Canning

Since it is my birthday week I thought I could indulge myself with some childhood memories. Well, first of all, these are the tomatoes that were canned and the salsa that was made out of that very friendly basket of tomatoes. So much about the tomatoes but really, this is the first year in 12 that we have lived here that I have successfully been able to grow tomatoes. I guess they need really great light something that this yard never really had so Yeah for the red jars.

Ok, here is the memory. When I was about 8 -11 we used to live in Ohio and we had a large garden on the farm of a farmer from church. We would drive out to the country several times in the summer and well, really I would go swimming with my brothers while my parents tended to the garden. It was close to a creek and there were vines that we would swing off into the water. I loved this about going to the garden. I don't really have any memories of helping harvest or plant or weed but the cool water and the Swiss Family Robinson adventures with my brothers swinging, swimming, finding rocks and climbing up the slippery muddy bank are really clear. It was the end of the summer that all the canning took place. It was my job to watch the younger daughter of a friend while she and my mom would can tomatoes, make pizza sauce (the best to this day that I have every had), pickle cucumbers into Bread and Butters and Dills and Sweets in large ceramic crocks that sat aside in the kitchen for weeks. Just a memory.

Brule WI State Park

There's a lot of beauty on the Brule River. These are from the state forrest. We camped near a fish hatchery and learned about its simple and wonderful operation. I am thinking that it might be the very same forrest, river and great lake where the Wild Things live.........

Green

The garden is full of greens. We are eating kale and mustard greens, green beans, pea pods, hot peppers, onions tomatoes, basil, peppermint and there are a few radishes left. It made me think that all we really need is a big bag of rice and beans and we could live all summer with just this little abundant backyard garden. So nice to see my daughter picking supper back there and checking to see what has bloomed or sprouted. We had the first sunflower which was picked for a friend and the second one is on its way to bloom. The garden is 4 - 4' x 4' raised beds. It is divided into square feet thus making it a square foot garden. My biggest question is whether to plant mustard greens next year. I have a bumper crop and so good for you but will have to google some more recipes. So far I have fried it in olive oil and a little garlic and once it is quite dark green you sprinkle a little apple cider vinegar over it which curiously takes some of the bitterness out.

Gardens for the Weekend

Here is the gate to our raised bed garden. It was made out of the lilacs that were cut down in the early spring. We plan to embellish it with well maybe birds or hmm bowls for birdbaths or some sort of finials. Leaves the margins open for creating. I am sure the kids will come up with some ideas unless you can come up with any....suggestions??????

Gate in the making : D

We planted in squares to try out square foot gardening. You can visit the site here with some great directions. Instead of rows seeds are planted within the entire square. It has been fun to watch the seeds sprout up. The sunflowers and beans are pretty satisfying and we already have harvested some radishes. It was amazing to give a tug at the dirt and pull up a perfect miniature radish hot pink glowing in the evening light. We brought it inside and before I could photo op it my daughter excited bit into half of the pink and decided that radishes were not her favorite vegetable. She spit in onto her plate and asked me why I didn't tell her how it tasted. Well, it is hard to remember the first time I ate a radish, one of those firsts that as a kid I am sure I had the same reaction. Recently they planted radishes at school among other veggie seeds in an outdoor classroom of raised beds and her teacher talked about the radish sandwiches that her mother would eat of butter and sliced radishes on toasted bread. Yum for advanced tastebuds and yuck for thirdgraders.

Loving my new water cans. How could you not be happy to carry rain from the rain barrels to new sprouts.

The rose bush is in burst bloom mode. The whole bush is soooo beautiful. We have several other blooms starting in the yard as well. Have a great weekend out in your garden.

Monterey Aquarium Jellyfish and Shark

Monterey Aquarium

Digging in the Dirt

We actually have grass now and everything is leafing out but I still had to post these pics of the mud days. That wonderful brown squishy stuff that kids know is magical. It is easily brought alive with water and the consistency is without a doubt the best pie making material around.

Kids move fast and by the time I had assembled the puzzle questions, where is the large pot? where is the shovel? where is the hose??????.....they had a a nice chocolate soup cooking up in the front yard. Stop, Stop, then breaking down I asked to get my camera and here they are becoming one with natures spring petri dish. Nature Deficit.... NOT!!!!!!!

Have you ever read the book Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv? Here is an excerpt. Wonderful book......

of course not to be confused with this video............... which I think is a lot of fun.

Jellyfish video Monterey Aquarium

Here is a snippet of the Monterey Aquarium.

I have several other shots of these creatures

and some work to post next week.

Amazing creatures.

Blooming spring ephemerals and circus plans

She found an old ball and painted it to match her socks. S and her friend were all about planning a circus. Costumes were created and balls were painted. Stilts came out of the garage and great plans for teaching the dog new tricks, clown costumes and trapeze acts. I will keep you posted.

The Bloodroot is finally up out of the ground. I love this flower and we were given it when we first moved in 10 years ago. A gift from a friend from the woods. It comes back every year and has wonderful leaves even after the showy blooms fade. Spring ephemerals are worth the wait.....

Happy Earth Day

May Day from Heart of the Beast...

and planting seeds on the front porch

Good Friday

Eggshell starters

Here are the little starts to the garden. Beans are planted down inside these eggshells. I guess we will have to crack the shell before they go into the ground but they make nice containers for the dirt et al. We have a table full of starters now bush beans and snap peas, carrots, onions, lettuce, marigolds, sweet peppers, nicotiana (great smell on these) heavenly blue morning glories (my favorite and my daughters) radishes, Nigella and  Celosia. Hmmm, will have to get small plants of tomatoes and basil and other herbs. Yum, can't wait. 

How to prune Lilacs

Here is a site where you can read about pruning lilac bushes and  here is a site where you can learn to prune very old overgrown scraggly lilac bushes. We had the latter and after cutting them down are already agreed that they look better. We used a chain saw and it was the deciding which trunks to cut that took the most time. Here are the 2 simplified versions on how to trim lilac bushes.

1. Cut all trunks down to 6-8" of the ground in March or April or late winter. (Mindful that this is Minnesota) Really, this one is quite drastic but lilacs are heady and you won't risk losing the bush you won't have blooms for about 3 years. The second year after all is cut you will have to do an assessment of which shoots you will want to keep to form the shape of your new bushes. All others should be cut to the ground.

2. This is the one that we chose. Cut about 1/3 of the older trunks down to ground level. The second year cut another 1/2  again of the trunks and thin the new growth. Be considerate of the shape of the bushes and choose ones that will let in light into the center of the plant. Take down old (3-5 year or more) trunks. You will continue to have blooms in the spring this way.

I brought in some of the branches. They are in a large pitcher of water and already the buds are swelling and there are hints of color where I swear there was only brown this afternoon. Amazing. I will have to take pictures every day. I am sure they will love soaking up the house warmth and all that water. 

There is really nothing like spring. 

the painting is by Jim Larson

February Thaw

F for Flora

(alphabet figure)

Oh no, I am back to drawing heads.

I was only supposed to be drawing full figures but the

face gives you so much room to form it out with white.

Just try drawing once with a white pencil on black paper

and I swear you will never stop.

Yes, this post is really about the February thaw that happened

about a week ago. I have now 2 photos of the raised beds and

gardens and that about sums up Feb-April in Minnesota.

1. covered with snow and

2. not covered with snow

It is all underground at this point, roots and bulbs and frozen worms. sigh

That black dirt is really amazing.

80% organic matter

I am kind of unscientific about the dirt we filled the yard with

and I would ask Drew but poor guy is sick so I won't wake him

and talk about frozen worms and topsoil. But, it really

is pretty amazing stuff and when I post more interesting

things about the garden I will be sure to include lots of facts

about the stuff.

Here's to patience and letting all those beautiful bulbs and roots sleep long enough to make a great summer show.

Have a cozy winter weekend.

Sleeping Garden zzzzzzzzzzzz..........

The new plans for the backyard. Fully equipped with a pond with fish, surrounded by rose bushes, large garden, outdoor tent with fire and on and on..........

Shot of the garden in winter with raised beds under snow blankets,

Green Man watching over Rosehips
tracks
frozen pumpkins. I think the seed catalogs will be coming in the mail soon.  Yes.

We are thawed out and I didn't even get this post out in time.