black swallowtail

My first 'Black Swallowtail' in the back yard. I usually get Monarchs and Eastern Tiger Swallowtails the most. Interesting how each butterfly actually behaves differently while feeding.

flower garden update

Now I will show you some of my flower beauties in the garden.....

Mr. Red Zinna from last year's seeds. (some were mine saved and some were leftovers, unused)

Phlox, from my mother's home. So pretty.

More to come.


Blessings to you....

garden update

I am back! I know it's been awhile, but it has been raining, raining, and raining some more. Ugh. No time for projects that are fun, just organizing the house...maybe a much needed family vacation. Hoping for some mundane, house stuff for a few weeks. There is years worth to do. Seriously.

Here is my garden update. The weeds have taken over...again, but I am trying to keep it in check. I will revamp the garden next Spring, but for now, the zinnias are blooming and I am getting some zucchini, although I have to dress in a haz mat suit each time I step into said garden, due to the overwhelming amount of mosquitoes living there..I hope I don't get West Nile..
Long pants and jacket seem to help.

 This is a striped roma. It sits there all perty, teasing me, but it won't ripen up. 

Finally getting some broccoli. Trying to decide when to harvest this very small head.

Here is Janpanese Popcorn. We grew, harvested, and popped this for Damsel's bday party, many years ago. You can find that right here on this blog. I planted what was left, just for fun, and look! Some actually came up. 

None of my kids get very excited about gardening though...sad face...maybe someday it will kick in.

How is your garden? Please share.

Blessings to you and live life with Heaven in mind...

they're sprouting

Here are all my sprouts I planted early in April. I love seeing them come up. I am excited to finally have spinach, which I have horrible luck with, every year!

I ordered a variety pack of basil. I thought that was fun, but was hoping for more than two varieties. It appears to be only two from what I can tell thus far. Either way, I have planted them and enjoyed them tremendously.
Well, that is where we are in the garden as of a week or so ago. I am late posting this. I have now had two whole salads from the garden.

Happy planting to you all.

garden started

Here is some lovely seedlings I purchased from Azure Standard last month. These are all in the ground now.

I love getting these from AZ, because they come fresh, organic and beautiful. I have been very pleased. I can't imagine doing it any other way now.

I am trying to garden without tilling, so I do have many weeds, but it could be worse. The soil is quite workable in most areas, but I do regret throwing a few piles of dirt from the memorial garden in there...WHAT WAS I THINKING?? SERIOUSLY!

Can we say rocks??

I have my plank boards laid out and I planted seeds while it was still cold outside in April. I love seeing the sprouting results, which includes spinach...yes...I have horrible luck with that one. I have quite a few coming up!

Spinach, radishes, beets, lettuce, sweet peas.

I will update soon.

More seedlings coming.

I also grow a ton of creeping charlie..yuck! 

I actually felt like I could get this yard/ garden into shape one day and dreamed about building a very clean, lovely chicken coop, for my 3 I am allowed to have here in Silvis.

garden update

Yarrow is blooming beautifully....

Finally seeing some zucchini.....

A baby roma tomato....

The milkweed is in full bloom...with flies..yuck...

veggie garden update

Can you guess what this is?
Answer below.

Here is the beautiful sweet pea flower bud.
It looks so delicate and tender doesn't it?

Sweep pea cluster.

Mature pea.
Love how the sun shines through,
showing the little baby peas inside.

A cluster of beets. These are always a sweet reminder of my Braveheart.
He loved beets and loved to plant them with me.

Kale with a lovely droplet of water.

Mustard greens, voluntary. 

Cucumbers are growing.

One of my 'hauls' from this week.

My first sweet pea harvest.

 If you're still with me and curious about what that veggie is......

if you guessed Broccoli then you are correct!! 

That was fun.

my harvest

Isn't this pretty? I bought this as a seedling at the coop and is growing so nicely.

Loose Lettuce.
Cut and use. I have already eaten many a salad with these cuties.

Kale, getting bigger!

Hyacinths
No longer blooming today 

memorial garden bird feeder

The very next day after we built the patio, the Man wanted to go get a new bird feeder for our Braveheart Memorial Garden. We love it. Here is my first White Breasted Nuthatch at the feeder. It didn't take them long to feel at ease coming to the new feeder. We are so thankful for these birds that remind us of our boy and his love of them.

the bravest little memorial garden

Braveheart's Memorial Garden

Last summer, I came up with a fabulous idea for a memorial garden to honor our dearly missed brave boy. I drew out some rough plans, which included removing tons of rock from its location outside of our back door. It was hot, humid and we were all still so mentally and emotionally exhausted from our loss, that it wasn't long before we realized we would be unable to finish the project this year. 

I resisted discouragement. Good friends pledged that they would come down in the Spring and help us to get it done. Well, we finally did it! That day was Saturday! We are not done, but the hardest part, the laying of the patio, has been accomplished by the work, sweat and love poured out by those of us that loved our boy....some dear family friends. 12 hours! I know we could not have accomplished this without them.

We are feeling so blessed right now. My hubs had to run out and get a new bird house that fit into our plan right away. Braveheart LOVED birds, as I am sure you already have heard. What a blessing this is for our family!

Here is some of the pictures from the project. My mother is going to help me with planning and planting the flowers and edging. I can't wait to get to that.

2013

This area has not had much attention of the last few years. We've been a little busy. 

May 2014
 The guys are starting to dig in. It's a big job.

Loading up the truck with the old rocks.

Hi Sweetie! 

Thanks for working so hard. 

We woman kept the guys watered, fed them with delicious, energy sustaining food, and  ran errands as needed.

The hardest part is done. Now we beautify it in memory of our sweet boy. 

I will update again as we make progress.

So thankful and excited for this project.

wordfew wednesday

RETURNING IN THE YARD

The rhubarb is coming in nicely this year. I think it was last year that was bad, can't remember for sure. This is a special plant, because my Braveheart LOVED my home made rhubarb cake. It was his and Grandpa Gene's favorite, requested regularly.  I will make this for you and remember you forever my son.

 

 This is sorrel. An herb. Not used much. Plan to learn more. It came back nicely this year.

warm weather, birthdays and gardens...oh my

Here are the seedlings I bought from Azure. On a whim, because the warm weather and sunshine made it impossible not to, I carved out a half hour to tidy up part of my garden and get these cool loving plants in the ground. I tried to keep the garden simple and plant things I will eat...nothing else. This is only about an 1/8th of my garden. The soil made me so happy, it was moist, dark, pleasant smelling and full of moist, active worms. That's right....NO TILLING NEEDED!!! Nothing could make this gardener more happy! My hubs was not so sure, since he loves preparing my garden for me. No worries honey, there is still much to be done. :)

I will try to work on a little section at a time, since my adrenals do not like it when I work too long in the garden.

You can't see the large pile of debris on the burn pile or compost bin, but it's there and I purposely left all the leaves at the fence due to creeping charlie, the weed that keeps on coming. UGH.

We had a fabulously beautiful day celebrating daddy's birthday on Sunday. I am so thankful for this loving, steady man. We have really been through the fire together and with God as our shield, we have clung to Him and one another. We will love and care for the ones God has left here for us to care for (Gold leader is all grown up) and we will see our dear boy again one day. We miss you Braveheart!
We will have joy. 

Even when our hearts know the kind of loss that one ever wants to know.

We have joy for them...

For each other....

live plants delivered

I am really excited about my live plants that came from Azure Standard yesterday! I love to garden...I love to keep it simple...I love to buy seedlings when I can...I love it when they are heirloom seeds/ seedlings or organic....I love supporting small business.....so when I saw these I was quite giddy inside...I wasn't sure what to expect....ta da...

Look how pretty!

I have started plants inside before.

 I have had a good year with it before. 

I have had bad results some years.

 It is not my season right now. 

I am ok with that.

Currently, my time is devoted to caring for my family, cooking autoimmune healing meals, homeschooling, and learning how to use my new camera...well. 

Have I mentioned I love taking photographs? 

Love it!

Oh my, I am in love with my 'brown rice crispy cereal'.  It's low sodium, with just a few ingredients. So if I am going to get a prepackaged food, this is my favorite choice. ( I will share my favorite new breakfast soon)    I usually get Barbara's Bakery brand, but I bought this bulk cereal that was significantly cheaper. I will be testing it out, to see if it makes the cut. So far so good.

powdered kale for thyroid

So...I came up with this fantastic idea over the weekend.....but I know I did not invent this idea of coarse, but it was a little like an invention to me...you see, I have a bundle of wonderful kale in my garden. It just keeps on producing like the energizer bunny. Usually I just juice it or make Kale chips, but I am not juicing as much during my elimination diet (plus it's raw) and one cannot store kale chips long term due to the oil,  and here is the kicker....we have thyroid issues over here..my dtr has thyroiditis, which has turned into hypothyroidism, so we are working on healing foods over here in this camp.  That means we have not been eating raw spinach, broccoli or even kale!!

Yes, it has been an adjustment.  These foods are called goitrogens. This is a quick read about what that is.  I can cook them to cut back on the goitrogen effects, which works wonderfully for broccoli but kale is just not as appealing to the kiddos. Frankly, I do NOT like sauteed kale either, I have discovered and there is not  much that I dislike.
 Here are some pics of my weekend spent preparing our POWDERED KALE. I am so excited about this.

First you go out to your garden to pick some fresh kale.

Then you bring it in to wash all of the dirt and grime off.

Then you lay the leaves out to dry. One can also rip the leaves off the stem if your stems are super thick or if you want them to dry faster. I have done both, whole leaves and torn, but be sure to turn on your ceiling fan, it helps things dry faster.

Turn your oven to 275 degrees after leaves are mostly dry, too wet and you will steam your kale.  They will take anywhere from 45 minutes to more than an hour, depending on how thick and moist your kale is.

Next, you want to take them out of the oven to cool.

Beautiful!

Now put them in your blender. This is the fun part....oh that crunch, crunch...of the dried kale...it's so psychologically satisfying.....it's better than squeezing that bubble wrap.

Now it's all in there. Ready to zoom....

Now we have to make it into powder. I have learned that I love using my Blendtec for this. I use the 'batter' mode which is perfect for stirring it up and powderize the kale.

Now you can put it in a pretty jar and store it for a long time for use in salads, soups, smoothies, stir-fries, and anything else you can imagine up in your mind.

I actually discovered after my first batch, that I prefer the 'batter' mode on my blender and the rest of my powdered kale came out much finer.  I am so excited about this. I love using my fun mason jars and the screw on lids I bought for them through Amazon.  

I also experimented with this with my parsley which I have a ton of as well and so far it has turned out very well.

Happy fall harvesting to you.