Garden 2013 | Post One

I know it's been awhile since I posted. I've gotten majorly behind in Project Life, and without it's context, the photos just seem a bit random to me. We haven't really had a big event or done anything really important since Easter around here.

That said, the weather cooperated earlier this week (right now it's raining and should be changing over to snow any minute) and I was able to get the early planting veggies in the ground.  They probably should have gone in the garden a couple weeks ago, but it's been so wet and cold.

Here's a view of our entire garden.  We have three out of sixty-four plots at our church. We inherited the plots last year. It includes the two raised beds, and then the entire back bed (part of it will hold squash, which is not yet planted).  The closer bed is perennials (see below). In the farther raised bed, I planted 10 hills of red potatoes.

Here's a box of perennials we inherited.  The rhubarb is doing really well and we'll probably have some by this weekend or next.  Last year the rhubarb did awesome and we were able to eat it until October.  There is asparagus spears coming up to the left of the rhubarb. When we got the plot last year, these were already too tall and reedy to enjoy, so I'm looking forward to getting some this year.  At the top of the bed there are strawberries. Last year there were some blooming already when we got this bed. I don't know if I should have done something to them in the fall, but they did not come back well at all!

In the large garden, I have peas on the left side with the chicken wire fence. The outer two lines on the right are carrots. In the middle is lettuce and spinach.  My plan is to plant my peppers and tomatoes in between the two, so they can take over the space of the spinach/lettuce when it dies away in the heat.  Green beans will go between the peas and carrots.

We're supposed to get precip the next few days, and hopefully the sun will shine and my garden will grow.  We'll see how this all works out.

Tomato Sauce, Take One

My garden is at our church.  There, I have three of the sixty-four plots available.  And I've planted tomatoes. I don't like to eat them raw, but I love them in sauce.  Last year I had a few tomatoes, but hated the recipes I found (not that I remember which ones they are). So this year I vowed to find a recipe I liked, and actually remember which one I used for next year.  I picked up some more Roma tomatoes at our church garden mart on Sunday to go with the ones I had picked from our garden.  The first recipe I tried was from Deb at Smitten Kitchen- Fresh Tomato Sauce.  

Deb's first step was to remove the skin from the tomatoes. So here they are all sliced with x's on the bottom (I just thought of something I want in my kitchen- a wall mounted wireless tablet, so I can look up my favorite recipes, but not take up valuable counter space.)

Then you had to drop them in boiling water for a couple seconds, then transfer them to ice water.  Here's where I learned my first lesson of the day- make sure the water is actually boiling. I dropped them in when the water was hot, but not boiling.  I ended up having to throw them back it.  This method works pretty slick if the water is actually hot... 

After the tomatoes were all ready, you were to add minced garlic, onion, carrots, and celery to some olive oil and let is simmer for ten minutes. Mincing isn't something I'm good at, so I used minced garlic from the store, then just shredded the onion and carrot.  We didn't have celery in the house, and as it was nap time, I couldn't run out to get some. 

Here they are all peeled. Next step was to slice them vertically, squeeze them to get the juice and seeds out, then chop them and dump them in the pot.  I sliced them, but squeezing didn't work, so I just used my thumbs to push it out, then squished the remaining flesh through my fingers and it plopped into the pot. It was at this point that I remember canning all the stewed tomatoes and tomato juice with my parents in the summer. When we did it then, it was always the hottest day of the summer (it was near 100 when I did this), and they didn't, and still don't, have central air.  I was very grateful I was doing this in my cool kitchen.  I also remember why my mom always wore an apron.  Another lesson I learned, don't wear a light shirt or glasses when doing this- they'll definitely get splattered.  

As you were squeezing the juice and seeds out, you were to reserve the juice in case it needed to be added to the simmering sauce.  This is all the juice I got from the tomatoes above.  After canning with big boys or early girls last year and the excess amount of juice they had, it was nice to work with the Roma. 

 Finally all simmering on the stove. As I tasted it, I added some pizza sauce seasoning and a bit of sugar.  Used my potato masher a bit to break up the big chunks, but it didn't get as smooth as store bought.  Deb suggests using an immersion blender. I don't have one of those, and I was fine with the consistency.

It was a bit chunky, and I kept thinking it looked a little rustic. It tasted pretty good. Better than the ones I tried last year, though it still felt like something was missing, so the quest will continue (that's the plan for today's nap time).  We really couldn't taste the sauce on the finished pizza. Don't know if that's good or not. I thought it was fine, as I'm not a big fan of lots of sauce or sauce flavor on my pizza. 

I wish I had a faster method of removing skins, seeds, and juice. That's the most time-consuming part...

Around Here

Around here.. there has been a case of hand, foot, and mouth disease (if you look close, you can see the pimples on her face).  That means two stay-home-days with Mommy. The nice thing is that she doesn't act sick, so we're able to go on wagon rides and play outside. Just can't go back until there are no open blisters (there's a big one on her thigh). 

Around here... the dress-up box is seeing a lot of action. More accurately, the Peter Pan and Spiderman costumes. Sometimes the Spiderman shirt goes with the Peter Pan pants, and then we have Spider Pan. And when Ian changes out of his Spideraman costume, he calls himself Parter Peeker instead of Peter Parker every single time.

Around here... there are lots of "I do it myself." In fact, most of the crying she does comes from when we provide assistance she doesn't want or a toy sharing issue. She pretty much gets herself dressed every day now (though shirts are often backwards and shoes on the wrong feet). She is so Miss Independent, which is so different than Ian at that age. He was, and still is, timid to take chances, and she has no fear.

Around here... we've been trying a new camera lens, and the kids have been very obliging in letting us photograph them.

Around here... there is more building going on. Darrin has promised to make me bed frame for Mother's Day. I'm curious how many will pass before I get it, but I know he at least has a great helper. They're currently working on a cabinet to hide the kitchen trash in.

Around here... our garden is producing. We inherited a plot with strawberries, and it apparently excels at growing deformed ones. 

Around here... Mother's Day was celebrated with frozen yogurt on the deck, and a comparison of tongue colors when we were finished.

The Kids are Most Definitely Back

The SD card in our camera can attest to that.  In the days since they got back from their grandparents (five days to be exact) we've taken 100 pictures.  Here are some of my favorites:

My monkey boy. Boy, did he freak when Darrin first lifted him up there, but once he realized he wasn't going to fall, I think he enjoyed himself quite a bit.


Swinging Girl. She either was smiling or crying in the swing. If you were talking to her, she loved it; if not, she was scared.


She was flirting with some people off camera and just looked too cute.


Ian is so at home at the park now talking to the other kids. He loved going down the slide, just to turn around and climb back up with with his sticky legs.


Darrin is such a great daddy and I love catching him in his element.


One of my goals for this summer- to teach Ian how to swing all on his own.


Our first official day of break Ian turned his easel in to a fort and three days later, it's still his favorite place to play.


Her rocking chair has become her favorite thing over break. She's either sitting in it rocking herself or pushing it around the living room.


We hauled out Annaliese's new water table the first day of break. Ian is very methodical in his play. He is not a fan of getting splashed on or having his clothes get wet (even though I suggested swim clothes) so it's taken some coaching.


Baby Girl, on the other hand, LOVES splashing in the water and could have cared less about the toys that were in it.


She was soaked head to toe and was loving every minute (including splashing the camera).


Ian started swimming lessons this week. So different from last time. He chats with everyone, cracks jokes, and is not timid at all in the water.


The garden post weeding. Everything's up: onions, peas, lettuce, beans, broccoli, zucchini, and sweet potatoes. I should add for those that don't know that we have one plot out of 63 plots at our church.  The very weedy one on the left (which I would like to take over) and the berry bushes on the right belong to other gardeners. 


While we were at the garden, Suzie was there picking strawberries and generously shared some with the kids.

Mother's Day Weekend

This weekend began early for me with a Mother's Day party at Ian's preschool. There we had cupcakes and punch. I opened a gift Ian made me, a painted flowerpot, and then planted flowers they had for us to plant.


On Saturday we planted our gardens. Behind our house, in a flower bed I've never used, we planted tomatoes and peppers. I'm curious to see how well that will work out. We met Marlena and Noah later on at the church plot to plant the rest of the loot (zucchini, sweet potatoes, peas, beans, onions, broccoli, and lettuce). Annaliese and Walter did a great job entertaining themselves on their blankets. Marlena pointed out how some may think it's interesting that Annaliese had a blue blanket and Walter a pink one. We were just glad they brought toys, as we weren't that prepared...





The actual Mother's Day wasn't that much different than any other day. Darrin gave me tickets to see Wicked. Aside from the flower from Ian's preschool, I got another flower from Sunday School, painted hand prints with poems from both of their day cares, and a plaster hand print of Ian from Sunday school.


It was National Scrapbooking Day on Saturday, and I finished my first scrapbooking page since... November, or possibly even before that. I ended up making three pages, and now I'm on a roll and don't want to stop.



This one about Ian is an interview I did with him. If you want to read, click the imagine. In Flickr, go to actions> all sizes. You'll be able to read it. Some of them are quite funny.

Prepping the Garden

Our church has 63 garden plots (roughly 10' x 10') for members and people in the community to use. They've had it for a few years, and we decided to try our hand at gardening this year. Last year Ian had lots of questions about food at the farmer's market and loved helping his grandparents in their gardens, so we figured we should start one. The church only had one plot available for us this year, and we're sharing it with our friends.

Yesterday was the day to prep the garden for planting. There were lots and lots of OmaGrow compost to deposit on the plots, rake out, and then till in. Ian had a great time in the beginning spreading out the compost. At one point when we were standing around talking, he was asking us to get back to work because there were still compost mounds to be dispersed. It was a long morning, though, and after a few hours was ready for home. I was surprised by how content Annaliese was to sit on her blanket or in her stroller. Now to start the seeds so they'll be ready to plant in a few weeks.

Impromptu Plans

I had major plans this morning to clean our house from top to bottom and get some stuff done outside (mow the lawn, attach the gate, haul the rest of the fence away, plant the shrub). Then Darrin and I got on Facebook to find a message from our high school friend Cory. He and his family were in town and headed to the zoo, and he wanted us to join them. We haven't seen Cory in at least 5 years, so we jumped at the chance to go.

I couldn't abandon all my plans for today, though, so before we headed out, we made a quick trip to Mulhalls. It was the fastest trip ever- it helps when you know exactly what you want. We dug out a shrub last year, and finally figured out what to plant there, thanks to the help of my friend Sara, a horticulturist at the Botanical Gardens. We settled on a black lace elderberry.

It's hard to tell from this picture exactly what it looks like, so to see a full one, check out this. It has dark purple, pointy leaves and will grow pink flowers eventually. It can get as tall as 8 feet, but Sara assures me I can chop the heck out of it to keep it the height I need it and that I won't kill it. She told me this about my roses, too, and so far they're alive, so I'll trust her word.

It wasn't long after it was planted that we headed off to the zoo. We had a great time sharing our favorite stops with Cory and his family. He has a three-year-old daughter, and it was neat to see the difference between her and Ian, and what changes we can expect to come. She is really into the movie Madagascar, so we had to make sure to stop and visit all the animals of the movie.

This was actually my second trip to the zoo this week. On Wednesday I went with the third graders from my school. I took along my finished up twist bag to haul my lunch and anything else that needed to be carried. The directions were hard to follow the first time, but now that I get it, this bag would take no time at all to whip together. I used some of my decorative stitches on the handles and for topstitching and like how it turned out. This bag is huge- just for fun we put Ian in it last night. He can stand up in it and the straps go over his shoulders like suspenders.
I have one week of school left, and it's proving to be a busy one. Tomorrow at church the bell choir performs 4 songs at both services so I have to be to church at 7:20 in the morning- I'm barely out of the shower by that time during the week! Monday we have our final quilt guild meeting, complete with pot luck supper and garage sale. Tuesday is honor's night at school and Wednesday I have a softball game. Thursday is bell choir celebration dinner and Friday we live to visit great-grandparents. So basically, my boys are going to get some quality time together this week. That's okay, because starting next week, I'm home every day with Ian!