how my garden grows

Morning baking

gingersnaps. . . yum

How does my garden grow?

So far the square foot gardening on the deck has been successful. I have been planting in spurts. I shouldn't have to harvest everything all at once.

Top of an onion. . . do I see seeds inside this pod?

First Roma tomato :)

Sweet Basil

2010 garden start

After wanting gardens but having a hard time figuring out where to put them in our yard and how to do them in such a way that they would be easier to maintain and harder to neglect we finally decided on Mel Bartholomew's SquareFoot Gardening method. I poured over online pictures, watched countless videos, read blogs and forum posts and finally presented my ideas to Rocky. He and I went back and forth but finally we agreed that we would build raised bed gardens on our deck with Mel's methods. Last week we got the first one built and partially filled. A few days later I added the Perlite for drainage and more soil mixture to fill the bed.

I'm so happy with these beds, they are a good height for gardening without bending, and they look attractive. Rocky had come up with a great design. We used mostly recycled/repurposed materials for the table with new cedar wood for the walls. Actually no treated wood is touching the soil so there is no concern of contaminants touching the soil or getting into our food.

I have been inspired to garden from Rocky's parents because year after year they have beautiful prolific gardens and a bounty of fresh food for the table.

We want more fresh veggies, especially organic ones, but they are costly. This past weekend I was able to get some advice and help with picking some seeds for our garden, and as well Rocky's mom gave me some seeds and some seedlings to get us started.

We will be planting in the beds:

onions

garlic

shallots

strawberries

cucumbers

beets

pole beans

bush beans

Roma tomatoes

cherry tomatoes

carrots

rhubarb

sage

cilantro

rosemary

basil

rutabaga

yellow squash

zucchini squash

summer squash

bell pepper

and a flower assortment that attracts pollinators

and the following in the ground:

asparagus

watermelon

cantaloupe

pumpkin

My goals with this garden are:

1. to get outside more, hopefully even daily

2. to bring more fresh organic food to our table

3. to encourage the kids to eat healthier

4. to learn and teach the kids gardening principles

5. to reduce our carbon footprint by growing our own food

Today we built our 2nd bed. I'm drilling drainage holes as Rocky squares up the sides and attaches them to the table. It feels good for us to be working hard side by side building our 2nd elevated square foot garden bed. We finished construction just before dark. Once again recycled materials for most of the table, this one had a bit more new/purchased wood though in the table part and then of course the cedar for the sides. I can't wait for my seeds to arrive so that I can get my plants started and growing! Looks like mywww.seedsofchange.com order has shipped except for one back ordered seed combination. w00t!

Earlier today I planted some onions, and shallots in the first bed. Here's a peek at both beds filled and gridded off for their plantings.

cedar grow boxes

cedar grow boxes
Originally uploaded by mom2rays

After being inspired year after year my my in-laws abundant gardens we're starting a garden again! We are using Mel Bartholomew's Square Foot Gardening principles.
Rocky built this grow box for me. Most of it is recycled. The Cedar sides are the only virgin wood. There will be another this size and one that is smaller when they are all done. We added more soil mixture and Perlite after this picture, but it still needs a bit more soil before planting. Now to order my seeds!

The last of the Snow days?

We have had snow for 3 weekends in a row. About 3-5 inches each time. This is the last snow day's remnants as it melted two days later. Charmie made a snowman, his first one ever by himself.

I'm making bread again!!!!

With some money from this year's tax return Rocky and I decided to buy some kitchen appliances to replace ones that had started to fail. We selected a Le'Quip Nutramill Grain mill.

And a Bosch Universal Plus Kitchen Machine with an additional Stainless Steel bowl, Blender, and the cookie paddles with the metal whip drive.

I cannot say how much I am in love with my new kitchen tools. They are so much more efficient and better than what I had and make what I am trying to do, that much easier!
Today for the first time I made bread again. This time I was able to make 4 loaves at once. I milled 15 cups of hard wheat berries and then followed the recipe in my Bosch book, substituting organic Agave syrup for honey.
After the dough separated from the edges of the bowl I stopped the mixer and divided the dough into my 4 pans. I didnt' get them as even as I was hoping for.

After a while they had doubled in size and then they went into the oven for 41 minutes to bake.

After baking I took them out and let them cool for a few minutes.

Then removed them from their pans to cool on the baking rack.

Lastly we sliced up the one loaf that didn't separate perfectly and had a small bit missing from it's underside. Got out the salted sweet cream butter and the kids enjoyed theirs with a few dallops of honey!

My whole house smells like yummy bread. Today was such a lovely baking day.
Special thanks to my Mommy who happened to be over here and gave some general advice as well as assisted me when my hands were too dirty.
and www.sandybosch.com where I purchased my equiptment. They have wonderful customer service, are helpful with answering and researching questions and willing to even contact Bosch Germany to find out if any of the blender and splash cover components contained BPA for me. Obviously they don't, or I wouldn't have purchased! ;)
After having owned a Kitchen Aid that was used when I got it, and a grain mill for it. I can hands down say a few things. The grain mill attachment for your KA will mill grain (pretty coarse, but fine enough to make bread) however, it shortens the life of the mixer. My mixer had started to strain over simple loads and you could smell the motor burning a bit too. For someone interested in seriously taking on milling grain to make their own bread at home, purchase a dedicated mill! You will be thankful when you don't have to replace your mixer!
Because of my cleaning kick, I'm happy to report that even though my kitchen was thoroughly used all around for making this bread, it's back clean in it's original state before we started.

My Feetz B Happy

This past Sunday a store in town was having a special sale and advertized in the local paper. I saw the flyer/coupon and asked if we coudl stop by on the way home from church.
When I went in I saw these shoes.

They had to come home with me.
I think there may even be a linkie on www.BarkingDogShoes.com, because I got a request for the pic for their blog.
These are an early Happy Birthday Pressie!

The Clean

A buddy of mine, Dibba we shall call her, has been running a clearing the clutter group that she invited me to join. I joined, but the clutter wasn't getting cleared until a week ago. I cleaned off my counter (the major dumping ground) and so far a week later it still looks like this.

Cleaning has spilled over into other areas such as the computer desk, and my dresser (other dumping grounds). My sewing/crafting area will be next for intensive cleaning. It does feel good though to make some headway and see a change from the messyness we've been living in for a while.

10 minutes to meatloaf

I'm experimenting with pressure cookers. I've never used them before and I wanted to try so enter the Deni 5qt. Electric Pressure Cooker.
I found a recipe on www.cooks.com for meatloaf in a pressure cooker. I substituted ground turkey for ground beef.
Here are the loafs in the cooker.

timer set for 10 minutes once high pressure is reached.

Releasing the pressure.

Our 10 minute meatloaf along with veggie rice and rolls.
The kids liked this meal and it was super fast and easy!

kys swap from Huggy Bear

Thank You Janette! I LOVE all of my package :)