near Hwy 71!

Wowa! I never thought there would be a positive side to living near a highway.

Before going to the show, I didn't know anything about them.

My Mom bought the tickets and told me we were taking my Grandparents out for their anniversary.

Hey, free night out AND I love my Grandparents! How could I say no?

3 Penny Acre is VERY AWESOME - if you can, GO to their next show!

Their harmonies are amazing. Seriously.

I have to say though, the crowd was a little um.......geriatric.

Is that a nice way to say old(ish) and subdued?

Anyway, great band.

I would love to hear 3 Penny Acre and Highland Reign play together.

Catty and Tansy

2010-04-13T12:02:00.003-05:00

My cat Catty loves to "play" with Tansy. She watches Tansy and sometimes puts her paw through the bars of the x-pen. I don't know how they will eventually get along (once Tansy is spayed), but I'm glad there is a cage between them!

Although, Tansy doesn't really seem to be too bothered by Catty.