Fresh Eggs are Here!

Well, exciting news friends! All three of our ladies are laying at last! We all discussed it as a family and we all did agree that there is nothing quite so wonderful as fresh eggs from your own back yard. Tis true. 

Why just yesterday, I was a'wondering what I could possibly eat for my lunch. You see I was quite famished and I had not yet made my trip to the market for the week. I looked high and low and nothing seemed quite right, nothing seemed to do.  Then I spied a slab of homemade bread and the last of the Summer tomatoes and took a quick trip out to the coop to see 2 little brown eggs awaiting me! Scrambled on toast with toms, honestly one of the best things I've eaten in an age! Pure goodness I tell you.

So, thank you ladies and hooray! You have my deepest gratitude and respect.

A trip to Bountiful - via the garden

In my last post I mentioned a busy life, there is always something that needs doing and I think we have that in common. We all have our own busy and pressing matters, to-doing, running hither and yon, etc. Part of my busy this Summer was the garden, not bad as pressing matters go really. Ultimately satisfying and very delicious, still sometimes you just can't figure out how to get it all done. You see, when a garden comes on, it often comes on all at once!

This Summer we had record breaking heat, which resulted in our first bumper crop of tomatoes in years. So far we have harvested about 50 pounds of heirloom tomatoes from 3 plants. Amazing and so tasty, yet a bit overwhelming. Oh but look at those beauties! Nothing like a fresh tomato from the garden. Oh, and the chilies, good gravy we have roasted a lot of chilies this summer!

We also grew tomatillos, An experiment really - that ended up combining nicely with the chilies to make some tomatillo salsa. Oh Summer in the garden...

And now we have figs. So many figs! Our tree is drooping under the weight of their sweet soft goodness. I have been inviting passers-by to help themselves as I still have fig preserves in the larder from last year. Figs coming out of my ears I tell you!

Lastly, our new brood of backyard chickens have at last laid an egg! A teeny tiny egg sure, but no less exciting. I haven't sussed out which one is the layer of said egg yet. So looking forward to having fresh eggs again. Hooray!

So concludes this episode of "In The Garden." Are you growing anything?

In my next post you might actually get to see a spot of sewing, will wonders never cease?

Salad Days

This last week has been dedicated to the garden. While we planted a lot of vegetables and eagerly await the Summer months to help them grow, but right now we are up to our elbows in lettuce. This is a good thing, fresh salad nearly every night is a very good thing.

Next the Swiss Chard will be ready to harvest, The potatoes are starting to poke their leaves above the surface. I love growing potatoes. Later in the Summer we'll go treasure hunting for golden and ruby treasure buried in the soil.

A barrel full of mint is close to the kitchen door. it smells so lovely.

It is a lot of work and the weeds are always mocking us by spreading faster and growing taller than would seem possible, but at the end of a full day in the garden, it is absolutely worth it. To see our future dinners growing in our own back yard is pretty cool.

Oh and check out this handsome fellow, he and his friend came to visit after the fountain received a good cleaning. The first time we've had a Western Tanager in our garden. Hooray!

Happy weekend all!

The New Brood

Well, let's all cross our fingers that the sickness has left the building. I swear, this has been the ill-est school year in history, for the whole family. I am well and truly Over It! Ah, but let's talk of more pleasant things shall we?

It occurred to me that you were not formerly introduced to the new Brood in the coop. Last November we lost our other beloved chooks to some vicious critter, so a couple of months ago we began again with 3 wee baby chicks.

Pictured up above is Starr, a Leghorn, and so far seems to rule the roost.

This here is Loretta, an Australorp. She follows Starr around constantly, though she seems quite good at scratching up worms.

This is Van Zandt (named after the late singer/songwriter Townes), a Silver Laced Wyandott. She is independent and wiley.

Now this particular group of little hens is nothing like any other brood we have had. They are far more skittery than past chickens, even though we had the same routine as the others and handled them often. They are also contrary, they do not do what we expect them to do, what others have done. We shall see how it all works out. Meanwhile we are all happy to have chickens again. I am looking very forward to September when we may start getting fresh eggs again!

Oh and check out this video of The Engineer's brilliant automatic coop door opener that he created to keep the little ones safe.

Inch by Inch, Row by Row

Oh I know I said there was going to be a tutorial today...

However, there was a little problem with the photos (operator error I'm afraid). 

And it's an absolutely gorgeous day outside and I ended up at the garden store and these little beauties came home with me. Time to plant!

Tutorial will follow at some other date, indeed it will!

Happy Weekend all!

Hello Monday - Bloom

Goodness, time does fly when you're having fun. I wont bore you with the details of our school holiday mayhem. Now to get back into the swing of rambling on in this happy place.

Everything is blooming around here with our crazy mild winter and beautiful days. Time to get cracking in the garden!

I'm hoping to have a fun and easy peasy DIY tutorial this week, for now I leave you with some pictures from the garden.

Happy week all!

Keeping winter at Bay

"The Bay leaves are of as necessary use as any other in the garden or orchard, for they serve both for pleasure and profit, both for ornament and for use, both for honest civil uses and for physic, yea, both for the sick and the sound, both for the living and the dead; . . . so that from the cradle to the grave we still have use of it, we still have need of it."

Parkinson, ‘Garden of Flowers’ (1629)

Happy New Year all! I hope that the first week of this brand new year has been good to you. It has been good to me and I am feeling the promise of more good days to come. 

Today is the first day back to school and work for our family, I have plenty of to-doing to put the house back together after all the holiday mayhem. The house seems so still and quiet. 

Yesterday, as I looked out at the sparse winter garden I saw that the Bay laurel was still flush with vibrant green leaves. So out I went to harvest some before we get another cold snap. Now as I walk through the kitchen I can smell the scent of Bay from the bunches I hung up for drying and preserving.

Bay Leaves have a long and noble history. The ancient Romans and Greeks used to make crowns out of true Bay Leaves (Laurus Nobilis, Lauraceae) to crown great and accomplished people. These great people usually included kings, war heroes and Olympians. The term ‘baccalaureate’ originates from this giving of bay leaf crowns to signify success, as does the term "poet laureate".

Medicinally, the leaves of the Laurus Nobilis tree, also known as Sweet Laurel, have been used since the ancient times to treat problems associated with the liver, stomach and kidney. They were also used for treating bee and wasp stings. Now, herbalists use bay leaves for treating various health complaints. Some of the reported uses by herbalists and Naturopaths are as follows:

Coughs & Colds: Placing a cloth soaked in water in which bay leaves have been boiled provides relief from cough, cold, bronchitis and chest infections.

Aches & Pains:Essential Oil of bay leaf is massaged on sprained areas and for relieving headaches. The oil also provides relief from swellings, rheumatic and arthritic pain.

Fever:Bay leaves infusion promotes sweating, breaking fever, and flu symptoms.

Digestion:Bay leaves are used for treatment of digestive disorders. 

*Always ask the advice of your doctor before using any remedies.

I will admit that I mostly use mine for cooking, but I have used it medicinally from time to time. I do love the look and scent of herbs hanging to dry. With the garden's herbs mostly died back, I am comforted by my harvest, brightening my kitchen with a bounty of Bay!

In the garden - Seeds of sharing

"Most immigrants to North America did not come with treasures of gold in their pockets, but treasures of a botanical nature – seeds. Seeds so important they were sewn into the hems of dresses or into the brims of hats. Immigrants experienced a full spectrum of emotions from fear to hope to delight; emotions that vacillated with every ocean wave during their long voyage. They had the security of seeds from their familiar garden plants as they planted a new life." 

-Source

Do you garden? Do you save seeds? Do you share them?

I'm finally getting around to organizing my seeds saved from the garden this Summer. I do love sharing seeds of plants that I am particularly fond of. This year my favorite was from a Charentais melon. I bought the plant from a local organic nursery and saved the seeds from the best of the fruit. I promised to share some of the seed with friends and family. Along with other seeds of course.

I have a few friends with whom I trade seeds. When I plant the seeds from a friend, I always think fondly of the resulting plant as, "Oh, that's Amy's Marigold, or, those are Crystal's scarlet runner beans." I like that my garden is such a friendly place.

It is a good thing to save and share seeds. If you would like to learn more head on over the Seed Savers Exchange!


I figure, if the seeds are special, why not send them on to new homes in special packets. So I thought I'd show you some of mine in case you were so inclined to do something similar.

This is a muslin tea bag filled with seeds and closed with a fold and a simple embroidery running stitch and a tag with all the information about the seed.

There are also a ton of free printable templates online that you can print onto any paper. I printed mine onto an old and crumpled brown paper bag. I used the template from HERE. If you search the internet for "seed packet templates" you'll find lots to choose from and blank ones you can add your own design to. You just cut it out, fold along folding lines, glue into place and voila!

You can easily sew up a little seed pocket (you all know how much I love a handy dandy pocket). I chose some cheerful vintage feed sack material and used a vintage blue button tied with embroidery thread for a closure. I'll send an info tag along with it.

I even used some parchment paper to stitch as well as fold little packets of seeds. There really are so many possibilities! A great project to do with children as well. 

Saving and sharing seeds really is wonderful and important work.

Summer Time

Our faces have the full flush of Summer, rosy cheeks, tanned shoulders and hours of play with good friends. These two in the photo have been buddies since they were babies. After hours in the kiddie pool, catching bugs, and playing hide and seek - they ended up in the cubby house for a break with the chickens. I love this photo. I had to sneak up to the window to get it. It speaks volumes about summer, childhood and good friends. It tells the story of a perfect day. 

All my crafty plans seem to have vanished with the sunshine. It's all about kids, family, fun and lots of towels in the laundry from all those kiddie pool/sprinkler adventures.

Summer has also been all about the produce! Our first full summer at the new house with all the garden has to offer, has been a busy one. I'm learning a lot about how I am not managing the maintenance as well as I could. But who has time to pull weeds when the food keeps dropping into our laps, literally! 

These gravenstein apples completely took me by surprised. They are falling from our tree about three weeks early. Maybe it's all the heat we have been having. This is about 25 pounds worth, and there's more. I'm grateful, believe me... but applesauce and dried apples and pie have made the top of the list over any stitchy shenanigans. 

What are you making?

In a Pickle

It is full on Summer here in Portland. The garden keeps on giving and sometimes you end up with more than you can eat fresh from the garden. So what do you do (other than gift friends and family with produce)? Well, as they say in Portlandia, "We can pickle that!"

So, armed with a handful of carrots, a fistful of Haricot vert (lovely little french green beans), and a few pickling cucumbers; I set about making small batch refrigerator pickles.

I love a refrigerator pickle; all my produce was fresh picked from my garden then ready in jars in under a half an hour. Since no traditional canning methods (water boiling bath or pressure cooker) were needed, it's easy breezy beautiful pickles! I use this method for small batch only, since they only last a little over a month in the fridge. Of course, they often don't last that long because of the eating. There are plenty of Refrigerator Pickle recipes out there on the internet if you want to give it a try.

Ours will be officially ready this afternoon (24 hours after putting up), but they taste even better if you can wait at least a few days to try them. It's really hard to wait.

Do you like pickles? What is your favorite?

I will be announcing the winner of The Better Bag Maker book tomorrow! Still time to enter HERE!

Where in the world is Lola?

Here I am!

As it turns out, I was not abducted by Aliens, I did not join the witness protection program, nor did the zombie apocalypse begin in the Northwest United States. I've been here all along. You know, just relishing in the abundance of life! That's just one way of saying, "Oh good gravy, life is non-stop action!" 

I'll just do the highlights:

The fruit must be obeyed:

When the "Hoods" come on (Mt. Hood, Oregon Strawberry variety), you have no choice but to drop everything and scoop them up. This old fashioned variety is small in size, quite perishable, and the best tasting strawberry you will ever have! To not immediately run out and make a quadruple batch of low sugar jam, would be tantamount to blasphemy and lead to painful regret and despair. We also ate them fresh and I had enough to try out my new dehydrator making fruit leather.

I really wish this was a scratch-n-sniff picture. So good!

Then came the raspberries. These from our own small patch. It seems my worry over my pruning job this winter was unfounded. They have come on like gangbusters! Fresh handfuls of just picked raspberries are the preferred method of consumption. Still,we had enough to make a small batch of jam, freeze a few pints and they are still going strong.

And there were the cherries! Having never grown cherries and having inherited one sweet and one sour variety when we bought this house; I did some research. I was a bit surprised that the trees were already dropping fruit (a sunnier spring than normal?). So we picked the first go-round. Being a bit canned out, I dried this first batch to use later. The second picking may see some canning of chutney and possibly a cherry Brandy.

There's this kid:

She ended 3rd grade and is moving on to a bigger school next year. We had a week of celebratory classroom community fun. She had a great teacher this year,a lot of challenges, and was ever unflinchingly herself. I am so proud and madly in love with this girl!

And this:

Go on! Get a kitten, you know you want to! Pure joy. No trouble, no trouble at all.

xo

In the Garden

Oh hello there! Feels as though I have been gone for ages. I have been busy as can be and I'll share some of the projects I've been working on this week. Today I'm just dipping my toes back in the water and giving you a glimpse of the readying of the garden.

One of reasons we fell for this house was the garden, both back and front of the house, it really is spectacular. There is a huge amount of maintenance involved, but it's worth it. Right now the Rhodies and Azaleas are just about to finish their bloom. The peas, lettuce and spinach are going gangbusters. We've been eating a lot of salad around here!

Those barrels are about to be planted with tomatoes and peppers this afternoon. Hooray! The fruit trees are promising a good harvest later this year, if we can keep some from the birds that is.

A quick peek here of the front garden. In the last 2 weeks it has gone wild, keeping up with the weeds and overgrowth is a challenge. Oh but you should see that giant red rose bush in person!

Well, I have food to plant and weeds to chase. What are you up to?

Hello Monday - Bloomin'

Good morning and good Monday to you all! Today I don't have much to say. I do have lots of photos of things that are popping up in the garden. While you take a look at my little piece of Spring, I will be planning my day, nay my week, of getting reacquainted with my sewing machine. It seems as though it has been ever so long.

Oh I do love flowers!

I am also quite thrilled to see that the food is growing!

Now, I'm off to look for my sewing mojo, I know I left it around here somewhere!

Happy Monday!