garden 2015

Just wanted to document and share some of last year's highlights. Hope this post finds you happy and well! xoxoxo

around here

it's been all yarn and seeds over here lately. i'm trying to finish a bobble blanket for a friend's baby boy born last week as well as master the braided gladiator sandal pattern - after two years, three mess-ups and at least fifteen redo's, i've almost got it!

last year we started our brassica seeds (cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower) indoors under a shop light on february 22nd. since it felt like those plants could have used more time to mature before summer, i'm starting them early. a whole month early in fact. but now i'm wondering if this is too early. we shall see!

i also planted pansies and black-eyed susans. those seeds require stratification, a process of cold, winter treatment to mimic natural outdoor growing conditions, so they're siting in the fridge. yes, there are small pots of soil in my refrigerator, but only for a month!:)

xoxoxo

52 weeks of making - week two - felt cat toy

looking to entertain your cat for about five minutes? give her some catnip! or better yet, sew her a toy stuffed with catnip! it doesn't have to be cute. your cat won't care. just don't forget the catnip!:)

xoxoxo  

today

this morning john and i went to the collingswood farmer's market and found some local and organic goodies, including a five-pound bag of yukon gold potatoes. when we got home i threw about half the bag in the crockpot to make oh she glows' crispy smashed potatoes (with a slight variation in the sauce using carmella's cashew cream recipe). while the potatoes were cooking i gathered some greens for a salad, then spotted kati laying on our bench from the kitchen window. all in all it was a very nice day :) i hope you're enjoying your weekend as well!

xoxoxo

summer 2014 highlights

it's a bit late for a summer highlights post, but in my mind the season is still coming to a close. when the garden gets put to bed for the year is when it will really feel like fall, i guess.

this was the first summer our space truly felt like a garden. there was so much out there, and so many things popped up that i didn't even plant! (thanks to self-sowing flowers). we had beginner's luck with kohlrabi, growing enough to preserve for winter, and we finally grew decent cucumbers! finally! only took six tries!:)

many days were spent with my friend's children at the park and we saw so many cute animals. though our patio was finished last summer, this year it felt more complete with the addition of a bistro set and hanging flower pots. little toads came to visit, and john and i enjoyed relaxing out there, playing rummy 500, a card game our grandmothers taught us both when we were kids.=)

the herb garden flourished on its own and i dried so much that i don't think i'll be needing to buy seasonings or tea for a while! lemon balm, red clover, parsley, rosemary, pineapple sage, thyme, oregano, basil, spearmint, plantain, coriander, dandelion, goldenrod and i even managed to cut a little catnip before kati and the neighborhood cats ate the whole plant, again.

that's what happened the last time i planted catnip. i tried being sneaky but kati found me. she ate most of the the plant within a day but since then i've seen little green leaves coming up. hopefully third time's a charm with the catnip!

garden snippets

1 // nasturtium. can't even tell you how happy i am that after five years of trying, i've finally got a nasturtium bloom! the flowers are edible and they make a great companion plant in the garden, deterring aphids and cucumber beetles.

2 // goldenrod. these babies didn't do much for me the past two summers i tried to grow them. i really want to harvest the leaves to make tea, which is very good for the kidneys. last summer a few grew and managed some measly blooms, but i guess it was enough because this year we've got tons growing in the garden! gotta love self-sowing flowers.

3 // lettuce has been hit or miss in our garden (mostly miss) but this spring it took off! i think it's all about getting the lettuce in the ground as early as you can and keeping the plants well mulched. (it also doesn't hurt to have a nice friend with a master gardener mom sharing some of her plants!)

4 // volunteer lettuce/lavender/red leaf amaranth/compost bin gardening // one of the drawbacks of our raised garden beds is the wood is decomposing and the boxes are falling apart. last year i took some leftover brick from our patio project and made a little bed to hold a lavender i had purchased from a farmer's market. (the last three plants i had in my garden died from over-watering most likely) that beautiful lettuce popped up on its own and i didn't have the heart to pluck it. plus i thought it would have enough space to grow nicely and though it was sort of out of place, i left it.

little red leaf amaranth plants are so cute! and they grow so nicely! since i was out of space, i grew some in pots and then transplanted them after i pulled the radish and added a healthy dose of compost to the soil. speaking of, see the squash growing from the compost bin? it's really flourishing in there, producing vines and blossoms! i wonder what kind of squash it is...

5 // calendula about to open. this was another volunteer plant!

6 // and more volunteers! there are cosmos, sunflowers and even red amaranth popping up alongside the house! john is carefully mowing around them so we should have some wild looking blooms in our yard come mid-summer! this is my sixth year of gardening and it feels like all my hard work is finally paying off when i see things like this! ♡

7 // kati in the butterfly garden. frustrated with the lack of space for flowers, john and i decided to just start ripping up grass weeds in the middle of the yard and called it a butterfly garden. it's a patch of brown that looks sort of ugly until all the flowers bloom and it becomes a 10 foot high by ten foot long paradise for the kati cakes. it's where we usually find her napping during the dog days of summer, shaded by the big sunflower and amaranth blooms. the little sweetie's already been hanging out in there, doing her business and all! better there than in the veggie garden!

wishing you all a wonderful growing season full of pretty plants and lots of sunshine!
(but not too much. wish you also a healthy dose of rainfall too.=)

xoxoxo

pressing flowers

kati and i did some flower pressing today and i took photos to show you how easy it is. all you need are some flowers, paper and heavy books. (a cute cat is optional :)

i picked these wildflowers on my walk to the community garden this morning. the violets were growing on the side of the road. they are new jersey's state flower (nerd alert!), and violets are edible! i get very excited when i see them. the periwinkle was planted by one of the community garden members and it's spreading all over. i love it.

so all i do is lay the flowers out nicely on a plain sheet of paper, bloom side down, making sure none are overlapping. also make sure your flowers are dry before you press them, and check that there are no ants or other little critters living inside. these heavy hardcover books that i inherited from my grandpop jake are perfect for pressing. so are phone books and textbooks. the newer flowers go to the bottom of the pile (inside the books or in between them - i do both). after the first few hours you can check to see if they need repositioning, but after that they should be left undisturbed for about a month (though i know in the beginning it's so hard not to peek!)

in the past i've used tissue paper for pressing, but i found it left creases in some of the flower petals. now i use computer paper, and sometimes i just press right inside the book. the flowers above are bachelor buttons that i pressed the summer my grandmother passed away. she loved bachelor buttons, so i'm going to use them to make a gift for my mom in remembrance of our gg ♥

storing the flowers was a bit of an issue until i just started to tape them into a composition book. oh, and labeling the flowers is a good idea, but i tend to forget.

most of the flowers grew in the garden - some i planted, and many are weeds! some of my favorite pressings are weeds wildflowers, like these lil sweeties. i've named them baby butterfly puffs. =)

do you press flowers? i can't believe how simple it is. i used to think i needed a flower press to do it (would still love one though!). you could really press flowers in any old book, and i think i may start carrying one around to press on-the-go.

"flowers are like friends; they bring color to your world."

♥

another snow day

can you tell kati's sick of the snow? today she couldn't find a dry spot to do her business. she was so cute hopping in the snow, though. but then she kept whining at me like i should go dig her a hole or something. go in your box! i said. after sniffing it forever she finally did. then she sat in there and buried her business for a good two minutes straight. she apparently has litter box issues.

for lunch i put together a little platter with those nori wraps i was telling you about. this time i added raisins and mung bean sprouts. it was john's idea to add raisins. that man is a genius.

however, he made it very clear to me again today that he does not like tahini. ta-hiney he called it. fresh. an incident with tahini cookies a few years ago has left the man scarred. we won't get into it. i was a little annoyed because i made the hummus with a quarter of the tahini the recipe called for so he wouldn't taste it. but he knew it was in there so of course he said he could taste it. lies! last night he admitted the curry flax crackers were really good but today he doesn't like curry, wouldn't you know...so he wouldn't eat any of those either. bah! oh well johnny boy, more for me!=)

as i mentioned before, my chiropractor recommended i consume more bromelain and circumin to help ease my aches. bromelain is an enzyme found in pineapple said to naturally relieve pain and inflammation. most of the bromelain is in the pineapple core so i grind those babies right up in my smoothies. i love to munch on pineapple throughout the week when i'm craving something sweet. the ones at the market that look more golden yellow than green are the sweetest ones, i've found.

circumin is in turmeric which is in curry powder, if i'm understanding correctly. circumin has been shown to fight everything from cancer to diabetes. it also helps with inflammation and arthritis pain. according to dr. connealy's nice article on circumin's many benefits, circumin can do the following:

• combat cancer stem cells (where cancer begins) as well as multidrug-resistant cancer
• reduce out-of-control inflammation
• help maintain healthy cells and neutralize damaging free radicals
• protect against the ravages of aging
• enhance heart health and inhibit the formation of LDL (bad) cholesterol
• prevent blood platelets from sticking together, which improves circulation and minimizes the likelihood of blood clots
• counteract damage caused by radiation
• protect against Alzheimer’s disease and related conditions
• help maintain healthy, pain-free joints
• support healthy kidneys and liver
• encourage the body’s own detoxification efforts and help eliminate such health-damaging contaminants as heavy metals

amazing, isn't it?! now you see why i've been trying to make things with curry and turmeric. since it hasn't been easy to please everyone's taste buds around here, i'm going to look for a supplement so john and i can both reap the benefits of circumin. if you can recommend a good brand of turmeric supplements, please do! john says new chapter because they're non-gmo. yes? no?

photos from today

though more snow is in the forecast for tomorrow, the pretty sunset after 5 pm had me thinking of spring. only 2 more months to go, and february's a short month!;)

it cracks me up to watch kati clean her feet. she spreads her toes all out and chews on them. (kati never did warm up to our little houseguest, though she did allow sweet annie to sleep in our bed.)

a few months ago i won a blog giveaway for kevita sparkling probiotic drink. the local health food store ordered some for me and i tried the lemon cayenne flavor. it was pretty good - not at all spicy like i was expecting. they also gave me a scoby so i can make my own again. need to get on that.

today i made a huge mess batch of minestrone soup - enough for three dinners and three lunches. we had some tonight, we'll have leftovers tomorrow and the rest of the jars were put in the freezer. last week i wasn't feeling good and all i wanted was homemade soup. now i feel prepared.

our mangoes were ripe but bland so i decided to dry them out. now they're perfectly sweet. yum, and chewy, like candy. while the mangoes were in the dehydrator all day, i also restocked raw pizza crusts and created carrot curry flax crackers with raisins that i can't seem to stop eating. i'll tell you about those soon. sleep tight my friends!

adventures in kitten sitting

little annie's been here a few days and though kati is still not happy about this intrusion, there have been no fights (knock on wood) so i say it's going pretty well. poor annie was so scared at first that she hid in the basement. but she got more and more brave and is now venturing all over the house, even asking us for pets and playtime. annie loves crumpled balls of paper and will exhaust herself smacking them around the kitchen. she snatches every toy we give her and after prancing around with her catch, she'll hoard it in the basement with the rest of her collection. she's so stinkin cute!

if i'm playing with annie and kati is coming, john will give a warning cry so i don't caught. i'll even change my outfit if annie rubs all over me. anitra frazier advises in her book the natural cat not to let your cat see or smell that you're playing with the new cat because she will feel threatened and retaliate. i have to sneak around here like i'm cheating! i'm saying to her in my best bill voice, i did not have feline-al relations with that cat.=)

it's funny, annie seems to be more cautious with me and john than of kati who keeps hissing at her. she follows kati around and seems to be saying play with me! kati wants nothing to do with her, but we're still hoping they become friends before annie goes home next weekend. we'll see!

cell phone snapshots

1 / oreo, one of the baby guinea pigs i'm making.

2 / kati, dreaming sweet kitty dreams.

3 / one of the few decorations i haven't given away - a snowman plug-in from my mom.

4 / fancy snow day snack: carrots and guacamole (also served with mary's gone crackers).

some people take fantastic pictures with their cell phones. i'm not one of them, but i wanted to show you some things that made me happy this week. i hope you're having a wonderful december. hard to believe it's not even technically winter yet! it's freezing!
 xoxoxo

lately

the sun sets earlier and earlier each day, giving me an excuse to light all the candles. i've been enjoying the peace and quiet of our warm, cozy home, crocheting, reading harry potter, and searching for more things to crochet.

the rapunzel doll is coming along, though her hair is tripping me up a bit. her head needs to be redone because i chose a cream colored yarn that was way too light. i'm also making a jack skellington doll in a santa outfit for one of the boys. jack's been fun to work on with his long skinny limbs, though i keep losing my count with the rounds, and crocheting with eyelash yarn is just crazy. i couldn't see any of the chains and my hook kept getting stuck, but i love the fuzzy texture.

kati likes to watch me crochet and goes after the yarn every once in a while. she snatched jack right out of my hands and went at him with her hind legs, scratching away like a maniac! good thing she didn't leave any pulls.

this week i crocheted john the beanie he said he's always wanted.=) i also started working on a snowflake garland, though i need a thinner thread. now i'm on the hunt for the perfect baby hat pattern for a 9 month old girl. something like this, with shells and a scalloped edge. i'm going to check the library and barnes and noble for pattern books. 

i hope you have a lovely, snuggly weekend! xoxoxo