Considering that my citrus trees are wafting out brand new fragrant blooms getting ready for next season’s fruit, it’s about time to share details of a super fun citrus-themed gathering a while back with the other ladies of our neighborhood court. I have two mature navel orange trees (that still hold fruit year round, mind you, I just can’t eat enough!) a mature happy...
It’s seed time. A few weeks ago, my little garden helper was thrilled to “help” me plant some flats. Whitney helped a little, too, but was a little more interested in the hammock than the miracle of seed growing. I have a collection of seeds…some of them getting old now. It’s hard for me to handle seed packs made to plant a whole farm...
I made a lightning trip home to San Jose, then to LA for my cousin’s wedding, and back to Denver this weekend. I was home long enough to pick up my French Press and glean a bucket of produce from the garden to drop at the neighbor’s. I caught up with my sister’s crazy full life over pedicures. And I stayed back in my...
Two of my favorite things to do that fuel my soul are gardening and photography. The harvest is okay so far…not a lot, but I’m ever-hopeful, and constantly learning and changing up different things. May’s highlights were cherries, peas, and some greens. In June we picked little carrots, cabbage, and started getting cucumbers and beans. Here are a few favorite shots since spring. As...
In my spare time I make garbage into dirt. There are two types of composting…composting to produce loads of beautiful earthy humus (good dirt, not to be confused with the spread) for every season, and composting to make your trash disappear. While I love the idea of making tons of humus to add to my vegetable garden, I’m way too lazy and don’t seem...
This year my gardening geek-out guide has been Brett Markham’s Mini-Farming: Self-sufficiency on 1/4 acre. I like that he’s very thorough in his explanations but also takes into consideration that most of us don’t want to buy expensive equipment and toil endlessly over our soil. At his recommendation I’ve started a garden journal to record various details such as the timing of when I...
Life is Good in our Laundry room again. Our old faithful second hand whirlpool cost us $75 and lasted 9 years under our various roofs….but alas, it has been threatening explosion (or something — you should have heard it) for a few months now. It’s a tough act to follow. It seems I hear all to often about appliances and electronics that “they don’t...
It’s time to say goodbye to the summer garden. While the harvest has been beautiful bit by bit in it’s perfect piece of nature-science sense…this year’s summer garden did not live up to my springtime eager expectations. I geeked out on soil and invested much energy upfront, but I guess the lazy gardener in me (that doesn’t fertilize, doesn’t pay close attention to...
For some reason I’ve been neglecting the big camera lately. Nevertheless, I’ve taken a bunch of shots with my phone…so here are some of the latest phone strips… A Dylan-Mommy Date to Starbucks. I’ve enjoyed this sweet time just him and I when Whitney is at school. I marvel that he can’t stop talking about her… Whitney likes bus. Whitney’s asleep. Whitney wants pino jelly....
Friends. Do THIS with your zucchini …especially if you have one that hid under a leaf and grew to the size of a baseball bat. You won’t regret it. Zucchini Chocolate Muffins 3 eggs 1 3/4 c. white sugar 1/2 c. canola oil* 1/2 c. apple sauce* 1/3 c. unsweetened Dark cocoa powder 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla 2 1/2 c. grated zucchini 1...
For the past two years Tyler and I have taken the challenge to make New Years Goals. While I am an excellent list maker, and a big idealist and dreamer….deciding on a few things to commit to prioritizing is not easy. My 2012 goal was basically to survive – I was drowning in the daily drum of a 2.5 month old and a 16...
It’s about time to pause and appreciate how time (and water and sun) makes my garden grow. It’s getting crowded in there and we’re on the verge of harvesting season! Here are two pictures showing the left box and the right box from first planting (end of April), mid May, and now Mid June. Yay! Lots of seeds grew. There is a big empty...