I Love Zinnias...

I love Zinnias! I did not get to plant them this Spring but was delighted when these came up volunteer in one spot in my neglected and forgotten flowerbeds. These are a wee bit faded from the brutal Texas Summer but they still managed to survive and add beauty to the world.

Simplicity

It has been my mission for a long time to simplify.  It is an ongoing mission that I am learning to apply to daily life.  The static of daily living can be very stressful if we don't learn to shut out the noise and enjoy the simple things of life, like gently falling rain, a beautiful sunset, new blossoms on a plant.

This year I am enjoying our raised garden.  Doing research and using techniques that my Mother used has been interesting.  After she retired she always had a beautiful, healthy, productive vegetable garden and she gardened by the moon signs in the Old Farmer's Almanac. I regret not taking the time to learn these techniques directly from her while she was alive or writing down her recipes for some of the wonderful things she cooked like her homemade fried apricot pies.  Like most young folks, I was not interested in those things at the time.  Now I cherish her memory and many of the things she taught me.

Yesterday was a fertile planting day.  Instead of planting, I took some cuttings from one of our Rosemary plants.  Hopefully the cuttings will take root and we will have more lovely smelling herbs that will be used for more then just cooking.  They make wonderful smelling mosquito repellent. I love the simplicity of them resting in a canning jar and reflecting the light from outside. 

We have been busy working on a hedge project that should be finished shortly.  I will share before and after pictures with you soon.

Slow down.  Be kind to yourself.  Comfort yourself.  Take time to dig in the dirt.  It's all healing and good for your soul. 

How lovely the silence of growing things...

The garden is coming along nicely.  Last week we had our first harvest of cherry tomatoes and have since enjoyed several more of these yummy delights.

I finally got the last of the sweet banana peppers in the ground along with some sunny yellow marigolds.

I do love these sweet little plants called Creeping Lemon Thyme.

It's always heartwarming to see seedlings emerging that you have planted yourself...

...and blooms on store bought tomato and bell pepper plants.

Aww the lovely silence of growing things, but be ever vigilant of other silent things that are not so lovely.  Snakes are out in force this year along with an abundance of ants.  Find some time to get outside and dig in the dirt.  It's healing and good for the soul.

Grounded...

Our Bonnie Plants that I ordered online arrived late last week in very good condition.  How did we ever get along without computers?  They certainly do come in handy when one is home bound most of the time.

The Old Farmer's Almanac said Sunday and yesterday were fertile planting days, so with storms forecast and coming on Sunday, I opted for Monday planting.  All of the plants are now in the ground, plus seeds have been sown.  Now we wait and water...

Our cat, Dinky Sugar thought Momma had made her a gigantic litter box, so the first thing I had to do was put up netting as protection from her and the various other birds and critters that like to nibble on green things.

We still have some more things we want to plant in the raised garden, but what we have now will do for starters.  With the raised garden underway, I have enlisted the help of my Studio Assistants,(Poppa, Sassy Alice, Dinky Sugar) while we wait.  Things are coming right along nicely with all this help!

Make the very best of every day and count your blessings often.  ~E~

Green House and Raised Garden Project

Hello Friends and Welcome SPRING!

I am happy to report that reclaiming our green house is finally finished.  Poppa put new screen in the window screens and we put them on the windows, completing our Green House project, except for exterior painting which will be done when we repaint the exterior of the house.  It has taken many months but it was a labor of love and hopefully the flooding issue has been solved.  Time will tell.

...and I am tickled with our Raised Garden!

Here are the BEFORE pictures.  It was a problem to weed eat this area.  Our goal is to simplify.

Confucius said, "The man who moves a mountain begins by carrying away small stones." That is exactly what I did with this project.  Small baby steps and wee increments of time. All of the debris was removed, then I put down a weed barrier, put down concrete blocks and caps next to the green house to hopefully prevent flooding.  Then I started moving 12" x 12" concrete pavers (purchased and delivered from Lowes), a few at a time with the help of my trusty Hustler Zero Turn Lawnmower.  Starting at the back wall, once I got the pavers in place so I could tell where the garden was to be, I put together our sweet 4' x 8' raised garden kit from WalMart.  It only took about fifteen minutes to put it together. After it was in place, I called in help!  Our neighbor put 4 bags of mulch, 20 bags (40 #'s each) of top soil dirt and 6 bags of humus into the raised garden.  He screwed on the top caps for the raised garden and also put several pavers in place on the east side of the garden. He did work in a matter of minutes that would have taken me days to do.  Thank goodness for neighbors! A few days later I decided to put more pavers down so Poppa can get all around the garden in his Wheelie.

AFTER:

I am so pleased with how this project turned out!  A raised garden has been a dream of mine for a long while.  Now we are waiting on the weather to settle down.  Grandma always said there will be a *cold snap* right before Easter and Grandma was usually right. We have a late Easter this year. Seeds and plants have been ordered online.  How did we ever get along without the internet?  It's a sweet day when you can dig in the dirt!  Slow down, enjoy your life what ever it may bring.

Until next time...

Easter Eggers and Plant Update...

I wish we had chickens, but we don't, so we will depend on our friend Jerri Pickering for these big, beautiful delicious fresh eggs! Love the brown ones and the green ones are a special treat. Thank you Jerri.  There are several breeds of chickens that lay blue, green and even pink eggs; and some are speckled.  These chickens are called *Easter Eggers*.

PLANT UPDATE:

I planted our first deck planter with beet and lettuce seeds.  The beet seeds were suppose to take 12 to 21 days to germinate.  Both the beets and the lettuce were visible in four days!  We were tickled!!

On March 6, Poppa and I planted spinach and lettuce mix in the second planter.  As you can see, they are already beginning to sprout on March 11.  Tickled again!

And how about these beauties?  Husky Red Cherry Tomatoes from Bonnie Plants.  Can't wait to munch on these.

I have thyme started in peat pellets on my kitchen windowsill.  These are old seeds from 2011 and they are coming up nicely.  These were also planted on March 6 which was a good day for planting above ground crops according to the Old Farmer's Almanac.  Thyme is suppose to repel mosquitoes and cats.  It's exciting to watch things grow.  It doesn't take much to make us happy here in the country.

I hope you can find some time to dig in the dirt.  It's healing and good for the soul.

Until next time...

~Edna~

Green House Project Update...

The first week in February I decided to rearrange the greenhouse and purchase some deck planters to grow some veggies inside. It has been a fun project. Here is the progress and how it looked when I started.

I removed the love seat.

Moved in a table that Poppa built me years ago as a display table when I had my shop.

Brought in two 36" x 15" deck planters, with the help of my assistant Miss Beebs.

Positioned them on the table.

Filled the planters with dirt.

Planted beets, turnip tops and salad lettuce in the top one yesterday.  Our neighbor brought us fresh turnips.  I cut the tops off and put them in water.  Overnight they had started to grow so I planted them as an experiment to see what happens.  My mother use to garden by the different phases of the Moon and she always had the most wonderful garden.  Root crops by the dark of the Moon and above ground crops for the light of the Moon.

This green house project has taken me several months of working in very small increments of time. I'm amazed and what can be done in just a few minutes if worked at methodically.  We had a problem with flooding and I'm hoping I have taken care of that problem with some work that I have done outside which I hope to show you soon.  For now the green house is finished except for redoing the window screens.  Next I will be tackling my Raised Garden project!  Don't we have fun?  Get out there and play in the dirt.  Digging in the dirt is healing and good for the soul.  ~E~

Green House Project Continues...

I severely trimmed back our Bougainvillea last fall and was afraid it would not come back, but it is loving our greenhouse this winter...and so is our sweet cat Dinky Sugar. She use to stay in here during the winter before she became a house cat last year. The smell of Petunias is heavenly. I have ordered two 36" deck planters to go on the table and packets of vegetable seeds in hopes of getting a head start on our growing season. I can taste those home grown tomatoes already!

Grandma's Wash Pot

My Mother fell in this wash pot when she was a child and was scalded badly; not expected to live. Thankfully she survived. She would have been 99 years old this past August, so this wash pot is old, old, old! I put it to good use.

Summertime...

After an unplanned sabbatical from most chores, I am trying to get back to semi normal duties.  Yard duty is one on the things on my list to tackle in wee steps, especially since it is so hot outside already. These elephant ears are in front of my studio/nest window.  I brought bulbs from our lake house 20 years ago and planted them here.  I thought I had lost them all one year when we had a really harsh winter...but enough survived to replenish the area.  Miracles of survival.

Mother Nature...

The weather has warmed nicely for February here in our part of East Texas.  I walked out this morning to pull a few weeds that had sprouted in our cobblestone walkway.  It felt good to be out and about again after being snuggled in all winter.

As I stepped back up on the porch, I noticed my garden tool laying under the porch swing, right where I had left it last year....now with a wasp nest attached.  I collect wasp nests for my autumn designs so I was extra thrilled with this find.  It was also a reminder from Mother Nature that is has been far too long since I worked in my sweet flower beds.  I'm hoping this year will be different.  The healing in my shoulder and arm are coming along nicely...thank you Lord!

Courtesy of the Birds, most likely...

 I love this white Yarrow.  It grows wild in our pastures and fields and we have a prolific patch in our back yard that appeared year before last.



First signs of Spring...

I thought Robins were the first signs of Spring but we have had Robins around all Winter!  I was tickled when I looked out my kitchen window a couple of weeks ago and saw the first two or three yellow blooms on my Jonquils. Within a couple of days they were in full bloom. Then I looked out last weekend and they were covered with freezing rain and laying on the ground.  I am happy to report that once the ice thawed, they perked back up like nothing had happened. Amazing!  Another amazing thing is I planted twelve bulbs about three years ago and now they have gone crazy and need to be thinned already.  I think I will get them started around my *little old house* and around the vegetable garden.  A girl can never have too many flowers or craft supplies or pairs of shoes.

Blooms of the Season

We have gradually been working in our yard trying to simplify our flower beds.  Eight large flower beds are way too many for me to maintain weed duty as needed.  Some of our poor beds have not been cleaned out in years, so we are putting down weed barrier, mulch and pots of flowers.  It will be nice to mark some of these chores off of my list. Less is more quality...and I do love my flowers!

 



Rainy Days...

We love rainy days.  They are great days to be creative.

A Rose by any other name...

For years I have had white Iceberg roses on each side of the trellis at the entrance of our walkway.

Today when I walked outside, I was surprised to see blooms, not only blooms but one of my white Iceberg roses are no longer white, but a beautiful shade of red.  This bush is full of buds and the ones that are beginning to open, all appear to be red...Mother Nature is full of surprises!

 

Zinnia's and Butterflies...

In the past I enjoyed making home movies and documenting family events, renovations and progress.  I have not made a home movie in about six years.  I lost interest when one of our family members complained every time I got out the camcorder.  Since we no longer have family get togethers, I ordered new batteries and it felt good to get out the old camera.  I love easy to grow Zinnia's and the butterflies love them too!



How does your garden grown?

I read where you could grow plants from the stalks of produce items we get at the grocery.  On March 21, 2012, I took the picture of a turnip green stalk that I stuck in a cup of water and placed it on our kitchen windowsill just for curiousity.  By the next day, it had started to grow!  It is now the *bigger* plant in the second photo.  Three days ago I stuck a celery stalk bulb in water and as you can see, (smaller plant in picture #2) it is growing already.  Amazing!



I will be experimenting with other plants.....



Hard Cooked Eggs

I have had a steamer for years. We love steamed veggies, fish and chicken, but I had never steamed eggs until yesterday! No pot watching, no timing, no worry...just cook and enjoy having eggs ready for salads, breakfast and for coloring for Easter.

Place the eggs right out of the refrigerator in a steamer. My steamer has an indention for the eggs to sit in. No waiting for the eggs to warm to room temperature either. Steam them for 22 minutes.

Use pot holders and carefully remove the lid from the steamer. Steam is hot, hot and will burn. (See burn home remedy below) With tongs, place the steamed eggs in cool water for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, remove eggs from the water and crack the shell. Remove the shell and place the eggs in a *tightly covered container* in the refrigerator.

I have read that cooked eggs will keep in the refrigerator, peeled or unpeeled for up to 7 days. I personally would not leave them in there for that long, but again, they won't last in our fridge more than two or three days due to the *snacky monster*.

Burn Home Remedy:
Stick the burned area in flour; do not wet the area first, just emerge it in flour. Very soothing to burns especially if you keep your flour in the refrigerator. The pink stuff for upset stomach's is also good on sunburns. Smear it on the sunburn, don't drink it :)

Compost:
Crush those egg shells and put them in your compost bin.