my garden boys | nappanee photographer

how has your summer gone so far?

it's been kind of different for me.
i would really like to chat about why, but that will be a near-future post.

a normal summer break starts something like this:

clothes on the lines - check.
basketball camp for the over 6' crowd - check.
swim lessons - no more. (in the books as of last year)
summer camp - check.
mowing, and more mowing - check.
garden - check... err, kind of.

my flower garden is a disaster.
take-over of an ivy kind literally strangled out several of my perennials.
in my old age, i'm giving this up as "lesson learned".

our vegetable garden is mostly per the usual, except that my participation has been next to nill.

i went along to purchase seeds & plants as is the tradition, but i've done very little else.

post gardening rest...

did you know that a hoe can double as a light-saber or some other sort of weapon...?

although i had good intentions, the new strawberry patch was planted by the big guy alone.
i'm wondering about those new plants... i never really discussed the "proper way to plant strawberry starts" with him.
somehow i just don't have it in me to verify these facts.

so, i've been busy inside and my guys are doing all the gardening themselves.

*oh, hey... i did spread hair around the jalepeno plants, and well... that's a whole nother ball of wax.

on their way out | nappanee photographer

this year was crazy hard on the gardens.
i suppose it didn't help that i didn't water the flowers once this year.

bad gardener... baaaad.

i like to think that by planting all perennials, the garden's on auto-pilot.

you throw a kid who's in trouble out there once in awhile to pull the weeds, and let those babies go.

that's my idea of flower gardening.... lazy style☺


they're on their way out now but these were some of my favorites...








love me a little flower bokeh!
mmmmm.....


so long, my pretties☺

how our garden grows

last night we finally got corn & beans planted. we are soooo late. the priorities around our place have been severely screwed up for several months, at best. in my heart i thought there was no way the garden would get neglected, but things happen to the best of us.

between all the rain & the general absence of a certain master gardener - tiller extraordinaire, the big plant got delayed, and delayed again.... big time.

like i said, these things happen to the best of us.

but on other fronts, the strawberry patch is cleaning up nicely. 3 days straight of weeding, eyes burning, itching, sneezing, keeping my kleenex box in the garden next to me, the big boy and i did some serious damage to the clover population.

*note to self: find a way to keep the clover from coming back.... ever.


i think these are some of the sweetest berries we've gotten out of our patch. this variety is honeyeye. they are described as "sweet" but i generally think they're pretty tart. normally i find that the later part of the picking season produces the sweetest berries, but these have been really sweet so far.

***now, here's where things get reeeally boring unless you're into gardening & you've got nothing better to do than keep reading...

have i mentioned what's going on in the "no tilling allowed!" section of our garden?

well, 2 years ago i planted dill for my pickles. sources told me that dill would return (even though it's technically an annual). then, last spring we had the till-happy mishap where everything got tilled under, even the asparagus that was in it's 2nd year - major ugh! moment.

so just to be safe, i planted more dill, which, as we later discovered, probably wasn't necessary. the dill made it's way back, even after being tilled under. (alas, no asparagus survived.)

along with dill & some other herbs we also planted cilantro for our salsa & all the summer pico de gallo that happens here. cilantro would also happen be an annual.

now this year, since we learned our lesson, we now have a "no tilling allowed" section of the garden where the dill and asparagus reside. come time to buy seeds, i could not see any sign of the dill.

weeds, yes.
dill, no.

and last week i tried to find dill for sale, only to come home with one measly little pack. i was pretty bummed. i go out to the garden to check again for any sign of the dill popping up and i was pleasantly surprised to find many little starts making their way up through the "weeds" surrounding it.

upon looking a little closer (wake up girl!) i notice the "weeds" surrounding my little sprigs of dill are actually cilantro.... or rather what i like to call "cilantro gone wild"!

we're now the proud owners of a 8 x 4' patch of cilantro.
good. night. nurse.

so hey, if you're in the area and need some cilantro, you know where to get some☺

happy vengence

it's amazing how some things can take off & get away from you without your notice. that is what my perennials have done this spring.

i have one little flower bed that i have accumulated perennials in over the time we have lived here. i am so glad i went with perennials because i do not have the patience for the annual ritual. i like the renewal of these flowers each year, something to look forward to with expectations each spring.

the early birds have already finished blooming like my irises & ground cover. (if anyone is interested in a dwarf white/purple iris, let me know because i'd like to split it this year!)

i've been surprised to see that my globeflower has reappeared after a no-show last year. this confounds me! and i guess my poppies are not going to happen (i would really love to have some poppies!).

this year some of my plants have just gone ginormous on me. i'm not sure why. i'm sure there's a logical reason having to do with something like the climate over the past year... that's just my guess. but regardless, in the flower bed and in my garden (more on the herbal takeover later) things seem to have returned with a happy vengence☺

the blessed lupine has come back in a big way. i have never seen so many blooms on this plant. (these photos were taken almost 10 days ago, so by now they are maxxed out to full bloom. this is the stage where i like them best)

the salvia. i have found that i have an over-abundance of purple flowers in my garden☺

if the skies allow, i'll be posting more flowers as they arrive.

happy gardening ♥

the garden... first harvest 2010

last night i spent some time weeding the ever-loving strawberry patch.
we have out-of-control clover in parts of the patch.

it's terrible.

i have never seen anything like it!

the conviction of will that it took for me to spend an hour weeding just a tiny 3 x 1' stretch of patch was mind-numbing.
not to mention the hopelessness that came when i looked at the next 25 x 4' that still need attention.

ugghh!


so anyhow, the 2 casted boy came over to check out my hard work (since he's too handicapped to help with the weeding, don't you know).

he noticed that there were radishes that needed picking.
he explained that radishes & cucumbers are his favorites of all things to pick from the garden.
this doesn't shock me, whatsoever.

can we all say "very little effort required"?!

so here's the first crop. there's still more out there to pick, and once they're ready, we'll plant more. radishes are nice & they let us grow them pretty much all season long.

*i have no idea what happened to that reject in the lower right corner, but other than being a freakish shade of purple (which by the way bled off onto our hands like ink), it wasn't especially hot or strange tasting. it was devoured in one bite by the big guy, along with almost every other one we picked, at supper.

oh, and ps.... we did pick a couple of strawberries too. SO excited, i can hardly wait for them☺

happiness on my windowsill | nappanee portrait photographer

look who's holding out in my flower garden...

yummy.☺

blueberry zucchini bread delish!

remember how i said i had some yummy recipes to share? well, this is one of them! we used some of the glorious blueberries we picked & some of our always lovely zucchini from the garden. and did i tell ya we let 6 zucchini plants live this year? yeah, i don't know what that was about.

i'm not sure that a picture can do this one justice...this bread is so worth tasting, even for someone like me who really thinks that the ole run-of-the-mill "zucchini bread" is pretty lame.

well, it's these blueberries i tell ya... they are nearly to die for. this year's pick are the best i think i've ever had. the size of quarters people - quarters! and so sweet.

see, i always pick blueberries because my guys love em & i like to bake with them, but i don't necessarily want to eat blueberries. they just give a little boost to my pancakes & muffins. but this recipe's different. those little babies are like the piece de resistance. *and if you're wondering, i spelled that right, cause i looked it up just in case. right on the first try... i'm feeling lucky tonight!


and for fear that this bread wouldn't be quite good enough "as is", i even improvised a crumb topping just in case.

oh man, even though i just ate a candy bar, the thought of this stuff is making me hungry!

ah well...here's the recipe:

blueberry zucchini bread

3 eggs
1 c. oil (or 1/2 c. oil, 1/2 c. applesauce like i did)
3 tsp. vanilla (love that r e a l vanilla!)
1 1/2- 1 3/4 c. sugar
2 c. shredded zucchini (or chop with a pampered chef chopper like mine)
3 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 Tbs. cinnamon (yes Tbs.)
1 pint fresh blueberries (but frozen works just fine too)

preheat oven to 350 degrees. lightly grease (spray) 2 regular loaf pans.
in large bowl, beat eggs, oil, vanilla & sugar. fold in zucchini.
beat in dry ingredients. fold in blueberries.
pour into baking pans.

crumb topping: (which is optional, but i wouldn't leave it out if i were you!)
1/3 c. sugar
1/3 c. flour
1/4 c. chilled butter (don't let it get too soft)

blend together with pastry blender (you can use a fork, but why?)
sprinkle topping over batter.
bake 50-60 mins. or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean.
cool 5 mins. on wire rack, 10 mins. tops or it things will not turn out well!

*my secret tip to getting quick breads to come out of the pan clean without leaving some bread in the bottom of the pan:

after cooling 5-10 mins. on wire rack, holding the pan with oven mitts/hot pads (of course), hold the pan by the end, almost vertical (one end in your hand, your other hand over the bread itself to keep it from falling out of the pan, which it probably wouldn't anyway, but you never know...) and bang the end you're not holding a couple of times hard & quick on the edge of the countertop, island, etc. then gently tip it over & let the bread easily peel itself out of the pan. that's it. try it. it works.

so go ahead...try this bread.

i don't care who you are, you're gonna love it!

canning & freezing in full swing

it starts with the strawberries in late may or early june. and it's so exciting to see those strawberries on the plants. it's like a wake up to summer.

i make some jam, i freeze some berries & we eat lots of strawberries & favorite strawberry dishes like shortcake & pie. we are part strawberry for the month of june!

there's a short reprieve while we enjoy some radishes, some lettuce & maybe a few onions.

then it all goes crazy. life begins to be planned around what needs to be done in the garden.

and so i have a love hate relationship with gardening & canning.

i love the we can grow our own food, harvest it & keep it for the coming year.

i hate that it takes time. precious time that i give during my summer... summer that goes by so quickly...my break from being a home schooling mom. i need that break from school probably as much or more than my kids do!

gardening, canning & freezing definitely take time. i enjoy being busy, but the busier i am, the quicker the time seems to fly by.

so enough of my rant. i am thankful. and hopeful. and praying that my beans are going to do better than they seem to be doing right now. beans are important to us. we were fortunate last year to have an incredible turn out and we put up enough to eat them at least a couple times a week for an entire year.

and i am super excited to have picked & frozen 35 lbs of blueberries last week! yes, 35 lbs! this is the most i have ever put up, so i will be happy to let my boys eat blueberries without worrying about running out of them early next year!

*******

now, this here part of the post is for my friend shannan & any of you looking into planting cucumbers for pickling.

we put up a lot of pickles.

• dill
• sweet garlic dill
• bread & butter

i think we have discovered that we eat more of the dill than anything, so we will do more of them than we have in the past.

we plant 2 kinds of cucumbers: "sweet slice" & "national pickling"

you all know what the sweet slice look like. pretty much what you see in the store for cucumbers. they're long and green with smooth shiny skin. they turn yellow when they're too ripe. we just cut these up & eat them. by the plateful. they're yummy.

the national pickling are my favorite little pickle. we use them for pickling. there's something endearing about them, if a cucumber can possibly be endearing. i think of them when i think of a claussen pickle for some reason.

*and oh...by the way, there's an ongoing discussion at our house as to whether or not you should call them cucumbers or pickles before they have actually been "pickled". some say one, some say the other, but mostly some are just being smart alecs when they act like they don't know what we're talking about when we say "you need to go out and get some pickles from the garden..."☺


these guys are cute, they're smallish...about this long...

i try not to let them get too long because i like to cut then into spears or half by length to fit into pint jars. and you don't have to worry because if they get much longer than that, they just get fatter around and not so much longer, and they're usually over-ripe by that time. sometimes i pick them pretty small if i want to pickle them whole in quart jars.

and they look like this when you slice them across...

which i do for bread & butter pickles, or chucks of any other kind of pickle. i like how they are 3 sided, but i notice if you let them get a bit bigger, they will puff up and have 4 sides. i like to keep them right about here.

i started growing my own dill last year since it only made sense & since dill is perennial, it's an added plus. and actually if you accidentally till it up (hi honey!) it will probably come right back up...ours did anyway. it's pretty tough stuff.

so i'm off to make some dill pickles. if i find the time, i'll post some recipes with the finished product.

happy canning!

random thoughts on tuesday...

• i am knitting a new piece that's giving me fits...the "purse stitch", i've frogged it twice, ok, 3 times...maybe i don't really know how to do this stitch?
• i've been on a breyer's butter pecan binge lately...mmmm....
• when i got up yesterday, this is what i found in my garden

• it's a daily battle to get my 3rd grader through his school day
• i saw "wolverine" twice this past weekend, yes ladies... t w i c e
• i'm searching for the perfect yarn for my first sweater to knit...i think i've found it...rowan calmer...but it's dangerously pricey, going to have to keep working on that one
• i took this shot of the baby boy sunday - i love it

• spent time with my best girlfriend 5 different times in the past week & a half...we can have fun doing anything
• my birthday is tomorrow & my husband is more concerned about how old i'm getting that he is about himself (he's 4 years older than i am)

how does your garden grow?

around here, we are getting into the gardening spirit...

we have onions, radishes & peas coming up (yay!) & we planted lettuce this past weekend.

this is our 4th year of "serious" gardening & canning. it's something we look forward to every spring. we work on this as a family & it's good for all of us. (minus the whining & complaining)

we learn something new each year... for instance:

• planting tomatoes in april is not a real good idea
• there really is such a thing as "too much of a good thing" when it comes to fertilizer
• being "tiller happy" can be bad for your perennials (goodbye asparagus & dill)
• spraying round-up on your strawberry beds because it will kill the weeds but not the strawberry plants is not actually true
• it's not worth it to plant leftover seeds from last year, especially if it's 8 rows of beans that you're going to have to replant anyway
• don't worry about your zucchini seeds starting, they ALWAYS come up

this weekend we piled into the car & went out to our favorite local gardening shop, country garden greenhouses over near cr 46 & cr 15 (it's a new paris address) to buy seeds ...just in case there's a shortage this year.

we got our bean, corn, cucumber & zucchini seeds & a few more onion starts because you never know... the 250 that we already have in the ground just might not be enough!

we'll wait a while yet to buy our plants (tomatoes, peppers, etc.) and plant them later in may. we've found that memorial day is a safe time to plant tomatoes without having to really fuss over them, so we'll do most of our seed planting before that, then tomatoes & picky things last.

canning (and freezing) has been hugely rewarding for us & has probably saved us more this past year than ever before. it does become a big job once summer is here, but we never regret it once all winter long.

so with planting & fresh fruits & veggies in mind, i am posting a recipe for something i made this weekend with some frozen zucchini from last summer's crop.

these zucchini brownies are so delicious, i think i'm going to go get one now & eat it while i write this up...

ok, i'm back...these are so good, my fingers are sticky & going to make a mess all over my keyboard, oh well...

zucchini brownies
1/2 c. oil
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1/2 c. cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 c. shredded zucchini
1/2 c. chopped walnuts, optional
+chocolate buttercream frosting if you really like to "rich" it up

preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease 9 x 13" pan. in large bowl, mix oil, sugar & vanilla. combine dry ingredients & stir into sugar mixture. fold in zucchini & nuts. spread evenly into pan. bake 25 minutes or until brownies spring back when touched, then they're done.

*these are more cake-like than heavy fudge-like brownies. try them, they're so good, i know that you'll like them!

ps, if you are going to freeze zucchini for something like this where you need it to be shredded, shred it first, then freeze it. i figured this out the hard way!